Indira Gandhi's name slashed from Oxford centre

A centre built by Somerville college in the University of Oxford in 2013 which was named after Indira Gandhi has observed the name of the former prime minister was dropped after the Modi government.



With a £3 million grant from India, the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD) was launched during the tenure of the Manmohan Singh government. Gandhi, an alumnus of the college, studied Modern History there in 1937.

The MoU to set up the centre was signed in May 2013 after then minister for human resources development MM Pallam Raju visited the college. The Indian grant of £3 million was matched by the University of Oxford, reported The Hindustan Times.

An education brief of the Indian government in 2016 suggests the name was changed during the year. College officials, however, stated that there had been no pressure from New Delhi to change the name.

The brief states, "The Indira Gandhi Centre for Sustainable Development (IGCSD), established at the College with Government of India providing seed money of Rs 25 crore   (GBP 3 million) – has begun work. The Centre is now called Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD). The Centre would be housed in a new building on Oxford University’s Redcliff Observatory Quarter adjacent to Somerville College. The Centre would be fully established in time for the centenary celebrations of Smt Gandhi’s birth on November 19, 1917," reported The Hindustan Times.

Alice Prochaska, principal of the college, said, "We have committed to use our ‘best endeavours’ to set up an ‘inspirational research facility’, i.e an Indira Gandhi Centre for Sustainable Development, in a building on our site, and we are using our best endeavours to achieve the funding for a building that will indeed house the Indira Gandhi Centre."

"The prestigious building is a long-term plan and if we achieve it, will be larger than only the IG Centre but will include the IG Centre.  The overall building could be named for the donor. While these plans are evolving, we are using the overarching name of the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development for the current activity, which includes the Indira Gandhi Scholars and programme," she further added.



Gandhi visited the college in 1971 to receive an honorary doctorate. In 2002, Congress president Sonia Gandhi presented a portrait of the former prime minister, which hangs alongside a painting of Margaret Thatcher, another alumnus of the college.

The centre with the new name was seen as part of 'An historic Oxford-India Partnership'.