Professor Tan Tai Yong was appointed Director of the Institute of South Asia Studies on 1 June 2008.
Professor Tan has been an integral part of the Institute since its inception. He was Acting Director of the Institute from July 2004 to July 2006 and from April 2007 to May 2008. Professor Tan, a historian, is concurrently Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the National University of Singapore.
He has written extensively on South Asian history as well as on Southeast Asia and Singapore. His recent books include Creating 'Greater Malaysia': Decolonisation and the Politics of Merger (2008); Partition and Post-Colonial South Asia: A Reader (co-edited, 2007); The Garrison State (2005), The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia (co-authored, 2000) and The Transformation of Southeast Asia: International Perspectives on De-colonisation (co-edited, 2003).
Professor Tan can be contacted at tel: 65164239 or tel: 65163986, or email isasdir@nus.edu.sg.
Head, Administration and Corporate Communications
Hernaikh Singh is the Institute's Head of Administration and Corporate Communications. He started his career as a Trade Officer with the Trade Information Service and External Trade Relations and Policy Division of the then-Trade Development Board. He then joined the Singapore International Foundation, before coming on board at the Institute.
Hernaikh holds a Master of Arts (Southeast Asian Studies) from NUS. For his outstanding academic achievements and for being the top student during his Master programme, Hernaikh was awarded Dr Benjamin Batson's Gold Medal. He also received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from the same university.
Hernaikh can be contacted at tel: 65166166 (DID) or email isashs@nus.edu.sg.
Head of Research
Dr S. Narayan has nearly four decades of public service in development administration in the state and central governments, starting in 1965. His last appointment was the Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister (2003-2004). He was responsible for the implementation of economic policies of over 30 ministries including Finance, Commerce and Industry, Petroleum, Agriculture, Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, and Power.
Prior to his appointment as Adviser, he was the Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary, and Secretary in the Departments of Revenue, Petroleum, Industrial Development and Coal since 1997. As the Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Gas, he was responsible for policy formulation and implementation in the hydrocarbon sector, particularly, dismantling the Administered Price Mechanism and disinvestments. In the Ministry of Finance, Dr Narayan’s responsibilities included the formulation of macro-economic policy for the government, tariff and taxation policies as well as initiatives for modernising the capital markets. Reforms in the banking sector and the financial Institutions were a major focus of this responsibility. He was one of the key players in formulating the national budget between 2000and 2004. His special interests include public finance, energy policy, governance issues and international trade.
As the Secretary for Rural Development in Tamil Nadu for several years between 1989 and 1995, Dr Narayan was responsible for launching the micro-credit group initiatives for the rural sector. This initiative has now blossomed into over 300,000 groups in Tamil Nadu. He also initiated several sustainable development programmes, including social forestry, water management and self-employment for the economically disadvantaged. He also worked in an inter-governmental institution in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from 1992-1995 looking at rural development programmes in 11 South Asian and Southeast Asian countries.
Dr Narayan was a visiting fellow at several academic institutions including the National Academy at Mussoorie. He contributes regularly to newspapers, including the Financial Express, Hindustan Times and Economic Times, on issues relating to public policy, governance, public finance, trade and energy.
Dr Narayan obtained his PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi. He has a MPhil (Development Economics) from Cambridge University and Master of Business Management (Finance) from the University of Adelaide. He graduated with a MSc (Physics) from the University of Madras (Madras Christian College).
Dr Narayan can be contacted at tel, (65) 65167429, tel. (91) 9810285258 or email. isassn@nus.edu.sg.
