Journals

Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

Vol-X, No-1 | May, 2019

Contents

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

ISSN: 0976-1861
Section: Contents

CONTENTS

CONFLICT IN SOUTH ASIA: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

ISSN 0976-1861 May 2019 Vol. X, No.1

 

CONTENTS

 

Guest Editorial

Jose Palely and George Thadathil

v

From a Realist Security Paradigm towards a Neoliberal Approach: Armed Conflict in Nagaland and Prospects for Pragmatic Resolution

Dominic K. Khanyo

1

Bushmeat and the North-East Way: A Conflict between Wildlife and Humans

Konsam Jenny

15

Addressing Child Trafficking in South Asia

Romana Lepcha

22

Education of Children in Times of Conflict: A Study of Atoizu in Nagaland

Tiatula Ozukum

33

A Nation through Violence to Healing in Malsawmi Jacob’s Zorami: A Redemption Song

Luhish Lushai

43

State Initiatives and the Role of Media in Mitigating Human Trafficking: A Case Study of Tea Plantation Workers of Sonitpur District in Assam

Saket Kumar Bhardwaj and Uttam Pegu

51

Sustainable Development Goals in Golaghat District and Adjoining Villages of Assam:

Implementation and Challenges

Salomy George and Leander Toppo

64

Refugee Crisis in India: An Inquest on the Rohingya Debacle

Subhajit Paul & Uttam Kr Pegu

83

‘Thought Bank’ for Peace through Dialogue and Co-Belonging

Thomas Menamparampil

91

Book Reviews

David Arnold, Toxic Histories: Poison and Pollution

in Modern India

by Bikash Sarma

111

Vinay Lal (ed), India and Civilizational Futures:

Backwaters Collective’s Metaphysics and Politics II

by George Thadathil

115

TK Oommen, Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs:

Life and Times of a Sociologist

by Thomas Mathew and George Thadathil

127

Our Contributors

135

Notes to Contributors

 

Acknowledgement
Salesian College Publication is very thankful to Don Bosco College, Golaghat, Assam for their collaboration with Salesian College Sonada in the preparation of this present issue.

 

Editorial

Guest Editorial

Jose Palely & George Thadathil

Jose Palely is the Founding Principal of Don Bosco College Golaghat since 2015. He worked as Provincial Administrator from 2009 to 2015 and is also the Founding Principal of Don Bosco College, Maram, Manipur.

George Thadathil is the Principal of Salesian College Sonada and Siliguri. He is the author of Vision from the Margin (2007) and has edited and co-edited a number of books besides contributing to a number of journals and edited volumes on Philosophy, Literature and Social Science. He is the founder Director of Salesian Publications, Salesian Research Institute and Salesian Translation Centre.

Editorial

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

ISSN: 0976-1861 | Page: v-x,

Section: Editorial

EDITORIAL

Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

Jose Palely is the Founding Principal of Don Bosco College Golaghat since 2015. He  worked as Provincial Administrator from 2009 to 2015 and is also the Founding Principal of Don Bosco College, Maram, Manipur.George Thadathil is the Principal of Salesian College Sonada and Siliguri. He is the author of Vision from the Margin (2007) and has edited and co-edited number of books besides contributing to a number of journals and edited volumes on Philosophy, Literature and Social Science. He is the founder Director of Salesian Publications, Salesian Research Institute and Salesian Translation Centre.

Conflict can be looked at as a natural/normal process of evolutionary history, be it in the non-human or human realms of the natural habitats of the planet earth. The book Psychodarwinism (Christopher Badcock, 1994) in many ways outlines the kinds of conflict generated tensions that give rise to the progression of life itself on the planet. This region specific analysis of the conflict vs peace processes has a history and has a future, be it in terms of the past impinging on the present or in terms of the present remolding the past as the ongoing narratives, meta-narratives and cross-narratives manifest.

