State and Society in India: A Historical Retrospect

Description

The modern Indian State, with all its democratic paraphernalia, seemed to have never undergone thorough academic scrutiny, whether in the mainstream or otherwise. Historians, political analysts, economists, and sociologists have all been trying to understand the nature and dynamics of the Indian state and the political system as a whole. Gunnar Myrdal described the Indian State as a 'Soft State'... Read more

The modern Indian State, with all its democratic paraphernalia, seemed to have never undergone thorough academic scrutiny, whether in the mainstream or otherwise. Historians, political analysts, economists, and sociologists have all been trying to understand the nature and dynamics of the Indian state and the political system as a whole. Gunnar Myrdal described the Indian State as a 'Soft State' due to its inability to eradicate poverty. Hamza Alavi introduces the concept of an 'Over Developed State' in South Asia with a strong defense component, but whether this applies to India is debated. The Marxist thesis on the nature of the Indian state aims to explain the dominant class character of the coalitions that underlie state policies. Historically, the Indian state has been a product of continuous contestations between colonial and nationalist traditions, a legacy that places the very concept of the 'Indian state' in flux. Although ideologically the state was based on concepts like the White Man’s Burden, it did not significantly interfere with social formations in terms of caste and religious arrangements until it deemed fit to intervene, either to maintain order or gain support from a faction. Interventions in social formations, such as fuelling communalism, occurred only when the colonial state sought to create factions within the ruling elite. The larger fact remains clear: reasonable restrictions and a belief in human reason and individual freedom were largely overshadowed by the coercive apparatus of the military, police, and law. Similarly, Bhikhu Parekh argues for the intersection of the modern state deriving from homogeneity and cultural heterogeneity. However, the ideological deliberations between the three tenets—utilitarianism, evangelicalism, and orientalism—shaped the policies of the state that followed, each offering different approaches toward governing a vast and diverse land. In addition to promoting economic motives such as plantation, commercial gains, and de-industrialization, the new state introduced far-reaching changes in the structure of education and criminal laws. Meanwhile, the civil laws of both Hindus and Muslims were largely dominated by elite traditions. Some argue that the colonial state was not autonomous in the truest sense, as it had to constantly align with the priorities of the traditional elite. Fragmentation, incoherence, and the dilemmas of the postcolonial condition constitute significant features of the contemporary Indian lifeworld. India maintains the colonial dichotomy of ‘inner tradition’ and ‘outer modernity’ as the semantic framework of cognition and practice. Moreover, a persisting colonially wedged schism exists between the inner tradition of the socio-cultural sphere and the outer modernity of the politico-economic sphere. Human agents attempt to assign varying significance to different aspects of the world, maintaining their identity and politico-ethical positioning as responsive beings in inconsistent and problematic situations. They achieve this not by consistently adhering to one side of the dilemma but by switching from one side to the other as the situation requires. The crucial question arises: whether to treat India as a monolithic political entity. However, the reality is that the Indian State comprises a variety of institutions. Political institutions operate within a complex socio-cultural matrix at three levels – national, state, and local. To locate and understand these institutions in the social matrices in which they are embedded justifies the need for a historical understanding of their inception and historicity as they have evolved over time. In short, it has become necessary not to treat India as a political monolith but as a compendium of myriad institutions operating in an equally diverse socio-economic environment. This requires a multidisciplinary approach so that each institution can be understood in relation to its social context. Thus the conference aims to have an understanding of the processes of continuity and change in the state and society of India during pre-colonial and post-colonial times is vital for evaluating the contemporary Indian state. In the current era of advanced research, there is an increasing scope to answer the historical question: 'What was the nature of Indian society, and how was it reflected in the state structure?' Recently, historians have argued that the state in India represented itself as the protector of social norms to legitimize its sovereign power over society and acted as a guiding force for the early development of administrative technology, social transformation, and trans-local and trans-continental commercial activities. It is argued that its power arose by offering an integral sphere of coordination, competition, and contestation between different groups, communities, and polities. Therefore, it is important in the present context to historically contextualize the process of regional state formation and the transformation of the relationship between the state and society in a broader perspective in pre-colonial and post-colonial India. Read less

