Department Of Political Science

In the academic year 2022-23 the department of political science organised offline events. Our efforts were guided by an attempt to connect the student community, broaden the scope of opportunities and make learning an inclusive and holistic experience for every member of the student body, the Department of Political Science unwaveringly strived towards fostering critical thinking and interactive intellectual engagement. The wide array of lectures and events aimed at widening the discipline-specific concerns through an interdisciplinary approach.

ACADEMIC MEET

The Annual Academic Meet- Polpourri- took place on 17th April 2023. The theme for this year was “Liberalism in Crisis. Or Not.” To build up the energy and spread awareness about Polpourri, some fun Pre- Events like Photo essay Contest on “Struggles of the Self”, Documentary Screening of “Unlimited Girls” and a Rolling Board Activity on the theme- How do you perceive your identities evolving? were organised. The final event started with a keynote speaker followed by 4 Panel Discussions. The guests for the various sessions were Prof Neera Chandhoke as the keynote speaker, the panel on Self and Liberal Democracy had Prof PK Datta and Prof Vidhu Verma, Panel 2 on Self and Technology was discussed by Dr. Manhor Kumar and Prof Shiv Visvanathan, Panel 3 on Rethinking Gender had Prof Anupama Roy and Prof Rumki Basu, finally the day ended with Panel 4 on Populism vs Social Justice: Claims and Contradictions having Dr. Ajay Gudavarthy and Prof Narender Kumar as the panelists.

LECTURES AND TALKS

A panel discussion took place on 15 September, 2022 with professors Dr. Mahesh Panicker, Dr. Leslie Kumar and Mr. Aditya Nayak on the topic, “AI and the future of geopolitics” to discuss the immense positive possibilities and comforts to offer by A.I. as it can act as a greatequalizer by shifting the balance of power and has the potential to determine the world order in the emerging future. A talk with Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, senior advovate of the Supreme Court was organised on “India: Her Constitution’s Country” on 15th November, 2022. A workshop was conducted on 17th November, 2022 on ‘Why Indian Constitutional History Matters?’ by Vineeth Krishna, Sr. Research Associate at CLPR, Bangalore. An insightful session on “Unravelling the trajectory of Randhir Singh: Transcending the contours of knowledge” was conducted by Dr. Rina Kashyap on 24th November, 2022. Thereafter, a session on the topic “Who were our freedom fighters?” by the veteran journalist P. Sainath was organised in collaboration with the Department of History, LSR on 29th November, 2022. A talk on “India and the changes in Asia” was organised with Dr. Shivshankar Menon on 7th December, 2022. Menon served as national security advisor to the Indian Prime Minister from January 2010 to May 2014. He currently serves as chairman of the advisory board of the Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi. A Workshop was conducted on Research Methodology and Writing by Dr Shilpi Singh on 24th January, 2023. The department organised a session with Prof. Sanjay Kumar, a Professor and Co-Director of Lokniti, a Research Programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies on the topic, “Trends and patterns of Indian elections” on 16th March, 2023. This was followed by a speaker session on 21st March, 2023 with Professor Navroz K. Dubash, a distinguished Professor at the Centre for Policy Research on the topic, “Global Climate Politics.” Professor Navroz K Dubash’s session was an illuminating and engaging presentation that highlighted the urgency of the issue of climate change and the measures taken by various nations to prevent it. Lastly, a session with Dr. Rahul Verma was organised on 29th March, 2023 on the topic, “The Rise and Decline of The Congress Party in India.”

OTHER ASSOCIATION HIGHLIGHTS

An informal interaction with the Alumnae to understand and navigate the opportunities in the field of Political Science with Zobia Salam, Malya Sharma and Ambika Bhardwaj was organised on 29th September, 2022. The Department Orientation of the batch of 2025/26 was held on 2nd November, 2022 and the Freshers were conducted on 16th November, 2022 on the theme Pop Culture for the batch of 2025/26 to make the first years feel at ease. The first session of the Reading Circle by Books and Documentaries Review club exploring the text ‘The Cultural Politics of Emotions’ by Sara Ahmed was conducted on 9th November, 2022. A documentary screening, “The Engineering of Consent by Adam Curtis” was organised by Books and Documentaries Review club and Sabab on 1st December, 2021. The annual, prestigious Professor Randhir Singh Award Ceremony was organised for the the batch of 2023 on 18th April, 2023. Lastly, farewell for the batch of 2023 was organised on 26th April, 2023.

President – Archita Ray
Secretary – Tarini Sharma
Treasurer – Jona Joseph

Sabab- the academic journal of the department, released their applications for entries for the VIIth volume. The theme for this year was “Alternatives”- A critical analysis of our realities.” Reality as we see it is neither linear nor objective. Rather, it is shaped through social systems constituted by hegemonic ideas, which stem from power structures. In this context, it is imperative for us to constantly question our realities, all the while working towards alternatives. Instead of passively accepting reality for what it is, one must question its foundations in order to construct alternatives that are inclusive.

SABAB also organised it’s FIRST EVER Inter-college Paper Presentation Competition- MANTIQ, as a part of Polpourri’23 on 13^th April, 2023 where participants from various colleges presented their papers which they submitted on the theme–ALTERNATIVES. Through this paper presentation competition, aspiring researchers got the platform to put forth their findings and cement their interest in the field of academia.

Sabab 2022