INDIAN INSTITUTE OF ADVANCE STUDY-SHIMLA

IIAS-The Viceregal Loge- A Place of Attraction  

Shimla, 29 August-

The Viceregal Lodge, once the glory of  the British empire in India, popularly known as Indian Institute of Advance Study, is the attraction for thousands  peoples visiting Shimla. Any one can fall in love, at the very first sight, with the edifice of Viceroys Lodge which is  a blend of Elizabethan and Scottish architectural forms  built  with grey Himalayan sand stone. The Institute is located at the west of Shimla city, atop Observatory Hill at a height of about 2000 feet from the sea level. The Institute came into being in 6 October, 1964  with the formation of a Society and was  inaugurated in 20 0ctober 1965 by then President Pro. S. Radhakrishnan. The Institute  located amid idyllic surroundings catches everyone’s eye from long distance. Covering an area of about 110 acre, the Institute has  spectacular building , Lawns, exotic plants and numerous grasses. The beauty of this Institute is so much that the people coming to Shimla could not resist themselves to visit  this edifice. The popularity of the Institute  could easily be judged from the fact that every year about one lakh people  from different parts of the country and across the world pay visits to see and know about the Institute. Besides liked for  its beauty and glamour the Institute is also known  for it’s researches and as a forum of discussion on the international and national issues.

History:

After the Shimla town became the summer capital of the Britsh India in 1864, there was a need felt of  a residence for  the then Governor-Generals and Viceroys, where they could live and carry their administration comfortably. But with no proper place, initially these dignitaries had to live and change their residence from one to another frequently. It was lord  Lytton ( 1876-80 ) who conceived the idea to build a residence of Viceroy at Observatory Hill and this idea turned into reality when during the reign of Lord Dufferin ( 1884-88) this project got sanction from the then Secretary of the State for India Lord Randolph Churchill. The estimated cost of the eastate was then 38 lakh Rupees and an amount of 1.5 lakhs was to be spent on it annually as a recurring cost. Architect Henry Irwin designed  the building and it finally got built in 1888.

During pre-independence era,  the Viceregal Lodge witnessed the historical events related to  the India’s freedom movements. The round table meeting as well as the Shimla Conference in the Viceregal Lodge drew the attention of the Indians as well as the people across  the  world.  In  June 14, 1945  the famous Shimla conference was convened here by the then Viceroy  Lord Wavell with a objective what he termed a meeting “ to advance India towards her goal of full self-government”.

The conference was held from 14 June to 25 July in which all the top brass of Indian leadership,  Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Maulana Ajad, C.Rajagopalachari, Master Tara Singh and Mohammed Ali Jinnah, were present. This conference failed because the British regime contrived a plan to devide Indians on the basis of religion as it proposed to give seats in Viceroy’s Executive Council to Muslims and Hindus in proportion to their populations.

In March 1946 a tripartite meeting between the British , the Congress and the Muslim League to discuss the modalities to hand over power to Indians held  in Viceregal Lodge and  which also failed due to League’s tough stand.

 After indepence, in 1947  the Viceregal Lodge was handed over to President of India and it was renamed as Rashtrapati Niwas. In 1964, the then President Dr. S. Radhakrishnan gave an idea to setup an Institute of Advance Study in this building.

Academic Activity:

The academics are the main activities of the Institute, this comprises of researches that are conducted by its Fellows besides seminars organized trough out the year. The main objective of  the Institute is to provide facilities to flourish academic activities and to conduct researches in the  field of the humanities and social sciences. Institute awards fellowship to conduct researches and currently there are three categories of research Fellows- Honorary Fellows, National Fellows and Fellows, which are the important parts of the Institute.

Honorary Fellowship- It is given to the renowned scholars for her or his life time. They may visit and deliver lecture in Institute once a year.

National Fellows-These Fellows has a term of two years and could be extended one year.

Fellows- The Fellows has minimum duration  of three months  and maximum  of three years. The Fellows conduct researches on the theme approved by the Institute.

Currently there are 30 Fellows , 5 National Fellows and 15-20 Associate Fellows. Associate fellowship is awarded by UGC to encourage researches. Besides Fellows , others scholars also visit Institute, these are Visiting Professors,, Visiting Scholars and Guest Scholars.

Visiting Professors are eminent scholars invited by Institute to deliver lectures and give presentation in seminars. During this they can avail guest facility in Institute for one month and interact with the Fellows.

Visiting Scholars are also renowned scholars in their fields and they stay maximum for two weeks in Institute.

 The Guest Lecturers also come in Institute 

The Institute organize seminars of the national and international level through out the year on the contemporary issues.

The institute has established the annual  Radhakrishnan Memorial Lecture as a tribute to the second President of the India Dr. Radhakrishnan, who is credited with gifting that Rashterpati Niwas to establish Institute.

Inter-University Center for Humanities and Social Sciences :

The  Institute,  since 1991, is running a centre  for humanities and social sciences with the collaboration of University Grant Commission.

The centre selects the teachers from universities and collages, who during their stay for one month a year, for three years, pursue their researches beside interacting with Fellows and other scholar in the institute. The centre also run two programmes , “Research Seminars” , and “Study Weaks”. The research seminars are on the humanities and social sciences and are primarily for young researchers of the universities and collages. While the study weaks are the programmes meant for senior teacher in collages and universities and other eminent persons , wherein the problems of the national and international concerns are discussed.

Administration:

There is a Society and a Governing Body to administer the institute, which are composed of eminent personalities of all fields. Planning Commission Member and renowned economist Professor Bhalachandra Mungekar is currently heading these bodies. A finance committee is constituted to advise the director on the financial matters. The institute is headed by a Director and Professor Peter Ronald deSouza is currently helding this post. The Institute is aided by The Ministry of Human Resource, besides the Institute generate revenue by selling it’s publications and entry fee paid by the people who visit this institute.

Library:

The Library of  the Institute is one of the best in the country. There are about 1.5 lakhs volumes of books, journals, microfilms and other documents. There are presently 460 journals. The collection of the library includes the areas of Philosphy, Religion, Fine Arts, Socio-Linguistics, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Socio-Economic Planning and Development, Third World Economics, Ancient and Medieval Indian History and culture and Modern India. The database of  regarding the books is accessible through the DELNET.

Publications:

The Institute has over 450 publications. These include monographs of its Fellows, proceedings of Seminars,

Symposiums and Conferences held at institute and lectures delivered by Visiting Professors and papers presented by Fellows and visitors to the Institute.

The Institute also publishes two biannual journals. The first one is – Summer Hill: IIAS Review and Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences.

The second one is the hindi journal– Chetna: Manav Anusandhan Patrika.

Recreational Facility:

To provide a healthy and friendly environment in the Institute there is  a sports club that provide facility of badminton, billiards, table-tennis, carom and squash. Fellows and visitors enjoy these activities.