as an economic powerhouse and ties between India and the US on the upswing.

There is a high level of anxiety among South Asia programme staffers who admitted to being pressurised to garner funds for their specialities or would find the doors may close.

"We're very much trying to raise money for the South Asia programme at Brookings," Professor Stephen Cohen of the reputed Brookings Institution told IANS.

Though several South Asia studies programmes have been established, the dry tap, say organisers, is because sponsors are holding out.

"Unless the community and the other sponsors come forth with the money, these places will start closing down," Cohen said.

India studies programmes at think tanks in Washington are an enormous plus for lobbyists and the Indian community when they want to get the country's case heard in the Capitol or at the White House and State Department.

India buffs say Washington is the best place to have "real influence" over policy.

"I can't think of another place that has such a potential significance," said one India expert.

"Frankly, South Asia is perhaps the most poorly represented in Washington," he said. Ironically, the 9/11 tragedy is probably why it has any attention at all but it should have an independent standing given its economic powerhouse potential."

For places like the South Asia programme at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University and at Brookings, sources are drying up and there's a scramble to get monies.

Walter Andersen, Associate Director of SAIS's South Asia programme said: "We're attempting to establish an India Centre and so far our goal is to raise a couple of million dollars."

"We are relying on the community to help provide some funds for that. We haven't got any money yet," he said.

Anderson added that while these centres didn't depend totally on such monies, "unless one gets external support, one has to limit programmes".

"Ours is the only teaching South Asia programme and we also have fellows on a regular basis. If there's going to be a forum that has a multiplier effect, we are the best platform for it," he argued.

For South Asia experts, this hearkens to the dry days more than a decade ago when South Asian studies departments in Universities and think tanks were few and far between.

It took 12 years to get the few million dollars needed to set up the Jagdish Bhagwati Chair for studies in Indian Political Economy at Columbia University, and sponsors included several Indian American donors.