Manohar Publishers and Distributors: November 2012

30 November, 2012

The Good Country: Individual, Situation and Society in Saurashtra

The Good Country: Individual, Situation and Society in Saurashtra

By- Harald Tambs-Lyche

Dealing with Saurashtra, a complex but little studied part of western India, this book extends monographic treatment to an entire region, and thereby reveals the dynamic and changing nature of relations between castes. Town, village and hamlet all participate as backgrounds for the image people in Saurashtra have of their society, while the ever-present past informs them of the past itinerary of present groups, and provides a diachronic perspective on the power relations that inform the system and pervades the consciousness of the regional population. Their knowledge of society extends both through changing relations over time and variation within the region. Though considerable, such knowledge is always and necessarily partial. Constant but differing efforts are made to relate such knowledge to the precepts of caste society as structuring the image of the whole. But such efforts are made by people who are differently situated, and who construct contradictory images, of which the most important, traditionally, are those emanating from the feudal past, and those linked to the merchant communities. Thus caste cannot fruitfully be seen as a single structure, in static and synchronic terms. By analysing interaction in various settings, the author shows how the encounters of daily life are embedded in the rank consciousness peculiar to India, while difference is constantly underscored in hierarchizing discourse. In this study, the individual emerges as an agent of the hierarchical order, with an image of the self just as individual as his Western counterpart though differently constructed.

Harald Tambs-Lyche received his Ph.D. from the Univesity of Bergen in 1972. After early work on Indian immigrants in Europe, he has worked on Saurashtra since 1973, and has published a volume on the emergence of its traditional society: Power, Profit and Poetry (Manohar, 1997); and edited a collection of articles on The Feminine Sacred in South Asia (Manohar, 1999), A study of Scandinavian missionaries among the Santals, in collaboration with Marine Carrin, is being prepared for publication. He is presently working on ethnic and religious revitalization in Karnataka, and a Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Picardie–Jules Verne, Amiens, France.

ISBN 978-81-7304-417-5 2004 354p. Rs.795/Pounds 55

MANOHAR PUBLISHERS & DISTRIBUTORS
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25 November, 2012

The Forging of Nationhood

By- Gyanendra Pandey and Peter Geschiere (eds.)

Unlike most writings on nationalism, and the related concepts of development and modernity, this book is the product of a conversation begun among historians of the South—or what used to be known as the ‘Third World’. It shows how much there is to learn about these facets of the modern world from closer attention to the experience of the directly or indirectly colonized parts of Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America and, no less importantly, from direct interaction between scholars from these regions.

The notions of nationhood and liberal development have been disseminated so successfully in recent times that they have come to be viewed almost as ‘natural’. It is easy to forget how long and difficult the struggle has been to establish ideas of popular sovereignty and individual equality as universally applicable rights. For, as this book demonstrates, the rhetoric of the inclusive claims of liberty and equality that nationalism and other related movements promote is accompanied by the practice of exluding numerous classes, communities and individuals from precisely these claims. This happens to be the case both within, and across, nations. Indeed, the story of nationalism and of modern ‘civilization’ could scarcely have been written without such exclusions.

Several papers in this volume show how members of excluded groups can suffer from nationalism’s impatience with difference, and conclude with the hope of reforming the nation state. Yet their collective contributions also suggest that the concept of the essential, cultural nation—and perhaps therefore the idea of the nation itself, as it has been handed down to us—needs serious questioning; and with that of course the existing forms of the modern state.

Gyanendra Pandey was Professor of History at the University of Delhi from 1986 to 1998, before moving to his present position as Professor of History and Anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.

Peter Geschiere taught History and Anthropology at the Free University (Amsterdam), the Erasmus University (Rotterdam) and the EHESS (Paris/Marseille). At present he is Professor of African Anthropology at Leiden University and the University of Amsterdam.

ISBN 81-7304-425-2 2003 304p. Rs.500/Pounds 50

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24 November, 2012

The Feminine Sacred in South Asia

By- Harald Tambs-Lyche (ed)

Published in association with

Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, France

South Asia is the only major region where the ‘Great Goddess’ is still a living reality for believers—yet its society remains male-dominated. Drawing their examples from ritual practice, myth, and sacred texts the contributors to this volume discuss the place of the feminine within the sacred sphere of South Asian religion. The theme is full of contradictions, for the impurity of woman must be held against the powers she incarnates, and the religious status of these powers is an old theme of debate among Hindu and Buddhist thinkers. Finally, the feminine pole in religious thought cannot simply be equated with human womanhood. . . . Yet the very presence of feminity in the sacred sphere contrasts with its exclusion from scriptural Islam or from protestantism, and offers, perhaps, to women a mode of religious expression in an idiom where gender is a central paradigm of thought.

