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Kiran Kumbhar @kikumbhar.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

"A sensible approach for viewers is to consider every period film to be, by default, filled with historical inaccuracies, some having less, some more... 'Mangal Pandey' actually seems to have gotten right many details about the mid-19th century medical & health context." thewire.in/article/arti...

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Kiran Kumbhar @kikumbhar.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Two themes in South Asian history that need more critique are: needless,endless wrangling over the migrations of Indo-Aryan-speaking ppl 4kya; & the recent hero-worship of genetic studies (which sure do much good) I distilled my thoughts on these topics in an @aeon.co essay: aeon.co/essays/ancie...

aeon.co

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Kiran Kumbhar @kikumbhar.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Using the example of a recent econ history paper, I urge scholars to not gloss over the realities of European colonialism. There's little point in carefully quantifying the white man's "burden" if we're also simultaneously pampering the white man's sentiments. thewire.in/society/when...

thewire.in

When Academic Scholars Refuse to Acknowledge European Colonial Exploitation

Just as one can’t write a meaningful academic analysis of the metrics and economics of Europe’s Industrial Revolution by skipping foundational concepts and terms like “efficiency” and “productivity”, ...

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Reposted by Kiran Kumbhar

Center for the Advanced Study of India @casipenn.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

INDIA IN TRANSITION: "Does India Have Too Many Doctors?" CASI Postdoc @kikumbhar.bsky.social argues that India no longer suffers from a shortage of doctors, and for meaningful future health policy, this new reality must be taken seriously by policymakers & experts casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/kiran-ku...

casi.sas.upenn.edu

Does India Have Too Many Doctors? | Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI)

In 2025, while researching the recent rapid increase in the number of medical colleges in India, I discovered that this aspect of the country’s medical education policy was based, shockingly, on a non...

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Kiran Kumbhar @kikumbhar.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

The good folks at India's The Wire have recruited me to write a regular column on history. In this inaugural essay, I talk about the myths around the history of plastic surgery and the Sushruta-samhita, & about the semi-famous Cowasjee who got a "nose job" in 1794. thewire.in/history/the-...

thewire.in

The History of Sushruta and the Famous 'Indian Nose Job'

The famous Cowasji’s unknown “plastic surgeon” was not an elite Ayurvedist, but was nevertheless a skilled practitioner, and belonged to the larger traditions and knowledge-systems of medicine in the ...

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Kiran Kumbhar @kikumbhar.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

On the importance of Tolerance as the very bedrock of the freedoms we so love: "We don’t think twice before listing freedom as an essential value and as a fundamental right. However, we often forget the other side of the civic coin – toleration."

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Kiran Kumbhar @kikumbhar.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

For years, public health experts (incl me) believed that India suffers from a severe scarcity of doctors, that the WHO says 1:1000 doctor-population ratio is needed. The reality, as it turns out, is far more complex. And there's NO WHO norm of that sort. www.theindiaforum.in/education/co...

theindiaforum.in

A Costly Number is Behind India's Medical Education Woes

A rapid expansion in medical colleges has been justified by India’s poor doctor-to-population ratio. The shortage of doctors, though, might be an invented figure.

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Kiran Kumbhar @kikumbhar.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

Requesting folks to check out the website "University of History". My attempt - just one among many others by so many good folks - to serve as a helpful guide to how scholarly historians think, analyse and write. Here's a recent article from there: historyprofessor.in/2024/12/27/h...

historyprofessor.in

Historiography 101: Examples from South Asian History

Consider this quote from an article on Indian/South Asian history: “It has been only in recent years that the influence of ideologies on the interpretation of Indian history has been recognized; pe…

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