The New India Foundation uniquely matches public-spirited philanthrophy with ground-breaking and relevant scholarship. In the six decades since Independence, there has been a large body of work produced by Indian historians and social scientists. Taken singly, many of these studies are very impressive; viewed cumulatively, they add up to much less than what one might expect. The chief reason for this is the determining influence on scholarly practice of that single date: 15th August, 1947. Historians don't look beyond the attainment of Independence, whereas other social scientists don't look back at all. We have solid studies of the Congress under British rule, yet there are no systematic historical studies of this most influential of political parties in the post-independence period. Again, there are numerous ethnographic accounts of the caste system conducted in the fifties, the sixties, the seventies, and the eighties. Yet, we have no analytical overview of caste since Independence. These examples could be multiplied manifold. The Republic of India is a Union of twenty-eight states, some larger than France and Germany. Yet not even the biggest or most important of these states have had their histories written. Again, there are no serious biographies of some of the key figures in our modern history: such as Sheikh Abdullah or C. N. Annadurai or A. Z. Phizo or (to take figures from very different fields) Pandit Ravi Shankar or Dhirubhai Ambani.     Given India's size, its importance, and its interest, and given that this is our country, the lack of good research on its modern history is unfortunate. It is this lack that the New India Foundation seeks to address, by sponsoring high quality original research on different aspects of independent India.