This volume then, contributing to the debate on feminity in South Asian religion, should also be of interest to scholars dealing with gender in a broader perspective.

Harald Tambs-Lyche, a social anthropologist, is professor of ethnology at the University of Picardie-Jules Verne, Amiens (France). He has worked on Gujaratis at home and abroad (London Patidars, Routledge, 1980; Power, Profit and Poetry, Manohar, 1997). He is currently doing fieldwork in Karnataka.

ISBN 978-81-7304-246-1 2004 148p. Rs.300/Pounds 35

22 November, 2012

The Bengal Sultanate: Politics, Economy and Coins (AD 1205-1576)

The Bengal Sultanate: Politics, Economy and Coins (ad 1205-1576)

By- Syed Ejaz Hussain

The book presents a comprehensive account of the politico-economic history of Bengal, from ad 1205 to 1576. It has made extensive use of coins and epigraphs to interpret and substantiate the historical narrative culled out from the contemporaneous chronicles and travelogues.

The first six chapters trace the political history. The topics like the date of Bakhtiyar Khalji’s conquest of Bengal; the rule of the Governors and later of the independent Sultans; Bengal’s relations with the neighboring kingdoms; and its role in the regional politics and economy in different phases of history, have been discussed in the light of some hitherto untapped historical material. The debate of Bengal’s isolation from the north and south India has also been revisited.

The seventh chapter traces the administrative hierarchy, power and functions of the state functionaries while in the eighth chapter the economy of the region, inter-local, coastal and foreign trade as well as the currency pattern have been described.

The entire narrative is enriched by a corpus of rare coins spread over 32 plates. Two appendices, the first giving the revised chronology of the rulers of Bengal, and the second listing the mint towns, together with thematic maps, make the book a veritable reference work for medieval Indian history and numismatics.

Dr Syed Ejaz Hussain belongs to the family of late Syed Luqman Haider, a devotee of education and learning, who founded the Town High School at Ara (Bihar) as early as 1882. In 1983, he topped in M.A. (History) from Magadh University, Bodh-Gaya and was awarded gold medal. He obtained Ph.D. degree in History from Patna University, Patna in 1991. Dr Ejaz has contributed a number of research papers in national and international conferences as well as in learned journals. He has toured extensively in India and abroad and has consulted the coin-cabinets such as those of the American Numismatic Society, New York; the British Museum, London and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. He has also received the Charles Wallace (India) Trust Fellowship to study the Sultanate coins in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and is preparing a Catalogue of the said series. Presently Dr Ejaz teaches History in Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan.

ISBN 81-7304-482-1 2003 486p. Rs.1100/Pounds 90

20 November, 2012

The Afghan War and Its Geopolitical Implications for India

By- Salman Haidar (ed)

Published in association with

Academy of Third World Studies, New Delhi

Few countries have been more affected by the US-led war against Afghanistan than India. There was initial hope that the war would stamp out the terrorism plaguing India but this was soon belied, and the Afghan situation remains highly unpredictable. By now, America’s interest has shifted elsewhere, yet the military presence it has established all around Afghanistan profoundly affects the geopolitical picture in the heart of Asia. The powerful lure of oil and gas has begun to open up a region once off limits to the West, and new commercial and political rivalries are taking shape.

The Academy of Third World Studies of Jamia Millia Islamia recently organized a seminar where a number of noted experts looked in depth at events in an around Afghanistan, its history, current situation and future prospects; also what it tells us about today’s unipolar world. The newly acquired significance of Central Asia is highlighted and the special situation of Iran analysed. There is also an account of how developments in Central Asia explain policy-making processes in the former hegemon Russia.

Collectively, these papers are an illuminating study of events whose full implications can only be guessed at but whose relevance to India’s future strategy cannot be bypassed.

Salman Haidar is a former diplomat who retired from the Indian Foreign Service in 1997 as Foreign Secretary. He is currently associated with the Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, and also with the Centre for Research in Ruural and Industrial Development, Chandigarh.