1 Spaces of colonialism: Canal colonies as metaphors of urbanization in colonial India
A. Subash
2 Voices from the Margins: Dalit women and gender discourse in postcolonial theory
Akash Kumar Rawat and Suman Yadav
3 Telangana people awakening in the 19th century
Ankam Jayaprakash
4 Regulations and the state: Perspectives from plantations in Travancore
Anagha S.
5 Epistemologies of resistance: Women’s identity and Nationalists struggles in colonial North India
Anita Kumari
6 Regionalism: Identity, resistance, and the legacy of Madho Sing in colonial Sambalpur, Orissa
Brundaban Mishra
7 Post-coloniality of “Nation-in-the Making”: The reservation system in India
B. Prabu
8 From wooden plough to engine tractor: Exploring the political-economy of transition in tilling
technology in Orissa history
Baira Ganjan Dash
9 Measure of sacrifice: Challenges faced by freedom fighters in securing pension grants in Pondicherry
(1972–1986)
Bharathapriya R.
10 Revisiting colonial narratives: Kuki-Naga historical relations in Manipur
David Jangminlien
11 The state and development works in Colonial India
M. Deenadayal
12 Aspects of mobilization of Dalits in colonial Orissa (1932–1947)
Deepak Kumar Das
13 Climate change and its impacts on South Asian states, Bangladesh: A critical study of policies
taken from time to time to protect coastal low-lying areas
Ekata Ghosh
14 Breaking the code in the neo-liberal economy: Gender bias and segregation in the software industry
in post-independent state
Esha Chatterjee
15 Cultural politics of ethnic assertion in post modern India: The Karbi youth festival of Assam
Himakshi Choudhury
16 Development discourse and social famine in colonial India
Jyotasana
17 Ethics, animal protection, and the role of State and Society in India through the ages
Kalyani Dash and Baira Ganjan Dash
18 How can Tribal Women get a higher income? Women’s empowerment in agriculture: An economic
analysis
R. M. Lavanya
19 The critical study on evolution of state and society in medieval South India
M. Rama Krishna
20 Postcolonial state, medical education and economy in India: A study of marginalized caste
students in elite institutions
Rasipogula Vinod Kumar, Mahesh Admankar, and Silpa Rajeevan
21 Seeing the unseen – Cultural imperialism and Odisha
Mamata Nanda
22 Exploring the pre-colonial cultural orientation through the conflictual structure of the outer self and
the inner self through “Ramachander Avishekh” (Coronation of Ramachandra) by Bhavaninath
Manish Prasad and Prasanta Chakraborty
23 State, society, and conflict: Insurgencies and identity formation in post-colonial northeast India
Manjul Mishra
24 Social mobilizations: A retrospective view of suppressed class uprising in Tamil Nadu, south India
K. Mavali Rajan and K. Thangapandian
25 Folk art of the subcontinent Modern State: A historic comprehension of traditional and modern
art of Bangladesh
Rashedur Rahman and Mehedi Hasan
26 Reimagining the contours of sovereignty in the era of artificial intelligence
Mohammad Saif, Sadaf Ali Khan, and Mohamad Ayub Dar
27 War and resistance: The Indian National Congress’s response to World War II
N. V. Aski
28 Condition of maternal health and childbirth process among tribal women: A study of Kalahandi
district in the post-independent state of India
Nalinikanta Rana and Sarita Bag
29 Revisiting the idea of developmental state through contemporary lens
Naveen Kolloju and Raju Chaketi
30 Darul Qaza: Adjudicating the family disputes in contemporary India and its impact on access
to justice
Nehal Ahmad and Zartab Ansari
31 Navigating structures: The role of Bodo women in economic and cultural paradigms in Northeast India
Nilam Nandini Sarmah and Srilakshmi M. P.
32 The forgotten legacy of Japanese intelligence agencies in the Indo-Burma Region: A World War II
perspective
Paominlun Sitlhou
33 The birth of environmental activism: A historical analysis of grassroots movements and
conventions
Paramita Choudhury and Ummul Waraah
34 Vanijjapath: The communications for trade and connectivity with ports in early modern Bengal
(1650–1750)
Paramjit Kaur and Amita Gupta
35 Impact of colonial and post-colonial eras on the customary law and identity of the
Oraon community
Prabin Toppo and Pragyan Mohanty
36 Tribal economy and development planning: Emerging role of Indian State
Preetiswapna Padhan
37 Women in medicine during the colonial era – The system of Dai
S. Prema
38 Cultural identity and education: A study of dropout rates among the Gond students in post-colonial
era 197
Rajkumar Dharua and Pragyan Mohanty
39 Social inclusion of marginalized communities in post-formation Telangana state
Raju Chaketi and Naveen Kolloju
40 State and society in colonial India: A reading of Mulk Raj Anand’s Selected novels
Rama Chandra Krisani and Chittaranjan Bhoi
41 Masculinity, eroticism, and cultural expressions in the Kamasastriya Tradition: A study of
Kalyāṇamalla’s Anangaranga
Ratnpriya
42 The intersection of choice and societal norms: A historical analysis of Pandita Ramabai’s life
and work
Renu Pandey
43 The gastronomic glue of Mughal society: Understanding food and socialization
Rizwan Ahmad and Bangalore Morarji
44 Lower class women and eighteenth-century Oriya literature: Representation and reflection
Sankarsan Malik
45 From resistance to recognition: Construction of Telangana’s identity in Telugu cinema
Santhosh Kumar Putta and Sreeramulu Gosikonda
46 Environment, culture, and religion: The resemblance of divinity in unique forms at the temples of
Arasavalli and Srikurmam in Northern Andhra
P. M. Sarat Kumar
47 From kingdoms to republic: Evolution of state in India
Seelam Srinivasa Rao
48 Development or destruction: The developmental conundrum in post-colonial Odisha
Seshan Samal
49 Working class women and maternal health care: A case study of textile industries in colonial
Madras
Shapna K. P. and Sreeparna Chatterjee
50 Beyond the brushstrokes: State and society of colonial India in the Prism of Ravi Varma’s artwork
“Galaxy of Musicians”
Sharon K. and Hemalatha
51 Inoculating empire: Resistance, paternalism, and the shaping of colonial vaccination policy in the
united provinces
Shivangi
52 Sadhana through the ages: Bharatanaṭyam’s transformative journey in Indian Society from
pre-colonial to post-colonial eras
Srilakshmi M. P.
53 Historical study of folk tradition and processional performances in higher Himalayan
Subhash Chandra and Jyotsana Sonal
54 Impacts of the media in South Asia on Indo-Bangladesh bilateral diplomatic relations:
Establishing a negative cornerstone and the current scenario
Subhasis Ghosh
55 Memorial stone and social hierarchy: Death rituals and living tradition among the Munda tribes of
Odisha
Subodha Mendaly and Prasenjit Sinha
56 Colonial encounters and environmental transformations: A study of Jaunsar-Bawar in British
Uttarakhand
Surendra Singh Bisht
57 Procreation and patriarchy: The marginalization of daughters in ancient Indian society
Swati Nupur Tigga
58 State formation in early medieval period: A case study of Dakshina Koshala
Tirtharaj Bhoi
59 The British colonial legacy in Indian civil society and law
Ved Prakash Pandey & Shapna K. P.
60 Coloniality of technical education in Madras Province, 1928–1947
K. Venugopal Reddy
61 From guilds to global markets: Jain business communities under British colonial policies
Venus Jain and Alka Maurya,
62 Medieval South Indian State: Nature and dynamics
Victor Babu Saragandla

