From elite to subaltern : stages in the adoption of the English language in India

Probal Dasgupta, in his book, 'The Otherness of English', posits that "the communication matrix of India identifies for English in-India the role of an "auntie" who is around, but not one of us." Despite early reservations about the adaptability of the English language to Indian sensibilities, and continuing antagonism against the imposition of the hegemony of English over India in some pockets, the notion that the English language is an "other" in India could not seem more far-fetched in this day and age -at a time when critics have been speculating that the way English is spoken in India may imminently dictate how English is going to be spoken as a global language. In this paper, I analyse the evolution of the English language in postcolonial India, from its status as a legacy of colonialism, to becoming India's very own representative. I argue that the process is temporally marked by three stages, and that three different classes of Indians have adopted and appropriated the English language to make it truly pan-Indian.peer-reviewe

East of the West: Repossessing the Past In India

Public history, as it is practised in India, defies easy attempts at classification. This is partially because hardly anything that would be recognised as public history is identified as such by its author(s). For the term, despite its ever-increasing acceptance outside India as a discipline and a practice distinct from history, has yet to gain any currency within India. Any attempt to identify works that are self-consciously public history in the Indian context will likely not yield much fruit. Nor, for that matter, will borrowing any of the many definitions of the term from the West and trying to find works that adhere to it in India. Instead, this chapter will try to highlight the myriad forms that public engagements with the past have taken place in India. This article focuses specifically on museums, arguably the preeminent site of public engagements with the past in India. To that end, it will look at a new generation of museums that are charting new paths towards enabling a better public engagement with the past. It will also analyse a few institutional forms of public engagements with the past

Willy Haas (1891-1973) : "homme de lettre"

There are many aspects of Haas' life and experiences in India which deserve greater attention. I would like to refer briefly only to his attempts as a litterateur to come to terms with 'India' as presented in his autobiographical recollection and to some comparative cultural reflections in his essays. Like all reconstructions his autobiographical recollection of India is also a construct in which the site of India as a place of exile is justified by an achieved awareness between conscious individual choice and inevitability. An individual acts out a personal history, the prefiguration of which he only becomes aware of in the form of a subsequent epiphanic realization. Given Haas' literary background, it is not surprising that this is articulated through a literary association

India's collaboration in science and technology with Southeast Asian countries

The collaboration in science and technology (S&T) is fast emerging in the scientific world. India recognized the importance of international scientific collaboration in S&T quite early and has signed a number of S&T agreements with South East Asian countries. In this paper, the collaboration is presented through the analysis of co-authored research papers published during the period 1996 to 2000 in the journals covered by the Science Citation Index. The study covers the nature and the areas of S&T collaborations, institutions involved, and the impact of these collaborations on their individual fields. It is revealed that a total of 329 co-authored papers were published during the period. Out of these, 214 were published through bilateral and 115 through multilateral efforts. The priority areas vary with the nature of collaboration as well as with the collaborating country. The institutions involved in these collaborations are also indicated. The research papers analyzed reflect the present status of India’s collaboration in S&T with the South East Asian countries. Such a study will help decision-makers to identify the potential S&T areas for future international cooperation

Flooding in the Kashmir Valley: Macroeconomic Effects of a Natural Disaster in India

This paper presents India’s economic growth by comparing it to that of the United States. In addition, this paper analyzes current events in India under a macroeconomic lens as it provides the macroeconomic impacts of said events. More specifically, this paper focuses on the ways in which unexpected severe flooding have impacted Northern India in the short-, medium-, and long-run. Analyses conclude with policy recommendations based on the goals of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

EU-India free trade agreement : a quantitative assessment

This report analyses the effects of a regional trade agreement (FTA) between the EU and India, for which negotiations are underway. The study starts with abrief overview of the key insights from the existing literature on FTAs and their relationship with multilateral negotiations. The remainder of the study is devoted to analysing the impact of tariff slashes under an FTA on merchandise trade between the EU and India. Of particular interest are the implications for agricultural markets, given the tension between agricultural liberalisation and India's policy goals relating to self-sufficiency in food grains and poverty reduction. The analysis employs GTAP, a global general equilibrium model using a recent database which has 2004 as its reference year. The results suggest that India's interests in a regional trade agreement with the EU are downplayed by the fact that India's economy is not well integrated in global markets. Impacts on the EU are minor and further reduced if a Doha agreement is in place when the FTA is implemented. Results indicate the rationale for a strongly asymmetric arrangement: it would be in the interest of both partners if the EU provides large concessions to India for market access, while India maintains the bulk of current border protection. An EU - India FTA delivers little scope for achieving efficiency gains via adjustments to the pattern of international specialisation. An EU - India agreement on merchandise trade is unlikely to embody substantial preferential treatment with regard to market access. Probably, India can find more suitable FTA partners. Agriculture is a key sector for India in the consideration of equity and growth purposes of a FTA with EU

Issues in Infrastructure Development Today: The Interlinkages

Brings out the issues in infrastructure development in India linking market failure, policy, regulation, and privatisation in India c. 2000. Is the lead article in the India Infrastructure Repor

The New Mafia: Vladimir Putin's Inner Circle and Russian Organized Crime

The purpose of this project was to show the relationship between organized crime and members of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and the impact of the crossover of organized crime tactics and behavior to officials of the Russian government. To show this, this thesis looks at the ways in which four specific members of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, Igor Sechin, Sergei Glazyev, Viktor Zolotov, and Nikolai Patrushev, are involved in illegal activity that resembles the kind of actions that are perpetrated by organized crime groups and how their behavior is similar to that of the leaders of these groups. This thesis aims to reveal the extent of the “mafia state” and show the depth of corruption