This work looks back at the role Bihar played in the struggle for India's independence in the first decade after its separation from Bengal as a province in 1912, particularly through the archival material contained in the contemporary confidential government files preserved in the Bihar State Archives, Patna. It uncovers some significant facts and dimensions like rumor-mongering adopted as a mode of struggle by the revolutionaries against British rule during World War I and the establishment of parallel administration at different levels during the Non-Cooperation Movement by its local leaders in Bihar. While it scrutinizes the sorrowful tales of sufferings of the Indian people under British colonial rule, it also raises questions about how the hate politics and hate crimes under BJP's rule, particularly against Minorities and Dalits can be justified as less brutal than the brutalities committed under the tyrannical British rule? Or how the targetted use of draconian laws or law enforcing agencies against those who question its unconstitutional and repressive policies and communal or rather hate politics can be justified as just in independent India under democratic government, and the use of similar laws or law enforcing agencies as repressive and unjust under despotic British rule?

What makes Darjeeling tea, Pashmina shawl, Monsooned Malabar Arabica coffee and Chanderi saree special? Why is it that some goods derive their uniqueness through their inherent linkage to a place? In a pioneering study, this book explores this intriguing question in the Indian context across 199 registered goods with geographical indications, linked with their place of origin. It argues that the origin of these goods is attributed to a distinctive ecology that brews in a particular place. The attributes of their origin further endorse their unique geographical indications through legal channels. Drawing from a variety of disciplines including geography, history, sociology, handicrafts, paintings, and textiles, the author also examines the Geographical Indications Act of 1999, and shows how it has created a scope to identify, register and protect those goods, be they natural, agricultural, or manufactured. The work presents a new perspective on the indigenous diversities and offers an original understanding of the geography and history of India. Lucid and accessible, with several illustrative maps, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers in the social sciences, environmental studies, development studies, law, trade and history.