bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Bengal League of Social Service for Women, Katherine Mayo and Cornelia
Authors: Gooptu Suparna
Published: October 2012

While engaged in the struggle to establish herself in the legal profession at Calcutta High Court, Cornelia Sorabji did not forsake her connection and association with the purdahnashins. She helped with the drafting of the National Council of Women of India's (NCWI) constitution and rendered a significant service in implementing its programme. Cornelia's desire for social service remained unfulfilled in many ways. This was partly because of her association with the book Mother India by Katherine Mayo, which provoked deep nationalist resentment and was widely condemned as a ‘remarkably wicked book slandering the whole Indian people...’. Cornelia shared many of Mayo's perceptions on issues relating to women, children, and animals in India. Cornelia's Bengal League of Social Service for Women became a victim of the nationalist tirade against her. The tension between Cornelia's political vision and that of the nationalists in twentieth-century India, and the process of her political marginalization, ultimately deprived her of the space she had striven so hard to create by working amongst the purdahnashins.
The Political Self
Authors: Gooptu Suparna
Published: October 2012

Cornelia Sorabji's political thinking had an important bearing on her life and work. The most distinguishing aspect of her political self was her implicit faith in the British Empire. In defending the traditional order in India, Cornelia was influenced by another strand in the British political thinking of the mid-Victorian era, which came to represent the conservative face of liberalism. The critic of Indian nationalist politics is explored. In addition, it explains the propagandist of the Empire and Hindu orthodoxy. Generally speaking, she remained an isolated figure in India's contemporary political scenario.
A Moral Reckoning
Authors: Hasan Mushirul
Published: October 2012

While many books have been written about India's Muslim intellectuals such as Muhammad Husain Azad (1830-1910), Muhammad Zakaullah (1832–1910), Nazir Ahmad (1836–1912), Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817–1898), Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797–1869), and Khwaja Altaf Husain Hali (1837–1914), little is known about their lives, theories, and activities or their attitudes and behaviour towards one another, their own reappraisal of culture and identity, their responses to the onset of British rule, and their experience of living through the 1857 Rebellion. This book analyses the different views permeating some sections of Muslim intellectuals in India during the second half of the nineteenth century. While some aspects of doctrinal Islam played a part in shaping these intellectuals' conceptual world, the Shariat or Islamic law did not inform their world-view. This book contains chapters on India in transition, the secular and the sacred, religion, religious pluralism, Nazir Ahmad's interpretation of Islam and modernism, and Muhammad Zakaullah's views on history, identity, and faith.
Introduction Delhi in Transition
Authors: Hasan Mushirul
Published: October 2012

One branch of Islamic literature often tackles didactic morality, referring especially to adab, manners, and ‘professional’ etiquette. This chapter describes the Sharif culture of nineteenth century Delhi. The author examines the writings of intellectuals such as Ibn Qutayba (AD 838–89), the Kufa-born thinker of Persian descent, who addressed matters of ‘righteousness’ and ‘clear understanding’ among his many other concerns. He also examines the fragments of a range of writings on Islam in India by intellectuals such as Nazir Ahmad's Al-Huquq wa al-Faraiz (1906) who have explore such topics as adab and akhlaq (good manners). Ilm or the theories and practice of Education are also described. The author also examines the work of Muhammad Zakaullah who wrote books in response to an official resolution that stressed prescribing moral treatises in government schools. The author concludes by charting the transition of Delhi through the works of poets/writers such as Sayyid Ahmad, Mir Taki mir, Mirza Ghalib and Bahadur Shah Zafar.
The Secular and the Sacred
Authors: Hasan Mushirul
Published: October 2012

Sayyid Ahmad argued that the tension between Islamic faith and modern values was a historical accident rather than an inherent feature of Islam. The decline of the Mughal Empire encouraged Islamic intellectual culture in numerous local centres. The Ulama tried to strengthen the bonds of unity among the believers and consolidate their loyalty to an Islamic state. This chapter explores the links between India's local elite and the colonial state that made the administration work and sections of Muslim society respond to political institutions and administrative changes. These issues are central to the contemporary debates about what constitutes the ‘Muslim response’ to the onset of colonialism. In this context, the chapter analyses the diverse views about Britain's rule and their impact on Muslim intellectuals. It also looks at India's cultural and intellectual efflorescence and the expansion of intellectual horizons that gave rise to new ideas, concepts, and ways of thinking.
Religions on the Edge
Authors: Hasan Mushirul
Published: October 2012

