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Ian Magedera's research on French-Indian relations led to collaboration with the multinational Tata Group around a series of events linking the company's history and that of the French resort town of Hardelot. The research took place between 2008 and 2013. Impact activities began in 2011 and are ongoing. The project benefited Tata Group by providing material for use in public relations and in consciousness-raising among its large workforce. The citizens of Hardelot benefited from the promotion of tourism, a new perspective on their history, and enhanced civic identity. The research made leaders in industry and government aware of the history of Franco-Indian economic relations, and was accepted as offering a new point of reference for future business dialogue.
The key impact in India of the work conducted by Prof C A Bayly and Dr S Kapila has been to reposition the history of ideas as a crucial tool for understanding contemporary politics. For two generations, the study of Indian politics has been dominated by economistic and interest-based models and, more recently, by a notion of political `culture' that has tended to drive ideas out. Bayly and Kapila have made common cause against this approach. The most visible public manifestation of their impact was a public meeting convened in Delhi in September 2012 bringing together political leaders, prominent journalists and leading academics. At its core were debates concerning the significance of liberalism, socialism and revolutionary activism in modern and contemporary India. There was wide coverage in the Indian national media. Their work and their joint advocacy have contributed to the new prominence assigned to ideas in contemporary Indian political discourse.