Department of Political Science
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The Department of Political Science is one of the oldest Departments with which North Bengal University began to cater to the needs of higher education in North Bengal and Sikkim since 1962. At present, the strength of the faculty members stands at thirteen (Three positions vacant) with five Professors, three Associate Professors and two Assistant Professors. The number of Postgraduate students is 136 (68 in each year). The Department provides for admission of M Phil and PhD students to the Departments.
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Item Open Access Bhutanese Refugee Imbroglio(University of North Bengal, 2016) Sarkar, TuhinaThe 107,000 Nepali- speaking refugees, known as Lhotshampa, claim Bhutanese citizenship based on historical residence patterns. They have languished in refugee camps in Nepal's Terai districts since the early 1990s because of Nepal's, India's and Bhutan's inability or unwillingness to resolve their citizenship status. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), many Bhutanese refugees say they want to return to their homes in Bhutan. Despite this desire- and despite numerous high- level meetings between the governments of Bhutan and Nepal to resolve the refugee crisis over the past 20 years- Bhutan has not permitted a single refugee to return home. Local integration has not been possible for political reasons. With neither repatriation nor local integration a realistic possibility for the great majority of refugees the latter had accepted resettlement in eight Western countries: 91,713 refugees offered settlement in the US had already arrived, some noticeably malnourished and suffering from a vitamin B12 deficiency. Resettlement to a third country has emerged as the only durable solution to the problem.Item Open Access Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the challenge of Manual Scavenging(University of North Bengal, 2016) Dhanraj, SwapnilThe much celebrated Swacch Bharat Abhiyan by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) completes its third year in 2017. Though the BJP leadership enthusiastically continues to promote the cleanliness campaign, its silence on the practice of manual scavenging raises a serious doubt about its commitment towards making India clean in coming years. It is in this context that, the paper argues that eradication of manual scavenging is the most important step to achieve the objectives of Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. It argues that the aim of clean India would remain impossible without eradication of manual scavenging in India.Item Open Access Trinamool, Politics and Poribarton: Comprehending the Ideological Connection(University of North Bengal, 2016) Howladar, SumitThe electoral victory of the Trinamool Congress in the 2011 Assembly election (followed by the 2016 election) in West Bengal defeating the ‘once undefeatable’ Left Front is surely a landmark political development. But in the entire gamete of affairs, one issue which demands serious introspection is the issue of ideology. This paper examines the peculiar silence of ‘ideology’ in Trinamool Congress’ politics and connects it to the idea of ‘Poribarton’. It highlights the features of Trinamool’s ideology and grounds it in the present political scenario of the state to derive a clear picture of the ideological currents currently in vogue.Item Open Access Interrogating the Citizenship Question in India: Debating Article 35A and Article 370(University of North Bengal, 2016) Chakraborty, RanjitaDebating on citizenship ---not just meaning the right to carry a specific passport but encapsulating the relationship between the individual, state and society has become a major point of discussions both within the domain of academia as well as outside. Throughout the history, the concept has been defined variously and there exists no fixed definition.The paper would concentrate on the debate by focusing on citizenship provisions in the Constitution of India with particular focus on Article 35A and Art.370 of the Constitution of India and critically look into the positions taken by the Government of India and the political party leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. The provisions have been debated upon centering on the issue of violation of the Constitution of India and the fundamental rights as promised to the citizens of India by the supreme law of the land. As history is dynamic it is essential to engage in a constructive dialogue so that inclusive citizenship can be realized. The paper would delineate the major arguments in the debate and try to propose some guiding premises along the lines of which a revision could be worked out whereby particularities are protected but the universality of citizenship is also promoted.Item Open Access ‘Jallikattu’ as New Social Movement: Human Rights Vs Animal Rights(University of North Bengal, 2016) Debnath, JayantaOnce again it is proved that no community of the universe will allow anybody to take away their natural rights from them. In this case, a suitable example would be the event of ‘Jallikattu’ which is observed in South India especially in Tamil Nadu. It has been such a movement which raised variety of questions within Indian society. Jallikattu is an identity- based movement. It is infact a new social movement with old tradition and practice of Tamil people. This identity-based movement brought two different aspects of emotion and values all together that is the clash between human rights and animal rights. Both these groups wanted to be victorious, but such path of victory is not so easy. As