Indian historian wins Israel's prestigious USD 1 mn Dan David award
Jerusalem : Noted Indian historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam has won Israel's prestigious Dan David Prize for this year for his work on inter-cultural encounters between Asians, Europeans and people of North and South America during the early modern era.
Subrahmanyam, son of strategic analyst K Subrahmanyam and brother of former foreign secretary S Jaishankar, won the award in the category of 'past time dimension' for his work in macro history.
He shares the USD 1 million award in this category with Prof Kenneth Pomeranz of University of Chicago.
The international Dan David Prize is awarded annually to those who have made outstanding scientific, technological and humanistic accomplishments in fields representing the past, present and future of human achievement. Three Dan David Prize are given every year.
The recipients in the "Past" category are generally drawn from the fields of history, archaeology, paleontology and biography; the "Present" from arts, media, policy and economics; and the "Future" from one of the exact or natural sciences.
This year's winners were chosen from the three categories for their work in macro history, defending democracy and combating climate change, respectively.
Subrahmanyam, an alumni of University of Delhi, holds the Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Social Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which he joined in 2004. He is also the recipient of the Infosys Prize for humanities for his "path-breaking contribution to history".
The eminent historian, who did his doctorate from Delhi School of Economics, began as an economic historian but later branched out to work on political, intellectual and cultural history.
The Dan David Prize is a joint international enterprise endowed by the Dan David Foundation headquartered at Tel Aviv University.
The award ceremony is likely to be held at the university in May.
The prize, now in its 18th year, was established by late Dan David, an international businessman and philanthropist who envisioned a project that would extend beyond traditional academic categorisations.
The winners in the "Present" category for "Defending Democracy" this year has been won by Reporters without Borders, an organisation that works for the freedom of the Press and Prof Michael Ignatieff.
Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who headed Liberal Party of Canada and was also the leader of the official opposition for almost three years.
Christina Figueres, a Costa Rican diplomat has been awarded the prize in the "future" dimension for her role in combating climate change.
Subrahmanyam, with this honour, joins the elite group of other prominent Indian laureates of the Dan David Prize which includes author Amitav Ghosh, music conductor Zubin Mehta, renowned chemist CNR Rao and astronomy professor Shrinivas Kulkarni.
In order to encourage and foster new generations of scholars, the laureates are required to donate 10 per cent of their prize money towards scholarships for graduate or post-graduate researchers in their respective fields.
Other prominent recipients of the award include former US vice president Al Gore, former British premier Tony Blair, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, novelist Margaret Atwood, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales and filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen.
Meanwhile, reacting to Subrahmanyam's achievement, eminent Indian historian and writer Ramachandra Guha tweeted, "Delighted that my college contemporary Sanjay Subrahmanyam has won the Dan David Prize. Our teacher Dharma Kumar said when he was a student: Sanjay will be India's first truly world-class historian . And so it has proved."
He further said, Subrahmanyam "is a true polymath; in his command of languages and sources, his brilliant analytical mind, his interdisciplinary framework, his literary flair. Incidentally all his degrees are in economics, all from the University of Delhi.
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Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
