Papers by Annapurna Menon
Discusses the controversial Government of India 1935 Act
Drain of wealth in simple terms refers to the outflow of primarily money in various forms from t... more Drain of wealth in simple terms refers to the outflow of primarily money in various forms from the country to the colonizing country. Drain of wealth in India's case started in the 18th century continuing well until the British left in 1947. Various studies have been devoted to the subject, studying the kinds of drain, it's impact, how the economy recovered, its social and political connotations. In the age of subaltern study, we don't only look for empirical studies though facts are of utmost importance to build our case, however it's the link to social and cultural politics which interests us more and is helpful in getting a picture of the impact of Drain of wealth during that period. The issue was actually raised by conservative British politician Edmund Burke who in the 1780s vehemently attacked the East India Company, claiming that Warren Hastings and other top officials had ruined the Indian economy and society. Indian historian Rajat Kanta Ray (1998) continues this line of reasoning, saying the new economy brought by the British in the 18th century was a form of plunder and a catastrophe for the traditional economy of Mughal India. (Economic Drain Theory) Ray believes that British depleted the food and money stocks and imposed high taxes that helped cause the terrible famine of 1770, which killed a third of the people of Bengal. It was Dadabhai Naoroji, the grand man of India, who came up with economic nationalism. The Swadeshi Movement in 1905 was completely based on his findings of the impact of economic exploitation of India, as stated by Asim K Karmakar. In his book, Poverty, he calculated the net national income of the country and the consequent impact of colonization on the people and the country. Backed with a strong grasp on economics and an understanding of the ground reality. Naoroji categorized drain into two types; in the form of remittances from European officials who were permitted to send a part of their income back home and remittances by non official Europeans who were not paid salaries but made immense profits on plantations, agents, etc. In 1873, he wrote that this drain prevents India from making any capital. It's only the British who have any savings and they bring it back to the country and reinvest it. This basically means dual profits for the British. It also points to the monopoly the British had made for themselves. Another impact of the drain was the breakdown on traditional Indian industries as Indians didn't have any money to invest and the Europeans didn't invest in Indian industries. This leads to a whole nexus of exclusive exploitation of the Indian economy and people. Naoroji described this as vampirism, with blood being a metaphor for food, and his essential meaning was that the British were sucking out the blood from the Indian economy, and consequently it's people. Naoroji also talked about regional disparity within India and the internal economic drain.
Question: Discuss the relation between state and religion during the 17th century under the Mugha... more Question: Discuss the relation between state and religion during the 17th century under the Mughal empire. Answer: The 17th century in the Mughal empire lay witness to three Emperors and the rise of a number of nonIslamic religious traditions all throughout the subcontinent with varying degrees of changes and incorporations into Islam itself. Post Akbar, the rulers had to not only fit themselves into the ideal of a just ruler but also attempt to make their own mark on the Mughal polity and empire. The role of the Ulama came to be questioned with different rulers adopting differing attitudes towards the clergy. We also deal with how much influence did religion as a whole have over the emperor's policies or his personal outlook. Beginning with the reign of Jahangir, we will analyze his policies and debate if he ever attempted to move away from his father's shadow. Then we go on to Shah Jahan's period, a time in which various religious movements like the rise of the Naqshbandi order was taking place and finally, after a tiring war of succession, we will look at the highly controversial figure, Aurangzeb's policies in detail and questioning if he was actually a religious bigot or just a political opportunist. I have also attempted to outline simultaneous happenings during this time period like the rise of the Bhakti movement to try and give a more comprehensive picture of the influence of religion during the seventeenth century. After Akbar, Jahangir takes over the throne and he more or less limits himself to the framework drawn upon by his father. While some scholars have argued that Jahangir was his own man who made his own policies, others have differed from the same viewpoint vehemently. If we compare policies of Jahangir and Akbar, we see sharp similarities in various policies. Lisa Balabanlilar also points out that Jahangir was a stringent follower of Timurid religious ethics, he followed Hedaya (The legal guide), and nurtured the poltical and social alliance with Naqshbandi order of sufis. He, like Akbar, 1 reaffirms his respect for the sun and adopted a title similar to his father, Nuruddin Muhammad Jahangir Badshah Ghazi in which nur meant light, illumination to follow
Question: To what extent have ideologies of the Raj played an important role in policy making and... more Question: To what extent have ideologies of the Raj played an important role in policy making and governance in early 19th century India. Discuss with reference to any two colonial institutions.
