COMMON POOL OF GENERIC ELECTIVES (GE) COURSES

GENERIC ELECTIVES (GE-1): Politics of Nature

Credit distribution, Eligibility and Pre-requisites of the Course

Course title & Credits Credit distribution of the Eligibility Pre-

Code course criteria requisite
of the
Lecture Tutorial Practical/
course
Practice

Politics of Nature 4 3 1 0 XII Pass NIL

Learning Objectives

This introductory course familiarizes students with major themes in the history of
human inter-action with nature. It studies the long-term transformations made by
humans on their surround-ing environment and the reciprocal effects of nature on
societies. The themes include the inter-actions between humans and other living
species, link between imperialism and environmental transformations, profligate use
of resources, population growth, increasing urbanisation, carbon emission, and
climate crisis. By focusing on the planetary scale of ecological interconnected-ness, the
course enables students to understand the social, political, and cultural roots of the
cur-rent environmental crisis. The course will also elaborate how the interdisciplinary
approach enabled the environmental historians to arrive at new methodology in
critically understanding the past. It integrates concepts and insights from
Anthropology, Historical-Geography, Climate Science, Political Ecology, and
Economics. The paper explains the politics of nature in terms of an increasing
inequality in access to natural resources and the social responses to the unequal
distribution of the effects of environmental degradation. Discussions on the politics of
nature on a planetary scale will encourage students to innovate and suggest policy
changes at the national and international level.

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of this course the student shall be able to:

● Discuss environmental issues within a social and political framework.
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 ● Examine the role of social inequality. How does unequal distribution of and
unequal access to environmental resources help understand the environmental
crisis of the world - from the global to the local.
● Critique an understanding of environmental concerns based on a narrow
scientific/technological perspective.
● Analyse the historical agency of animals.
● Understand how ideas about the environment have evolved in various socio-
ecological contexts.
● Examine the complexities of resource distribution and inequalities of resource
use, locating these within specific social contexts, with reference to case studies
regarding the urban-environmental problems, industrial hazards and the
environmental impacts of the mega-infrastructure projects.
● Locate solutions to the contemporary environmental problems within a
framework of greater democratisation of resource use.

SYLLABUS OF GE-1

Unit I: Doing Environmental History

1. The themes of Environmental History.
2. Interdisciplinarity; Historical-Geography, Anthropology, Archaeology, and
Political Ecology
Unit II: Societies and Natural Resources in the Pre-Modern World
1. Human-animal interactions
2. Pre-Industrial Prime Movers and Fuels

Unit III: Ecology and Imperial Power in the Early Modern World
1. The Columbian Exchange; Diseases
2. Colonialism and Natural Resources; Ecological Imperialism

Unit IV: The Worlds of Fossil Energy

1. Industrial Agriculture Steam Ships and Hydraulic Engineering
2. Cities and Environment; Delhi and Bombay

Unit V: The Great Acceleration and the Future

1. Carbon Emission and Environmental Justice; Climate Change
2. The Anthropocene Debate

Essential Readings
Unit I. This unit provides an overview of the major themes of environmental history
and elaborates the interdisciplinary approaches developed by the
environmental historians to study the past. (Teaching time: 9 Hours approx)
● Hughes, Donald (2006), What is Environmental History?. Cambridge: Polity
Press. Chapter 1, pp. 1-17 [“Defining Environmental History”]
● McNeil, J. R. and Mauldin, E. S. (2012). A Companion to Global Environmental
History. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, Introduction pp. xvi-xxiv.
● Conrad, Sebastian (2016), What is Global History. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, pp. 1-17 [“Introduction”].

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 ● Bayly, C. A, et al., “AHR Conversation: On Transnational History,” The American
Historical Review, Vol. 111, No. 5, pp. 1440-64.

Unit II. This unit examines human interactions with the environment in pre-modern
societies. The two rubrics are aimed to explore how human interaction with
animals and the development of energy harnessing technologies transformed
social relationships, practices, and ideas. (Teaching time: 9 Hours approx.)
● Richard Bulliet. Hunters, Herders and Hamburgers: The Past and Future of
Human- Animal Relationships. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005, pp.
205 -224.
● Edmund Burke III. “The Big Story: Human History, Energy Regime and the
Environment” in Edmund Burke III and Kenneth Pomeranz, eds., the
Environment and World History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
pp. 33-53.
● Smil, Vaclav (1994), Energy in World History. Colorado: Westview, 1994
[Chapter 2 “Energy in Prehistory, pp. 15-27; Chapter 3 “Traditional Agriculture,”
pp. 28-91; Chapter 4 “Pre-Industrial Prime Movers and Fuel, 92-156].
● Deloche, John (1993), Transport and Communication in India: Prior to Steam
Locomotion. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp. 227-254.