Editor(s)

Biography

Dr. Brundaban Mishra

is a Professor and Head of the Department of Sciences and Humanities at the School of Technology, Woxsen University, Hyderabad, India. He completed his Postdoctoral Research as a JSPS Fellow at Kyoto University, Japan, specializing in South Asian History, and earned his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Dr. Mishra’s research spans Global and Legal History, Modern Indian History, Cultural Anthropology, Sociology, Religion and Politics, State Formation and Social Transformation, and Language Policy and the Politics of Identity, with a regional focus on India and South Asia.

Rekha Pande

is a Professor of History and Women’s Studies. She was the former Head, Depart□ment of History and Head, Centre for Women’s Studies at the University of Hyderabad. She was also the Director of Women’s Studies at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU). She has been the Editor of, International Feminist Journal of Politics (IFJP), Rout ledge Taylor and Francis group, UK. She also edited Foreign Policy Analysis, which is published by Blackwell, USA. She has received the Visiting Fellowship, Birkbeck Institute of Humanities, University of London, International Visiting Fellowship in the School of Policy Studies, in the University of Bristol, UK. Academic Fellow, University of Buffalo, USA and International Visiting Scholar, at Maison De Research, Paris and Visiting Professorship at the University of Artois, Arras, France.

State and Society in India A Historical Retrospect

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Editor(s)

Biography

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