The conceptual clarification of the conflict ridden decade and more of the south Asian reality as intended in the conceptualization of the seminar itself created a tussle between the notions of ‘consequences’ and ‘implications.’ It was  intended to be understood as the ‘cost factor’ and the ‘penalty factor’  of a happening. In turn,  as these get reported, there emerge insinuations, allusions, and further repercussions of the happening. The underlying tension has been partly resolved in re-conceptualizing the title as ‘causes and consequences’ of the conflict situations in the region. In other words, to ‘whatever is’, or, ‘whatever could be’ there are causes and consequences: things that bring about the situation to be what it is; the net outcome of the fact  or situations leading to something different from what things are and where they are; sometimes, it could even be by inaction - by sheer dint of entropy or atrophy. In today’s ideological warfare for the battleground itself, there is a conflict: the definition of the past and its role for the future is wherein this conflict is couched. Do we define the past with the understanding modernity has provided us, or interpret the modernity itself as an aberration of the inability to retain the past and its heritage. This binarising of the east-west, modernity-tradition dynamics of knowledge itself is a ‘site of conflict’. Resolving it in either way does not offer the solution, but gives room for the conflict to persist. Instead we need to look for a synchronic view of the process and discover the simultaneity of the process itself. It is necessitated by the fact there were aspirations for modernity within the cultural past, and equally, one could see within the recovery of the very same cultural heritage at its best the promise of a new modernity itself. The definition of the future as spatial conceptualization of the present in terms of a globalizing monolith versus the narrow cultural-nationalist hegemonies making a return in sinister ways are the non-options, to be thwarted. In the region of Assam where the seminar took place, of which the outcome are the articles of this issue, the arrival of the Ahoms as dominant powers in a way side stepped the hill chiefs attempts to make inroads into the plains. This dynamics was replicated with the arrival of the colonial agents in terms of land acquisitions for the developmental projects - be it tea gardens for an industry, railways for a spatial, mobility and communication enhancing network, or, missioning for education as a means to transform an inheritance based (ascriptive) society into a semblance of appreciation for the acquisition (subscriptive) model of society it could become. These ventures had the ‘intent-to-civilize’ ideologies supplying the motivational force and justifying the expansionist strategies. These business and ideology combined interventions for the land settlements probably sowed the seeds of the conflicts that play out even today. The business related relocation of populations from central India into the plains of Assam, with the negation of their right to be named as indigenous people (ST) also sowed the seeds of dissent and discontent, persisting to date. Similarly, the migrants or labour force welcomed from the East Bengal (Bangladesh) plains simmers into the present with their citizenship under question. Conflict is a perennial feature of nature and even human relationships. The psychodarwinist view, as mentioned earlier, of the process of evolution would bring home the truth that new life emerges as a result of systemic internal conflict. The mother’s survival versus the survival of the newborn taking shape in her womb is an example. The self destruction of ant colonies when the number increases beyond sustainability is another example. The differences in the character of siblings in a family is yet another example. The issue in hand looks at some of these conflict situations and their histories from diverse angles with an intent to understand deeper the layers and strands that make up the South Asian reality of contemporary times.

The Naga armed conflict is one of the oldest conflicts in the world. Dominic Khanyo, in the opening chapter, revisits its history and looks for possible ways to bring it to an end. The pre-colonial to colonial and post colonial transition of a polity and its consequences

are very visibly manifested in the case of the Naga peoples identity and state formation issues. The aspirations of people have been subjugated for the sake of national or pan national interests and the tribes and peoples in their care have not been satisfactorily contained or made to understand the advantages of being part of a larger nation of people. The article delineates the history of this conflict, the nuanced and meandered stages it has gone through, and, proposes a possible solution within the constitutional frame, while keeping the Naga demands for an extra constitutional status in mind.

Konsam Jenny’s paper is a timely reminder of the dangers lurking in the human-nature relationship that has traversed a long way from the pre-modern to the post colonial times. She brings out succinctly the contrast between an international market in search of exotic food and an indigenous market that has by custom and necessity relied on the bush meat (wild life). Both expressions of human consumption, necessity based as well as luxurious, pose a threat to a number of wild animals across the world. This contrast in the legal provision, restricting on the one hand and being encouraged as part of the local customary laws on the other, making agents act due to and in spite of the legal measures in place is what she poses as a paradox in the paper.

Romana Lepcha takes on the trafficking of children in south Asia, especially between India and Nepal and looks at the prevailing legal provisions to contain them through more effective measures of execution or implementation of the legal provisions. A porous border coupled with unequal development on either side draws the vulnerable citizens into the nets of the illegal trafficker. Those attempting to rescue them need to be empowered and strongly supported in a more concerted manner by the state through legal provisions and stringent implementation of prevailing laws is the suggestion.