a result both the parties choose judiciary to save their rights or ideology. In this circumstance, the role of the state both national and regional comes to the forefront. Thus, to settle this crucial issue the role of politics or political intervention has been momentous.Item Open Access Shift within Shift: Panthic Agenda to Agenda for Development and Good Governance (Analysis of the Shiromani Akali Dal Manifesto’s from 1997 to 2012)(University of North Bengal, 2016) Kaur, HardeepShiromani Akali Dal is a religio-political organisation of the Sikhs. It propagates and promotes religio-political ideology. Akali leadership is of a firm view that politics cannot be run properly without the sanction of the religious authority of the Sikhs and religion cannot be safeguarded without holding political power. So, the ideology of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has been driven by the concept of ‘Miri and Piri’ given by the sixth guru Hargobind Sahib Ji, which indicates that the party believes in the dictum that religion and politics go hand in hand. The SAD has projected itself as a Panthic party with the aim to protect the religious, social, economic and political interests of the Sikhs. From 1997 onwards the SAD’s ideology has shifted towards development and good governance. The interesting fact which appeared while studying manifestos of SAD from 1997 onward is that where development remains the prime concern of the party; emotive issues related to ideology, and religion do get mentioned, but in an increasingly subdued manner. An attempt has been made to study this shift with the help of visible literature which is available in the form of party documents manifesto.Item Open Access Traditional Governance in Practice: Findings from Two Tribal Districts of Odisha(University of North Bengal, 2016) Mohapatra, Bishnu PrasadThis paper reviews the functioning of the traditional governance system and institutional arrangement in the two districts of Odisha. It tries to shed light on the institutional arrangements and functioning of these institutions, the leadership pattern and interfacesof these institutions with the Panchayats in the districts. It reveals that these institutions form an important aspect of the village governance system despite the institutionalisation of Panchayats.Their role in influencing local level decision-making processes, resolving local disputes, protecting customs, traditions and cultural practices and fostering local economic development are observed in many cases. Further, despite the institutionalisation of the three-tier Panchayats, these institutions are still upholding their importance in the polity and economy of the tribal villages. However, the functioning of these institutions and decision-making process has gone through many changes in the context of the functioning of the Panchayats, though such changes have not affected entirely the importance of these institutions.Item Open Access 1 | P a g e Confronting the ‘Congress System’ in West Bengal: Electoral Strategies of the CPI in the 1950s1(University of North Bengal, 2017) Jana, Arun KAt the time of Independence Communists support in West Bengal was highly uneven across districts and among classes. It was largely confined to the working class areas in and around the capital, Calcutta. When the CPI decided to contest the West Bengal Assembly elections in 1951 it was not the only Left party which contested. There were several other that competed like the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), the two factions of the Forward Bloc, the Bolshevik Party of India etc. In the 1957 elections however the number of Left parties that were in the electoral fray declined. The CPI clearly emerged as the leading Left party in the state by 1957. The electoral strength and support of the CPI went on increasing from 28 seats with 10.76 percent of the votes in 1951-52 to 46 seats with 17.81 percent of votes in 1957. Its performance in the parliamentary elections in the state was also remarkable. Out of the 15 seats which it won in the country as a whole in 1952, 5 were from West Bengal. In 1957 the state supplied 6 of the 27 members of the party which were elected to the Lok Sabha. This electoral as well as the social expansion of the CPI in the 1950s is remarkable considering that the Congress like elsewhere in the Country enjoyed dominance in the state in the 1950s and early 1960s. How was the CPI able to expand its social base in the state in the 1950s? What strategies it pursued to challenge the domination of the Congress in the state? These are the questions which the paper attempts to answer.Item Open Access Is Democracy Threatened by Political Parties? The Case of Islamic Republic of Pakistan(University of North Bengal, 2016) Biswas, AnanditaIn Pakistan, political parties are mechanisms instrumentalized by the military rulers and powerful elites for political manipulation and strategic circumvention. Pakistan has failed to firmly entrench a coherent and ingenuous party system. Due to lack of institutional deepening, Pakistan’s macro and micro trajectory are highly dependent on the whims and fancies of the individual who happens to be in charge. Political parties suffer internal deficiencies, undemocratic structures and practices, defection, factionalism and top-heavy leadership. Yet, people of Pakistan have not given up democracy. This paper analyses why democracy has failed to establish root into the Pakistani soil and the prime hindrances in the trajectory of blossoming of democratic norms and values.Item 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, DiptiThis 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.