ISBN 978-81-7304-558-5 2004 200p. Rs.425/Pounds 40

Text and Context in the History, Literature and Religion of Orissa

By- Angelika Malinar, Johannes Beltz and Heiko Frese (eds)

The last decades of the twentieth century have witnessed an enlarged understanding of the notion of ‘text’ as not only comprising written documents, but also rituals, artifacts and the like. Thereby, ‘texts’ were brought closer to the social religious or historical contexts that help to interpret texts. Scholars, traditionally divided in different disciplines that deal either more with texts (historians, philologists, etc.) or with contexts (sociologists anthropologists, etc.) became interested in the methods and perspectives of the other disciplines. This has resulted in a renewed interest in the theoretical issues implied in the notions of text and context. The essays in this volume reflect these debates and show how they influence and enrich research on South Asia.

Anthropologists, historians, literary critics, philologists and historians of religion deal with the mutli-layered interplay between texts and contexts in past and present Orissa. Orissa, renowned for the cults related to the Jagannatha Temple in Puri, is marked by a rich cultural diversity. In dealing with the interdependence between text and context the eassys provide fresh insights to the complexity and fluidity of cultural contexts that use text as stable points of reference. The traditions of Orissa are considered in their uniqueness as well as in their relationship to South Asian cultural contexts on a larger scale.

Angelika Malinar is Associate Professor at the Institute for Indian Languages. Literatures and Art History of Free University of Berlin. Her major publications are on the history and the modern religious movements of Hinduism, epics and Puranas, Indian philosophy and aesthetics, and modern Hindi literature.

Johannes Beltz is Research Fellow at the South Asia Institute of the University of Heidelberg. He studied theology and Indian religions in Halle, Strasbourg, Lausanne and Paris, and received his Ph.D. in 1999. Currently, he is Assistant Curator at the Rietberg Museum, Zurich.

Heiko Fress, Ph.D., is Research Associate at the University of Kiel. He is presently working on a research project on historiography in seventeenth to twentieth century Orissa sponsored by the German Research Council.

ISBN 978-81-7304-566-0 2004 520p. Rs.1150/Pounds 95

19 November, 2012

Terrorism Post 9/11: An Indian Perspective

By- P.R. Chari and Suba Chandran (eds)

India has been facing a wide range of terrorist threats emanating from diverse groups with objectives purporting to being inspired by leftist, rightist, secular and sectarian ideologies. Some groups are plainly criminal organizations. They have used different tactics to achieve their ends ranging from hit and run tactics to fidayeen (suicide) attacks. The terrorists have used a variety of weapons to create mayhem including small arms. Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), shoulder fired rockets and human bombs. Since India lies between two volatile regions—South East Asia and Central Asia that are centres for arms and drugs smuggling, the availability of weapons to the terrorists is not a problem.

9/11 changed the contours of the international system. It also enhanced the terrorist threat to India. Pakistan’s role in the War against Terrorism has informed its promotion of terrorist activities across its eastern border after it was coerced into assisting the US campaign against terrorism on Pakistan’s western border and in Afghanistan. The terrorist attacks against the J&K Assembly and the Indian Parliament, the Army camp at Kaluchak and the Akshardham/Raghunath temples are manifestations of this new reality.

This volume brings together the entire range of issues relating to terrorism in India, the efforts made by the Indian government to combat this menace, its successes and failures, besides profiling some of the significant terrorist groups in South Asia. A documentation section provides information on the legal framework available to assist the anti-terrorism campaign.

P.R. Chari, former member of the Indian Administrative Services, has held several important positions including Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defence and Director, Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses. He was International Fellow, Centre for International Affairs, Harvard University and is currently Director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) He has worked extensively on nuclear disamandment non-proliferation and Indian defence issues and is the author of many distinguished publications.

Suba Chandran has been with the IPCS since 1998 and currently is working on the Ford Foundation study on India’s Security Problematique. With a doctoral degree from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, his research interests include Pakistan, Kashmir Indo-Pak relations and suicide terrorism. He is a recipient of the Ford ACDIS Fellowship and will be working at the ACDIS, University of Illinois starting from June 2003 for six months on Limited War between India and Pakistan.

ISBN 81-7304-510-0 2003 310p. Rs.450/Pounds 19.99

18 November, 2012

Taxation of Income: An International Comparison

Taxation of Income: An International Comparison
A Select Study of U.S., U.K., Australia, Malaysia, Pakistan, India

By- Indu Jain

Business and investment operations of individuals and companies are becoming increasingly international in scope in the wake of current wave of globalization and openness sweeping across the countries of the world. Income tax systems of different countries differ in terms of definition of income and expenses, exemptions and concessions, rates and collection procedures. Varying tax practices of different countries complicate decision-making by individuals and corporates. Hence a comparative study of taxation of income becomes relevant.

