Dr. Asha Pande
Dr. Asha Pande ( 1954 born in a Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 family is a Professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

and first Indian Woman to receive Légion d'honneur

Légion d'honneur

The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

She is founder director of the university's Master in European Studies programme and heads the Department of Dramatics at Rajasthan University, and Center for French and Francophone Studies. Dr. Asha Pande has been honored for promoting French language in India.

Early life and education

She passed higher secondary in 1971 from Pune and moved to Delhi with her eldest brother, the late Dr. M.P. Pande, who had a doctorate degree in Russian and was an assistant professor of the language at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). On her brother, Murli Pande's (also a student of Russian at JNU) suggestion she decided to join five-year integrated post-graduate course in French language, literature and civilization. She completed her post graduation from JNU (1976) after completing her fellowship from Sorbonne University, Paris (1974).

Marriage

She has been married to Ashok Pande (Rajasthan's election commissioner, 1973-batch, IAS officer) and was blessed with two sons, Siddhartha and Gautam during the period 1978-81.

Work

After working at Banaras Hindu University for a few months in 1977 prior to her marriage, she served as a teacher in Jaipur's Maheshwari Public School before founding the Indo-French Cultural Society for promoting academic and cultural relations between France, the Francophone countries and India in 1982. In 1987, she got an offer from Rajasthan University as 'Assistant Professor'. Seventeen years later, despite being the only permanent faculty in French, in 2004, she started the Masters and PhD courses in French. Her incessant efforts resulted in mentoring and training teachers for more than 25 institutions teaching French at school level and 10 at the college level in the state of Rajasthan. Her recent efforts are for university level cooperation which can benefit universities student and faculty exchange programmes. She currently Director of International Cooperation Cell and an Associate Professor at the ELLCS (European Languages, Literature and Culture Studies) Department, University of Rajasthan.

Honors

• Légion d'honneur (2010) - First Indian Woman to receive Highest French Civilian Award by President Sarkozy.
• Medal and Citation by the Vice President, Regional Council of Besaçon, France, in 1995 for her exemplary efforts in the field of Indo French Cooperation.
• Silver Jubilee National Award by Association of Indian Teachers of French in 2010, in appreciation of the services rendered to the development of French & Francophone Studies in India.
• Shiksha Vibhushan Samman by Rajasthan Yuva Chatra Sangh, in 2010, for her services rendered to development of European languages.

External links