Department of Liberal Arts

Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) is a premier institute of science and technology established in 2008. IITH has been consistently ranked in the&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/reports/" rel="noopener noreferrer">top 10 institutes</a>&nbsp;in India for Engineering&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nirfindia.org/2021/EngineeringRanking.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to NIRF</a>&nbsp;making it one of the most coveted schools for science and technology in the country.

IITH offers&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/under-graduate/">undergraduate programs</a>&nbsp;in all the classical engineering disciplines, applied sciences, design, as well as several modern interdisciplinary areas. Students are given a flexibility to explore a broad set of areas, and potentially pursue a minor or double major in a discipline that is not their own. Students who wish to seek a deeper understanding of their own discipline are strongly encouraged to get involved in cutting-edge research with the help of a faculty to mentor them, and earn an Honors in their own field.

The very foundation of IIT Hyderabad is based on&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/research/">research and innovation</a>. The vibrant research culture is evident from the number of patents and publications that IITH produces consistently every year. IITH offers&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/programmes-offered/">graduate programs</a>&nbsp;at both a masters, and a doctoral level, in several diverse areas. There are separate programs for technology, design, science, and liberal arts. The&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/post-graduate/">MTech program</a>&nbsp;is offered in various modes and durations to cater to the ever-growing need of postgraduate level professionals in the country.

IITH encourages and supports&nbsp;<a href="https://iic-iith.netlify.app/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">innovation and entrepreneurship</a>&nbsp;at every stage. The minor program in entrepreneurship is open to all students of IITH, and many of the courses are offered by industrialists who are entrepreneurs themselves. There are various&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/research/centres-incubators/">innovation centers and incubators</a>&nbsp;that promote entrepreneurship and help mentor young innovators. IITH has been very successful in building tie-ups with leading academic institutions around the globe.

IITH enjoys a very special relationship with Japanese universities and industries that goes beyond academic and research collaborations. In fact, some of the iconic buildings in IITH campus will carry the signature of Japanese architecture.

IITH creates a unique holistic ecosystem for education that offers interactive learning, a very flexible academic structure, cutting-edge research, strong industry collaboration, and entrepreneurship. This is an environment which enables students and faculty to translate their dreams into realities.

IIT Hyderabad

The recent Malayalam film ‘The great Indian kitchen’ invoked debate in Kerala on women’s unpaid work in the house. Taking off from this film, this commentary draws on ethnographic research with women participating in the Kudumbashree, a women’s empowerment programme in Kerala, to engage with questions of paid work, household labour and care arrangements within the household. While the film depicts the struggles of a newly wedded young woman in her in-laws’ house and how she leaves the marriage to follow her dreams, this article shifts the focus to the tactics and strategies used by women in their 40s and 50s who remain within the family fold. We look at the experiences of these women who negotiate work and care arrangements to meet their needs. In doing so, we seek to understand what these strategies say about the conceptualisation of women’s agency and independence, particularly in South Asian contexts. © 2021 Institute for Human Development.

World University root node

Indian Journal of Human Development

Juxtaposing The Great Indian Kitchen and the Kudumbashree: Women, Work and Agency in Kerala

Wasting in children under-five is a form of acute malnutrition, a predictor of under-five child mortality and of increased risk of future episodes of stunting and/or wasting. In India, national estimates of wasting are high compared to international standards with one in five children found to be wasted. National surveys are complex logistical operations and most often not planned or implemented in a manner to control for seasonality. Collection of survey data across differing months across states introduces seasonal bias. Cross-sectional surveys are not designed to collect data on seasonality, thus special methods are needed to analyse the effect of data collection by month. We developed regression models to estimate the mean weight for height (WHZ), prevalence of wasting for every month of the year for an average year and an overall weighted survey estimates controlling for the socio-demographic variation of data collection across states and populations over time. National level analyses show the mean WHZ starts at its highest in January, falls to the lowest in June/ August and returns towards peak at year end. The prevalence of wasting is lowest in January and doubles by June/August. After accounting for seasonal patterns in data collection across surveys, the trends are significantly different and indicate a stagnant period followed by a decline in wasting. To avoid biased estimates, direct comparisons of acute malnutrition across surveys should not be made unless seasonality bias is appropriately addressed in planning, implementation or analysis. Eliminating the seasonal variation in wasting would reduce the prevalence by half and provide guidance towards further reduction in acute malnutrition. Copyright: © 2021 Johnston et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Fulltext

PLoS ONE

Methods for assessing seasonal and annual trends in wasting in Indian surveys (NFHS-3, 4, RSOC &amp; CNNS)

In this paper, I examine the idea of fiction in relation to kinship by analyzing the role that memory plays in assisted reproduction in North India. I specifically engage with the desire to seek the intervention of in-vitro fertilization after the loss of a child, mostly sons, through an accident, prematurely. In the process, the paper engages with the kind of narratives that birthing women remember and speak of in seeking the ‘rebirth’ of their dead sons, and what this means for kinship per se. This is especially important in relation to the conflicts and ambivalence that mark intimate relationships; and the ways in which the IVF clinic and clinician seek to reimagine them in facilitating assisted conception. I suggest that the narratives surrounding these rebirths act as effective and powerful messages for normalizing IVF, and also to hide other forms of relatedness that come to mark conflicting, ambivalent and yet, deeply intimate relationships. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Contemporary South Asia