Unit III. : This unit explores how Empires of the New World transferred flora and fauna
across continents, affected the demography of local societies and completely
transformed landscapes. The second rubric explains how colonialism generated
new patterns of consumption by appropriating global resources and fossil fuels
for industry, to produce an interconnected but unequal world. (Teaching time:
9 Hours approx.)
● Crosby, Alfred W. (1967). “Conquistadory Pestilencia: The First New World
Pandemic and the Fall of the Great Indian Empires,” The Hispanic American
Historical Review, Vol.47(No.3), pp. 321-337.
● Crosby, Alfred W. (1988), “Ecological Imperialism: The Overseas Migration of
Western Europeans as a Biological Phenomenon,” In Donald Worster, ed., The
Ends of the Earth. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 104-105.
● Cronon, William (1983), Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology
of New England. New York: Hill and Wang, pp.3-18.
● McNeill, J.R. (2012). “Biological Exchange in Global Environmental History,” In
J. R. McNeill & E. S. Maudlin, eds., Companion to Global Environmental History.
Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 433-452.

Unit IV. This unit studies the new energy regimes of the modern world, with a special
focus on the histories of landscape transformations. It offers a historical
perspective on the increasing inequality of access to natural resources,
especially in the context of industrialisation of agricultural production,
hydraulic engineering, and the urbanization of natural resources. (Teaching
time: 9 Hours approx.)
● McKittrick, Meredith (2012), “Industrial Agriculture,” In J. R. McNeill & E. S.
Maudlin, eds., Companion to Global Environmental History. Oxford: Blackwell,
pp. 411-432.

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 ● Carse, Ashley (2014), Beyond the Big Ditch: Politics, Ecology, and Infrastructure
at the Panama Canal. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, [Chapter 3: “Making the
Panama Canal Watershed”, pp. 37-58; Chapter 6: “Canal Construction and the
Politics of Water”, pp. 93- 120; Chapter 13: “A Demanding Environment,” pp.
129-222].
● Awadhendra B. Sharan. In the City, Out of Place: Nuisance, Pollution, and
Dwelling in Delhi, c. 1850-2000. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014
[Introduction; Chapter 4: Pollution-page numbers to be added]
● Riding, Tim (2018), “’Making of Bombay Island’: Land Reclamation and
Geographical Conception of Bombay, 1661-1728,” Journal of Historical
Geography, Vol. 59, pp. 27-39.
● Klein, Ira (1986), “Urban Development and Death: Bombay City, 1870-1914”,
Modern Asian Studies, Vol.20, No.4, pp.725-754.

Unit V. This unit introduces the concept of Anthropocene to discuss emergent

concerns regarding the influence of humans on the planet’s history. This
provides a long-term historical perspective on contemporary environmental
issues including global warming and the need for innovation and policy change
at the national and international levels. (Teaching time: 9 Hours approx)
● Carruthers, Jane, (2011), “Recapturing Justice and Passion in Environmental
His-tory: A Future Path”, RCC Perspectives, No. 3, pp. 57-59.
● White, Sam. (2012). “Climate Change in Global Environmental History,” In J. R.
McNeill and E. S. Maudlin, eds., Companion to Environmental History. Oxford:
Blackwell, pp. 394-410.
● Lewis, Simon L. and Maslin, Mark A. (2015). “Defining the Anthropocene,”
Nature, Vol. 519, pp. 171-80.
● Moore Jason W. ed., (2016), Capitalism in the Web of Life: Ecology and the
Accumula-tion of Capital. London: Verso, pp. 169-192 [“Anthropocene or
Capitalocene?: On the Nature and Origins of Our Ecological Crisis,”].

Suggestive readings
● Agarwal, Ravi (2010), “Fight for a Forest,” In Seminar, No. 613, pp. 48-52 (On
Delhi Ridge)
● Bauer Jordan and Melosi, Martin V. (2012). “Cities and the Environment,” In J.
R. McNeill and E. S. Maudlin, eds., Companion to Environmental History.
Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 360-376.
● Brooke, John L. (2014), Climate Change and the Course of Global History: A
Rough Journey. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 370-383 [“The Little
Ice Age and the Black Death].
● Bulliet, Richard. (2005), Hunters, Herders and Hamburgers: The Past and Future
of Human-Animal Relationships. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 205
-224.
● Byrne, John, Leigh Glover and Cecilia Martinez, eds. (2002), Environmental
Justice: Discourses in International Political Economy. London: Routledge, pp.
261-291 [“The Production of Unequal Nature”]
● Corona, Gabriella (2008), “What is Global Environmental History?” Global
Environment, No. 2, pp. 228-249.