Tiatula Ozukam reiterates forcefully the well known fact that learning requires a conducive and peaceful atmosphere. She achieves this through a contextual interview based narration of how a conflict zone became a counterproductive ambience for genuine learning. Yet under the narrations of pain and fear, anxiety and anger there is a hidden will that turns towards solution and better focus of life within individuals and communities. Luhish Lushai in his study of the historical novel deals with the ability of fictionalizing history as a tool to heal memories of hurt and pain not only for the author but the reader as well.  A virtual reliving of the past and the multiple voices that are recorded offers the possibility of ‘telling the truths’ that were once subjugated. Retelling and narrating anew in a new literary mold helps overcome the stranglehold of fear. It helps recover from the trauma of the past living on as memory. Though the descriptions could have been more elaborate he does make the point that healing does effect through retelling.

Saket Bhardwaj and Uttam Pegu carry forward the above issue of dealing with human trafficking by suggesting a proactive role on the part of media substantiating and building on the state initiatives in this regard. Mitigating the problem calls for an understanding of the causes on the one hand and identifying the agents who can meaningfully and critically intervene to ameliorate the problem. It calls for a micro level study of the nuanced aspects of the issue in any given context, where it is prevalent as in the case of Sontipur in Assam Tea Garden district and its surrounds. The study has a significant contribution by way of localized knowledge being disseminated for the benefit of the policy makers as well as activists and local institutions.

The relationship between drinking water availability, cleanliness of toilets and the learning environment in schools has been brought together by Salomy and Leander in their study on the Golaghat District of Assam. The Governmental initiative to improve the quality of schools through ‘Gunotsav’ and the NGOs in the region coming forward to estimate the impact of Swatch Bharat Abhiyan provides the immediate backdrop to this paper. Relying on the available census data, and the survey outcome on the quality and extent of water available, toilets in schools, the awareness campaign by the SBA in the schools the study makes an assessment of the impact these have had in the adjoining villages. This study is significant in terms of the reach the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals have had in the district, but provides a statement on the prevailing mentality with regard to health and hygiene, education and wellbeing. The findings provide impetus for further concerted action in one of the most resource rich State and yet having a high percentage of poor people, especially in the Tea Garden districts.The Rohingya ‘debacle’ as Uttam Pegu and Subhajit Paul calls the refugee crisis is the most glaring conflict situation South (East)

Asia witnessed in the recent decade. The article deals with the legal options that India has conveniently taken to stay away and not commit itself. This distancing is being critically viewed by the authors as not in keeping with the hegemonic aspirations of India in Asia and the world. The state reaching out to non-state or stateless people shows the extent of soft power and hard muscle that a nation is willing to put forward to further its own cause as well as genuinely care for those in difficult situation as to mitigate the crisis from escalating.

The author of the final piece in this issue carries with him the authority of having been a grassroots peace activist for over 4 decades and his own analysis of the broader flow and ebb of civilizations and cultures, kingdoms and nations. This authority of a moral perspective on the issue of conflict and invitation to peace through dialogue and sense of belonging is where we would intend to leave the reader of this issue. The invitation as extended by Menamparambil is to be a part of the ‘think tank’ for the preservation of peace on the planet earth, beginning from the site where one is located.

Articles

From a Realist Security Paradigm towards a Neoliberal Approach: Armed Conflict in Nagaland and Prospects for Pragmatic Resolution

Dominic K. Khanyo

DOI : https://doi.org/10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.1-15

Cite : Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.1-15 | Page: 01-15,

Section: Article

Articles

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.1-15 | Page: 01-15,
Section: Article

From a Realist Security Paradigm towards a Neoliberal Approach: Armed Conflict in Nagaland and Prospects for Pragmatic Resolution

Dominic K. Khanyo is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Salesian College of Higher Education, Dimapur. His primary research interests include Theories of International Relations, Security and Strategic Studies, Political Theory and Political Philosophy.