This book attempts to provide a detailed analysis of income tax provisions of six countries—three of them developed, namely, the U.K., the U.S., and Australia and three developing, Malaysis, Pakistan and India. The book makes a detailed analysis of the tax rate structure and explains the model of the computation of the taxable income of the individual and the corporate taxpayer.

The work will be most useful for a cross-section of readers including researchers, teachers and students of economics, commerce, law and management. The analysis of the income tax systems of chosen countries would also be beneficial for policy makers, legislators, tax consultants, executives and enterprises having multinational operations.

Indu Jain obtained her Ph.D. degree from the Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. She is Reader in the Department of Commerce, Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi.

ISBN 978-81-7304-559-2 2004 422p. Rs.1195/Pounds 80

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16 November, 2012

Tashrih-ul-Moosiqu: Persian Translation of Tansen’s Original Work ‘Budh Prakash’

By- Najma Perveen Ahmad (Editor, Translator, Commentator)

Several Persian and Urdu manuscripts of the medieval period are very precious and provide valuable information and insights into various aspects of Indian musicology. Most of them contain translations and references to ancient Sanskrit texts which could not be preserved and are not available now for various reasons.

One such rare manuscript is Tashrih-ul-Moosiqui, written by Hakeem Mohammad Arzani during the seventeenth century. It is the Persian translation of Tansen’s work Budh Prakash. Like Man Kautuhal, of which only Persian translation Raag Darpan is available, probably Budh Prakash may also be available only in this form.

The present work is an English translation of Tashrih-ul-Moosiqui that consists of eight chapters containing description of Origin of Music, Types of Samaah, Attributes of Musicians, Svara, Classification and Time Theory of Ragas, Tala and Musical Instruments. The most significant and comprehensive part of the manuscript is the seventh chapter which is about Mishra Ragas where the author has used the word Miloni for a combination of ragas, in place of the well-known terms like Chhayalag, Sankeerna and Mishra Ragas, used by the other authors of the period. It elaborates the classification system of the wide range of well-known ragas mentioned in Budh Prakash that has some different nuances as compared to the description given in Persian works of later medieval period.

It is hoped that this work will bring to light the work of the great musician Tansen. In addition to the translation of the manuscript, the author has provided brief commentary and critique wherever required.

Najma Perveen Ahmad, former Dean and Head of the Department of Music, University of Delhi, is a teacher, scholar and vocalist in Hindustani Classical Music belonging to Delhi Gharana. At present she is Emeritus Fellow of UGC at the Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, University of Delhi

ISBN 978-81-7304-943-9 2012 192p. Rs.795/Pounds 50

Symbols of Trade: Roman and Pseudo-Roman Objects Found in India

By- S. Suresh

Roman objects such as coins, ceramics, metal and glass artefacts have been discovered in different parts of the Indian subcontinent. These objects were brought to this land by ancient traders, sailors and travellers. Often, ancient Indians produced coins and other objects closely resembling these foreign objects. Many of these objects have either been lost or destroyed. Those that have survived are scattered in various museums and private collections in South Asia and Europe.

This study provides the first-ever systematic, comprehensive and integrated collation of all these objects. Combining theoretical insights with empirical data, it investigates the reasons for the uneven distribution pattern and complex chronology of the varied types of objects in the different regions of the subcontinent. It also includes an insightful analysis of the peculiar features such as slash marks and countermarks seen on some of the Roman coins found in India. The Epilogue sets these objects in the wider context of the early commerce between China, South-East Asia, Sri Lanka, India, Africa and Rome.

Written in an attractive narrative style, this volume will be of immense volume not only to serious scholars but also to all those interested in ancient Roman and Indian archaeology, numismatics and economic history.

S. Suresh is currently an ICHR Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Sudharsanam Centre for Arts and Culture, Pudukkottai (Tamil Nadu). He has been a Consultant at the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and the TVS Educational Society, Chennai. He was earlier Research Fellow at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, New Delhi, Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the French Institute of Pondicherry (India) and Visiting Professor at Sorborne IV University, Paris (France).