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 ● Culver, Lawrence. (2014). “Confluence of Nature and Culture: Cities in
Environmental History,” In A. C. Isenberg (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of
Environmental History. New York: OUP, pp. 553-572.
● Fitzgerald, Amy J. (2015). Animals as Food Reconnecting Production, Processing
and Impacts. Michigan: Michigan State University Press, pp 9-34.
● Grove, Richard H. (1995), Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island
Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism, 1600-1860. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, pp. 16-72 [“Edens, Islands and Early Empires”].
● Lewis, Simon L. and Maslin, Mark A. (2015). “Defining the Anthropocene”,
Nature, Vol.519(12March), 171-80.
● Malm, Andreas. (2016). The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global
Warming. London: Verso. pp.389-394
● McKenney Jason. (2002). Artificial Fertility: “The Environmental Costs of
Industrial Age Fertilisers” In Andrew Kimbrell (ed.), The Fatal Harvest Reader:
The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture. London: Island Press, pp.121-129
● Mitchell, Timothy. (2011), Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil.
London: Verso, “Conclusion: No More Counting on Oil,” pp. 231-254.
● Moore Jason W. (ed.) (2016) Anthropocene or Capitalocene?: Nature, History
and the Crisis of Capitalism. Oakland: PM Press. pp. 173-195
● Moore, Jason W (2015), Capitalism in the Web of Life: Ecology and the
Accumulation of Capital. London: Verso, pp. 241-306 [“The Long Green
Revolution: The Life and Times of Cheap Food in the Long Twentieth Century”,
and “Conclusion: The End of Cheap Nature?”]
● Moore, Jason W. (2014), “The Value of Everything? Work, Capital, and Historical
Nature in the Capitalist Ecology,” Review (Fernand Braudel Centre), Vol. 37, No.
3-4, pp. 245- 292.
● Morrison, Kathleen D. (2015), “Provincializing the Anthropocene”, Seminar, No.
673, 75- 80.
● Moss, Jeremy (2015), Climate Change and Justice: Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2015, pp. 1-16 [Introduction: Climate Justice].
● Nunn, Nathan and Qian, Nancy. “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease,
Food, and Ideas”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 24, No.2 (2010), 163–
188.
● Steffen, Will, Crutzen, Paul J and McNeill J. R. (2008). “The Anthropocene: Are
Humans Now Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature,” Ambio, Vol. 36,
(No.8), 614-21.
● Sutter, Paul S. (2007), “Nature’s Agents or Agents of Empire? Entomological
Workers and Environmental Change during the Construction of the Panama
Canal,” Isis, Vol. 98, No. 4, pp. 724-753.
● White Jr, Lynn (1974), Medieval Technology and Social Change. London: Oxford
University Press, pp. q-38.
● सुमत
र् गुहा, (2010) “अठारहवीं शताब ्ि◌◌ी के महाराष्र म� घास और चारे पर नर्यंत्रण: एक
ऐतर्हासर्क अध्ययन”, महश भारत म� पयाि◌वरण के �मु ि◌◌े, पर्य�सन, र्ि◌ल्ल�.

Note: Examination scheme and mode shall be as prescribed by the Examination

Branch, University of Delhi, from time to time.

184
 GENERIC ELECTIVES (GE-2): Making of Post-Colonial India

Credit distribution, Eligibility and Pre-requisites of the Course

Course title & Code Credits Credit distribution of the Eligibility Pre-requisite
course criteria of the course
Lecture Tutorial Practical/
Practice
Making of Post- 4 3 1 0 XII Pass NIL
Colonial India

Learning Objectives

This thematic course introduces the students to various perspectives on India’s

evolving political, economic, social and cultural conditions from the 1940s to the 2000.
The course intends to familiarise the students with some select themes pertaining to
the gradual historical transformation of political organizations, the emergence of new
forms of socio-political mobilization, the patterns of economic development and
cultural representation and peoples’ movements in the period under study.

Learning outcomes

The Learning Outcomes of this course are as follows:

● Draw a broad outline of the history of the early years of the Indian Republic,
focusing on the framing of the Constitution, the integration of princely states,
the reorganization of states and the features of our foreign policy.
● Examine critically patterns of economic development in the early years of
Independence and the subsequent shifts and the persistent problems of
uneven development.
● Trace a broad history of political organizations at the national level and political
developments in the regional contexts.
● Examine issues of critical relevance with respect to the assertions and
mobilization in the movements on the questions of caste, tribe and women.

SYLLABUS OF GE-2

Unit I: Laying the Foundation of the Nation State

1. Making of Indian Constitution and its salient features;
2. Integration of princely states, delineating provincial boundaries and the
formation of newer states;

Unit II: Political Trajectories.

