IACS: THE LEGEND

The intellectual partnership between India and Canada formally commenced when Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute was established in 1968. Early beginnings of efforts towards generating interest in Canadian Studies among Indian academics can be traced back to the seminar on "Indian and Canadian Perspectives on Problems of Federalism" held in the University of Delhi in 1979. More tangible efforts were made in subsequent years when several eminent academics such as Professors A R Desai, Iqbal Narain, J Brije patil and Parthasarthy Gupta visited Canada in 1980 and met academics, university administrators and government officials and when Prof. Sohn C. Weaver of McMaster University visited India in 1981. These exploratory visits by Indian and Canadian academics paved the way for introducing Canadian Studies in India. Implementing the recommendations made by these academics, University Grants Commission designed six centers for developing Canadian Studies in the areas of Literature, History, Political Science, Sociology and Economics. Paricia Morley was among the earliest Canadian academics to come and conduct a six weeklong workshop on Canadian Literature at the M S University of Baroda in 1982. This was followed by a six-week All India Workshop on Canadian Professors of English and attended by ten senior Indian Professors and twenty-five senior university and college teachers from across the country. These workshops generated sufficient interest in Canadian Literature among Indian academics to encourage these universities to introduce courses in Canadian Literature at the M A Degree level. In many ways, this laid the foundation of Canadian Studies Programme in India which was to become, in subsequent years a formidable contributor to the Indian academic scene.

Indian Association for Canadian Studies was established at the first international conference on Canadian Studies held at the MS University of Baroda, in February, 1985. IACS is a voluntary, non-profit, scholarly organization the objectives of which are to promote and encourage teaching, research and publications related to Canadian/Indo-Canadian Studies. IACS attempts to achieve these objectives through its publications, a network of contacts and exchanges between Indian and Canadian universities and the organization of seminars, conferences and workshops. The 716 plus life members of IACS come from different fields of studies in the disciplines of Humanities and Social Sciences and from different regions and universities across the country. The membership spread indicates the deep penetration of Canadian Studies in all part of India.

IACS has, since its inception in 1985, organized fifteen international conferences, more than a hundred national seminars and four international workshops on Canadian Studies at different universities of India. These academic events indicate emphatically the widespread interest in Canadian Studies Programmes in the Indian sub-continent and IACS has played a major role in generating, supporting and sustaining this interest through its promotional activities and endeavours through a comparative and multi-disciplinary approach.

Annual Conferences and Seminars focus on themes of contemporary relevance to both Canada and India which in turn is aimed at developing a greater understanding of the socio-cultural milieu in both the countries. These conferences have over the years become prestigious events which attract participants not only from India and Canada but a very large number from various parts of the globe such as Israel, USA, Germany, France, Italy, China and Japan.