A Round-up of the Kreaverse
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At Krea, each day brings fresh opportunities for discovery, growth, and meaningful connections, making every moment an extraordinary step forward in our collective pursuit of knowledge and excellence.
Last week witnessed the grand opening of Krea University's Virtual Trading Floor. Additionally, we are delighted to share that several of our students showcased exceptional skills in various competitions and inter-college festivals, bringing pride to the University. Meanwhile, our faculty members continued to make significant contributions to the realm of research through paper presentations and engaging lectures.
Looking ahead to the upcoming week, we are eagerly anticipating the book launch event of Professor Mukund Padmanabhan, followed by an insightful discussion that promises to enrich our intellectual discourse even further.
To catch a glimpse of the weekly happenings, read on. For real-time updates, please follow us on our social media channels. If you have stories or news to share with the Krea community, we invite you to connect with us at all.commsteam@krea.edu.in
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We are pleased to announce that Professor Nirmala Rao, Vice-Chancellor of Krea University, will deliver a Talk at IIT Tirupati, as part of the distinguished IIT Tirupati Lecture Series on 14 February, 2024 at 3:00 pm IST. Titled Projections of Empire: The Imperial Expressions of British India, the lecture promises to offer invaluable insights into a significant epoch of history.
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This lecture explores some aspects of the relationship between the British Empire and India. It begins with a discussion of how the British attempted to come to terms with this strange and exotic sub-continent by viewing it through the prism of classical antiquity. Despite attempts to equate Indian and Western civilisation in terms of their common origin, the passions of Liberal reformers led them to transpose their own notions of good governance onto the Indian situation. Opinion was however divided as to whether good governance implied representative institutions, and the debate was settled only by the abrupt concession of freedom from British rule in 1947. The lecture then moves to more subtle ways in which imperial power was expressed through monuments, artefacts, and buildings.
It reviews the ways in which the imperial idea was expressed in India itself through some remarkable architectural syntheses, culminating in the building of Lutyens’ New Delhi. The corollary was the expression of the Imperial idea in London itself – the centre of metropolitan power and the heart of the Empire. A wave of public buildings and monuments in central London signified the heroism and might of the Empire. In time, commercial interests and anxiety about global competition transformed the expectations of the Empire. Following Indian independence, London thrived for a while on its historic trade links. Eventually, the imperial city faded away to be eclipsed by the new image of the global city leaving just a residue of nostalgia for the India that Britain had lost.
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Krea University invites you to the book launch of Professor Mukund Padmanabhan, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, School of Interwoven Arts and Sciences (SIAS), Krea University on 15 February, 2024, 2:30 - 4:30 pm at Kothari Hall on Sri City campus. The book is titled The Great Flap of 1942: How the Raj Panicked over a Non-Japanese Invasion.
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Professor Mukund Padmanabhan will be in conversation with Dr Aashique Ahmed Iqbal, Assistant Professor of History, SIAS, Krea University and the closing remarks will be delivered by Dr Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi, Dean, SIAS, Krea University.
The Great Flap of 1942 is a narrative history of a neglected and scarcely known period ― between December 1941 and mid-1942 ― when all of India was caught in a state of panic. This was largely a result of the British administration’s mistaken belief that Japan was on the verge of launching a full-fledged invasion. It was a time when the Raj became unduly alarmed, when the tongue of rumour wagged wildly about Japanese prowess and British weakness and when there was a huge and largely unmapped exodus (of Indians and Europeans) from both sides of the coastline to ‘safer’ inland regions. This book demonstrates, quite astonishingly, that the Raj cynically encouraged the exodus and contributed to the repeated cycles of rumour, panic and flight. It also reveals how the shadow of the Japanese threat influenced the course of nationalist politics, altered British attitudes towards India and charted the course towards Independence.
The title of the book refers to an expression used by British bureaucrats in India ― traces a broad narrative arc, starting with the Japanese attacks in South-East Asia. The assault on Malaya, the conquest of Singapore, the bombing and eventual occupation of Burma, and the Japanese Navy’s foray into the Indian Ocean are examined in the light of the tremendous impact they had on India.
An interview of the author regarding his work has appeared in The Statesman. Read here
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On 2 February, 2024, Krea University inaugurated its Virtual Trading Floor and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Zerodha Broking Ltd. Jobosco Das, Senior Associate Vice President at Zerodha Broking, inaugurated the Virtual Trading Floor. Also present at the event were Professor Nirmala Rao, Vice-Chancellor, Krea University, Professor Lakshmi Kumar, Dean, IFMR Graduate School of Business (GSB), Krea University, Sundara Rajan, Registrar and Chief of Staff, Krea University, Professor Srinivasan Kalyanasundaram, Professor of Practice in Finance, IFMR GSB, Krea University, alongside other faculty members and students. The state-of-the-art Virtual Trading Floor provides students at Krea University with an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge of financial securities and derivatives in a real-world, simulated trading environment.