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 1. Politics and Political Parties: I. Congress hegemony and counter-hegemony, the
rise of regional political parties; II. left political parties and Left wing political
radicalism; III. J.P. movement / Nav Nirman movement, Emergency and Janta
interregnum; and IV. Jansangh and Rise of the BJP.
2. Key features of the foreign policy of India.

Unit III: Socio-Economic Development and underdevelopment

1. Concept of planned economy and the key features of respective five year plans
for agrarian, industrial and other sectors;
2. Shift from the model of mixed economy and public sectors to economic
liberalization, privatization and globalisation;
3. Discontents amongst peasants and workers and the larger concerns of
economic re-distribution, inequality, sustainability and environment.
4. Peoples’ Movements for Rights, Liberation and Social Justice: Dalits, Adivasis
and women.

Unit IV: Shaping a new public sphere and its discontents

1. Education, science and technology;
2. Language and Literature;
3. Cinema and visual art.

Practical component (if any) - NIL

Essential/recommended readings
Unit I: This unit deals with laying the foundations of the Indian republic by discussing
key debates in the framing of the Constitution, some aspects of the finally adopted
Constitution and amendments within it particularly focusing upon the questions of
citizenship, language, fundamental rights, directive principles and the rights of the
minorities. The unit also deals with the integration of princely states and the process
of delineating or reorganizing the provincial boundaries. (Teaching Time: 3 weeks
approx.)
● Agnihotri, Rama Kant (2015), Constituent Assembly Debates on Language, EPW,
Feb 21, 2015, pp. 47-56.
● Bhargava Rajiv. (ed.), (2009), Politics and Ethics of the Indian Constitution. New
Delhi: Oxford University Press.
● Khosla, Madhav. (2020), India’s Founding Moment. HUP.
● Ahmad, Aijaz. (1992). “Three World Theory: End of the Debate”. In Theory.
London: Verso.
● Asha Sarangi, Sudha Pai. (2011), Interrogating Reorganisation of States: Culture,
Identity and Politics in India, Routledge India
● Austin, Granville (1999). The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of Nation, New
Delhi: OUP [relevant sections].
● Damodaran, A.K (1987), “Roots of Indian Foreign Policy”, India International
Centre Quarterly. Vol.14. No. 3., pp. 53-65
● Dhavan, Rajeev. (2008). “Book Review: Sarbani Sen, Popular Sovereignty and
Democratic Transformations: The Constitution if India,” Indian Journal of
Constitutional Law, Vol.8, pp.204-220.

186
● Markovits, Claude. (2004), A History of Modern India. Anthem Press. (Chapter
21)

Unit II: This unit traces the trends of the emergence of political parties and
movements in post-independence India. This unit will also focus on the key features
of India’s foreign policy in the period under study, including the non-alignment.
(Teaching Time: 4 weeks approx.)
● Bipan Chandra. In the name of Democracy: JP Movement and the
Emergency. Penguin Random House India. [Relevant chapters].
● Chatterjee, Partha (ed.). (1997). State and Politics in India. Delhi: Oxford
University Press. [pp. 92-124].
● Francine Frankel et al, (eds.). (2002), Transforming India: Social and Political
Dynamics of Democracy. Delhi: Oxford Univeresity Press. [Relevant
chapters].
● Hasan, Zoya. (2004). Parties and Party Politics in India. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press. Chapters 9 and 10.
● Jaffrelot, Christophe. (1999). The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian
Politics 1925 to 1990s. New Delhi: Penguin. Chapters 3, 5, 7, 11 to 13.
Chhibber, Pradeep K (1999). State Policy, Party Politics, and the Rise of the
BJP in Democracy without Associations: Transformation of the Party System
and Social Cleavages in India. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. (pp.
159-176).
● Kochanek, Stanley. (1968). The Congress Party of India: The Dynamics of
One-Party Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Chapters 1 to
4, 13 and 16.
● Kumar, Ashutosh (ed). (2016), Rethinking State Politics in India: Regions
within Regions. New Delhi: Routledge India. [Relevant chapters].
● Nirija Gopal Jayal and Pratap Bhanu Mehta (2011) Oxford Companion to
Politics in IndiaOxford University Press
● Subhash C. Kashyap, Our Parliament (National Book Trust) (Chapter 15).
● Tarlo, Emma. (2003) Unsettling Memories: Narratives of the Emergency in
Delhi, Berkeley: University of California Press. Introduction and C (2017),
Chapte (2017), r 2.

Unit III. This unit deals with the history of economic developments from 1950s till
2000. It focuses on planning, agrarian issue and industrialisation in the first two
decades of Independence and goes on to explore the subsequent liberalization of
the Indian economy and the concomitant uneven development. It also links this
history with the unrest amongst peasants and workers as well as with the issues of
sustainability and environment. (Teaching Time: 4 weeks approx.)
● Bhalla, G.S. (2007). Indian Agriculture since Independence, New Delhi:
National Book Trust
● Chadha, G.K. Khurana, M.R. (1989). Backward Agriculture, Unrewarded
Labour and Economic Deprivation: Bihar’s Contrast with Punjab. EPW, Nov
25, 1989, pp. 2617 - 2623
● Partha Chatterjee (ed.) (1997 State and Politics in India. Delhi: OUP)
“Chapter-7: Development Planning and Indian State.”

