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my colleague Kristina Roepstorff and I, we are seeking other scholars to join our panel "India as a humanitarian actor: newbie or old hand?" for the upcoming BASAS conferences in Leeds in April 2013.Please see the following panel abstract:"India is generally regarded a major recipient of humanitarian and development assistance. Recent studies and analyses however draw attention to Indias growing importance as humanitarian actor. While still being a recipient of development assistance, India increasingly plays an active part in humanitarian assistance by channeling funds through multilateral organizations and by contributing to policy discussions and innovations. At the same time, and in light of the financial crises, traditional donors welcome the increasing involvement of non-traditional donors in humanitarian assistance.Highlighting the shift from recipient to donor, these studies more often than not portray India as a new player in the field of humanitarian assistance. While Indias engagement in humanitarian assistance has certainly taken a new dimension over the last decade, characterized among other things by a growing involvement at the international level, Indias history and practice of humanitarian assistance has yet to be studied systematically. Taking an interdisciplinary and diachronic approach, the panel thus explores Indias role in humanitarian assistance from the beginning of the 20th century until today. Placing Indias role in humanitarian assistance within the broader historical and political context, the panel addresses questions regarding the emergence of humanitarianism in India, the nature and geographical allocation pattern of humanitarian aid over time, and compares Indias role as humanitarian actor in the past and present."We are particular interested in papers dealing with the history of India's humanitarian action in the period 1945-1990.If you are interested, please send us an email or an abstract (150-200 words). The deadline is 5 Dec. 2013.Best Maria Framkemaria.framke@hu-berlin.deKristina.Roepstorff@swp-berlin.orgMaria FramkeHumboldt-University BerlinSFB 640