Abstract

Armed conflict is one of the enduring and distinctive features in South Asian politics and security. The problem of armed conflict has posed a serious challenge for most of the nation states of the region. This paper seeks to examine the nature of the Naga conflict and its implications. The paper will also critically examine the efforts and measures undertaken by the Indian government towards conflict resolution in Nagaland over the past decades and will try to make a case as to why imbroglio persists despite efforts in resolving the conflict. This paper will make the case for a more nuanced and dynamic approach in understanding the nature of the conflict and its resolution. The paper will briefly look at the present paradigms or perspectives in understanding international politics in general and the issue of security in particular – Realist approach (Realism) and the Neo-liberal approach (Neoliberalism). The rationale of the effort is to broaden the horizon of our understanding of the dynamics of conflict and security which again is intrinsically linked or related with our perception towards evolving and devising prospective formulae or models of conflict resolution.

Key Words: Armed Conflict, Human Rights, Neorealism, Greater Nagaland, Neoleftist.

License : Salesian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

Bushmeat and the North-East Way: A Conflict between Wildlife and Humans

Konsam Jenny

DOI : https://doi.org/10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.16-23

Cite : Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.16-23 | Page: 16-23,

Section: Article

Articles

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.16-23 | Page: 16-23,

Section: Article

Bushmeat and the North-East Way: A Conflict between Wildlife and Humans

Konsam Jenny is working as a Guest Faculty at the Department of Political Science, Manipur University. She has worked as Assistant Professor at Don Bosco College, Golaghat, Assam and  was a Lecturer at St. Joseph College, Ukhrul, Manipur.

Abstract

Bushmeat, which has become the rich man’s delicacy, was once the food of the poor. The increase in the demand for bushmeat has hampered the population of wildlife to a great extent. Wildlife is exploited not only for food but also for other reasons such as fun, as an expression of valour, as a cultural practice, for preparation of traditional medicines, for protection against these animals, for trade, and others. Consumption of bushmeat, deforestation, climate change, etc., have led to an increase in human conflicts with wildlife which in turn has caused a number of Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs) like AIDS, HIV, Ebola, Swine Flu, Black Death, Polio, Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever etc. Although, hunting is banned in India since 1972 under Wildlife Protection Act, it is still continuing as there is a huge international market for wildlife products. Moreover, when it comes to North-East, the issue becomes ever more complex as it is closely connected to its culture and traditions. This paper will provide a general study of bushmeat in North-East India and the depleting number of wildlife species which will later create an inevitable conflict between the human race and wildlife.

Key Words: Bushmeat, North-East, Wildlife, Diseases, Culture and Tradition

License : Salesian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

Addressing Child Trafficking in South Asia

Romana Lepcha

DOI : https://doi.org/10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.24-34

Cite : Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.24-34 | Page: 24-34,

Section: Article

Articles

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.24-34 | Page: 24-34,

Section: Article

Addressing Child Trafficking in South Asia

Romana Lepcha is working as a guest faculty at the Department of International Relations, Sikkim University.

Abstract

This paper discusses the different measures to address the problem of child trafficking in South Asia more efficiently that include establishment of new institutions and legal mechanisms and/or reform of the existing bilateral, multilateral, regional and international agreements. Issues of responses, cooperation, and coordination of law enforcement officials to address child trafficking are also included in this paper. Prevention, protection and prosecution measures such as rehabilitation programmes, better data, strategy and reporting to enhance anti trafficking efforts, strengthen the capacity of officials in the law enforcement agencies, immigration, education, social welfare, labour and other relevant departments to prevent child trafficking are also discussed in detail in this paper.

Keywords: Trafficking, Child Trafficking, South Asia, Migration, Criminal Justice.

License : Salesian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

Education of Children in Times of Conflict: A Study of Atoizu in Nagaland

Tiatula Ozukum

DOI : https://doi.org/10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.35-45

Cite : Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.35-45 | Page: 35-45,

Section: Article

Articles

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.35-45 | Page: 35-45,

Section: Article

Education of Children in Times of Conflict: A Study of Atoizu in Nagaland

Tiatula Ozukum is presently teaching at the Department of Sociology, St. Joseph University, Dimapur. She has worked extensively on topics related to Social Capital, Naga Traditional Institutions, Communitisation of Elementary Education, Conflict and Tribal Sociology.

Abstract

Research interest on education in conflict and post conflict zones is gaining prominence across the world. There has been an increased academic attention on how children access education, how schools function, what kind of knowledge is transmitted in areas where there has been conflict. Hence, it is an undenying fact that conflict can interrupt education through the destruction of schools, targeting of teachers, the increase of fear and insecurity etc. Within such kind of a background, the study aimed to capture the micro experiences of community, students and teachers in a small hill town of Atoizu in district of Zunheboto in Nagaland. The study took students and teachers as primary sources of data as they are the ones who get or may have got affected by the conflicts in such a zone of conflict.