187
 ● Roy, Tirthankar. Indian Economy after Independence: Economic History of
India 1857- 2010. [Chapter-13].

● Singh, Satyajit K. (2010).“State, Planning and Politics of Irrigation

Development: A Critique of Large Dams”, in in Achin Vanaik and Rajeev
Bhargava (eds.), Understanding Contemporary India: Critical Perspective
(Hyderabad: Orient BlackSwan), pp. 105-148.
● Kohli, Atul (2006). Politics of Economic Growth in India, 1980-2005: Part I &
2 -- The 1980s. EPW, V 41, No 13, April 1-7, 2006, pp 1251-1259; and EPW,
Vol. 41, No. 14 (Apr. 8-14, 2006), pp. 1361-1370.
● Frankel, Francine R. (2005). India’s Political Economy. New Delhi: OUP.
Chapters 1, 3 and 4.
● Prasad, Archana (2003). Preface: Ecological Romanticism and Environmental
History. In Against Ecological Romanticism Verrier Elwin and the Making of
an Anti-Modern Tribal Identity.
● Sangeeta Dasgupta, Introduction: Reading the Archive, Reframing ‘Adivasi’
Histories. IESHR, 53, 1, 2016, pp 1-8.
● Gadgil, Madhav and Ramachandra Guha (1994), Ecological Conflicts and the
Environmental Movement in India, Development and Change. Vol 25.
pp.101-136.

Unit IV. Shaping a new public sphere and its discontents: This unit traces the official
policies as well as their contestations and alternatives with regard to some key
themes of public sphere in post-independence India, such as Education policy:
issues of access and participation; role and nature of the intervention of science and
technology; politics over Language; emerging trends in Literature; and
representations in Cinema and visual art. (Teaching Time: 4 weeks approx.)
● Balaran, Rakhee., Mitter, Partha., Mukherji, Parul Dave. (2021) 20th Century
Indian Art: Modern, Post- Independence, Contemporary. Thames & Hudson.
● Brass, Paul R. (2005), Language, Religion and Politics in North India.
Cambridge University Press, 1974. (Specially Introduction pp 3-50 and
Chapters 3-5 pp 119-275).
● Das Gupta, Jyotirindra. (2018), Language Conflict and National Development:
Group Politics and National Language Policy in India. University of California
Press. First published, 1970.
● Deshpande Anirudh. (2014), Class, Power and Consciousness in Indian
Cinema.
● Dwyer, Rachel. (2002). Cinema India: The Visual Culture of Hindu Film. New
Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
● Gupta, Vikas. (2014), ‘Changing Discourses on Inequality and Disparity: From
Welfare State to Neoliberal Capitalism’, in Ravi Kumar, (Ed.), Education, State
and Market: Anatomy of Neoliberal Impact, Aakaar, pp 19-57.
● Gupta, Vikas. Agnihotri, Rama Kant. and Panda Minati (Ed.), (2021).
Education and Inequality: Historical and Contemporary Trajectories. Orient
Blackswan. (Relevant Chapters)
● Hasan Zoya. (ed,), (2019), Forging Identities: Gender, Communities, And The
State In India. Routledge. Relevant chapters.

188
 ● Qaiser, Rizwan. (2013), “Building Academic, Scientific and Cultural
Institutions, 1947- 1958”, in his Resisting Colonialism and Communal Politics,
Delhi, Manohar, (First published 2011). Pp. 179-240.
● Raina, Dhruv. (2006), “Science Since Independence.” India International
Centre Quarterly 33, no. 3/4: 182–95,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23006080.
● Sahu, Sudhansubala. (2018). “Revisiting Television in India,” Sociological
Bulletin, Vol. 67 (2), August, pp. 204-219.
● Sinha Gayatri. (2009), Art and visual culture in India, 1857-2007. Relevant
Chapters.
● Vasudevan, Ravi. (2011), The Melodramatic Public: Film Form and
Spectatorship in Indian Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan.

Suggestive readings - NIL

● Chandra, Bipan. (2008). India Since Independence. Delhi: Penguin
● Guha, Ramachandra. (2008). India After Gandhi.
● रामचंद्र गुहा. (2016). भारत गांधी के बाि◌, र्ि◌ल्ल�: प�गुइन बुक्स

Note: Examination scheme and mode shall be as prescribed by the Examination

Branch, University of Delhi, from time to time.