Contents
* War Music and its Significance
* I Phase : 1945 - 1955
* II Phase : 1955 - 1969
* III ... more Contents
* War Music and its Significance
* I Phase : 1945 - 1955
* II Phase : 1955 - 1969
* III Phase : 1969 - 1978
* IV Phase : 1979 - 1995
* Do Music/Musicians really make any difference to War?
* Conclusion
Medieval Indian history is replete with sources, be it archaeological, numismatic, literary. Unli... more Medieval Indian history is replete with sources, be it archaeological, numismatic, literary. Unlike many other sultanates, one of the largest Sultanates of India is fortunately covered by a vast expanse of literary sources, not only in Persian but also other languages like Arabic. Fortunately for us, most of these literary texts have survived though not always in complete and usable forms. However, they are extremely precious sources of us to be used with extreme caution keeping in mind the context and position of the author. As the questions asks us to focus on Persian chronicles of the time, I’ll be giving a brief description and viewpoints of various historians on the works of: Mihaj-us-Siraj Jozani, Shams Siraj Afif, Yahya bin Ahmad Sulindi, Amir Khusrao, Isami and talking in details about Zia-ul-din Barani.
“There are as many histories as there are historians.” These words said by E.H. Carr are more tha... more “There are as many histories as there are historians.” These words said by E.H. Carr are more than true in the case of the Guptas. The Gupta period has been subjected to a lot of scrutiny after the discovery of their records and deciphering their documents. While understanding if the Gupta age was really a Golden age in the history of India, we should first study the various kind of perspectives that existed. The various kinds of historiographies can be easily divided on their style of writing in various forms like colonialist’s historians, imperialists’ historians, nationalist historians and so on. So if colonialist’s historians would present history in such a manner so as to favour the colonials then the nationalists would present history in order to encourage nationalism and favour the sentiments of the indigenous population of the country. It is actually the Indian nationalist historians who have given the epithet of the golden age to the Gupta period. Failing to latch on to anything else, the Indian historians justifiably seized upon the documents of the Guptas and used them as a counter argument to the persistent British imperialist propaganda that India had no history except for a series of conquests by a succession of invaders. For historians writing in the early twentieth century, the “Golden age” had to be a utopia set in the distant past, and the period chosen by those working on the early history of India was one in which they perceived that the Hindu culture came to be firmly established. The glorification of Gupta period, at the time of the independence movement might have been seen as necessary but it no longer is. Hence, we should first understand why the Gupta period is seen as a golden age and see if it actually applies to them.
For understanding the industrialization of Japan, we will have to dig out its roots and study it ... more For understanding the industrialization of Japan, we will have to dig out its roots and study it from the beginning. We will have to not only look at the policies introduced by the Meiji government, but the attitude of the people and role of the public sector to fully grasp the situation in Japan. Only then can we see Japan’s rise to capitalism, for which we will also study the rise of a few industries in Japan. The role of the state and the people will be debated as to who played a greater role and finally the conclusion will be drawn if it was indeed capitalism from above or from within, as Peter Duus puts it.
Drafts by Annapurna Menon
Feminism and Islam, both have always been controversial topics in their separate spheres with the... more Feminism and Islam, both have always been controversial topics in their separate spheres with their own shares of supporters and dissidents. This further becomes important since one realizes the majority of the opposition coming to both is from a specific group of people; privileged, white men. The narrative of their identity under threat due to feminists who are often labelled as feminazis (Cohen, 2015) and Muslims who are uniformly seen as terrorists very often forms the mainstream discourse. To then combine the two to form Islamic Feminism is bound to generate a lot of discussion, controversy and fortunately more research and lately, even conferences dedicated to discoursing Islamic Feminism.
Islamic feminism is often seen as an oxymoron, with some even considering it insulting to Islam or feminism (Mcdonald, 2008, 347), however it has been accepted as a feminist discourse practised within an Islamic paradigm. Through my essay, I seek to show exactly how this works. Beginning with a brief description of feminism to explore how Islam and feminism are compatible, I move on to deconstruct how feminism has evolved in the middle-east from the era of pre-Islamic societies, giving birth to modern day Islamic Feminism. Scrutinizing some critiques and questions regarding Islamic feminism, at the same time I raise a few questions to ponder upon. I also argue for the requirement of Islamic feminism not only because it provides a voice to Muslim women who have been branded as oppressed for far too long, but also to demand more legal protection by studying laws against women in these countries. I conclude my essay arguing for a transnational women’s movement of which Islamic feminism has to be a significant part of, while throwing light on how women in these regions now utilize social media and carry out innovative methods of on-ground activism for their cause.