Keywords: Children, Education, Conflict, Atoizu, Knowledge Transmission.

License : Salesian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

A Nation through Violence to Healing in Malsawmi Jacob’s Zorami: A Redemption Song

Luhish Lushai

DOI : https://doi.org/10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.46-54

Cite : Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.46-54 | Page: 46-54,

Section: Article

Articles

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.46-54 | Page: 46-54,

Section: Article

A Nation through Violence to Healing in Malsawmi Jacob’s Zorami: A Redemption Song

Luhish Lushai is an Assistant Professor at the Department of English, Don Bosco College, Itanagar. His area of of interest and research is Nationalism and Women Studies with special focus on the postcolonial developing world and Northeast India.

Abstract

The last six decades for the northeast amid the vexed insurgency and the multi-pronged ethnic and linguistic conflicts could under no circumstance be really dismissed as the lost decades.1 Violence and insurgency has marred the face of Northeast India in the psyche of the mainland inhabitants. An insurgency is a rebellion against lawful authority, especially in armed resistance to a government or to the execution of its law. According to the data gathered by South Asia Terrorism Portal, the fatalities in terrorist violence in India’s Northeast between the years 1992-2018, is 21566 of which 10290 civilian fatalities, 2749 security personnel and 8527 terrorists or insurgents.2 The paper is an attempt to study and evaluate two decades of insurgency and violence. The paper analyses the novel Zorami as a historical narrative of the Mizos based on the postmodernist historiographic metafiction to the possibility of multiple representations of history.

Key Words: Northeast, Mizos, Violence, Insurgency, Zorami.

License : Salesian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

State Initiatives and the Role of Media in Mitigating Human Trafficking: A Case Study of Tea Plantation Workers of Sonitpur District in Assam

Saket Kumar Bhardwaj & Uttam Pegu

DOI : https://doi.org/10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.55-67

Cite : Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.55-67 | Page: 55-67,

Section: Article

Articles

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.55-67 | Page: 55-67,

Section: Article

State Initiatives and the Role of Media in Mitigating Human Trafficking: A Case Study of Tea Plantation Workers of Sonitpur District in Assam

Saket Kumar Bhardwaj is a Research Scholar in the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Tezpur University.

Uttam Pegu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Tezpur University.

Abstract

The focus of this study is to evaluate the communication strategies adopted by various governments and non–government agencies working in Sonitpur district of Assam in an effort to tackle the ills of trafficking in human. As per the National Crime Records Bureau report, there were a total of 8,132 reported cases of Trafficking in 2016 across India, with 91 (1.12%) cases from Assam. Assam is a state that has registered a total of 1,494 (21.7%) trafficking cases in 2015 with Sonitpur district being one of the worst affected. There is a rapid increase in the number of missing adolescent children across the state. The study primarily deals with three important issues a) What is the current status of human trafficking in Assam, b) What are the several initiatives taken by government and non-government organizations? and c) What is the reach and effectiveness of those initiatives? This study basically reveals the need and importance of effective communication strategies adopted by government and Non–Government organization to deal with social ill like trafficking in human.

Key Words: Human Trafficking, Media, Communication Strategy, Sonitpur, Assam

License : Salesian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

Sustainable Development Goals in Golaghat District and Adjoining Villages of Assam: Implementation and Challenges

Salomy George & Leander Toppo

DOI : https://doi.org/10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.68-88

Cite : Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.68-88 | Page: 68-88,

Section: Article

Articles

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.68-88 | Page: 68-88,

Section: Article

Sustainable Development Goals in Golaghat District and Adjoining Villages of Assam: Implementation and Challenges

Salomy George is the Principal of St. Paul’s High School, Thorrur, Telengana. She holds M.sc in Zoology, B.Ed in Natural Science, Diploma in Psychology and Counselling.

Leander Toppo is currently heading an NGO named Parivartan in Golaghat District of Assam. He was actively engaged in a national campaign called ‘Don’t Break Promise Campaign’ in Delhi which monitors the policies and programmes of the Indian Government.

