Nationality Indian Role Professor | Name Amitabh Mattoo Spouse(s) Ajita Mattoo Residence Melbourne, Australia | |
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Native name अमिताभ मट्टू, امیتابھ مٹو Children Ishita Vasundhara Mattoo, Vandita Yashodhara Mattoo Website amitabhmattoo.blogspot.com | ||
modiinoz a recap of pm narendra modi s visit to australia by professor amitabh mattoo
Professor Amitabh Mattoo (Urdu, امیتابھ مٹو) (born 26 June 1962, in Srinagar) is one of India's leading thinkers and writers on international relations. He is currently Advisor to the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, with the status of a Cabinet Minister.. Professor Mattoo chairs the Knowledge Initiative, with the Education Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, appointed by the government to recommend interventions in schools, colleges and institutions of higher learning to make the education system socially relevant and global competitive. He is also Honorary Director of the Australia India Institute @Delhi. He also serves, in an honorary capacity, as Chairman of the Governing Board of Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi ( the highest NAAC ranked College of which the superstar Amitabh Bachchan is a notable alumnus) . Mattoo has been the chief executive officer & inaugural Director of the Australia India Institute and Professor of International Relations at the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He is the co-chair of the Australia India Leadership Dialogue. and co-Chairs the Chaophrya Dialogue, the most influential Track II process between India and Pakistan. Amitabh Mattoo is widely regarded as an inspiring and innovative builder of institutions and the foremost Indian intellectual seeking to build peace in the South Asian region.
Contents
- modiinoz a recap of pm narendra modi s visit to australia by professor amitabh mattoo
- Prof amitabh mattoo speaks at iec networking event
- Family Early life and Education
- Career
- Awards
- References
He is on leave from New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University where he serves as a Professor of Disarmament Studies at the School of International Studies. Mattoo has been a Member of the National Knowledge Commission, a high-level advisory group to the Prime Minister of India, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jammu.
Mattoo has been President of the Indian Association of International Studies. From November 2002 until early December 2008, he was the youngest ever Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jammu, and the second youngest Vice-Chancellor in the history of modern India. Only Syama Prasad Mookerjee was a younger Vice-Chancellor, when he became VC of Calcutta University in 1934 at the age of 33.
Mattoo serves on the Collegium (and earlier on theGoverning Council) of the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR), the Executive Committee and Governing Council of Pugwash, the Nobel Prize–winning NGO, and is a member of the Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Well Being. Mattoo has been a member of the Academic Council of Vishwabharti University as well as the Executive Council of the Central University of Karnataka and serves on the Executive Council of the Central University of Jammu. He was appointed a member of India's National Security Council's Advisory Board by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he has been a Director of the India-Afghanistan Foundation (established by the governments of India and Afghanistan) and was a member of the task force constituted by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Global Strategic Developments. The Task Force examined global trends in strategic affairs and their implications for India. His expertise and advice has been sought on matters of national security and foreign policy across parties and governments.
Prof amitabh mattoo speaks at iec networking event
Family, Early life and Education
Amitabh Mattoo comes from a renowned Kashmiri Pandit family of Kashmir, which never left the valley even during the years of conflict. Before the land reforms in Jammu and Kashmir, Mattoo's family was one of the biggest landlords in the state. His grand father, Pandit Raghunath Mattoo was famously known as Jenab Sahib for his generosity and philanthropy, and was Wazir-i-Wazarat and later Governor. His great-grandfather was Pandit Suraj Kak Mattoo who brought up Kashmir Muslim orphans as his own and introduced radical social reforms amongst the Kashmiri Pandits. Mattoo's account of the flight from his flooded home in Srinagar in September 2014 went viral on the web. The poet laureate of Kashmir, Ghulam Ahmed Mehjoor, celebrated Suraj Kak's life in the following verse: "Shed your confrontations; find true love in one another. Look how Suraj Kak nurtured Muslims orphans like his own sons. That is the love to discover in one another"
Mattoo had his early education in Burn Hall School, Srinagar and the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He earned a D. Phil in International Relations from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom writing a history of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Mattoo qualified for the Indian Police Service in 1987 through the combined civil service exam but preferred a career in academics.
Career
He has been visiting professor at Stanford University, USA, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been Chairperson of the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Director & CEO of the Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne.
Mattoo has published books on India's nuclear policy and India-Pakistan relations and has written on Kashmir. Mattoo has published ten books and more than 100 research articles (including in journals like Survival and Asian Survey). He writes for Indian newspapers, including The Telegraph and The Hindu and is a commentator on television.
Mattoo became the youngest Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jammu in November 2002 and continued in this position until December 2008. As a patron of the arts, he was responsible for building a world-class auditorium in Jammu University, which also hosts an art gallery and a museum. Leading artists of India, including Jogen Chaudhary, have donated their work to the gallery. As President of the J&K chapter of SPIC-Macay, he was responsible for the University becoming a centre of culture.
Mattoo's attempts at conflict resolution and peace building(combining theory with practice) have been publicly acclaimed. He was a member of the committee, appointed by the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir in 2008, which negotiated the controversial Amarnath land transfer row, which had led to uprisings in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mattoo has been a leading advocate of reconciliation between Kashmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims and between India and Pakistan. He co-chairs the Chaophraya Dialogue, the most respected Track II dialogue between India and Pakistan, with Ambassador Sherry Rehman from Pakistan.
On 3 February 2011, in a meeting with India's Education Minister Kapil Sibal, Mattoo declined to be the Founding Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Jammu – for which he had been selected by a search committee of eminent academics and approved by the President of India – citing personal reasons. Earlier, he was in the shortlist of three for the Vice-Chancellorship of Jawaharlal Nehru University. The Human Resources Development Ministry, however, took the view that a scientist needed to be the Vice-Chancellor. On 1 March 2011 the University of Melbourne appointed Mattoo as the inaugural director of the Australia India Institute. The chairman of the Institute's Board, University of Melbourne Chancellor the Hon. Alex Chernov AO QC (now Governor of Victoria) said: “We are delighted to have as Director a person of world renowned academic and administrative calibre such as Professor Mattoo. He has a wealth of experience in areas concerned with university affairs, government and other institutions." Mattoo will also serve as a Professor of International Relations in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne. On 26 June 2011, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah made an open offer to noted academician Amitabh Mattoo to return to the state and 'advise us'.
On 21 August 2015, Mattoo was appointed as Advisor to the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state.
Awards
Recognizing his contribution to education and public life, the President of India honoured Mattoo on the occasion of the Republic Day (2008) with the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian awards, the first time a Vice-chancellor in Jammu and Kashmir has been so honoured.
Mattoo was awarded the Qimpro Platinum Standard Award (2008)and was recognised as a National Statesman for his work in the field of education along with Anand Mahindra who was awarded for his leadership in business.
In 2016, Mattoo was awarded a Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) by Hindustan University, Tamil Nadu.