« Back to article

Print this article

Columbia gets Ambedkar chair, Bhagwati fellowships

The government of India has set up the B R Ambedkar Chair in Indian Constitutional Law at the Columbia University Law School. It also established the Jagdish Bhagwati Fellowships at the law school to help students from India.

The support will bring Indian students to the law school on fellowships and facilitate collaboration with legal institutions in India in fields of law that are of critical importance to Indian jurisprudence and policymaking.

Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar announced the chair and fellowships

with a lecture on democracy and pluralism in India. She also highlighted the contribution of Dr B R Ambedkar, the architect of India's constitution and a Columbia Law School alumnus, to modern India.

The first holder of the Ambedkar chair will be Akhil Reed Amar,  Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. There are to be two fellowships each year, in international economics, and law-related subjects like World Trade Organization law, public international law and anti-trust law.

'The fellowships will preferably be awarded to applicants resident in India, so as to build up India's institutional capacity in these fields,' said Professor Bhagwati.