Princeton University's M.S. Chadha Center for Global India (CGI) hosted the inaugural “Global India Frontiers Conference,” a multidisciplinary, pan-USA academic conference, on April 12 and 13, 2024. The event, a unique collaboration among Princeton's CGI, Harvard University's Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute and Indiaspora, brought together leading experts across economics, politics, STEM, arts, and humanities in cross-disciplinary discourse on global India. 

"The goal was to bring together academics from multiple disciplines with diverse viewpoints to discuss key themes related to global India-economy, politics, inclusion, innovation, sustainability, arts and humanities" said Anu Ramaswami, the Sanjay Swani '87 Professor of India Studies; professor of civil and environmental engineering, the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) and the High Meadows Environmental Institute. Ramaswami, who is also the director of CGI and originated the idea for the conference, added: ”We wanted this conference to foster dialogue and discourse breaking through disciplinary and viewpoint silos on India's future."

Over 250 attendees across two days engaged with notable keynote speakers and participated in panel discussions. University President Christopher L. Eisgruber and Sumir Chadha ’93, former Princeton trustee and co-founder and managing director of WestBridge Capital, offered opening remarks. Inspirational and thought-provoking keynotes were by Vikram Patel, Paul Farmer Professor and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School; Pramod Varma, chief architect of Aadhaar, India's digital identity program; Binaya Pradhan, counsel general of India in New York; Devesh Kapoor, Starr Foundation Professor of South Asian Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS); and Kailash Satyarti, Nobel Peace Laureate. 

The conference's centerpiece were plenaries around key themes — including “Advances in Science and Medicine,” “Science, AI, and Social Impact,” “Arts,” and "Partnerships and Education" — which allowed for substantial time for open discussions for all attendees. Princeton University faculty, including Amaney Jamal, dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs; Tanushree Goyal, assistant professor of politics and international affairs; Divya Cherian, associate professor of history; and Gyan Prakash, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, participated in or moderated these panels and provided space for the promotion and cross-fertilization of ideas.

Dr. Laxmi Berwa, a Maryland-based oncologist and and a veteran Dalit rights advocate who participated in "The Future of Inclusion" said: "It was a joy to meet the spectrum of the attendees. [The conference] opened the door to the 'Dalitspora' — nearly 25% of the Indian population."

Attendee Shriya Srinivasan, assistant professor of bioengineering at Harvard University, said: "I loved hearing the varying and often conflicting positions on topics and interacting with the other speakers and attendees."

Added Balaji Rajagopalan, professor and chair in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at University of Colorado Boulder: "The first panel on the future of India’s economy was a perfect start to the event. In particular, I greatly enjoyed the opening talk by [Arvind] Panagariya, the Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University, who provided a rich and broad perspective and the optimistic outlook for India. It's this outlook that keeps many of us going back to engage with diverse constituencies, pressing challenges and contribute to India’s development."

“Global India Frontiers Conference” was organized in partnership with the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asian Institute at Harvard University and Indiapora. Ramaswami, Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School, and M. R. Rangaswami, founder and chairman of the board of Indiaspora, served as the conference co-chairs. The trio of organizations had separately long sought to convene such a rare, high-level meeting of Indian and Indian American academics, and came together in fall 2023 to realize this vision together. "We had a great conference with outstanding people, discussions, and audience, and I look forward to building on what we began here collectively," said Hitesh Hathi, executive director of the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asian Institute.