AUSTRALIA DAY HONOURS

Why We Need Asian Studies

Prof. SARVADAMAN SINGH, OAM

For service to tertiary education and to the community

Brisbane-based historian and academic Prof.Sarvadaman Singh is thrilled to be named in this year’s Australia Day Honours.

“I’m very happy to be honoured by a country that I chose to move to and call my own; it’s a matter of great gratification to have my work recognised,” he told Indian Link.

He taught Asian and South East Asian history at the University of Queensland until he retired in 1999.

“I taught courses at university and delivered public lectures on the art, culture, philosophy and religion of India and other Asian countries, and supervised research,” he said.

He has been Director of the Institute of Asian Studies in Brisbane since 2001.

Prof. Singh studied at the University of Lucknow and then took a PhD from the University of London. After teaching at various universities in northern India in senior positions, he moved to the University of Queensland in 1975 where he took a second PhD.

A prolific writer, Prof. Singh’s works have been of interest to the academic community as well as the general public. A wide array of topics caught his attention as subject matter, including his native Lucknow, ancient Indian warfare, polyandry in ancient India, contemporary art, architecture and diasporic Indians. He is particularly proud of his latest work Understanding Gandhi: A Mahatma in the Making 1869-1914 (Vij Books India, 2018), produced in time for the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma

Gandhi.

“I urge you to read it,” he said. “I know there’s much written about Gandhi already, but I have something new to say about him. I view the book as a service to Gandhi and to the nation.”

Prof. Singh lamented that in recent years there has been a downgradation of Indian studies at Australia’s universities.

“At a time when Australia wants to engage economically with India more than they did before, there’s just not enough attention to the study of its civilisation any more. They’ve scuttled that early legacy, and that is saddening.”

Perhaps this is the lack he is attempting to fill at the Institute of Asian Studies, by stimulating a deeper awareness about Asia and India.

“The lectures we organise are given and attended by academics as well as others who have an intellectual curiosity about the world around them,” he revealed.

How does Prof. Singh hope to use his OAM honour, going forward? “I’d like to keep serving the community. To continue contributing to my knowledge area and thereby increasing the understanding of –

EDUCATING AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE DOCTORS

Dr. SANGHAMITRA GUHA, AM

For significant service to medicine, and to medical education.

The Adelaide-based Dr Sanghamitra Guha AM told Indian Link, “I feel very honoured to be receiving the AM. It is a recognition of my role in training junior doctors.”

Dr.Guha has spent a significant portion of her career in training the next generations of physicians.

Mitra Guha is currently the Director of Physician Training at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, South Australia’s leading public hospital, and Associate Professor and goodwill for – India.”

Within the Indian community in Queensland, Prof. Singh has had high profile. He served as the Honorary Consul of India in Queensland from 2003 to 2011. Before that, he founded the Indian Cultural Association in 1982, and was the President of the Asian Australian Action Committee, 1984-1986.

To new migrants, Prof. Singh has this to say: “Come and live here in peace. Learn. Adjust. Be honest and sincere. And don’t waste your time.”

Rajni Anand Luthra

at the University of Adelaide’s School of Medicine.

The Kolkata-born Mitra finished school in Malaysia before moving to Adelaide in 1971. She studied medicine at the University of Adelaide and obtained her MBBS in 1978.

After further studies as a physician, she decided to specialise in endocrinology as she felt “it is intellectually stimulating and professionally challenging.”

She became a senior Consultant Endocrinologist in 1987, Director of Post-