The Left movement in India began originally in Russia, heavily influenced by international politi... more The Left movement in India began originally in Russia, heavily influenced by international politics. It's a movement not very clearly understood by the Indian masses, which has evolved into many shades. The Left movement kicked off with various Socialist and Communist Parties being formed, and also getting a lot of patronage within the Congress. In my paper, I hope to discuss the evolution of the Left movement, which majorly transforms into a discussion on the Communist Party of India giving a brief history and moving on the post‐Independence period. The main objective of this paper is to understand the movement in context of India, it's influence and how in current days of turmoil it has become a contested ideology, all the while emphasising that like all other ideologies, we need to recognize and accept the fact that the Left isn't of one particular shade. During the 1920s, the National Movement was in full swing in India and had viewed the rise of various streams and methods for the fight. This was the age of Gandhian politics, and the rise of the educated youth giving unprecedented support to the freedom struggle. Due to the unrest among some classes about the inaction of the Moderates, revolutionary terrorism sprouted up in various parts of the country, with the cult of the bomb under the leadership 1 of Lokmanya Tilak and his colleagues ‐ Lala Lajpat Rai and Bakin Chandra, the trio being popularly called as 'Lal‐Pal‐Bal'. This led to the beginning of an alternative method of struggle contributing to the radicalization of the national movement. Add to this, the impact of the Russian revolution which drove the lesson that if common people ‐ the workers, peasants and the intelligentsia could overthrow the might Czarist empire, and establish a socialist state with no exploitation of human beings, the same could be replicated by the Indians. Socialist doctrines became extremely popular with the Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx being released in English and Malayalam almost simultaneously and spreading to further regions. Print media contributed further to the cause with various Socialist weeklys being published. Certain fractions of the populations, dissatisfied with the Gandhian policies were more attracted to the same. A lot of youth associations were formed in Bengal, Punjab and to a certain extent, other princely states. Similar groups were formed by Indians living abroad. These groups started planning the liberation of India from abroad with the help of countries hostile towards the British. An example of this was the Ghadar Party formed in US in 1913. The Russian Communist Party, its leaders, Lenin and the Communist International paid a great deal of attention of the revolutionary emigres on their soil. While the emigres had committed themselves to the idea of Communism, many of them didn't understand the concept clearly.
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Papers by Annapurna Menon
* War Music and its Significance
* I Phase : 1945 - 1955
* II Phase : 1955 - 1969
* III Phase : 1969 - 1978
* IV Phase : 1979 - 1995
* Do Music/Musicians really make any difference to War?
* Conclusion
Drafts by Annapurna Menon
Islamic feminism is often seen as an oxymoron, with some even considering it insulting to Islam or feminism (Mcdonald, 2008, 347), however it has been accepted as a feminist discourse practised within an Islamic paradigm. Through my essay, I seek to show exactly how this works. Beginning with a brief description of feminism to explore how Islam and feminism are compatible, I move on to deconstruct how feminism has evolved in the middle-east from the era of pre-Islamic societies, giving birth to modern day Islamic Feminism. Scrutinizing some critiques and questions regarding Islamic feminism, at the same time I raise a few questions to ponder upon. I also argue for the requirement of Islamic feminism not only because it provides a voice to Muslim women who have been branded as oppressed for far too long, but also to demand more legal protection by studying laws against women in these countries. I conclude my essay arguing for a transnational women’s movement of which Islamic feminism has to be a significant part of, while throwing light on how women in these regions now utilize social media and carry out innovative methods of on-ground activism for their cause.
* War Music and its Significance
* I Phase : 1945 - 1955
* II Phase : 1955 - 1969
* III Phase : 1969 - 1978
* IV Phase : 1979 - 1995
* Do Music/Musicians really make any difference to War?
* Conclusion
Islamic feminism is often seen as an oxymoron, with some even considering it insulting to Islam or feminism (Mcdonald, 2008, 347), however it has been accepted as a feminist discourse practised within an Islamic paradigm. Through my essay, I seek to show exactly how this works. Beginning with a brief description of feminism to explore how Islam and feminism are compatible, I move on to deconstruct how feminism has evolved in the middle-east from the era of pre-Islamic societies, giving birth to modern day Islamic Feminism. Scrutinizing some critiques and questions regarding Islamic feminism, at the same time I raise a few questions to ponder upon. I also argue for the requirement of Islamic feminism not only because it provides a voice to Muslim women who have been branded as oppressed for far too long, but also to demand more legal protection by studying laws against women in these countries. I conclude my essay arguing for a transnational women’s movement of which Islamic feminism has to be a significant part of, while throwing light on how women in these regions now utilize social media and carry out innovative methods of on-ground activism for their cause.