Abstract

Despite the positive achievements of MDGs to eradicate poverty and hunger from the world, the larger issues of development included in the Millennium Declaration, such as, human rights, equity, democracy and governance need to be addressed on a war footing. Problems related to water, sanitation and hygiene are huge in India. Water scarcity has been affecting more than 40% of people around the world with increasing temperatures as a result of climate change. Although, about 2.1 billion people have access to improved water sanitation since 1990, there is decreasing supplies of safe drinking water impacting every continent.1 This paper aims to address the key development challenges faced in the realization of sustainable development goals in India with special focus on Golaghat district of Assam. It will also attempt to assess its influence on the adjoining villages in the successful implementation of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Key Words: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),  Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Millennium Developme

License : Salesian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

Refugee Crisis in India: An Inquest on the Rohingya Debacle

Subhajit Paul & Uttam Pegu

DOI : https://doi.org/10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.89-97

Cite : Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.89-97 | Page: 89-97,

Section: Article

Articles

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.89-97 | Page: 89-97,

Section: Article

Refugee Crisis in India: An Inquest on the Rohingya Debacle

Subhajit Paul is currently a Research Scholar in the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Tezpur University.

Uttam Pegu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Tezpur University.

Abstract

The main focus of this paper is to assess the existing Indian laws and policies and their compliance with internationally recommended standards for refugee relief and rehabilitation. India is non-signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and the 1967 protocol. Despite being a vibrant democracy it still continues to elude a specific legislation for refugees. This paper sheds light on India’s track record in the treatment meted out to refugees throughout its modern history. The study further highlights the need for Indian policy makers to draft regulations that will provide clarity on India’s stance on the relief and rehabilitation of refugees and asylum seekers. In light of the Rohingya refugee crisis, there has been a surge in academic and public discourse across India. The issue of the Rohingya(s) is an extremely complex one primarily owing to religious and cultural differences with Indians. The non-existence of a specific asylum law, specifying as to who is eligible for asylum, has led to further complication in deciding the fate of the Rohingya refugees, who have suffered immensely at the hands of the Myanmar’s armed forces, turning it only to a political gimmick. As a prominent power in South Asia, India has a responsibility to act in compliance with laid down international standards. This paper analyses news reports and policy documents in order to develop an understanding of the existent means to address refugee crises in India with special reference to the Rohingya issue.

Keywords: Rohingya, Refugee Crisis, United Nations, India, Relief and Rehabilitation

License : Salesian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

‘Thought Bank’ for Peace through Dialogue and Co-Belonging

Thomas Menamparampil

DOI : https://doi.org/10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.98-119

Cite : Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.98-119 | Page: 98-119,

Section: Article

Articles

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.98-119 | Page: 98-119,

Section: Article

‘Thought Bank’ for Peace through Dialogue and Co-Belonging

Thomas Menamparampil is the winner of Ambassador for Peace Award 2019 and retired Archbishop who took up office as the first Catholic archbishop of Guwahati in 1992. Prior to that, 84 year old prelate had been the bishop of Dibrugarh for 11 years. As a young priest he was in the field of education, working for many years in Don Bosco Technical School, and St. Anthony’s College Shillong. Several of his students have emerged as prominent leaders in Northeast India and national levels. Of late he has been invited to several universities in India and abroad to speak on topics like inter-community understanding, healing of historic memories, and the arduous path to peace. He made a very useful contribution at the World Congress of Philosophers in 2018 in Beijing.

Abstract

Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace1 Are we heading for an era of Peace or a Third World War, for an age of Reason or of irrational Conflict? While we long for peace, what we hear every day is of clashes over religion, culture, language, natural resources, market, class, ideology, ethnicity, caste, gender and political interests. We also hear of neighbourhood tussles, domestic quarrels, social tensions, ethnic jealousy, urban violence, and communal anger… all these finding expression in aggressive vocabulary, prophetic denunciations, shrill voices, fearful threats, violent protests, prophetic denunciations and bomb blasts.  All this would be true of South Asia as well. We notice deadly competitions over personal and group-interests, conflicts of ideas and ideologies, clash between action-groups, tensions over authority-subject relationships, and among movement’s leaders. Political violence increases, accusations of corruption and counter-accusations of scams multiply, digital warfare and cyber aggression gather momentum. As Thomas Hobbes says. Having taken note of all this, let us ask ourselves: Can we not come together for the good of humanity? Can we not look forward to a time when prophetic persons will arise among us who will consider it their mission to bring peoples and communities together?2

Key Words: Peace, Dialogue, Altruism, Thought-bank, Co-belonging.

