UGC SAP short

School of Gandhian Thought and Development Studies

Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam

UGC SAP DRS Phase 2 (2009-2014)

 Annual  Report ( 2012-13)

The school made significant strides during the previous year. As many as ten computers have been loaded with SPSS for electronic data processing. Training was provided to the staff and the students on SPSS. Twelve English language learning consoles also have been installed to enable students to improve their English language skills. The School started enrolling students for PhD under the 2009 revised norms of the UGC and the third batch is doing course work under the new scheme. As many as 12 students who were enrolled under the new scheme during 2011 December  and 2012 December had JRF / RGNF fellowships. An advisory committee meeting was held on 30^th of April chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Of the two advisory committee members, Prof. Ashok Vohra of Delhi University attended. Prof Reghuramaraju of Hyderabad University could not come due to other commitments. Nearly 60 Ph.D scholars including those undergoing course work are currently on the rolls of the School. 

During the year, the following activities were carried out. The School organized five events during the period. They were:

1.  National Seminar on Contemporary Nonviolent Movements in India and Abroad held on 23-24 August 2012, which was attended by a good number of scholars. Universities represented included, Jamia Millia Islamia, National Institute of Advanced Studies Bangalore, Calcutta University, Pondicherry University, IIT Madras, Kerala, Calicut, Kannur and Sree Sankararacharya Universities, Janadeep Vidyapith, Pune, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, and so on, besides scholars from M G University. Abu Mathen George IFS based in Cairo also delivered a talk on the nonviolent protest in Tahrir Square, Cairo. The valedictory session was addressed by Water Resources Minister Shri P J Joseph. The School honoured the minister for his contributions to Gandhian Studies. The Higher secondary School teachers also presented a memento to him for the same, particularly for introducing Gandhian Studies at the higher secondary level as a subject of study when he was the education minister some 12 years ago. The Malayalam translation of the book Gandhi’s World View written by Dr.M.P.Mathai, former Director of the School,   was released during the seminar.
2. Dr. Paulose Mar Gregorios Chair started functioning in the department on September 10 2012 with Dr. M.S.John serving as the   Hon. Director.  P. Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu   delivered the inaugural speech of the chair. The late Dr Paulos Mar Gregorios was  a leading intellectual who acted as some kind of an intermediary during the East-West conflict and was the Delhi Metropolitan of the Syrian Orthodox Church.  The function was well-attended and widely reported in the local media.
3.  A One-day National Seminar on “Building Peace ; Learning from Inter-Faith Dialogues”, jointly organized by  ‘ Interfaith Coalition for Peace New Delhi’, ‘Dr Paulose Mar Gregorios Chair’ and ‘School of Gandhian Thought and Development Studies(SGTDS)’, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam was held at the seminar hall of SGTDS, on 25^th September 2012. Ven. Doboom Tulku (Managing Trustee, World Buddhist Cultural Trust) gave the inaugural address. Scholars, experts on dialogue and peace and religious leaders participated in the seminar. The Hindu covered the event quite extensively on the following day accompanied by an interview with Lama Doboom Tulku.
4. A symposium was organized on the 18^th of 2013 to discuss the status of Gandhian studies in Indian Universities. The discussion was based on a couple of articles on the status of Gandhian Studies published in Gandhi Marg & Journal of Peace Education , particularly the one by Thomas Weber of La Trobe University published last year.  Prof Vinod Kool of State University of New York  ( a Fulbright Specialist), Prof William Bhaskaran of Gandhigram Rural University  and Prof. M P Mathai of Gujarat Vidyapith, Dr Joseph Mathew, retired faculty of Karnatak University, faculty and research scholars of the School  and four  higher secondary school teachers who are teaching Gandhian Studies participated in the highly interactive session.
5. A research methodology workshop was  organised for the Ph.D course work students and M.Phil scholars on the 21^st and 22^nd  of March 2013. Dr A M Jose of Kerala Agricultural University and former Professor of Economics of National University Rwanda, Rwanda, was the main resource person.

Faculty Achievements

Dr Mahajan P Mani, Professor

Publications

1." Changed Context  of Social Work in the Post Colonial Countries”, Contemporary Social Scientist, Vol 3, Issue 1 ,September 2012, Mizoram,India

2.“Towards a Gandhian Model of Development for the future of India, International Journal of Interdisciplinary Knowledge and Research”, Vol 1,Issue 2, January – June 2012,Nagpur

3.“Contemporary Overview Of  Corporate Participation in  Social Development”, Prajjwalam ,  Publication of National Association of Professional Social Workers in India, December 2012, Indore

4.“Postmodern Ethical Criticism in the East with Special Reference to Emmanuel Levinas and M.K.Gandhi”, The Proceedings of the National Seminar Sponsored by U.G.C, St.Thomas College Pala, June 2012

5.   “Critiquing Gandhian Response to Post Modernity” ,Post modern ethical criticism in the west and east, with special reference to Emmanuel Levinas and M.K.Gandhi, June 2012

Prof  M S John ( John S Moolakkattu).

Publications

 1. “Conflict Resolution: The State of the Field and Implications for Practice” in V Suryanarayana and            Teresa Joseph eds. Conflict Resolution in South Asia,  New Delhi: Reference Press,  2013.

2. with Ufo Okeke Uzodike “Territorial Origins of African Civil Conflicts: A Historical Perspective”, in Kelechi Kalu, Okeke Uzodike, David Kraybill, John Moolakkattu eds. Territoriality, Conflict, Citizenship and Peace Building in Africa, London:  Adonis& Abbey, 2013

3. with Ufo Okeke Uzodike “Conclusion” in Kelechi Kalu, Okeke Uzodike, David Kraybill, John Moolakkattu eds. Territoriality, Conflict, Citizenship and Peace Building in Africa, London:  Adonis& Abbey, 2013

4. With Ufo Okeke Uzodike “Towards Deepening Conflict Transformation and Peace building” (editorial introduction for the inaugural issue) in Ubuntu: Journal of Conflict Transformation, Published by Adonis & Abbey Publishers, London, 2012.

