Andre Beteille is new chancellor of Ashoka University

Ashoka University announced the appointment of Andre Beteille as new chancellor. Professor Andre Beteille was National Research Professor and Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics. professor Rudrangshu Mukherjee, a historian and eminent journalist was appointed as the vice-chancellor of the university.

Andre Beteille has received Padma Bhushan in 2005 for his contributions in the field of Sociology. His studies of south india's cast system has been very famous.

Rudrangshu Mukherjee is a well know historian and author. He studied at Calcutta Boys' School, Presidency College, Kolkata, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and St Edmund Hall, Oxford.

Sinha said: "Ashoka University is an attempt to build India's finest university. We are privileged to have two eminent Indian academics as the university's leaders and are most inspired that both Ashoka's chancellor and vice-chancellor will also teach at the university, setting the right tone for its future."

Beteille said: "I see this new initiative as a much needed intervention in the Indian higher education space. I look forward to collaborating with bright young minds at Ashoka and helping them follow their passions."

Guha, an academic council member of the university said: "I hold Andre Beteille to be India's greatest as well as wisest social scientist. He is a world-renowned scholar of inequality, a beloved teacher, and an extremely influential public intellectual. Rudrangshu Mukherjee is an outstanding historian who, like Professor Beteille, has effortlessly bridged the words of academics and public commentary. Both are genuine liberals, unencumbered by dogma or ideology, always open to debate and dialogue in the pursuit of truth. I am delighted that the students and faculty at Ashoka will now have the opportunity to be guided by these two exemplary scholars and mentors."

Basu, senior pice president and chief economist, World Bank, said: "Andre Beteille, one of the most famous sociologists, not just in India... becoming Chancellor speaks very well to (Ashoka])... he has got very wide Indian experience... (having) been involved with a whole slew of Indian institutions and been a very distinguished professor...Rudrangshu is a natural scholar. He has been a journalist for several years of his life... [and] his forte is scholarship. He is just a naturally creative, interested human being."