License : Salesian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

Reviews

David Arnold, Toxic Histories: Poison and Pollution in Modern India, (Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2017), Rs. 530, Pp. ix+241 Paperback, (ISBN 978-1-316-63496-7).

Bikash Sarma

DOI : https://doi.org/10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.120-123

Cite : Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.120-123 | Page: 120-123,

Section: Book Review

Book Reviews

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.120-123 | Page: 120-123,

Section: Book Review

BOOK REVIEW

David Arnold, Toxic Histories: Poison and Pollution in Modern India, (Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2017), Rs. 530, Pp. ix+241 Paperback, (ISBN 978-1-316-63496-7).

Bikash Sarma is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, Salesian College Siliguri. He has completed his M. Phil from Sikkim Central University. He is currently persuing his research on Politics of Narration Concerning the travelogues written during the Colonial period, Concerning Assam.

In Toxic Histories, Arnold embeds the social and cultural history of toxicity within the spatio-temporality of nineteenth- and twentieth-century India. The pre-colonial toxic culture gradually was politicized and polemicized in the later scientific discourse of the colonial state. Arnold in enacting historiography of toxicity, emphasize upon the ‘constitutive ambivalence of pharmakon in India. In doing so Arnold enacts it from the minor footnotes of the historiography of health, medicine, and disease in British India. The book is about the history of medicine’s, ‘evil twin and toxic other’. The unrestrained circulatory networks of this evil twin in colonial India were simultaneously is also evidence of that marginality. The social history of poison remained elusive in misconceived etiology fin de siècle. And, before the bacteriological revelations, the history of poison was entangled with miasmatic exhalations and putrefactions caused by the tropical climate. Arnold positions the history of poisons into colonial climatic discourse and medical discourse of the long nineteenth century: in the changing understanding and role of poison in that emerging medical discourse. Thus, in Toxic Histories, Arnold recovers the history of poisons from the flawed colonial discourses: from merely being ‘an epiphenomenon attributable to the medical uncertainties’.

License : Salesian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

Vinay Lal (ed), India and Civilizational Futures: Backwaters Collective’s Metaphysics and Politics II, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2019), Rs.1050, pp. 318, (ISBN: 19-949906-3).

George Thadathil

DOI : https://doi.org/10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.124-136

Cite : Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.124-136 | Page: 124-136,

Section: Book Review

Book Reviews

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.124-136 | Page: 124-136,

Section: Book Review

Vinay Lal (ed), India and Civilizational Futures: Backwaters Collective’s Metaphysics and Politics II, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2019), Rs.1050, pp. 318, (ISBN: 19-949906-3).

George Thadathil is the Principal of Salesian College Sonada and Siliguri. He is the author of Vision from the Margin (2007) and has edited and co-edited number of books besides contributing to a number of journals and edited volumes on Philosophy, Literature and Social Science. He is the founder Director of Salesian Publications, Salesian Research Institute and Salesian Translation Centre.

The ten chapters of this edited volume bring together five chapters of theoretical concern and five of persons who intervened to mutate Indian Civilizational flow as they encountered other cultures and civilizations. The selected individuals for study - Sri Narayana Guru, Ranade, Sankrityayan and Ambedkar, Gandhi and Tagore feature as leaders showing the way to a new phase of human civilization, from within the Indic matrix. These mutation personalities negotiate the east and west owning the colonial language and occupying an ‘indigenous global space’. These are in a way a continuation and an addition to what Romila Thapar demystifies in her Indian Culture as Heritage: Contemporary Pasts,1 by pointing out that it has always been a history of cultures in the plural, with often the dominant one’s only getting written about. The transitions of the dominant ulers  whether it was from Mauryan to Gupta or Islamic Mughal to Christian Colonial enterprise there has been continuity in the way cultures persisted and the diversity retained itself within the dominant structures. She accounts for the fact that the Brahminic Sramanic contestation gave way to the Mughals and later in the construction of the modern knowledge system it was the Brahminic collaborators who had the say in the knowledge production and sustenance of the system by creating and keeping alive the colonial structure and its persistence to-date. Her study of the archaeological evidences, artifacts and architecture, the reference to time and science in its pre-modern version all provide deep insights into India’s civilization making with mutual and constant interpellations and cross cultural exchanges. The Backwaters Collective is on a trajectory to trace potential futures for an India without ‘Caste’, taking to heart the call of Sri Narayana Guru of Travancore State in Kerala. The persistence of caste system despite its volatility and susceptibility to change on behalf of the powerful (shudra Kings given kshatriyahood) on the one hand, still continues to exclude women from upanayana and the ‘untouchables’ to be relegated for menial works. The caste phenomenon has persisted despite millennium long attempt by both Islam and Christianity in the Indian subcontinent, not to forget the Buddhist challenge to the structure even earlier.

