Child at the Site of Protest
The body of the child at the site of protest has always been a point of contestation. It is used by the State to dilute protest movements. This could be seen during the farmers’ movement and also the Shaheen Bagh…
Impact of Communist Ideology on the Politics of Kashmir
The significance of communist ideology in the political process of Kashmir cannot be understood without examining the political milieu of Kashmir. It had a significant contribution in designing the socio-political and economic structure of Kashmir, being at the forefront in…
The Cultivation of Opium in Nineteenth-Century Bihar: A Study of the Role of Koeris in the Production Process
Pre-colonial records indicate that opium cultivation in India was practised to meet both medicinal and recreational purposes. Its ability to produce short-lived mind-altering conditions is well known.1 Owing to the caste-mediated nature of the agrarian landscape, it was the koeri…
Mobilisation through Hindu ‘Sunday Schools’: The Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu) Experiment
Tamil Nadu has seen Dravidian political parties in power for the past five decades. Since 1967, its political system was governed either by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) or by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). Despite the…
What Makes a Nation Hang Together: Ambedkar’s Idea of India
To most people even a cursory examination of the idea of nation indicates that it is almost normal. It is as if the idea always existed. Its presence being as natural to people as is the light of the day.…
Book Reviews
Dynamics of Difference: Inequality and Transformation in Rural India Narender Pani, ed. Routledge India, 2021, 284 pages, Rs 1095. Book Review by Siraj Hussain The Political Economy of New India: Critical Essays Raju J. Das, AakarBooks, Delhi, 2020 202 pages…
Editorial Note, May-Jun, 2022
This issue of Social Scientist leads with two long review essays: one based on a book by Rehman Sobhan, on his experiences as a member of the Planning Commission established after Bangladesh’s liberation in 1971; and the other on a…
Nation-Building in Post-Liberation Bangladesh
Rehman Sobhan Untranquil Reflections: Nation-building in Post-Liberation Bangladesh, New Delhi, Sage, pp. xviii+348. This book is very important for understanding the economic and political history of Bangladesh from its liberation to 1974, and some of the factors leading to the…
Between Capital and Imperialism: A Vanishing Point?
Capital and Imperialism achieves a rare congruence between theory and history, structure and narrative. This is not a question of a theoretical argument finding empirical substantiation as narrative, or history being staged so as to put forth a theoretical proposition.…
Political Pantheons: Hierarchy, Proximity and Power in Political Posters and Hoardings
The Indian political visual landscape is littered with large and small posters/ hoardings/boards of political wannabes and local level ‘politicians’. These aspirants try to project themselves as not just belonging to a particular political party but also as part of…