The history of the ICWA is also the story of how a small fraternity of intellectuals and scholars sought to create and advance a wider public and civil society discourse on foreign policy and international affairs in India. They did this by establishing a world class library, bringing out a highly reputed journal the India Quarterly, fostering research and creating an India-wide fraternity of those interested deeply in India’s engagement with the wider world. This was in so many ways a giant step forward in intellectual decolonisation. Each of these measures was directed towards creating an Indian perspective on world affairs by becoming a non-partisan platform for intellectual exchanges and informed discussion and debate. This is a story therefore both of great intellectual endeavour and of selfless high minded public and national service.”