License : Salesian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

TK Oommen, Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs: Life and Times of a Sociologist, (New Delhi: Konark Publishers, 2018), Rs.690, pp. 304, (ISBN:978-93-220-0888-8).

Thomas Mathew & George Thadathil

DOI : https://doi.org/10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.137-145

Cite : Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)
ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.137-145 | Page: 137-145,

Section: Book Review

Book Reviews

Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. X, No. 1. (May 2019)

ISSN: 0976-1861 | DOI: 10.51818/SJHSS.10.2019.137-145 | Page: 137-145,

Section: Book Review

TK Oommen, Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs: Life and Times of a Sociologist, (New Delhi: Konark Publishers, 2018), Rs.690, pp. 304, (ISBN:978-93-220-0888-8).

Thomas Mathew is an Associate Professor, associated with the Department of English, Salesian College Sonada. His areas of interest include English language and literature, and engages students with applied psychology in teaching-learning situations.

George Thadathil is the Principal of Salesian College Sonada and Siliguri. He is the author of Vision from the Margin (2007) and has edited and co-edited number of books besides contributing to a number of journals and edited volumes on Philosophy, Literature and Social Science. He is the founder Director of Salesian Publications, Salesian Research Institute and Salesian Translation Centre.

 

The book under review is of 304 pages and in three parts outlines what probably is a new genre in Indian publishing history. It is neither an autobiography nor a pure memoires of institutional life but rather a combination of the biographical trajectory of an individual within the institutional spaces he has occupied. In and through the narration in 12 chapters in part I titled as “Torments of Sociology” and another 10 chapters in part 2 titled as “Beyond Sociology” and five appendices, TK Oommen traces what an individual has contributed to the development of a field of knowledge within its intellectual trajectory, in his case, sociology, in India and to some extent globally.

Knowledge production and the role of education within the scheme of affairs is increasingly under critique globally and yet it is the universally recognized means of transformation and course correction for its very lack has proved to be the cause of demise of civilizations and cultures. He traces his own academic journey, from ‘entering sociology’ and passing through ‘tumultuous path to a PhD’ and how he enters the ‘academic and political milieu of JNU’ and narrates how ‘the social and academic formation of the Centre for the Study of Social Systems’ took root. In each of these steps he outlines specifically his own role and the nuances of academic structures in their making. The book under review thus becomes besides being a ‘work-o-graphy’ as he terms it, equally a resource to understand how through individual players, developments have happened within the framework of higher education in India.

License : Salesian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and ConsequencesJournal DOI : Conflict in South Asia: Causes and Consequences

Salesian College, Sonada was accredited by NAAC on 16 September 2004 and was given the Grade C++ (Institutional Score between 65-70%). On 26 February 2010 Salesian College has been conferred the status of a College with Potential for Excellence (CPE) by UGC, New Delhi, and into its 2nd Cycle from 1st April 2014. In March 2012, the College was re-accredited by NAAC with ‘A’ Grade (CGPA of 3.16 out of 4) to be the first College to receive such grade under the University of North Bengal.

The College retained its A Grade under the New stringent Format of Accreditation in May 2019 and it is valid till 2024.

Salesian Publications, Salesian Research Institute, and Salesian Translation Centre offer opportunities for capacity building for aspiring teaching and research personnel of the region. Salesian College Extension Activities Centre has trained and placed over 600 youth of the region in collaboration with the Ministry of Rural Development and Don Bosco Tech, New Delhi. Salesian College invites young people and their parents to partner in nurturing an ideal society.

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