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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Russia, China object to US UNSC Presidency's Programme of Work over Iran
United Nations (PTI): In a development highlighting polarisation in the UN Security Council, the monthly programme of work for the US Presidency of the powerful UN organ could not be adopted after Russia and China raised objections concerning Iran.
The United States, a veto-wielding permanent member, assumed the Presidency of the 15-nation UN Security Council for the month of March. As is customary, a monthly programme of work that outlines the Council’s anticipated meetings and events for the month is adopted by the UN body at the commencement of the Presidency.
The Council President then briefs the media in the UN headquarters on the UNSC programme of work and agenda for the month.
However, the US-drafted programme of work for its monthly presidency of the Council could not be adopted on Monday after the other veto-wielding permanent members Russia and China raised objections pertaining to the 1737 Sanctions Committee concerning Iran.
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“Russia & China objected to the adoption of the US-drafted UNSC PoW (Programme of Work) for March,” Russia’s Permanent Mission to the UN said.
“We were compelled to take this step because the provisional programme of work proposed by the US included a briefing on the work of the 1737 Sanctions Committee concerning Iran, whose work was allegedly resumed in September 2025 following the triggering by the UK, France, and Germany of the “snapback” mechanism to reimpose the anti-Iranian Security Council resolutions,” Russia said.
“In February, we once again brought our position on this matter to the attention of our US colleagues, urging them to refrain from including such an event in the provisional programme of work. Unfortunately, our appeal remained unheeded. For this very reason, we had no other choice but to object to the adoption of the UNSC programme of work for March,” it said.
The UN Security Council had in 2015 adopted a resolution that implemented the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) concerning Iran's nuclear programme. In August 2020, the United States invoked the resolution's "snapback" mechanism, under which the Security Council can reimpose UN sanctions.
Last year, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (UK) (collectively known as the "E3") invoked the snapback mechanism, which resulted in the sanctions being reimposed on Iran on September 27, 2025 “based on Iran’s continuing “significant non-performance” of its nuclear commitments.”
In the wake of the failure of the adoption of its monthly Programme of Work, the US released its “Plan of Work” outlining the Council’s anticipated meetings and events for the month.
A press conference by the US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz to brief members of the media on the Programme of Work, initially scheduled for March 3, was also cancelled.
Council Presidents traditionally host about two signature events during their presidency. The first signature event by the US was a briefing on March 2 titled “Children, Technology, and Education in Conflict” under agenda item “Maintenance of international peace and security” which was presided over by First Lady Melania Trump, a history-making event since it was the first time ever that the spouse of a world leader chaired a UNSC meeting.
The second signature event that the US is expected to host will be a briefing on ‘Energy, critical minerals, and security’.
The US took over the UNSC gavel just a day after it, along with Israel, launched military strikes against Iran, killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior leaders. Tehran launched retaliatory attacks against American and Israeli targets in West Asia, a region that is now plunged in a devastating war that is impacting millions of civilians.
