Migration, citizenship and belonging in Hyderabad (Deccan), 1946–1956

Whilst the history of the Indian diaspora after independence has been the subject of much scholarly attention, very little is known about non-Indian migrants in India. This paper traces the fate of Arabs, Afghans and other Muslim migrants after the forcible integration of the princely state of Hyderabad into the Indian Union in 1948. Because these non-Indian Muslims were doubly marked as outsiders by virtue of their foreign birth and their religious affiliation, the government of India wished to deport these men and their families. But the attempt to repatriate these people floundered on both political and legal shoals. In the process, many were left legally stateless. Nonetheless, migrants were able to creatively change the way they self-identified both to circumvent immigration controls and to secure greater privileges within India

Book Review: Belonging: solidarity and division in modern societies

"Belonging: Solidarity and Division in Modern Societies." Montserrat Guibernau. Polity. July 2013. --- It is commonly assumed that we live in an age of unbridled individualism, but in this book Montserrat Guibernau argues that the need to belong to a group or community – from peer groups and local communities to ethnic groups and nations – is a pervasive and enduring feature of modern social life. Although it includes a variety of interesting case studies from Britain, Spain, Catalonia, Germany, the Middle East and the United States, Taylor C. Sherman remains unconvinced and encounters some contradictions in the author’s arguments

A Gandhian answer to the threat of communism? Sarvodaya and postcolonial nationalism in India

It is an axiom of early postcolonial Indian history that Nehru and his statist conception of nationalism and of economic development dominated the political and economic life of India. As such, scholars have assumed, Gandhian ideas, especially radically non-statist answers to the problems of development, lost influence in this period. This article explores Gandhian economic thinking, in the form of the Bhoodan Movement and three of the thinkers on sarvodaya economics in the 1950s, Vinoba Bhave, K.G. Mashruwala and J.C. Kumarappa. It goes on to demonstrate the complex relationship that these men and their ideas had with Nehru and various levels of the Indian state. It argues that non-statist ideas remained important in the development of postcolonial Indian nationalism

“A new type of revolution”: socialist thought in India, 1940s-1960s

Although it is often said that early postcolonial India was socialist, scholars have tended to take this term for granted. This article investigates how Indians defined socialism in the two decades after independence. It finds that there were six areas of agreement among Indian socialists: the centrality of the individual, the indispensability of work, the continued importance of private property, that the final goal was a more equal – but not flat – society, that this change had to be brought about without violence, and that the final goal of Indian socialism ought to be spiritual fulfilment. Understanding how Indians defined their version of socialism, it is argued, will help scholars re-evaluate the role of the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in defining the goals India pursued after independence. It will also re-orient our understanding of the expectations and limitations of the Indian state in this crucial period in Indian history

India and overseas Indians in Ceylon and Burma, 1946-1965: experiments in postimperial sovereignty

Despite the existence of a large Indian diaspora, there has been relatively little scholarly attention paid to India's relations with overseas Indians after its independence in 1947. The common narrative is that India abruptly cut ties with overseas Indians at independence, as it adhered to territorially based understandings of sovereignty and citizenship. Re-examining India's relations with Indian communities in Ceylon and Burma between the 1940s and the 1960s, this article demonstrates that, despite its rhetoric, independent India did not renounce responsibility for its diaspora. Instead, because of pre-existing social connections that spanned the former British empire, the Government of India faced regular demands to assist overseas Indians, and it responded on several fronts. To understand this continued engagement with overseas Indians, this article introduces the idea of 'post-imperial sovereignty'. This type of sovereignty was layered, as imperial sovereignty had been, but was also concerned with advancing norms designed to protect minority communities across the world. India's strategy to argue for these norms was simultaneously multilateral, regional, and bilateral. It sought to use the United Nations, the Commonwealth, and the 1947 Asian Relations Conference to secure rights for overseas Indians. As those attempts failed, India negotiated claims for citizenship with governments in Burma and Ceylon, and shaped the institutions and language through which Indians voiced demands for their rights in these countries. Indian expressions of sovereignty beyond the space of the nation-state, therefore, impacted on practices of citizenship, even during the process of de-recognition in Asia

