Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

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Ambidextrous Gandhi
(Gandhi Marg, 2020) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
Between Café and Cigarillos Notes towards mapping the research trajectory and the intellectual legacy of Fernando Ortiz through a study of his select works
(Shipra, 2012) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
Consentimiento y autonomía política del indio americano en el pensamiento tardío de fray Bartolomé de Las Casas
(Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2009) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
Critical Perspectives on the National Policy on Education 2016
(Sage, 2017-08) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan; Bhattacharya, Somdatta; Shukla, Tanu; Yadav, Anupam
This article brings together critical perspectives on a broad range of issues that emerge from a reading of the National Policy on Education 2016. The issues vary from accountability to transdisciplinarity and from the marginalization of transgender people to value education. Such a complex task of critiquing this policy document cannot be accomplished by an individual alone. This task must be borne by a team of scholars with training in diverse fields. Working in a team however generates divergences as well as convergences. Yet no attempt has been made to iron out the creases emanating from differences in opinions, nor persist with the search for an underlying singularity, nor enforce a consensus. Such is the uncertain nature of the task of reforming higher education.
Education and enterprise
(The Week, 2021-12-19) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
GHANSHYAM DAS BIRLA died in London on June 11, 1983, at the age of 89. Sunday magazine’s cover page dated June26-July 2, 1983, announced that ‘The King is Dead’. ‘The king is dead, Long live the king’ is a medieval European phrasal template that proclaimed the demise of a king’s mortal body and the people’s desire for the continuation of the body politic, which was the kingdom or the king’s legacy. Birla’s legacy hinges on at least three elements: his leadership of Indian industry; his role as a national and global emissary across the political spectrum, and his vision to empower the young through educational institutions that he founded.
From Jan Sunwai to Rajasthan Right to Hearing Act 2012: Fostering Transparency and Accountability through Citizen Engagement
(Sage, 2018-09) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
This study examines the evolution of the movement for transparency towards redressing grievances and holding public servants accountable to the people. It explains how three legislations—Right to Information Act (RTI, India, 2005), Rajasthan Guaranteed Delivery of Public Services Act (RGDPS, 2011) and the Right to Hearing Act (RTH, Rajasthan, 2012)—form part of a continuum in the people’s struggle for transparency. The analysis of the three acts as a continuum is significant because together these are gradually changing the administration-centric Indian polity into a citizen-centric one. If the RTI Act ensured an informed citizenry, the RGDPS Act recognized the government’s duty to provide public services and the RTH Act guaranteed that the people were heard by the government. This right to hearing may be traced back to the Jan Sunwai, which was a pivotal forum in the struggle for transparency because it functioned as a dialogical space between the people and the state, as well as a forum for social auditing and civic engagement. Of late however, the Jan Sunwai is being transformed by digital technology. This transformation poses the challenge of converting a participatory polity alive with people’s voices into a transactional state regimented by technology
Gandhi and the ‘Race’ question
(Taylor & Francis, 2019) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
The objective of this study is to analyze Gandhi’s views on race, especially in relation to native Africans, while he was in South Africa between 1893 and 1914. This study is relevant because it hopes to provide evidence hitherto ignored or not considered in recent debates by Gandhi’s critics as well as those favourably disposed towards the Mahatma. This present study will respond specifically to Roy’s question as well as other related questions emerging out of this debate. This study suggests on the basis of evidence that Gandhi’s views on race were evolving as were those of contemporary scholars, across Europe and America, since the high noon of pseudo-scientific racism began declining in the early years of the 20th century. New evidence suggests that Gandhi was not merely a child of his context or a man of his times, but perhaps he was ahead of his times - in so far as his quest for understanding the relation between race, culture and civilization. This study will place the new evidence for the consideration of the participants of the conference, and thus, contribute to the debate on Gandhi’s views on race, culture and civilization.
Hispanic Gandhiana Bibliography
(Gandhi Research Foundation, 2021) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
Hispanic Gandhiana Bibliography (2021) is a bi-lingual Spanish-English bibliography on Mahatma Gandhi. It contains a list of books published in Spanish between circa 1924 and 2020. The bibliography has approximately six hundred references and contains a prefatory note. It is accompanied by an index of dates, keywords, names of persons, and places. Although the list is primarily focused on books, it also includes references to archival material; articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers; audio recordings; braille texts; comics; manuscripts; music; music for movies; musical notations; newspaper clippings; posters; songs; university dissertations/theses; and videos. The bibliography is clustered chronologically into decades, and within each decade, the list has been divided into two thematic sections: works by Gandhi and works on Gandhi. This bibliography was an outcome of a research project funded by the Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon (India) between September 2020 and March 2021. The Hispanic Gandhiana Bibliography was prepared as a preliminary step for understanding how the Hispanic world engaged with Gandhi.This work will be useful to scholars of Gandhi Studies and Contemporary India.