ISBN 978-81-7304-552-3 2004 206p. Rs.525/Pounds 40

15 November, 2012

Stories About the Partition of India (Vols. I-III)

By- Alok Bhalla (ed.)

When the first three volumes of the Stories about the Partition of India were published more than a decade ago, they were widely acknowledged as the most comprehensive collection of texts in English translations from the three countries of the subcontinent. Ever since then, the anthology has remained an invaluable resource for historical and literary studies trying to understand the politics of religious identities, colonial predatoriness, linguistic chauvinism, or the partitions of large states to resolve ethnic conflicts anywhere. The new edition of the collection enlarges the range of the anthology by adding a fourth volume which includes a large number of stories from Bengali and Sindhi that speak eloquently about the continuing sorrows of separatist and fundamentalist world-views which destroy old neighbourhoods, encourage despair and add to human misery. The additional volume should enable scholars to add fresh insights into the history of the partition as it affected two regions which have yet not become the subject of serious literary and archival research. The anthology is further enriched by including stories by many of the finest writers in Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi which have become available only recently in English translations. This volume has also made a special effort to include more stories by major women writers from different languages like Qurratulain Hyder, Khadija Mastur, Popati Hiranandani, Dalip Kaur Tiwana, Nisha Da Cunha, Rajee Seth, Farkhanda Lodhi and Syeda Farida Rahman.

In a review of the first edition of this collection, the New York Times said that Alok Bhalla’s anthology had done a “fine…job of evoking the terror, the bewilderment and the remorse that still shadow so many lives on the subcontinent.”

Alok Bhalla obtained his Ph.D from Kent State University, USA. He was a Lady Davis Visiting Professor, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Fellow at the Rockefeller Centre, Bellagio, Italy and Fellow at the IIAS, Shimla.

ISBN 978-81-7304-935-4 2012 796p. Rs.1295/Pounds 125

Stories About the Partition of India (Vol. IV)

Stories About the Partition of India (Vol. IV)

By- Alok Bhalla (ed.)

When the first three volumes of the Stories about the Partition of India were published more than a decade ago, they were widely acknowledged as the most comprehensive collection of texts in English translations from the three countries of the subcontinent. Ever since then, the anthology has remained an invaluable resource for historical and literary studies trying to understand the politics of religious identities, colonial predatoriness, linguistic chauvinism, or the partitions of the large states to resolve ethnic conflicts anywhere. The new edition of the collection enlarges the range of the anthology by adding a fourth volume which includes a large number of stories from Bengali and Sindhi that speak eloquently about the continuing sorrows of separatist and fundamentalist world-views which destroy old neighborhoods, encourage despair and add to human misery. The additional volume should enable scholars to add fresh insights into the history of the partition as it affected two regions which have yet not become the subject of serious literary and archival research. The anthology is further enriched by including stories by many of the finest writers in Urdu, Punjabi or Hindi which have become available only recently in English translations. This volume has also made a special effort to include more stories by major women writers from different languages like Qurratulain Hyder, Khadija Mastur, Popati Hiranandani, Dalip Kaur Tiwana; Nisha Da Cunha, Rajee Seth, Farkhnanda Lodhi and Syeda Farida Rahman.

In a review of the first edition of this collection, the New York Times said that Alok Bhalla’s anthology had done a “fine . . . job of evoking the terror, bewilderment and the remorse that still shadows so many lives on the subcontinent”.

Alok Bhalla obtained his Ph.D from Kent State University, USA. He was a Lady Davis Visiting Professor, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Fellow at the Rockefeller Centre, Bellagio, Italy and Fellow at the IIAS, Shimla.

ISBN 978-81-7304-936-1 2012 486p. Rs.995/Pounds 90

MANOHAR PUBLISHERS & DISTRIBUTORS
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13 November, 2012

Sufis, Sultans and Feudal Orders: Professor Nurul Hasan Commemoration Volume

By- Mansura Haidar (ed)

Published in association with

Centre for Advanced Study, Aligarh Muslim University

Professor Saiyid Nurul Hasan who hailed from an illustrious family, which had given to the nation a galaxy of luminaries, was a scholar, teacher, parliamentarian, minister, an ambassador to the USSR, governor of West Bengal, a social worker and above all a generous and graceful human being. His friends found him to be imbued with a traditional Lucknow culture, the very embodiment of courtesy and good manners, suave, urbane and highly sophisticated. To him personal ties mattered a great deal which he cultivated irrespective of an individual’s politics or religion.

