Journal of Political Studies

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The Journal of Political Studies is an Annual Journal of the Department of Political Science, University of North Bengal published every year in the month of March.

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Open Access
Muslim Women and Politics of Personal Laws in India: Are Laws for Justice?
(University of North Bengal, 2012-03) Esita Sur
In our society, laws have always been considered as agents of social change, especially for women. . However, women’s access to laws to get justice has been subjected to several factors. Especially Muslim women’s access to justice has always been determined by their minority community identity, class location and religion. In India, personal laws govern Muslim women and its interpretations by several agents (community as well as religious) seem to be discriminatory to Muslim women. The role of the state has remained obscure. Therefore, the paper will attempt to assess the role of personal laws as well as Indian state in either constraining or enabling Muslim women to exercise their rights. Therefore, the paper will try to review the role of the state as well as laws to facilitate gender justice in our society.
Open Access
Lepchas in Darjeeling and the Demand for a Separate Development Board
(University of North Bengal, 2012-03) Das, Kaushik; Pal, Anushuya
The Lepchas are the original inhabitants of Sikkim. The process of development imposed by the colonial rulers had reduced the tribe to a state of subordination. After the formation of Gorkha Territoral Administration (GTA) in 2011, the Lepchas in Darjeeling also demanded a separate Lepcha Development Board for the protection of their language, culture and economic development. This paper seeks to address the brief historical background of the Lepchas, demands of the Lepcha community, strategies of the Lepchas on the issue of Gorkhaland, factors for the formation of the Lepcha Development Board, recent political developments in Darjeeling, aims and objectives of this Lepcha Development Board and composition of the Lepcha Development Board.
Open Access
Book Review: “Maoists and Other Armed Conflicts”, Anuradha M.Chenoy and Kamal A.Mitra Chenoy, Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2010.
(University of North Bengal, 2012-03) Tamang, Dipti
This book gives a very well documented and a different insight of the idea of conflicts, militarisation and security issues. It seeks to move away from the homogenised, mainstream idea of nation and to look at the different aspects of nation building that has resulted in the different parts of the country actually being in a perpetual state of conflict. It looks at the multi-dimensional aspect of conflict and the state’s approach to dealing with these aspects. The broad conclusion remains that democratic decentralisation and democratisation of the security approach is the only political solution to addressing and resolving these conflicts.
Open Access
Korea’s Use of ‘Smart power’: An Overview of Historical Development in the ‘Late Industrialisation’ Countries
(University of North Bengal, 2012-03) Mukhia, Anmol
This paper aims to analyse the historical process of Korea to escape from the socio-economic backwardness, whereas other late industrialised countries are still in the process of development.The wise use of Korea’s ‘hard’ and ‘soft power’ synthesis gives birth to the new mode of power known as the ‘Smart Power,’ which plays the vital role in escaping Korea from ‘backwardness’. Korea not only stops at the phase of the ‘developed States’ in the field of late industrialization, but also creates the advanced State in the ‘techno-scientific’ field in the 21st Century. The literature or analysis of this issue tends to focus on the Statist perspective from International Political Economy and Post Colonialism ideas of cultural imperialism. State’s strong engagement in the market and the leadership ability to hegemon in the domestic politics basically leads to the development; whereas other late industrialisation states are unable to catch up because of their policies and weaknesses. However, it clearly ignores that it was not only the State enforcement but ‘power’ was used alternatively in the process of development i.e., the use of ‘smart power’.
Open Access
Revisiting India’s Look East Policy: Analyzing India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement.
(University of North Bengal, 2012-03) Bose, Saheli
The trajectory of India’s Look East policy is often lauded for producing positive results over past two decades of its existence. The conclusion and implementation of the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement can be considered as another milestone achieved by this policy. However this agreement has come under stress right from the beginning of its negotiation, where concerns for adverse consequence have been voiced from all layers of the Indian society. This article therefore undertakes a survey of the India’s Look east policy along with the free trade agreement, highlighting the positives and negatives, along with the potentials in the future.
Open Access
Cinematic and Iconographic Imagery of Gandhi and Public Sphere in India: Some Appreciations, Some Depreciations
(University of North Bengal, 2012-03) Chakraborty, Anup Shekhar
The text and sub-text of contemporary nation-building programme in India and the institutionalised nationalism that it weaves is strongly anchored on ‘the cinematic and iconographic representation’ of M.K. Gandhi. Media, films in parts, conveys or reaffirms reality, and plays a crucial role in the reproduction of the same and become visual texts embedded with messages. People’s perception of media content influences the way they understand the world and react to other people. Media largely remains a symbolic representation of power and its contesting strands in a given society. The paper first looks at the cinematic representations of Gandhi from the 1950s to 2000s and unearths the variations within the same and contrast them with Gandhian world visions. Second, the paper attempts to locate Gandhi in the Statist enterprise and in the popular imagery and construe the realities of the public sphere in India. The paper observes that in this politics of representation, vocality and audibility, media has realised the weight and effect of keeping alive the image of Gandhi in the minds of the ‘aam aadmi’ (large masses/common man) in India. Consequently media, namely print, television, cinema and the ‘new media’ (internet and the virtual spaces, and also cell/mobile communications) have systematically spun and re-spun and celebrated the image of Gandhi both as ‘Mahatma’ and as ‘Bapu’.