This chapter explores the response of Muslim intellectuals, preachers, and thinkers to Christian missionary activity during colonial role. The author shows how Sayyid Ahmad's pamphlets asked for an exchange of religious views between rulers and ruled, and how anti-missionary tracts became a thriving genre in Urdu writing. The author describes the life and views of C.F. Andrews and his desire to bring an ‘expanded humanism’ in Islam's attitude towards Christianity. The author believes that, since its advent, Muslims have been conscious of the religious diversity of the human race and considered it a problem. However, intellectuals like Sayyid Ahmad wanted more understanding between Islam and Christianity. The author describes how religious reconciliation came to dominate the thinking of others like Nazir Ahmad, Muhammad Zakaullah, Abdul Halim Sharar and Maulana Azad. It discusses how inter-faith dialogue and conflict resolution had the potential of being implemented at Dilli Kalij, the home of religious and cultural syncretism as well as the teaching of science.
Interpreting Islam and Modernism Nazir Ahmad
Authors: Hasan Mushirul
Published: October 2012

Nazir Ahmad was not only a novelist but also a versatile scholar, a gracious teacher, and a social reformer. He and Sayyid Ahmad built a reputation as defenders of the same ideal: the harmony of faith and reason. Nazir Ahmad's novels mirror the Indian society. He saw women being cloistered in the private realm of the family, and knew that the reach of Islam's ideals of equality and gender justice was severely constrained by the institution of marriage that empowered men and disempowered women. Nazir Ahmad took part in debates that offer a glimpse into north India's social, political, and intellectual history. Citing the Koran and the numerous Hadis, he argued that the theoretical equality of all Muslims should be put into practice. This chapter examines Nazir Ahmad's views on Islam and modernism as well as purdah, polygamy, and Muslim women's rights, as well as his affirmative uses of rhetoric.
Building Legitimacy
Authors: Hassan M. Sajjad
Published: October 2012

This book deals with the instability and violence in Northeast India, and discusses the attempts made by states and societies in the region to respond to them. It also investigates why attaining political order and peace in Northeast India has been a difficult task. Section I of this book examines the historical process of state-making in Manipur and Mizoram. Section II evaluates mobilization of identity in Manipur, followed by a similar exploration in the case of Mizoram. Section III discusses state capability by systematically comparing how agencies of the state in Manipur and Mizoram perform their basic functions. Lastly, it presents some lessons from the author's research in terms of the overall argument, as well as the manner in which the research findings open out to larger issues around state-making, state capability, and collective identity construction and mobilization, and how they can help to better inform policy responses to the crisis in the Northeast.
Contested State Power in Manipur
Authors: Hassan M. Sajjad
Published: October 2012

This chapter reviews the process of state formation in pre-colonial and colonial Manipur. It also examines the social conflicts that took place in the state in the run-up to Independence, the political contestations between groups within the state, and those between state and central leaders after Independence, and the subsequent merger of the state with the Indian Union. It reveals that exclusivist political organization and the poor institutionalization of political parties in both the Valley and the Hills have resulted in severe instability in Manipur and is caused by the poor ability of political institutions to manage conflicts is worsened by the rising aspirations among all sections of the population. The chapter finally asserts that Manipur has neither had a uniting political party, nor an ideology powerful enough to bring different sections of the population together, nor a leader who could by his/her authority inspire the different sections to a pan-Manipuri project.
Cohesive State in Mizoram
Authors: Hassan M. Sajjad
Published: October 2012