189
 GENERIC ELECTIVES (GE-3): Indian Science and Technology

Credit distribution, Eligibility and Pre-requisites of the Course

Course title & Credits Credit distribution of the course Eligibility Pre-requisite
Code criteria of the course
Lecture Tutorial Practical/
Practice
Indian Science 4 3 1 0 XII Pass NIL
and Technology

Learning Objectives

This course proposes to examine the interlinkages between science and technology
with respect to society in India and its historical relevance and evolution. This paper is
thematically arranged and provides a historical overview of Indian Science and
Technology and acquaints students with historiographical debates. Further this paper
takes a brief survey of the material culture as it evolved in Indian history. The students
will study the evolution of agriculture in relation to the environment and animals. This
paper will also explore the Indian contribution to the development of astronomy and
mathematics, medicine, military and warfare technologies.

Learning outcomes

The Learning Outcomes of this course are as follows:

● Critically understand the evolution of science and technology in India.
● Understand the interrelationship between science, technology and society.

SYLLABUS OF GE-3

Unit I: Historiography of Science and Technology

Unit II: The Environment, Agriculture and Animals

Unit III: Mathematics and Astronomy: From Aryabhatta to Sawai Jai Singh

Unit IV: Patients, Doctors and Medicines

Unit V: Military and Warfare Technologies

Practical component (if any) - NIL

Essential/recommended readings
190
Unit I: In this unit students will understand the debates pertaining to the
historiography of Science and Technology in India. They will also examine and
explore the question why science did not flourish in India despite significant
scientific developments. Factors like the prevalence of social inequality acting
as a barrier to the development of scientific temperament and experimentation
will be explored. (Teaching Time: 3 weeks approx.)
● Chattopadhyay, D.P. (1986). History of Science and Technology in Ancient India:
The Beginnings, Calcutta: Farma KLM Pvt Ltd, pp. 1-54.
● मल
ु े, गण
ु ाकर. (२००५). भारतीतर्इतहासम�त व�ान. त
ि◌ल्ल�:र्◌ात्रीप्रकाशन. (अध्यार्:त व�ानऔरसमाि◌; पष्ृ ठ११-29, ज्योत
तषकाआ�रऔररवकास; पष्ृ ठ४१-49, वैत ि◌कतगणतक�समी�ा; पष्ृ ठ५0--66).

Unit II: In this unit students will explore the process of human settlement,
domestication of animals and transformation in the environment due to the
advent of agriculture and introduction of new crops. (Teaching Time: 2.5
weeks approx.)
● Saxena, R.C. et al. (1994). A Textbook on Ancient History of Indian Agriculture.
Secunderabad: Asian Agri-History Foundation (Chapter 5 Crop Domestication
and Diffusion, pp. 29-36).

Unit III: This unit will trace the development of astronomical and mathematical
sciences from Aryabhatta to Sawai Jai Singh. Students will be acquainted with
the rich Indian heritage of astronomy and mathematics. (Teaching Time: 3.5
weeks approx.)
● Kochar, Rajesh and Jayant Narlikar. (1995). Astronomy in India: A Perspective,
New Delhi: INSA, pp. 1-27.
● Bag, A.K. (1995). ‘Mathematical and Astronomical Heritage of India’ in D.P.
Chattopadhyay et. al., Mathematics Astronomy and Biology in Indian Tradition:
Some Conceptual Preliminaries, Delhi: Indian Council for Philosophical
Research, pp. 110-128.

Unit IV: In this unit, students will delve into the diverse healing systems and practices
in India. They will explore the emergence of a syncretic culture of health,
healing practices and healers. (Teaching Time: 3 weeks approx.)
● Majumdar, R.C. (1971). ‘Ayurveda: Origins and Antiquity’, in D.M. Bose, Concise
History of Science in India, New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy, pp.
213-216; ‘Ayurveda and its Classical Division’, pp. 227-234; ‘Ayurveda in the
Middle Ages’, pp. 262-265.
● Arnold, David (2000). Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India, The
New Cambridge History of India, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-
9.
● Nanda, Meera. (2016). Science in Saffron, Delhi: Three Essays (Chapter 3,
‘Genetics, Plastic Surgery and other Wonders of Ancient Medicines’, pp. 93-
120).
● Alavi, Seema. (2008). Islam and Healing: Loss and Recovery of an Indo-Islamic
Medical Tradition, 1600-1900. New Delhi: Permanent Black (Introduction).

191
Unit V: This unit will examine the emergence of new military technologies and how
these changed the course of warfare techniques in medieval times. Further this
unit will also explore the advance-ment of military technologies for colonial
dominance in the Indian subcontinent. (Teaching Time: 3 weeks approx.)
● Khan, I.A. (2004). Gunpowder and Firearms: Warfare in Medieval India. New
Delhi: Ox-ford University Press.
● Habib, Irfan. (2008). Technology in Medieval India 650-1750, New Delhi: Tulika,
pp. 87- 98.