This book is a glowing tribute to the memory of Professor Saiyid Nurul Hasan by his colleagues, students, relatives and friends and also from a grateful History Department of Aligarh Muslim University which under his stewardship had been elevated to the status of a National Centre of Advanced Study in Medieval History. His area of study was as wide as his field of action. A fact which is reflected in the topics and subjects chosen for this volume. The essays are divided into five sections namely: Sufis; Sultans; Feudal Order; Miscellaneous; and Reminiscences. The volume will be of much use to medieval, modern, maritime and Central Asian historians and scholar.

Mansura Haidar is a well-known specialist on history and culture of Central Asia. She has been teaching Islamic History, History of Central and West Asia and medieval and modern Indian history at the Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University for the past thirty-eight years. She has a profound knowledge of Islamic history both in terms of vastness of sphere and span and her information is based on an in-depth study of the original sources.

ISBN 978-81-7304-548-6 2004 514p. Rs.995/Pounds 70

Stealing The Environment: Social and Ecological Effects of Industrialization in Rourkela

By- Rajkishor Meher

In India as in other developing countries intensive industrialization followed by urbanization has now attracted the attention of urban ecologists to the issues of ecological degradation. An attempt has been made in this study to examine not only the issue of industrial pollution, patterns of human settlement and land use in the city, but also to investigate the processes that have contributed to the deteriorating quality of life in Indian cities. Apart from the problem of industrial pollution, this study demonstrates how the social structure of a city also contributes to its environmental decay.

The focus of this research has been on Rourkela which as a city planned to support the Rourkela Steel Plant and its ancillary industrial units, provides a unique opportunity to examine the linkages between industrialization, patterns of urbanization and environmental degradation. The approach adopted in this study is, however, a pragmatic one, which underlines that rejection of modernity is not practicable given the altered gestalt of man today. In other words, mere traditional knowledge systems in themselves are not enough to tackle the problems of a burgeoning population, poverty, hunger and disease.

Hence, instead of rejecting modern industrialization as such the approach adopted here seeks to explore ways by which the resulting ecological damage can be reduced, if not entirely eliminated.

Rajkishor Meher is at present working as Reader in Sociology at Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies, Bhubaneswar.

ISBN 978-81-7304-572-1 2004 246p. Rs.610/Pounds 40

11 November, 2012

State Politics and Panchayats in India

By- Buddhadeb Ghosh and Girish Kumar

Since independence several attempts were made to find a space for the panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) in Indian polity. However, barring Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal, the PRIs could never survive elsewhere in the country. This led to the necessity of constitutionalizing panchayats in 1992, an attempt which also met with limited success.

Why were PRIs retained in certain states even without a constitutional mandate? Conversely, why did others lag behind? These facts draw attention to the question of ‘political will’. But what prompts certain political regimes to adopt a pro-panchayat approach and others to oppose them, even though all states are operating within the same democratic system?

In their quest to answer theses questions, the authors have tried to look into the linkages between the panchayats and state level politics. This, in turn, has enabled them to identify the political factors that have so far determined the course of decentralization in this country. Their findings are based on the case studies of four states, namely, Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal and Bihar. Apart from highlighting the political variables whose presence or absence make or mar the prospects of panchayats, this volume also raises serious questions about the capacity of the present political system to provide genuine support to the project of decentralization and local democracy.

Buddhadeb Ghosh is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi. Earlier, he served the Government of West Bengal in various capacities including a stint as Director, State Institute of Panchayats.

Girish Kumar is a Fellow in Political Science at the Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi. Earlier, he worked with the Institute of Social Sciences and also at the LBS National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.

ISBN 81-7304-487-2 2003 244p. Rs.475/Pounds 40

Social and Political Change in Uttar Pradesh : European Perspectives

By- Roger Jeffery and Jens Lerche (eds)

The state of Uttar Pradesh—India’s most populous, but also one of its poorest—is in crisis, lagging behind the rest of the country in terms of social development, economic growth, and women’s empowerment, with inefficient and ineffective democratic institutions. In this timely book, established scholars and new voices from Europe reflect on aspects of the perilous condition of UP, addressing a range of issues, all drawing on intensive and extended fieldwork.