Identity, indigenous insurrections
(Shipra, 2009-01) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
Incorporating Ahimsa into India’s Constitutional Morality
(Rawat Publicaiton, 2021) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an eminent freedom activist and an influential political leader who also played a dominant role in India’s struggle for independence. The 150th birth centennial celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi are a time for reflection on his life and works. Reflections on Mahatma Gandhi: The Global Perspectives is an outcome of the book project commemorated to the life and works of Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary. Gandhi is one of the great minds of global peace and non-violence and is also subjected to radical criticism. Being an advocate of basic human rights, he was the most influential figure and advocate of non-violence, and this scholarship has been universally confirmed for its success of non-violence as a method and strategy for resistance. In this interdisciplinary collection, scholarly articles are assembled that revisit the body of Gandhian works. This collection exhibits a significant variety in the analytical skills and frameworks employed in each and demonstrates the incredible reach and breadth of Gandhi's significance. These contemporary concerns result in a reviewing of already existing themes and preoccupations as well as helping to chart a path forward.
Incorporating Ahimsa into India's constitutional morality
(Rawat Publications, 2021) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
At the first meeting of the Committee for the Commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi in May 2018, the Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, suggested that the principle of ahimsa may be incorporated into the preamble of the Constitution of India (Patnaik 2019). Patnaik briefly elaborated his reasoning. He argued that poverty and social injustice too were forms of violence. Removal of such forms of violence through socio-economic development requires peace. In other words, progress requires peace or ahimsa. Patnaik concluded that the inclusion of ahimsa, which is a uniquely Indian concept, into the preamble of the Indian Constitution will be a genuine tribute to Gandhi while reminding Indians as well as others of the profound significance of this principle.
Institutionalising Social Audit in Meghalaya
(Economic Political Weekly, 2018) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
The Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act, 2017, is the first state-level legislation explicitly aimed at institutionalising the procedure of auditing public works and programmes by the people residing in villages and urban localities through public hearings. Auditing at public hearings (jan sunwai) was initiated by the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan in the 1990s in Rajasthan, and the Meghalaya act has elements comparable to the Rajasthan Right to Hearing Act, 2012. Both these acts further the movement for transparency in governance, accountability of public servants to the citizens and redress of people’s grievances.
La Bhagavad Gita y sus interpretaciones políticas modernas
(Revistas-filologicas, 2023) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
This study analyses three interpretations of Gītā that were published during the first half of the 20th century: those of Tilak, Gandhi and Ambedkar. The analysis begins with a narrative that explains the process that took place between 1785 and 1882, through which Gītā achieved the reputation of being the most representative book of the Hindus. From then on, Gītā was interpreted by Indian leaders for their own political purposes. Thus, Tilak emphasized the principles of ‘just war’ to rationalize revolutionary violence against British rule of India. Gandhi, who opposed all forms of violence, reinterpreted the Gītā as a text of non-violence. Ambedkar, one of Gandhi’s strongest rivals, warned against the conservative social philosophy present in the Gītā, as he felt that the text justified the social caste system. While Tilak’s and Ambedkar’s interpretations were textually sustainable, Gandhi’s was less so. However, Gandhi insisted on the correctness of his interpretation. Such insistence resulted in his interpretation of the Gītā eclipsing the textual intent.
The nature and functioning of democracy
(Pearson Education, 2009) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
Contemporary India: Economy, Society, Politics, published in 1999, takes an in-depth look into the different types of issues that this country faces. It covers various aspects of contemporary India, and focuses on both nation-state, as well as the civil society. This book is divided into three sections, namely Economy, Society, and Politics. It contains various conceptual and empirical themes. The authors have used democracy as a common thread to bind different topics to each other. The first part, Economy, starts off with the basic features of the Indian economy during the time of Independence. Some other topics are food insecurity, economic policies, human development, regional disparities, and IT and social change. The next portion is titled Society, and its explains the sudden emergence of the Indian middle class. It also speaks of changes in social structures, the challenges and opportunities of social movements, catalysts of social change, and social mobility. The last section, Politics, has eleven chapters. Readers can learn about the parliamentary system, the Panchayati Raj, the nature of coalition politics, the changing nature of public administration, and why secularism is important to this country. Some other chapters are The Nature and Functioning of Democracy, India in the Global Strategic Environment, and Dimensions of Indian Federalism. The contributors of this book are research scholars and teachers of the University of Delhi. The content of each chapter is well-researched, and has been written in a conversational style to make it easy for readers to understand these diverse topics. Contemporary India: Economy, Society, Politics is for the general reading public, undergraduate and postgraduate students, professionals, and journalists. It also contains questions, a glossary, and a reading lists for students who are using this book to study for their Social Science examinations.
Reflections on Teaching–Learning in Gandhi Studies
(Sage, 2020-12) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
Struggle for Racial Equality through Active Nonviolence: The African-American Engagement with Gandhi circa 1920–1947
(Kalpavriksh, Earthcare Books, 2023) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
Traditions of Republican Citizenship
(Pearson Education, 2022) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
Where Teachers Learn
(Economic Political Weekly, 2015-11) Nair, Harikrishnan Gopinadhan
Rajesh Misra and Supriya Singh (“Continuum of Ignorance in Indian Universities,” EPW, 28 November 2015) rightly highlight a number of deficiencies in Indian universities. But they have focused only on a possible framework of solutions for degeneration of the quality of faculty members interpreted by this author as degeneration of teaching quality; anomalies in teaching methodologies; and obsessive orientation towards exams. The possible framework of solutions is threefold: by incorporating learning outcomes while planning for courses, by working out graduate student attributes for degree programmes, and the institutionalisation of teaching–learning centres (TLCs). This note is thus divided into three parts: first, the “what and why” of learning outcomes; second, the relationship between learning outcomes and graduate student attributes; and third, the rationale and role of TLCs.