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Dr. Ajay Kumar Patnaik is Professor and former Chairperson in the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. A PhD from JNU, Prof. Patnaik was Visiting Scholar in the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK (1992-93); ICSSR Exchange Scholar at the Institute of Ethnography, Moscow (1999) and at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow (2010); Visiting Solanki Professor and Scholar in Residence at Yadunandan Centre for Indian Studies, California State University, USA (2006). He has authored three books—Nations, Minorities and States in Central Asia (2003), Central Asia: Between Modernity and Tradition (1995) and Perestroika and Women Labour Force in Soviet Central Asia (1989). Prof. Patnaik has contributed many articles and research papers in referred journals such as Europe-Asia Studies, Frontiers of Sociology, Security and Society, Turkic Civilisation Studies, History Research, Contemporary Central Asia, Dialogue and World Focus. He has edited six books and presented numerous research papers in International Seminars/Conferences in India and abroad.

Prof. Tulsiram, currently the Director of the UGC’s Russian and Central Asian Area Studies Programme in the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, was the former Chairperson of the Centre. Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies at Moscow and St. Petersburg, Prof. Tulsiram is a prominent critic on Indian Literature and Buddhism. Having a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh, he also has another Master’s in International Relations from the School of International Studies, JNU, and holds a PhD degree in Soviet Studies from the same School. At present, Prof. Tulsiram is working on Trans-Caucasia and Buddhism in Russia and is on the academic bodies of several universities in India.