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The partnership between Krea University and Varsity By Zerodha will enable Krea University students to have free access to all online training modules and, at a nominal fee, certifications offered by Zerodha Varsity. This includes courses on various aspects of investing, trading, and financial markets, all delivered by industry experts and practitioners.
Read more
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All Things Entrepreneurship
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The Centre for Entrepreneurship (CFE) at Krea University serves as a hub for students and faculty to explore their entrepreneurial aspirations and turn groundbreaking ideas into reality.
The 'Zero to One' pre-seed funding round, a significant event in CFE's calendar, took place at the Krea University Admin Office on 3 February, 2024, marking a milestone in the organisation's efforts to support aspiring entrepreneurs.
This event featured a panel of esteemed judges, including Anil Srinivasan, Founder, Kruu, Sathyanarayanan Ramachandran, Associate Professor of Marketing at IFMR GSB, Krea University, and Professor Vijayalakshmi C, Professor of OB & HRM at IFMR GSB, Krea University, who evaluated the finalists' pitches.
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A standout moment was the recognition of Sibling, a mental health platform co-founded by Mitansh Aggarwal and Viney Jain from SIAS, Cohort of 2025, which received a grant of ₹1.5 lakh, highlighting CFE's commitment to supporting projects with significant social impact. Additionally, all finalists were offered mentoring opportunities by the panel of experts to aid in the development of their businesses.
Besides this, CFE also organises workshops to educate participants and fuel their entrepreneurial passions. These workshops, coupled with networking opportunities, play a crucial role in fostering a vibrant and supportive community of young entrepreneurs.
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Dr Praveen Bhagawan, Associate Professor & Area Chair – Finance & Accounting, Quantitative Finance and Dr Jyoti Prasad Mukhopadhyay, Associate Professor & Area Chair – Economics, IFMR GSB, Krea University have co-authored a research paper titled Does mandatory expenditure on CSR affect firm value? Empirical evidence from Indian firms, published in the Journal of Accounting Literature (JAL).
JAL is a highly regarded peer-reviewed journal and is categorised as "A" as per the ABDC journal classification, with Impact Factor = 5.6 and SJR (2022) = 1.4 (Q1).
Read more
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Sathyanarayanan R, Sundram Fasteners Associate Professor, Marketing at IFMR GSB, Krea University has been invited by the Network for Business Sustainability, powered by the Centre for Building Sustainable Value at the Ivey Business School (Western University, Canada), to present his Purpose, Permanence and sustainability teaching intervention in the Brand Management elective course of the IFMRGSB's MBA programme. The intervention covers the idea of the economy of permanence of Gandhian economist J C Kumarappa, the deep purpose continuum of Harvard Business School Professor Ranjay Gulati, and the ENROADS climate action simulation of Climate Interactive and MIT Management Sustainability Initiative. Sathyanarayanan R will deliver this talk in March 2024, during the Global webinar on teaching climate in business schools.
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Congratulations to Harshi Shah, Ansh Bhargava, Tejas Narayan, and Krithi Raghavan from SIAS, Krea University for advancing to the national round of the HSBC India Business Competition. Out of the 12 participating teams from prestigious institutions, they were selected as one of the six to proceed to the nationals, scheduled to be held in Mumbai this month.
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Dancing Their Way to Glory
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TBD, Krea University's all-girls dance crew, an extension of Mudra, the SIAS Dance Club, participated in Kurukshetra, the inter-college student-run fest of FLAME University. The team competed in both solo and crew dance categories. Diya Gupta, Cohort of 2025, secured second place in the solo dance competition. However, the crew, while not securing a position, was placed 4th and gained valuable insights on how to improve and excel in future competitions.
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TBD, Krea University's all-girls dance crew, an extension of Mudra, the SIAS Dance Club, organised its first fundraiser showcase at the Open Air Theatre (OAT) on Sri City campus on 6 February, 2024. The crew, led by Avani Bipinkumar, comprised 11 performers from both SIAS and IFMR GSB (5 Year Integrated BBA + MBA Programme) – Aakansha Khetan, Ananyaa Premanand, Avani Bipinkumar, Diya Gupta, Hiya Thakkar, Ishita Vohra, Megha Amudhan, Radha Ragamalika, Sarah Subhash, Sagarika Reddy and Tanishka Nandakumar. The crew showcased a diverse variety of dance performances at the OAT with their concluding performance being the one performed by them at FLAME Kurukshetra, FLAME University.