Open Access
Kashmir Conundrum
(University of North Bengal, 2012-03) Attar Rabbani
The problem of Jammu and Kashmir (Kashmir henceforth) is apparently one of the most complex of problems that we witness in the world today and its genesis arguably lie in the manner of subcontinents’ partition in 1947. Both India and Pakistan claim full sovereignty over Kashmir, citing historical, geographic and demographic reasons. Irrespective of what now holds on the ground in Kashmir, Delhi and Islamabad still holds possession of it as a matter of national survival. But concurrently also emphasize willingness to pursue its resolution and say, are prepared to traverse extra-mile to alleviate sufferings of the people of Kashmir. Their resolve is usually captured in phrases like ‘composite dialogue’ and ‘cross-border commerce’ in specific and ‘people-to-people-contact’ in general. This has surprisingly however not effected any change in their fundamental position - neither Delhi nor Islamabad has formally budged from their old positions on Kashmir. Given this fundamental reality, the calls of early resolution of Kashmir look as doubtful as ever because without effecting fundamentals no solution is realizable. This paper attempts to shade light on prevailing Conundrum in Kashmir as a result and highlights the plight of ordinary Kashmiris sandwiched between two warring factions – the Indian security forces and Pakistan backed militia.
Open Access
Social Movement Decomposed into State: Understanding the West Bengal Experience
(University of North Bengal, 2012-03) Chattopadhyay, Pratip
Indian politics has been passing through a transitory phase and social movements have become the major fulcrum of such changes. West Bengal has seen two massive transfers of power in post independence period – in 1977 the Left parties came to power and in 2011 the Left parties were ousted by Trinamul Congress. On a comparative note the paper argues that after coming to power, the Left Front for over three decades and the Trinamul Congress in its one and half a year regime have failed to translate their revolutionary zeal in the state structure in a sustained manner and concludes that the character of a social movement changes after its decomposition into state power and the story of social movements remains a story of political illusion.
Open Access
Welfare of Weaker Sections: A Study of PRIs and a Political Dimension
(University of North Bengal, 2012-03) Rama Krishna, V.
The process of self governance and planning by empowering the people through Panchayati Raj system started nearly five decades earlier. But 73rd and 74th amendments in the Constitution of India brought an historic change in the process of decentralisation towards the grass root level and participation of people both in the formulation as well as implementation of the plans. The paper explores how the Constitution 73rd Amendment Act (1992), provided certainty, continuity and strength to the PRI’s for the welfare of the weaker sections through Decentralization, and its different aspects such as uniform three-tier level of the village, block and district levels, direct elections to all seats and at all levels, indirect elections to chairpersons at intermediate and apex levels, and reservation on rotational basis for SC’s ST’s in proportion to their population, both for membership as well as Chairpersonships of the PRI’s. The present paper intends to discuss the political participation of weaker sections in panchayat raj institutions in Karnataka in general and in Afjalpur taluk of Gulbarga District in particular as a case study. Finally the paper discusses about the political participation of weaker sections and sought their opinion of their involvement in the process of political, economic development and social justice, with the transfer of the list of Eleventh and the Twelfth Schedule of the Constitution to the rural and urban elected local bodies, and the
Open Access
Book Review, Subramanian, S. (2012), The Poverty Line, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp XII + 174, Price: Rs. 195
(University of North Bengal, 2012-03) Panda, Radhakrushna
Open Access
Sustainable development: - concept & contestation
(University of North Bengal, 2012-03) Guha Ghosal, Sarbani
The concept of sustainable development is a new one in the domain of environment and development studies of our time. The concept is a highly contested one marked by the presence of several contradictory and competing ideas.Great emphasis is placed upon the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner while living within the limits of the supporting ecosystems. Sustainability is not simply an environmental concern but it has its political, economic, social, geographical dimensions as well.
Open Access
Caste Marginalization and Resistance: Case of Rajbanshis in North Bengal
(University of North Bengal, 2013-03) Basistha, Nandini
Literally the term ‘Rajbanshi’ means the lineage of the king. But, in reality, the Rajbanshis have been placed in the bottom of the caste hierarchy and have often been victims of discrimination. Starting with a movement for regaining the lost social status of the Rajbanshi community in Hindu society of Bengal, how their activism gradually developed into a more hard-core or confrontational political movement aiming at separate statehood has been discussed in this paper. In addition, the paper discusses in detail how the demands raised, and the modes of agitation, changed over time.
