The second half of the 19th century witnessed the growth of organized nationalist movement in India. It arose to meet the challenge of foreign domination. The direct and indirect consequences of British rule provided the material, moral and intellectual conditions for the development of nationalist movement in India. In this connection, Odisha (previously Orissa) as a part of the nation also witnessed the reflections of it. In Odisha, nationalism developed in two different ways. First, the merger of all Odia-speaking regions and secondly, in the later phase with the growth of national awakening, the people of Odisha involved themselves with the mainstream of the national movement along with the rest of the country. However, the aim of the paper is to highlight the nationalist movement in Odisha. In fact, the history of nationalist movement in Odisha, despite the local differences and issues, was an expression of forces that represent an integral part of the all-India freedom struggle against British Raj.

Explores the ways linguistic nationalism has enabled and deepened the reach of All-India nationalism. This title is also available as Open Access.

'At the Margins' shows how a movement of regional identity was forged in colonial Orissa in the early 20th century, how it related to the politics of Indian nationalism, and how the politics of postcolonial electoral democracy impacted this movement and the politics of Oriya identity. It breaks new ground by examining the themes of regionalism, language-based ethnicity, center-state relations, and the interrelationships between development and democracy across the notional divide of 1947.

This second edition of this widely used text covers the last two centuries of Indian history, concluding with an epilogue written from the perspective of the 1990s. It thematically and analytically discusses the emergence of India as one of the world's largest democracies and one of the most stable of the states to emerge from the experience of colonialism. The foundations of this rare phenomenon in either Asia or Africa are seen in India's society, the ideas and beliefs of her people, and the institutions of government and politics which have developed on the subcontinent, in a process of interaction between what was indigenous to India and the many external influences brought to bear on the country by economic, political, and ideological contact with the Western world. Modern scholarship has shown how diverse and complex was India's socio-economic and political development; and this theme runs through the study which eschews any simple understanding of India's politicaldevelopment as a clash between `imperialism' and 'nationalism', or the making of a new nation. The complexity reflects many of the continuing ambiguities and inequalities in the subcontinent's life and suggests why the structures of the state, and indeed the very nature of the Indian nation, are now being questioned, often with unprecedented public violence. India's dilemmas are not hers alone: they also raise economic, political, and social issues of profound significance throughout the contemporary world.

Contributed articles.

The book brings to the reader a set of political and social narratives woven around people’s resistance against big dams, mining and industrial projects, in short, displacement and dispossession in Odisha, India. This saga of dispossession abounds with stories and narratives of ordinary peasants, forest dwellers, fisher folk and landless wage laborers, which make the canvas of resistance history more complete. The book foregrounds these protagonists and the events that marked their lives; they live in the coastal plains as well as the hilly and forested areas of south and south-west Odisha. The authors have chronicled the development trajectory from the construction of the Hirakud Dam in the 1950s to the entry of corporations like POSCO and Vedanta in contemporary times. It thus covers extensive ground in interrogating the nature of industrialization being ushered into the state from post-independent India till today. The book depicts how and why people resist the development juggernaut in a state marked with endemic poverty. In unraveling this complex reality, the book conveys the world view of a vast section of people whose lives and livelihoods are tied up to land, forests, mountains, seas, rivers, lakes, ponds, trees, vines and bushes. These narratives fill a yawning gap in resistance literature in the context of Odisha. In doing so, they resonate with the current predicament of people in other mineral-rich states in Eastern India. The book is an endeavour to bring Odisha on the map of resistance politics and social movements in India and across the world.

This book is a comprehensive study of the nationalist movement and politics in Orissa during the 1920s. It examines the national movement in the late nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth century prior to the launch of the Civil Disobedience Movement by focusing on the regional peculiarities, especially the Oriya linguistic and cultural identity movement. Based on extensive research, it reflects upon the emergence of a class of new intelligentsia as an opinion maker of the society, its concern for societal needs, the divergent trends within it, the commonalities and differences among them and the organizational linkages between the local intelligentsia and the nationalists. Despite the contradictions, the author argues that the local and national aspirations were not antagonistic but complemented each other, as witnessed during the Calcutta Congress of 1928, establishing the Indian National Congress’ twin commitments on the question of regional identity and national liberation. National Movement and Politics in Orissa: 1920–29is a valuable contribution to the discourse on the nationalist movement and will be of great interest to students and scholars of modern Indian history as well as to the social science academia.

This book explores tribal land alienation problems in India and tribal agitation against land encroachment and alienation. It discusses India’s tribal land problem and explains how despite legislation to protect tribal lands, the problem has not been resolved since neither the letter nor the spirit of the law has been implemented. Due to continuous land encroachment and alienation by outsiders, the negligence of the revenue administration and the apathy of the central and state government, the situation concerning tribal land in the country have became precarious. In this context, the book highlights the process of land estrangement among the tribes and the related movements, focusing on the Narayanpatna land movement in the Koraput district of Odisha. It argues that land remains a central issue that is extremely important for tribes as it directly affects their life, livelihood, freedom and development, and that the cultural attachment of tribes and their views regarding the idea of ‘place’ (land) furnishes crucial perspectives in understanding the politics of collective resistance. It also discusses the politicization of group identity and material interest against the outside authority as the basis of the unrest among the tribes, and when the grudges of the people are hardened due to insensitivity and tyranny, the extent of tribal resistance escalates, leading to conflict between the state and its own people. Given its scope, this book is a valuable resource for students and research scholars, as well as for policymakers and anyone interested in Indian democracy and development in general, and tribal problems, issues and politics in particular.