Department of Sociology

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The present Department of Sociology was established as a combined Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology by the University of North Bengal in 1976. Professor Niren Ch. Choudhury, eminent anthropologist, was the first Professor and Head of the Department who provided the leadership in the formative years of the Department.Professor R.K.Bhadra and Dr.Namita Choudhury were associated with him since inception of this department and helped in the process of its development. The bifurcation between sociology and anthropology took place in 2001 and thus the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology was renamed Department of Sociology and a separate Department of Anthropology was established under the Science Faculty. From its beginning the Department of Sociology has been training students for three courses: M.A., M. Phil. and Ph.D. The Department has produced more than 30 Ph.Ds and more than one thousand Masters. Besides the two main programmes the Department invites visiting faculty, from the reputed national and international universities and the faculty of this department visit the universities abroad on visiting faculty programme and for attending seminars/conferences. The teachers of the Department encourage students to take part in academic discussions outside the class-room interaction and encourage them to present papers in seminars/conferences. In recognition of the good work done by the Department the University Grants’ Commission (UGC) has granted the Special Assistance Programme (DRS – 1) in 2007 which has facilitated undertaking a good number of research projects on issues relating to gender question and the problem of ethnicity in the North Bengal region. The Department has been organizing a national level seminar every year on the gender and ethnicity related issues, which constitute the focal theme of the SAP. As a part of the programme the Department publishes Occasional Papers and edited volumes based on the research articles that are produced under different SAP related programs.

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Author: search.filters.author.Bhutia, Pema ChokiStart date: 2024

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    Inclusion-Exclusion Game: The Case of the Kami, Damai and Sarki in Sikkim
    (University of North Bengal, 2025) Bhutia, Pema Choki
    The Kami, Damai and Sarki caste-communities of Sikkim are traditionally viewed as the ‘untouchables’, who find their place in the lowest rungs of the Nepali caste hierarchy. According to The Constitution (Sikkim) Scheduled Castes Order, 1978, the only Kami, Damai and Sarki who are classified as Scheduled Castes (SCs) are those who practice Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism. However, the Kami, Damai and Sarki who follow Christianity or lack a Certificate of Identification (COI) are not included in the aforementioned category and are unable to obtain a Scheduled Caste (SC) certificate. While reservation and protective discrimination are in place to uplift the marginalised communities, such efforts and policies will never fully be efficacious when all the sections of the marginalised are not included in the schedule. One of the key goals of the “Reservation Policy” is upward social mobility, but including some and excluding others leads to a lopsided upliftment. Those sections of Kami, Damai and Sarki who are not a part of the SC category cannot avail the benefits of reservation in education, jobs, etc., therefore, they do not just face the caste exclusion and discrimination but are also administratively deprived. Based on the data drawn from fieldwork in Mellidara-Paiyong GPU South, Sikkim, the present paper attempts to explain the challenges faced by the Kami, Damai and Sarki who are excluded from the SC category and how this administrative exclusion translates in their everyday life. By making use of case studies, the paper seeks to highlight how everyday life experiences and interactions are impacted by inclusion in and exclusion from the Scheduled Caste Category.