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The dance showcase was followed by a dance battle in SH - 3 with Nathan Upputuru and Anutthaman AB as disc jockeys. Various members of the crew again displayed their spontaneous talents in a thoroughly engaging manner through the battle.
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Dr Jayaram Ramakrishnan, Associate Professor – Finance, Accounting & Quantitative Finance, IFMR GSB, Krea University, was invited as a speaker to the MSME Conclave of the 72nd Indian Foundry Congress on 1 February, 2024 in Bengaluru. He addressed an august audience on the topic of Foundry Cost Accounting Practice & Procedure.
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Virundhu/The Feast, a short film produced by Krea University, and directed by Rishi Chandna has been shortlisted to be screened at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, between 2 and 10 February, 2024. It is one of the 66 films selected to be screened from 9,500 entries received from across 52 countries.
The Feast is based in Pulicat, situated on the southeastern coast of India, straddling the border between Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and explores the critical theme of depleting water resources and environmental challenges.
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Conceptualised as a science and imagination film, the aim is to shift narratives on water through a combination of long-term research and public outreach. The short film focusses on water pollution and its overarching impact not only on the environment but on society as well.
Read more
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As part of the Krea Chronicles series, Masaya Sahoo from the MBA Cohort of 2022-24 at IFMR GSB, Krea University speaks about his journey and key takeaways at the University.
View more
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Into the World of Translation
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1) The Literature programme at Krea University organised a talk titled The Agony and Ecstasy of Translation on 7 February, 2024 on Sri City campus. In this freewheeling session about the act and art of translation as a practice, V Ramaswamy and Amrita Bera, eminent and award-winning translators reflected on their practice as translators, their styles; what they choose to translate, and what they do not.
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2) The Literature programme at Krea and The Moturi Satyanarayana Centre for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences organised a lecture titled A Life in Other Tongues: Writing the Self, The Act of Translation and the Question of Dalit Agency on 6 February, 2024 on Sri City campus. This event centred around a set of readings and discussion around Manoranjan Bapari’s autobiographical fiction trilogy Chandal Jibon.
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The Moturi Satyanarayana Centre for Advanced Study in the Humanities & Social Sciences organised a hybrid talk titled How India’s first wildlife conservation success came to be? by Dr Biswajit Sarmah on 7 February, 2024. The speaker explained this breakthrough by exploring the history of rhino conservation in the Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary (1948-1974, now a national park), the epicentre of the success. This chronological first helps us view Indian conservation history in a different light. It underscores the role of regional political elites in conservation and emphasises how the agro-ecological context and cultural politics reshape conservation.
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As part of the Krea Econversations series, Dr Jaideep Roy, Professor of Economics at the University of Bath, delivered a virtual talk titled Individual versus Group Morality: the Role of Information on 8 February, 2024. The talk addressed how a rise in the number of moral individuals in a group can hurt the morality of the group's collective action with unexpected consequences for the powerless. The speaker argued that this may have nothing to do with the standard arguments leading to non-cooperative distortions. He then characterised strategic environments and models of morality where this is true solely because, after all, individual morals are private information. He then studied the role of pre-play communication in mitigating such distortionary effects.
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Breaking Down Bootstrapping
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1) The Krea Computer Science Talks series is organising a talk titled Visual Art in Computing: It’s All Fun and Games Until You Can’t Pass Math by Prof Shriram Krishnamurthi from Brown University and Bootstrap on 15 February, 2024 at Kothari Hall on Sri City Campus. Bootstrap is one of the largest computing outreach programmes in the US (and sees use in other countries too). Unlike most other programmes in this space, which teach computing as a stand-alone discipline, Bootstrap emphasises integration, i.e. teaching computing in conjunction with other subjects like algebra, physics, and data science. Key parts of the Bootstrap curriculum make extensive use of visual media: images, animations, and video games.
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In addition to describing the project overall, Prof Krishnamurthi will discuss these uses of visual media. This will force a discussion on the role of creativity and how it ties to accomplishing necessary and important curricular goals. The talk will also touch on accessibility issues.
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2) Programming education, seemingly obviously, focusses on the writing of programs. But when novices struggle with programming, a lot of their difficulty is not with the program per se. What else is there? What do we know about it? And how can we make their experience better? Another talk, on the same day, at 6:00 pm in Enigma on Sri City campus by Prof Shriram Krishnamurthi titled Programming Before you Program will summarise computing education research that asks and answers these questions. This is part of the Krea Computer Science Talk series.
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Admin office: 196, T.T.K. Road, Alwarpet, Chennai - 600018
Campus: 5655, Central Express Way, Sri City, Andhra Pradesh - 517464
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