Editorial Note, May – June, 2025

This issue of Social Scientist carries three articles that in different ways examine the transformation wrought by colonial rule in pre-Independence India. Aparna Balachandran in her article titled ‘Colonialism, Caste Formation and Urban Rule in Early Colonial Madras’, examines the relationship between caste labour and colonialism through the lens of urban governance in the port city of Madras in South India under East India Company rule.