Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies

With the start of the birth centenary celebrations of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in 1989, the need for a research institute devoted to the study of his life and writings as well as area studies, especially to the research in secular Islam in Asian countries was felt by the governor of West Bengal, Prof. Nurul Hasan, who took the main initiative in founding this institute in Calcutta. He was the founder of this institute.[1] It took a few years before such a plan could be fully implemented, and the foundation stone of the institute was laid on a newly acquired plot close to the Salt Lake stadium in Calcutta in 1993 by the then president of India, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, in the presence of the then Human Resource Development Minister Shri Arjun Singh, Prof. Nurul Hasan, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Shri Jyoti Basu, the Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, Dr. Najma Heptullah, and the then Minister for Higher Education of the Government of West Bengal, Shri Satyasadhan Chakraborty. Prof. Barun De, formerly first Director, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, was given the responsibility of organising the event.

The Azad Bhavan, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies.

Inauguration of Azad Bhavan - Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies by the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh at the Science City Auditorium – Kolkata

Prof. Nurul Hasan, was the founder-president of the institute's society and the executive council. Professor Satish Chandra, formerly chairman, University Grants Commission, Delhi, was appointed as the first vice chairman of the executive council, and Prof. Barun De was appointed as the first director of the institute.[2]

At this time the former residence of Maulana Azad at 19, Ballygunge Circular Road, presently 5, Ashraf Mistry Lane (better known locally as Lovelock Lane off Ballygunge Circular Road), was handed over by the Government of West Bengal to the institute. It was meant house a museum. Soon the institute shifted to 567, Diamond Harbour Road, Calcutta, where it temporarily occupied two large floors of a rented house. Later, at the turn of the present century, it was shifted to Maulana Azad's house, where both the institute and its museum were located until 2010. A new building, named 'Azad Bhavan', has been subsequently built on the one-acre plot given to it in Salt Lake, where the institute has now been shifted. The museum will remain in Maulana Azad's house, now renamed Maulana Azad Museum.[3][4][5]

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It is registered as a society under the West Bengal Registration of Societies Act, 1961. It is mainly financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India. His Excellency, the governor of West Bengal is the president of the society of the institute. Dr. Sujit Kumar Ghosh is the chairman of the institute. Dr. Sarup Prasad Ghosh is the institute's present director.

Maulana Azad's home is an example of twentieth-century colonial architecture. It is situated off the Ballygunge maidan and close to landmark buildings of the city. The location of the new building is also well-appointed, given its centrality in Salt Lake. It is close to other educational institutions, such as the Calcutta campus of the Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Calcutta, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the S.N. Bose National Centre for the Basic Sciences, Calcutta, the Salt Lake campus of the University of Calcutta, the Salt Lake campus of Jadavpur University, Calcutta, the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Calcutta, the College of Leather Technology, Calcutta and the National University of Juridical Sciences, Calcutta.

• Anisuzzaman, visiting fellow.
• Barun De, Maulana Azad Fellow.
• Jayanta Kumar Ray, Maulana Azad Fellow.
• Krishnan Srinivasan, Distinguished Fellow.

• Education in India

• Official website
• Maulana Azad Museum