This chapter explores the history of state crystallization in the erstwhile Lushai Hills. It also determines the forces behind Mizo National Front's (MNF) armed rebellion and what the second round of struggles over authority was about. Next, it evaluates how the grounding of state power in society and the role of key political organizations in the state have led to greater stability and legitimacy of the political processes in Mizoram. Some empirical insights from the Mizoram research material on state formation are presented. The chapter states that Christian missionaries' education and proselytizing work in the Lushai Hills had profound consequences. The Mizo Union's (MU) role in the modernization of Mizoram emerged as a democratic political force. It discusses that better institutional strengths and a better basis of legitimacy have helped the MNF deliver on its electoral promises. The MNF revolt could be seen as the attempt by the excluded sections to claim a share of state power.
Resilience of the Mizo State
Authors: Hassan M. Sajjad
Published: October 2012

This chapter provides a discussion on the resiliency of the Mizo state. Changes in the legal system in Mizoram have helped strengthen the authority of state institutions. Mizo law enforcement agencies often receive useful help from social organizations in resolving crimes and in maintaining order. State agencies in Mizoram appear to have maintained their monopoly over the rule system, thus retaining their legitimacy in society. Mizoram continues to show leadership in education administration. A rebel organization that had been violently challenging the authority of the state was co-opted into the state structure. Strong organizational capacity of the Mizo National Front (MNF) has helped make the Mizo peace accord one of the most successful in the country. The nature of the challenge to state authority in Mizoram is addressed in this chapter. The ruling coalition in Mizoram is evidently very secure in its stability.
3 The Vedic World View
Authors: Singh Balmiki Prasad
Published: October 2012

The longing for conflict-free and harmonious living is both an ancient and a continuing human aspiration. Multiplicity of tribes and beliefs has been a special feature of the Indian society since early times. The earliest known Indian civilization, the Indus Valley Civilization, was already quite advanced by about 2500 BC. It decayed in the middle of the second millennium BC, perhaps because of invasion by people who described themselves as Aryans. The most ancient works of the Vedic period are the four Vedas — Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. Each Veda contains four sections consisting of Samhita or collection of hymns, prayers, benedictions, sacrificial formulae and litanies; Brahmanas or prose treatises discussing the significance of sacrificial rites and ceremonies; Aranyakas or forest texts, which are partly included in the Brahmanas and partly considered as independent; and Upanishads.
10 Education for Harmony
Authors: Singh Balmiki Prasad
Published: October 2012

Education enables human beings to develop their capacities so that they can lead fulfilling and dignified lives. From a sociological perspective, schools can help foster a sense of community. However, in an age where even the educated youth are joining suicide squads and indulging in senseless violence, the moot question is whether the education system can be made sensitive to this challenge. This chapter recommends that action is needed in several areas. This includes devising a curriculum that encourages respect for diversity and multiculturalism; addressing problems of shortages of good teachers; providing infrastructure for schools; and opportunities for lifelong learning. The education system can make an enduring contribution to the building of tolerance and mutual respect that can help turn diversity from being a problem to becoming an asset for harmonious living.
11 International Political Architecture the United Nations
Authors: Singh Balmiki Prasad
Published: October 2012

The United Nations (UN) was formed on 24 October 1945. In the preceding six years, the world had witnessed several million deaths and enormous suffering caused by the use of force aimed at imperialist conquests. Against this backdrop, the victorious Allies felt the need for an international organization that not only brought the nations together but also made sure that the structure of the global political system would leave no loopholes for ambitious leaders to order their armed forces to cross borders and wage devastating wars. This chapter examines the achievements and the shortcomings of the UN, the Bretton Woods Institutions, the Iraq invasion, and the bahudhā philosophy. The core philosophy of the UN reflects a pluralistic vision of the world where the aspirations of every state can be accommodated. This is in conformity with the bahudhā philosophy that emphasizes inclusiveness of all people, all societies, and all natural objects.
Inside India
Authors: Edib Halidé
Published: October 2012