Note: Examination scheme and mode shall be as prescribed by the Examination

Branch, University of Delhi, from time to time.

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 GENERIC ELECTIVES (GE-4): Media in History

Credit distribution, Eligibility and Pre-requisites of the Course

Course title & Code Credits Credit distribution of the Eligibility Pre-
course criteria requisite of
the course
Lecture Tutorial Practical/
Practice
Media in History 4 3 1 0 XII Pass Nil

Print media – Radio Transmission – The Cinematic Turn – Television and Digital Media

Learning Objectives:
The course will apprise the students with the elementary outlines of the history of media in
India, from its beginnings to contemporary times. The different forms of media – Print, Audio-
Visual and Electronic – the modes and methods will be discussed, and the potent ways in which
technology and larger socio-political and economic trends intersected will be highlighted.

Learning Outcomes:
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
● Delineate the historical context within which the beginnings of each media platform
can be understood.
● Analyze the state’s attempts to control and organize media output through laws and
policies.
● Explain the conjunctures of technological breakthroughs, advances and larger socio-
economic and political matrices.
● Better appreciate the trends in media production, and its efforts in engaging with current
ideological and socio-political issues.

Course Content

Unit I: Forms and Contexts

1. Introduction – Types of media to be studied and their unique Indian context and
adaptation
2. Significance and impact of media in history

Unit II: Press/Print media

1. Press censorship in British India; Vernacular Press Act
2. Role of the Indian press in the freedom movement; views of Leaders,
3. Press in India after independence: The Press Commissions, Contemporary
Opportunities and Challenges

Unit III: Radio Transmission

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 1. Radio Transmission in Colonial India – Foundation, Inter-war years; AIR
Programming, Expansion and broadening of listenership base
2. Establishment and Expansion of Akashvani after 1947 – The Keskar years; Classical
vs. Popular; Radio Ceylon and Vividh Bharati
3. Government Policies and Bandwidth matters since the 1970s – end of License Raj; FM
Radio Wave; Community Radio; Podcasts

Unit IV: The Cinematic Turn

1. Cinema during Colonial Period - Silent Era, Genres and Censorship
2. Post-Independence Cinema till 1980s- Nation Building, Mainstream cinema and
Parallel Cinema
3. Era of Liberalization, Globalization and Privatization- Changes in Production,
Distribution and Exhibition, Experimental Cinema

Unit V: Studying Television and Digital Media

1. Television in India-The Doordarshan era- Entertainment, Infotainment
2. Rise of the Satellite TV – Soap Operas and 24x7 News, Changes and Effects.
3. Digital Media - Effects of Digital Media-Privacy and Surveillance, Misinformation and
Disinformation

Essential Readings and Unit-Wise Teaching Outcomes:

Unit I: As the introductory unit, the focus will be on types of media to be studied and their
unique Indian context and adaptations. The cross-fertilization between the terrains of
technology, circulation of ideas, means and methods of propagation, and patterns of patronage,
production and consumption can be elucidated. (Teaching time: 2 week approx.)
● Sarkar, S. 2015. Modern Times: India 1880s to 1950s: Environment, Economy, Culture.
New Delhi: Orient Blackswan.
● Khanna, A. 2019. Words. Sounds. Images: A History of Media and Entertainment in
India. New Delhi: Harper Collins.
● Chatterjee, K, 2020. Media and Nation Building in Twentieth-Century India: Life and
Times of Ramananda Chatterjee. New Delhi: Routledge.

Unit II This unit will give a broad historical overview of the coming of the printing press in
the Indian Subcontinent, and discuss aspects of book production under colonial conditions.It
aims to make a historical assessment of how Indian readers consume printed contents through
well-chosen case studies. (Teaching time: 3 weeks approx.)
● Robert Darnton (2002) “Book Production in British India, 1850-1900” Book History,
vol. 5, pp. 239-262.
● A.R. Venkatachalapathy (2012) The Province of the Book, Ranikhet: Permanent Black,
“Readers, Reading practices, modes of reading” (chapter 7).
● Krishna Murthy, Nadig (1966) Journalism - Origin Growth and Development of Indian
Journalism from Ashoka to Nehru, Prasaranga, University of Mysore.
● Rao, M. Chalapathi (1974) The Press. National Book Trust, New Delhi.
● Devika Sethi. 2016. War over Words : Censorship in India, 1930-1960.Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
● रामशर ोशी (2012), मीिडया, िम र समा , Shilpayan; First edition.
● र ाकर पा े य, ि ं दी प का�र ा र समा ारों की दु िनया.