Remembering deceased kin through assisted conception in India

This special issue brings together emerging studies on kinship in South Asia and explores the idea of kinship as ‘fiction’ through ethnographic analysis of intimate relationships. Anthropology had long considered kinship as ‘natural’ or ‘biological’, thereby rendering other relations as ‘real’ or ‘fictive’. However, the recent ever-expanding scope of the ‘new kinship studies’, through the mapping of socio-technological changes, including the development of new reproductive technologies, the expansion of a diverse marriage system, and the global reconfiguration of care work, has brought a new dynamism to the discipline. Drawing both on traditional South Asian kinship studies and on more recent theories in anthropology, care work, medicine and science and technology studies, Kinship as Fiction offers insights on how ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ are related, translated, and regenerate each other by changing their meanings and forms. Fiction plays an important role in shaping reality, by making emerging worlds comprehensible, and helping us to imagine relations differently. This special issue investigates how particular ‘fictions’ are narrated and enacted within the constraints of reality, and how reality is, in turn, generated by fiction in the context of kin and other intimate relationships. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Kinship as fiction: exploring the dynamism of intimate relationships in South Asia

Purpose: Theory of mind (ToM) is essential in understanding and predicting human behaviour. Parenting plays a significant role in the overall cognitive development of children. This study aims to understand the development of ToM among children in need of care and protection and then to compare the data with children living under parental care and children living in boarding schools. Further, it explores the extent of physical abuse experienced by children in the study and their relation to the development of ToM. Design/methodology/approach: ToM Test developed by Muris et al. (1999) was used to measure ToM. Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire was used to understand the children’s relationship with parents and experience of physical abuse. The study used an ex post facto design with a purposive sampling method. Findings: Findings suggest a significant impact of parental care on the ToM among children. Also, the type of care received mediated the relationship between parental care and the development of ToM. Finally, children living in institutions run by the Child Welfare Department reported that they have received harsher physical punishment from their parents than the other two groups of children. Research limitations/implications: Findings are a significant theoretical contribution to the ToM development in children, especially in the Indian context. Social implications: Findings demand more legal and psychological support to vulnerable children living in institutions run by the Child Welfare Department and boarding schools. Originality/value: The study explores care and abuse from the child’s perspective. Findings are of value to the existing child care system in India. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Journal of Children's Services

Development of theory of mind: importance of nurturance

This paper assesses the convergence of COVID-19 cases by obtaining transition paths of Indian states covering the period from August 01 to October 31, 2020. The results based on Phillips-Sul test show evidence of different transition paths. These findings are useful from the policy perspective, particularly to see whether existing efforts made for stopping the spread of COVID-19 by states/central governments are effective. • Convergence of COVID-19 cases across Indian states is investigated. • The Phillips and Sul test is applied. • Findings are in favour of different transition paths. © 2020

MethodsX

Do COVID-19 cases follow a similar transition path? Evidence from Indian states

Nondisclosure of prognosis of advanced cancer is commonly practiced in some Asian cultures including India; but research is limited. To describe experiences of Indian oncologists in discussing cancer prognosis with people with cancer and their caregivers, with a focus on barriers and facilitators of prognostic discussions. Thirty oncologists practicing in South India, Hyderabad participated in semi-structured interviews; and analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Barriers included system-level, patient-level, and physician-level challenges as obstructions to open and honest interactions around cancer prognosis. Most of the barriers focused on communication-related challenges. Lack of communication skills training for providers coupled with over-reliance on use of euphemisms, hesitation in communicating with "weak" patient, and struggles to establish healthcare proxy described communication-related barriers. The study also described factors including family involvement in cancer care and empathic communication as facilitators of honest and open communication about prognosis. In particular, rapport building and getting to know the patient, use of empathic communication, engaging in gradual and individualized disclosure, and balancing hope with honesty were communication-related facilitators that aid open communication with patients with cancer and their caregivers about prognosis and plan of care. Results provide implications for development of communication skills trainings for oncology physicians in India. Adapting, delivering, and evaluating existing communication skills training programs, particularly around discussions of prognosis and goals of care is a requisite step for providing patient-centered and supportive care to patients with cancer and their caregiving families. © 2021 Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Translational Behavioral Medicine

Oncologists' experience with discussing cancer prognosis with patients and families: Perspectives from India

Through a survey of the literature on the economics of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this study explores the effects of the pandemic and proposes potential policy directions to mitigate its effects. Our survey reveals that adverse economic effects have been observed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to fatalities. Furthermore, the survey indicates the need for greater coordination at national and international levels. This study concludes by suggesting coordination among monetary, macroprudential, and fiscal policies (trio) to mitigate the adverse economic effects of COVID-19. Finally, this study explores potential directions for future research. © 2021 Economic Society of Australia, Queensland

Economic Analysis and Policy

The economics of COVID-19 pandemic: A survey

Notes and Queries

The Jinling Patriots of J. H. Prynne's Kazoo Dreamboats

India and the global community are facing a critical crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), significantly contributed to by on-going and increasing antimicrobial misuse. Information as to what drives misuse of antimicrobials within India is essential to inform strategies to address the crisis. This papers aims to identify perceived influences on antimicrobial use in Hyderabad, India. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted with thirty participants (15 doctors, 15 pharmacists) around their experiences of antimicrobials in Hyderabad, India. Thematic analysis was performed and four themes identified around (1) Perceptions of the problem of resistance and antimicrobial use; (2) Social pressures to prescribe/dispense; (3) Financial pressures driving antimicrobial over-use; and (4) Lack of regulation around training and qualifications. We conclude that antimicrobial use within India is embedded with, and occurs as a result of, complex social and economic factors including issues of resource limitation, structural/governance limitations and social relationships. Strategies to address misuse without acknowledging and addressing the critical driving forces of use will be unlikely to induce significant change. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.