What used to be UP’s strength has turned into its weakness. Its position in India—as the quintessential Indian state – is unique, but no specific UP-identity has been developed. In papers discussing people’s own perceptions of core social and political issues, local ideas of what is needed for development are discussed. Gender relations are a central concern of two papers, one on customary marriage and divorce practices at village level and the other on changing notions of education for girls and the images of the UP plains held by those in the hills. Other papers deal with the social bases and ideology of the separatist movement in the UP hills; with Dalits and farmers, and the political organizations aiming to represent their interests; with farmers, and how far the BKU is articulating their demands in western UP; and with how Jats in western UP are changing the way they maintain their dominance. The two final papers discuss how modern mass media—TV and newspapers—are shaping developments in UP.

The book—a major advance in our understanding of contemporary patterns of social change in UP—will be essential reading for concerned citizens, students and academics alike.

Roger Jeffery holds a personal chair in the Sociology of South Asia in the University of Edinburgh. His research interests are in social demography, rural social change, social aspects of forestry and education and social inequality. Since 1982 he has carried out three extended periods of research in Bijnor district, each concerned with gender relationships.

Jens Lerche has taught Development Studies at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) since 1994. His main research interests are rural labour relations and the role of government institutions in India and Nepal. He has researched Uttar Pradesh since 1992, investigating socio-economic and political processes influenceing the livelihoods of the rural poor, the feminization of agricultural labour; emergence of new types of labour relations within modern agriculture; and violent dominance of rural workers.

ISBN 81-7304-500-3 2003 318p. Rs.625/Pounds 50

07 November, 2012

Social and Cultural History of the Punjab : Prehistoric, Ancient and Early Medieval

By- J.S. Grewal

The ‘Punjab’ of this book is a metaphor for the geographical region surrounded by the Himalayas, the Great Indian Desert, the Aravali Hills and the river Jamuna. During a period of about 4000 years up to ad 1000, the cultural boundaries of this region did not coincide with its geographical boundaries and there were sub-regional differences as well. There was a great deal of interaction with the outside world and between sub-regions. The socio-cultural dynamics of the region are well reflected in the different periods of its history.

Seen from the regional angle, the Harappan civilization reveals sub-regional diversities and continuation in a rural setting. The Rigvedic culture appears to be a regional rather than an ethnic articulation. The formation of states within the region and its incorporation in empires set the stage for trade and urbanization, and for new socio-cultural formations. For the first time the great importance of Buddhism in the region gets underscored. Gradually, however, it was replaced by Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism.

Changes in religious history are related to the changing contexts of polity and economy in their bearing on the social order, languages, literature and the arts. The book should be of equal interest to the student, the professional historian and the general reader.

J.S. Grewal, formerly Professor of History and then Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Director, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, is an eminent historian of the Punjab, and of medieval and modern Indian history in general.

ISBN 978-81-7304-565-3 2004 186p. Rs.465/Pounds 35

Small Hands in South Asia: Child Labour in Perspective

By- G.K. Lieten, Ravi Srivastava and Sukhadeo Thorat (eds.)

Published in association with

Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternatives in Development

Child labour has become a hot issue. International attention has often been focused on South Asia, and initiatives have been undertaken to use pro-active policies, such as a trade boycott, to pressurise governments in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh to implement a complete ban on child labour and to realize universal education.

A gathering of outstanding international scholars, financed by the Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternatives in Development, has discussed these issues on the basis of empirically grounded research papers. A selection of these papers has been edited for this volume.

The volume contains papers on the extent of child labour in South Asia (and the spread across regions and sectors), its correlation with education, some of the worst forms of child labour, and best practices. The papers are a good mix of social anthropology, economics and political science approaches.

The expertise of the contributors and their concern for what continues to be a stark reality in South Asia make this book an invaluable source of reference on the issue of child labour, academically rigorous and politically relevant. It will be highly relevant to policy makers, scholars, journalists and practitioners.

Kristoffel Lieten holds the Child Labour chair at the University of Amsterdam and at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. He has been the chairman of the IREWOC Foundation (Institute for Research on Working Children) and has initiated several research projects on child labour and child agency.

Ravi K. Srivastava earlier worked at the University of Allahabad and is now professor of economics of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. He has published extensively on the agrarian problem in India and has recently conducted various studies on human development, particularly on education, in the rural areas of north India.

Sukhadeo Thorat is a professor at the Centre for Regional Development at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and is the Director of the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi. He has published various articles on agriculture development, poverty, caste, the discrimination of dalits and inequality.