First published in 1937, this book presents the author's personal account of India. The author, a Turkish writer and novelist, visited the region in 1935 and gained insights into the history and sociology of the country. Based on her experiences, Halide Edib documents significant contemporary events which shaped the history of India at the time, including the Hindu-Muslim separatism and the freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. Her work is by far the most eloquent account of Indian society and politics in the 1930s. Here she details her travel to several regions such as Aligarh, Lahore, Calcutta, Peshawar, Lucknow, Bombay, and Hyderabad, as well as her meetings with many people from different walks of life. She takes a look at Indian nationalism, identifies its strengths and weaknesses, describes its encounters with colonialism, and analyses the rising tide of Muslim nationalism. With scholarly finesse, she reveals the Indian personality of Muslims in India and shows a favourable disposition towards the perspective of the Congress Muslims.
Introductory
Authors: Edib Halidé
Published: October 2012

In this chapter, the author recalls her first encounter with India and the time she spent with Dr M.A. Ansari (1880–1936) in Daryaganj, Delhi. She met Indians for the first time in 1909, when she was on a ship going from Port Said to London. In 1912, she saw Indians at closer range in the wake of the Balkan Wars, during which the Indian Red Crescent were in the forefront of Istanbul Society. Six years later, the Indian regiments of the occupying forces marched on the streets of Istanbul. From 1919 onwards, India was trying to help Turkey by launching the Khilafat movement. Above these blurred scenes of disorder and misery, the figure of Mahatma Gandhi gradually rose.
Concerning Sarojini Naidu and other Indian Women
Authors: Edib Halidé
Published: October 2012

In this chapter, the author shares her impression of the other Indian women living at the Salam House of Dr M.A. Ansari. One of the women guests was Sarojini Naidu, the foremost Indian woman of the present day. She was a veteran patriot and revolutionary, imprisoned numerous times. The author considered her the best known Eastern woman in politics, along with Mrs Sun-Yat-Sen. A poet and an outstanding orator, in 1935, Naidu was a member of the Shadow Cabinet in India. The other women at Salam House were mostly social workers, teachers, and club workers. Many of them were interested in feminism, others did not think of India in terms of gender.
Hyderabad
Authors: Edib Halidé
Published: October 2012

On her way to Hyderabad, the author again thought of Sarojini Naidu because it is her native state. She stayed at the house of Sir Akbar Hyderi, whom she met at Delhi and who was most interested in Osmania University. The mistress of the house was Lady Amina, a member of the Tyebji family. Begam Sherif Ali, a cousin of Lady Amina, was an international figure in the feminist world. Three other women whom the author met in Lady Amina's house were Princess Durru Shehwar and the two daughters of Sarojini Naidu. In Hyderabad, the author also saw Kamala Devi.
Bombay
Authors: Edib Halidé
Published: October 2012

During her visit to Bombay, the author stayed at the house of the Chief Justice, Faiz Tyebji. In Bombay she met many women at various events, including a lecture at the Princess Victoria Mary Gymkhana Hall and a meeting of all the clubs in the Unity Club hall. During the Unity Club meeting, a woman sang Bande Mataram (Hail, Mother). The author was then treated to entertainment when a famous Hindu cinema star danced for her. Afterwards, she went to see the Hindu Social Service Centre in Bombay, the best known and best organized in India. She also had memorable encounters with several men in Bombay: at the garden party on a grand scale; the lecture in a public hall, presided over by the Mayor; and the Intercommunal Dinner on the roof of the same public building. Bombay was her last itinerary in India.
Mahatma Gandhi at Home
Authors: Edib Halidé
Published: October 2012

Based on how she witnessed the manner in which Mahatma Gandhi lived and carried on his activities, the Halide Edib presents a picture of his life, as she saw it in 1935. The day at Gandhi's house in Warda begins with chants of a whole chapter of Hindu scriptures in Sanscrit, a daily ritual for self-purification. At eight o'clock in the morning, a group of men with shovels and spades on their shoulders go out to begin a sanitation or scavenging campaign in Wardha villages. At ten o'clock, everyone has their first meal. About two miles away are the institutions connected with Mahatma Gandhi's activities, including the Ashram, one for women and one for the boys. All of these are financed by Jamnalal Bajaj, the adopted son of an old Hindu millionaire. At five o'clock in the afternoon is the second and the last meal.
The Eleven Vows of Mahatma Gandhi
Authors: Edib Halidé
Published: October 2012