5. with Maria T Cheeran, “Information Technology Sector, Women Professionals and Pregnancy Related Issues: A Study With Particular Reference to Kerala”  Man and Development, Volume 34, No.4  December 2012.

6. with Jos Chathukulam, “ Building Social Capital with State Initiative: Participatory Planning in Kerala” in Tina Uys and Sujata Patel (eds.), Exclusion, Social Capital and Citizenship: Contested Transitions in South Africa and India, New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2012

7. “Gandhi: Religion, Dharma and the Concept of Politics”, in  Rakhesh Kumar Jha (ed.), Religion, Dharma and Polity,  New Delhi: Concept, 2012.

8. “Gandhi and Contemporary Non-Violent Action” in Siby K Joseph and Bharat Mahodaya (Eds.), Contextualising Gandhian Thought: Essays in Honour of and by Ravindra Varma, Wardha: Institute of Gandhian Studies 2012.

M S John is one of the co-editors of the recently published book Territoriality, Conflict, Citizenship and Peace Building in Africa (Adonis & Abbey, London, 2013).  He has also been asked to write in the highly prestigious journal Millennium: Journal of International Relations published by London School of Economics and Political Science for a special issue to be brought out in January 2015. He continues to edit Gandhi Marg, the topmost Journal in Gandhian Studies (Published by Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi) and the South African Journal  Ubuntu: Journal of Conflict Transformation (Adonis Abbey, London). He  wrote the foreword for the book Khadi: Gandhi’s Mega Symbol of Subversion authored by Peter Gonsalves and published by Sage in 2012. Also, he co-authored a chapter on “Decentralisation and Democracy” to be used as a resource book for training civil servants in Mussorie under a UNDP initiative in early 2012.

Dr Nirmala Devi , Professor, secured a major project of the UGC on the Impact of Public Policy and Rural Reconstruction:  An Analysis of Gandhian Approach (2012- 2014).

Dr Roy C Mathew (Senior Assistant Professor) had the distinction of having a number of PhD students working with him being awarded with doctoral degrees during the year.

Dr Sandya R S ( Senior Assistant Professor) has completed successfully the UGC major research  project on  Vulnerability of  Elderly Widows in Kerala (2011 – 2013) during the current year.  She published the following papers

1. “Deprivation and Disempowerment—A matter of Conscience and Concern”, Indian Journal of Gerontology  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2013, pp. 297–306.
2. “Orphaned Owners: The Real State of Elderly Widows in Kerala”, ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research  (online),Vol.3 (4), April (2013), 235-241.

Dr Harilakshmeendra Kumar, Assistant Professor, attended a Refresher Course in Women’s Studies at Kerala University and a week-long workshop for NSS programme officers in Rajiv Gandhi National Institute  for Youth Development, Sriperumbathur.

Smt Manjusha K A, Assistant Professor, completed a UGC minor project entitled “Tribals and their belief systems : Problem of the politics of ownership, survival and transformation” during the year. She has also secured admission for Ph.D at Tata Institute of Social Sciences during 2013.  She published 3 papers in journals/books with ISBN/ISSN

1. “Green Thoughts within Gandhian Discourses” in A A Shaji Ed. Understanding the Environmental History of India , Chempazhanthy, S N College, 2012, pp.143-149.
2.“Lights and Shadows of Tribal Development in Kerala: A Study on the Muthuvan Tribe of Edamalakkudy Tribal settlement in Idukki District, Dawn Journal , Vol. 2, No. 1, Jan- June 2013, pp. 274-283
3. “Tribal Women Empowerment Through Kudumbasree Units: A Study on the Ulladan Tribe of North Paravur Taluk  in Ernakulam  District of Kerala”, Zenith International Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Research (online) Vol. 2, (12), pp.  335-350.

Activities of the Project Fellows

Nisha V Nair obtained her Ph.D during the year and resigned as project fellow to join as a post-doctoral fellow in the School on 16 April 2013.  She attended a national seminar on Gender at National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, and presented a paper, which has been selected for publication in a book brought out by NIRD.  She has also submitted a paper to Indian Journal of Gender Studies (revised on the basis of referee’s comments) and is expecting a positive response.

Smitha N B presented a paper on “The linkages between work-family conflict and women empowerment” in the International Conference on Rural empowerment for sustainable development held at Sree Saraswathi Thyagaraja College, Pollachi on 27 – 28 March 2013 and also  presented a paper on “Waste to wealth : A case study of domestic bio gas plants in Kuravilangad panchayath” in the National seminar on “Equity in search of sustainability: An ecological view organized by Department of Sociology , C M S College, Kottayam on 23 & 24 January 2013. Her tenure ended on 11-6-2013.

Achievements of  Ph.D scholars

As many as 15 papers were published by Ph.D students during 2012 & 2013 either in ISSN journals or in edited ISBN books including established journals such as Gandhi Marg , Man and Development, and Indian Journal of Gerontology. Nearly half a dozen papers are awaiting results of submissions already made. Most of the research scholars have been active in seeking out and attending seminars, and presenting papers in them. A Ph.D student published a book on 'Chengannur Kalaapam' (Chengannur Revolt) in 2012 (Published by National Book Stall / Sahitya Pravarthaka Sahakarana Sanghom, Kottayam), which is a contribution to micro-struggles during the national movement.

 Dr M S John
UGC SAP Programme Coordinator                                                                                      

18-6-2013.

John Moolakkattu coedits book on African Conflicts