ISBN 978-81-7304-531-8 2004 342p. Rs.650/Pounds 50

06 November, 2012

Saffron Versus Green: Communal Politics in the Central Provinces and Berar 1919-1947

By- Kanchanmoy Mojumdar

Communalism was a factor in the politics of the Central Provinces and Berar after the Montford Reforms. The problem of adjustment of the interests of the entrenched Hindu and emerging Muslim elite was coeval with the process of administrative changes brought about by successive constitutional measures adopted by the British government. The social fall-out of the problem was the riots that raged in the region.

This work is a pioneering attempt at tracing the course of communalism in this particular politically backward province. The role of the British administrators in this growth of communalism has been critically analysed alongside the involvement of their politically ambitious Indian collaborators. The influence of the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS and many Congressmen’s involvement in the Hindu unity movement have been explained. This is the first full-length study of the growth of Muslim political activity in central India both before and after the Muslim League became a factor to reckon with in this region.

Kanchanmoy Mojumdar has given lectures and seminars at Australian and American universities under the Commonwealth Universities Interchange Programme and Fulbright (Indo-American Cultural Exchange) Fellowship scheme respectively. In 1996 and 2000 he taught a course on the history of Modern India at the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA.

He was a Reader at Behrampur University, Orissa and later Professor and Head of the Department of History, Nagpur University.

ISBN 81-7304-527-5 2003 260p. Rs.550/Pounds 45

RSS’S Tryst with Politics: From Hedgewar to Sudarshan

Pralay Kanungo

This RSS is perhaps the most controversial organization in contemporary India. This book explores the mission, method and motive of the RSS and suggests that the ideological core of the RSS—Hindu Rashtra—is political and not cultural. It argues that K.B. Hedgewar the founder of the RSS, had a clear political mission, while M.S. Golwalkar, his successor, despite his saintly appearance and overt distaste for ‘politics’, sharpened and amplified its ideology Nevertheless, deep down the RSS remained political.

This book goes on to delineate how Balasaheb Deoras, the third chief, who did not have much of a fancy for ‘culture’, plunged into Indian politics on the organizational and ideological foundation created by his predecessors. Deoras seriously pursued the homogenizing agenda of the RSS to integrate different sections like the Dalits, tribals and women into the fold of the Hindu Rashtra. Rajendra Singh, the successor of Deoras, consolidated the political mission by getting control over the State and reaching out to civil society more effectively. K.S. Sudarshan, the present chief, while attempting to retain a tight control over State power, simultaneously reinforces Hindutva.

The author concludes by arguing that the RSS—from Hedgewar to Sudarshan—continues its tryst with politics to convert India into a Hindu Rashtra.

Highly readable and of contemporary relevance, this book would be of immense interest to political scientists, political sociologists and all those interested in present-day India.

Pralay Kanungo is Reader at the Department of Political Science, Ramjas College, University of Delhi. His current research is on aspects of Hindu identity and diaspora in the United States, for which he has been awarded a Fellowship by the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi.

ISBN 81-7304-506-2 2003 314p. Rs.325/Pounds 18.99

Punjab Politics, 1936–1939

The Start of Provincial Autonomy

Governor’s Fortnightly Reports and other Key Documents

By - Lionel Carter (Comp. and ed.)

This volume produces the texts of 123 fortnightly reports and other documents sent to the Viceroy by the Governors of the Punjab or their secretaries between 1936 and 1939. The Governors’ descriptions of their many tours throughout the Province provide a vivid picture of the Punjab in these last self-confident years of the Raj. There is much discussion of political developments taking place within the various communities. Congress was relatively weak in the Punjab at the start of the volume but its growing importance is evident at the close. The volume is dominated by the personality and activities of the Muslim Premier of the ruling Unionist Party, Sir Sikander Hyat Khan. His negotiation of a Pact with Jinnah’s Muslim League in October 1937 was to prove a milestone of the pre-independence years. The documents show the problems which arose in the actual working-out of the arrangements then agreed.

For more than 10 years. Lionel Carter was a member of the team (led by Nicholas Mansergh) which produced the British Government’s series of Documents on the Transfer of Power to India, 1942-47. From 1980 until 1999, Carter served as Secretary and Librarian of the Centre of South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge. Carter has compiled a volume of Chronicles of British Business in Asia, 1850-1960 (Manohar, 2002) and has edited Mountbatten’s Report on the Last Viceroyalty (Manohar, 2003).

ISBN 978-81-7304-568-4 2004 444p. Rs.995/Pounds 60