Open Access
Ethno-Regional Movements At Sub-State Level The Bodoland And Kamtapur Movements
(University of North Bengal, 2013-03) Majumder, Abhirupa
The linchpin of the present paper is an endeavor to comprehend the nature of the ethno-regional movements in India. Henceforward, the present paper attempts a comparative analysis of both the Bodoland and Kamtapur movements,on the basis of some resemble traits, in terms of their historical context. Besides the issue of political process and development of both the states i.e. Assam and West Bengal, which obliged both the aboriginal communities to assert their voice against their centuries old political system and the respective governments and thus claim for a separate state,has also taken into consideration which in turn constitutes the crux of the present paper
Open Access
Identity Movements and Its Impact on Indian Politics
(University of North Bengal, 2013-03) Lama, Sanjeeb; Yasin, M.
The identity movements a derivation of social movement that came to fore very recently, are of a different nature, these movements are mainly collective actions or efforts for demands- the defence of interests and the promotion of rights of certain groups of individuals who feel discriminated against, the search for symbolic recognition by a significant others. Some see these movements as the main source of hope for democratization and development, while others look at them with suspicion and as a destabilizing threat. Focussing on the nature of identity movement this paper is an attempt to highlight impacts that it has on India politics.
Open Access
Balmiki Community in Darjeeling Hills: Socio- Economic Profile
(University of North Bengal, 2013-03) Balmiki, Lekhraj
The present attempt tries to explore the socio-economic profile of the Balmiki community which has been engaged with their traditionally assigned occupation as scavengers and sweepers/ Safai Karmcharis1in the Darjeeling hills. Being a subaltern community, the Balmikis represent a strange case of community yet to come out of the traditional fold.
Open Access
Development induced displacement and rehabilitation with reference to three states – Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal
(University of North Bengal, 2013-03) Rajak, Pankaj; Yasin, M.
The essay contends that the economic liberalization in India is virtually depriving the tribal and other agricultural dependent people of their traditional means of livelihood by promoting all sorts of ‘so called’ developmental projects. Such development serves the interests of the elites while it impoverishes the tribal and poor people who are dependent on the life sustaining resources of the ecosystems in which they live. The very nature of the present development paradigm does not provide for the absorption of these poor people by either developing their skills or by providing them with technical education. In light of the above statement, to understand the problem of development-induced displacement and rehabilitation in India due to several developmental projects, a study of three states has been made.
Open Access
Emerging Leadership of Rural Women in New Panchayats
(University of North Bengal, 2013-03) Kaushal, Mona
The history of local governance as a catalyst for socio, economic, cultural and political transformation is as old as Indian civilization itself. Realizing the potential of the Panchayati Raj system, the Government of India made a landmark Amendment to the Constitution designed to democratise and empower local political bodies. The central aim of this paper is to share the enriching and variable experiences of Rural Women in the system of rural local self-government for rural development after the 73rd Amendment, which has become a watershed in deepening democracy and evolution of a third tier of constitutionally guaranteed stratum of government in India. The paper captures their experience and explores the participation, performance, constraints, aspirations, supports of various social institutions and their performance.
Open Access
Liberal State and Multiculturalism: Confrontation or Compromise?
(University of North Bengal, 2013-03) Bijukumar, V.
Classical liberalism with its genesis from Enlightenment took a negative approach to cultural diversity and minority rights. It does not recognize identities based on ethnicity, gender, cultural, nationality. Modern liberalism’s commitment to cultural diversity and minority rights emerged out of criticisms from within and outside. Modern liberalism recognizes and accommodates cultural diversity through institutional and policy mechanisms. However, modern liberal states are not free from tensions and conflicts. The competitive demand for accommodation and recognition by various communities and groups lead to instability in contemporary liberal democracies.
Open Access
Role of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in Reconstruction and Inclusion of National Education in India
(University of North Bengal, 2013-10) Tabesum Begam; Chakraborty, Tirthankar
As a potent force of systematized change, education actually in turn, transforms humans into human resource. It is an inner process of ethical and intellectual development for not only ‘preparation for life’, but in the final analysis the ‘finding of a way of life’. When Maulana Abul Kalam Azad took his charge as an Education Minister, our country was passing through her most delicate situation. In this particular context, he embraced ‘liberal, democratic, humanitarian and inclusion’ of his educational approach with a view to generating and transforming the outlook of the people and set the nation on the path of progress and development. In this very context, the present paper provides an analytical overview of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s role in reconstruction and inclusion of national education in India, in a way where every citizen of our country ‘finding their way of life’.
Open Access
REVIEW ESSAY, Changing Scenario of Common Property Resources and the Role of Community in the Management of Common Property Resource
(University of North Bengal, 2013-10) Bala, Rajni
This paper has presented an overview of the present condition of common property resources in India and the role of the community in the management of these resources. This thematic paper is divided into the three parts; first deals with the present and past role of CPRs in rural economy, second with the changing scenario of these resources in Indian context and third with community based approaches and efforts in the management of these resources.