Professor Irfan Habib has for some time been developing a perspective on modern Indian history that is novel and rather different from that of much of the Indian Left, not to mention the bulk of the European Left. In contrast…
The arch reactionary Metternich is reputed to have denounced the idea of Italy as a nation by asserting that Italy was merely a ‘geographical expression’. Through this gibe he still rendered a service by reminding his listeners that a geographically…
One should begin by distinguishing colonialism from previous constructions of empires and foreign conquests of countries. In those times transfers of wealth from one territory to another took place, usually when successful invading armies returned home with war booty, but…
It was . . . in the Spring of 1961 that Vella told me about a request from ‘our people’ in South Africa for someone to study radio technology and communication and to return to South Africa to teach others.…
On 23 October 1764, the combined forces of the Nawab of Bengal, Mir Qasim, Nawab of Awadh, Shuja ud Doula and Mughal Emperor Shah Alam were defeated in the battle of Buxar. The Emperor sent khil’at in which he himself…
Assets are an important indicator of economic well-being of households. Acquired through inheritance, gifts (including dowry) and accumulated savings, assets provide means of livelihood as well as security against adverse economic shocks. In his widely acclaimed recent book, Thomas Piketty…
I express but the simple truth when I say that, as a body, the nurses are respectable, quiet, and willing attendants on the sick, who wish to do their duty faithfully; and who quietly and conscientiously endeavour by day and…
Utsa Patnaik and Prabhat Patnaik, A Theory of Imperialism, New Delhi: Tulika Books, 2016, xxviii + 212 pages, Rs 695 This book is a brilliant exposition of the origin of capitalist colonialism and imperialism and its sustenance. The two major…
Jayanta Sengupta, At the Margins: Discourses of Development, Democracy, and Regionalism in Orissa, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2015, xiv + 441 pages, Rs 1195 This book has its roots in a Cambridge University thesis titled ‘Politics in Orissa, 1900–1956:…