University of Michigan scholar Joyojeet Pal will deliver the first annual Moti Lal and Kamla Rustgi Lecture on India at 4 p.m. Oct. 17 in the Screening Room, 112 Center for the Arts, North Campus.

Pal will discuss “Technopopulism and the Assault on Indian Democracy” at the event, which is free and open to the public.

This new lecture series on India is made possible by an endowed gift to the UB Asia Research Institute from Vinod and Anil Rustgi in honor of their parents. Funding from the Rustgi family also supports the Moti Lal Rustgi Memorial Lecture Series in physics that honors of their father, a celebrated teacher and researcher in the UB Department of Physics from 1966-1992. In 2017, Vinod and Anil Rustgi also began supporting an undergraduate conference on South Asia, positioning UB as the only university in the United States to host an annual conference on South Asia specifically for undergraduates.

The Moti Lal and Kamla Rustgi Lecture series will help promote awareness of current developments in India, a country of vital importance to UB. A leader among U.S. universities engaged with India, UB is home to a large community of students, faculty and researchers from that country. Moreover, UB is currently partnering with leading institutions in India, including a number of the IITs, on leading-edge research to address the world’s most pressing technological challenges.

The inaugural speaker Pal is associate professor of information in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on the role of technology in democracy and labor, with an emphasis on social media in mainstream politics, particularly in India, and on misinformation networks online. He earned  PhD in city and regional planning, and a master’s degrees in Asian studies and information management and systems, both from the University of California, Berkeley.

In his lecture, Pal will discuss the concept of technocracy, which emphasizes using rational, efficient approaches to policymaking and administration as a basis for political legitimacy. His research findings show how technology — especially digital technology and its modern language — has been portrayed as a means to enhance and deliver governance and has been integrated into the appeal of charismatic leaders in India over the past 30 years.

For more information about the Moti Lal and Kamla Rustgi Lecture on India or other initiatives of the Asia Research Institute, contact the institute at asiainstitute@buffalo.edu or by calling (716) 645-2580.