Education in early postcolonial India: expansion, experimentation and planned self-help

After independence India’s leaders, including its first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, committed the country to democracy with universal franchise and to pursuing a socialistic pattern of society. As part of these interlocking projects, it was widely recognised that India’s educational systems needed reform. However, with scarce resources, Indian policy-makers faced the dilemma of whether to improve the existing system, which served a narrow, urban elite, or expand it to the entire population, as the Constitution promised they would. This overview of education policy in the first two decades after 1947 finds that at the Centre, Indian planning did not monopolise control over education. Rather, India’s was a socialism of scarcity, which relied on self-help efforts by the people to build the institutions of the welfare state. However, by relying on communities to use their own resources to build local schools, this DIY socialism entrenched existing inequalities

HPV vaccination and cervical screening: the knowledge and attitudes of mothers of adolescent girls

Objective: Mothers play a significant role in decision making about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for their daughters and about cervical screening attendance for themselves. This study had three objectives, to explore: 1) mothers’ knowledge and attitudes about HPV and HPV vaccination, 2) their knowledge and attitudes about cervical cancer and screening, and 3) whether their daughter’s HPV vaccination invitation was an opportunity to nudge mothers to attend screening. Design: 138 women from North Staffordshire completed a cross-sectional survey and 15 took part in follow-up focus groups. Results: Despite high self-reported engagement with both the cervical screening and HPV vaccination programmes, relatively low levels of knowledge and some uncertainty were evident. There was mixed opinion about the potential of using the vaccination invite as an opportunity to nudge mothers to attend cervical screening. Conclusion: Even amongst women who do engage positively with the programmes, knowledge is not as complete and certain as it could be. Further research is needed with women who are less likely to accept the vaccination for their daughters. Women need to be better informed, which may go some way to reversing the decline in screening and maintaining high levels of vaccination

Selfish or altruistic? An analysis of alarm call function in wild capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella nigritus

Alarm calls facilitate some antipredatory benefits of group living but may endanger the caller by attracting the predator's attention. A number of hypotheses invoking kin selection and individual selection have been proposed to explain how such behaviour could evolve. This study tests eight hypotheses for alarm call evolution by examining the responses of tufted capuchin monkeys to models of felids, perched raptors and vipers. Specifically, this study examines: (1) differences between individuals in their propensity to call in response to different threat types, (2) whether there is an audience effect for alarm calling and (3) the response of conspecifics to alarms. Results indicate that the benefits likely to be afforded to the caller vary with stimulus type. Alarm calling in response to felids is most likely selfish, with calls apparently directed towards both the predator and potential conspecific mobbers. Alarm calling in response to vipers attracts additional mobbers as well, but also appears to be driven by kin selection in the case of males and parental care benefits in the case of females. Alarm responses to perched raptors are rare, but seem to be selfish, with callers benefiting by recruiting additional mobbers

Treaty of Fort Laramie, 1868 (Kappler)

This 1904 reprint of the Sioux Treaty of 1868, also known as the Treaty of Fort Laramie, 1868, was transcribed and published in vol. II of Charles Kappler’s Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties. This treaty, between the United States government and the Sioux and Arapaho Nations, established the Great Sioux Reservation, promised the Sioux would own the Black Hills in perpetuity, and set aside the country north of the North Platte River and east of the summits of the Big Horn Mountains as unceded Indian territory. Furthermore, the U.S. government pledged to close the Bozeman Trail forts and provide food, clothing, and annuities to the tribes, given that they agreed to relinquish all rights to live outside the reservation.https://commons.und.edu/indigenous-gov-docs/1176/thumbnail.jp

Treaty Of Fort Laramie 1868

This treaty, signed on April 29, 1868, between the United States government and the Sioux and Arapaho Nations, established the Great Sioux Reservation, promised the Sioux would own the Black Hills in perpetuity, and set aside the country north of the North Platte River and east of the summits of the Big Horn Mountains as unceded Indian territory. Furthermore, the U.S. government pledged to close the Bozeman Trail forts and provide food, clothing, and annuities to the tribes, given that they agreed to relinquish all rights to live outside the reservation.https://commons.und.edu/indigenous-gov-docs/1000/thumbnail.jp