194
 ● िबिपन ं , मदु ला मु , आिद मु , के एन प ीकर, सु े ा म ा न: भार का ं ा
सं , ाय आठ- प्रेस की आ ादी के िलए सं ।

Unit III: The section on Radio will help the students to understand the complex trajectories of
the beginnings and development of Radio transmission in India. With its establishment in the
colonial period, radio has expanded its reach and remains the most widespread popular medium
of entertainment, infotainment and news across the country. The shifts in government policies,
technical and programming/content related matters reflect the changing socio-political and
economic milieu, and this section will acquaint the students with the same. (Teaching Time:
3 weeks approx.)
● Malik, K.K. Mixed Signals: Radio Broadcasting Policy in India.
● Chatterjee, P.C. Broadcasting in India
● Bandopadhyay, P.K. 2015. The Genesis and Growth of Broadcasting in India: From
Lionel Fielden to the Present Day. New Delhi: B.R.Publishing Corporation Ld
● Gupta, P.S. 2001. “Radio and the Raj.” Power, Politics and the People: Studies in
British Imperialism and Indian Nationalism. New Delhi: Permanent Black, pp 447-80.
● Pinkerton, A. 2008. “Radio and the Raj: Broadcasting in British India, 1920- 1940.”
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp 167-91.

Unit IV: The unit will focus on the development of Indian cinema during the colonial period
and afterwards. The post-independence cinema and the changes brought about in 1990s and
after will also be studied. (Teaching time: 4 weeks approx.)
● Rangoonwala, Firoze, 75 years of Indian Cinema, Indian Book Company, Delhi, 1975
● Rangoonwala, Firoze, Bhartiya Chalchitra Ka Itihas, Rajpal & Sons, Delhi, 1975
● Kaul, Gautam, Cinema and the Indian Freedom Struggle, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd.,
Delhi, 1999
● Vasudev, Aruna, Liberty and Licence in the Indian Cinema, Vikas Publishing House
Pvt. Ltd., Delhi, 1978
● Sharma, Manoj, National Movement and Currents of Social Reform in Hindi Cinema:
1931-1947, Proceedings of Indian History Congress, Vol. 66, (2005-2006), pp.492-
498, JSTOR
● Chatterji, Shoma A. Subject: Cinema, Object: Women: A Study of the Portrayal of
Women in Indian Cinema, Parumita Publications, Calcutta, 1998

Unit V: The unit will focus on the development of television and spread of its programming.
It will also look into the arrival of 24x7 televisions programming and viewing. Digital media
will also be discussed and analyzed. (Teaching time: 3 weeks approx)
● Conrad, P. (2016). Television: The medium and its manners. Routledge.
● Devi, S. (2022) Media Discourse in Contemporary India: A study of select news
channels. Routledge.
● Fiske, J. (2004) Reading Television. Routledge.
● Ghose, B. (2005). Doordarshan Days. Penguin/Viking
● Gray, J., & Lotz, A. D. (2019). Television Studies. John Wiley & Sons

Suggested Readings:
● Finkelstein, D. & Peers, D.M. 2000. Negotiating India in Nineteenth Century Media.
London: Palgrave Macmillan
195
 ● AS Iyengar. Role of Press and Indian Freedom Struggle
● Madan Gopal. Freedom Movement & The Press : The Role of Hindi Newspapers
● Mann, M. 2017. Wiring the Nation: Telecommunication, Newspaper-Reportage, and
Nation Building in British India, 1850–1930. New Delhi: Oxford University Press
● Robert Darnton (2001) “Literary Surveillance in the British Raj: The Contradictions of
Liberal Imperialism”, Book History, Volume 4, 2001, pp. 133-176.
● Lelyveld, D. 1995. “Upon the Subdominant: Administering Music on All India Radio.”
Social Text, Vol. 39, pp 111-27
● Kripalani, C. 2018. “All India Radio’s Glory Days and Its Search for Autonomy” in
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 53, No. 37, pp 42-50.
● Jhingan, S. 2011. “Re-embodying the Classical: The Bombay Film Song in the 1950s”
in Bioscope, Vol 2, No. 2, pp 157-79
● Vasudev, Aruna, New Indian Cinema, Delhi, MacMillan, 1986
● Thoravel, Yves, The Cinemas of India, Macmillan, Delhi, 2000
● Rini Bhattacharya Mehta & Rajeshwari V. Pandharipande ed, Bollywood and
Globalisation; Indian Popular cinema: Nation and Diaspora, Anthem Press, London,
2010
● डॉ. परम ीर िसं , भार ीय े िलि न का ि ास। एडु ीएशन प��िशंग, ( )

Note: Examination scheme and mode shall be as prescribed by the Examination

Branch, University of Delhi, from time to time.

196