This chapter examines Mahatma Gandhi's eleven vows, which contain the essence of his teaching in its relation to India and represent a trend in the writings of the world-intelligentsia, as well as the secret longings of a large number of inarticulate human beings. Gandhi's vows have something to do with ahimsa or non-violence; freedom from untouchability; body-labour; celibacy; non-stealing and non-possession; equal respect for all religions; and Satyagraha. From the point of view of the Hindus, the untouchability campaign led by Gandhi has introduced a new conception-Hinduism without a social hierarchy.
Jawaharlal Nehru, The Socialist Leader
Authors: Edib Halidé
Published: October 2012

In India, socialism is a tendency even among the communalists of the most orthodox type. Jawaharlal Nehru differs from them in the sense that the socialism he has in mind is an exportation, and he unifies all problems in India as being common to all Indians. Nehru naturally comes into conflict mostly with Hindu communalists, who are the most organized in India. He considers his nationalism, which exists side by side with his socialism, merely as an expediency to get rid of foreign rule. He aims to change India from within by arguing that communalism and capitalism must go and calling for a complete nationalization. Whereas Mahatma Gandhi is the continuation of the nineteenth-century Hindu reform movements, and played a key role in resurrecting more humane and spiritual principles of old Hinduism applied to life, Jawaharlal Nehru, at least in ideology, completes the break with the Hindu past.
Single Nationhood and Abdul-Gaffar Khan
Authors: Edib Halidé
Published: October 2012

Dr M.A. Ansari was a known advocate of single nationhood for India, but he was by no means the only representative of this ideal among the Muslims. The idea of a single nationhood for India had spread to the Frontier Provinces, with Abdul-Gaffar Khan leading the campaign. His movement, erroneously called the ‘Red Shirts’, was also a politico-religious one. Compared with other movements, the Red Shirts aimed at independence and unity of all India and advocated non-violence. One personality that influenced Abdul-Gaffar Khan's career was his father, Bahram Khan. Abdul-Gaffar Khan later joined the Khilafat movement. While he was in Punjab jail, he formed friendships with Hindus and Sikhs and studied the Hindu scriptures, especially the Gita, and the Granth Saheb. Another trend in Muslim India during the time of Abdul-Gaffar Khan was the so-called Muslim communalism.
One Indian Nation or Two Indian Nations?
Authors: Edib Halidé
Published: October 2012

From Mahatma Gandhi to Jawaharlal Nehru, a number of leading figures under the banners of different ‘isms’ advocate one nation for India while the communalists call for two nations. The events of the last few months indicate a slight swing towards a single-nation policy. This swing for unity or cooperation between the Hindus and the Muslims is evident in the following instances: the orientation of the Muslim League and a more positive sign of Hindu-Muslim unity. The idea in favour of two nations is called the Pakistan National Movement, which argues that India is not a single country but a bi-national subcontinent comprised of Pakistan, the home of the Muslims, and Hindustan, the home of the Hindus.
And the British?
Authors: Edib Halidé
Published: October 2012

The British represent the third element in the Indian melting-pot and have a greater say in India's destiny than the Muslims. What did England get in the way of a new spiritual outlook by their contact with India's old civilizations? The British colonised India for purposes of economic expansion and have since shown more ability to use Hindu-Muslim differences to their advantage than the Muslims and Hindus themselves. However, the British do not rely solely on ‘divide and rule’. They have used every element which could be an asset, and those elements in their favour have profited from the British rule. These elements include the native rulers, who come first, followed by the upper middle-class and the big landowners. The last are vaguely called the liberals.
India's Culture
Authors: Singh Balmiki Prasad
Published: October 2012

This book takes us on a fascinating journey of exploring India through analyses of broader themes and events and some personal accounts. It investigates India's diversified cultural base — language and literature; religion and spirituality; visual and performing arts; philosophy, science, and economics; and India's role in Asia. The volume also discusses the relationship between the state and market, the debates regarding cultural preservation, harmonious aspects of Indian culture, the role of administration and the government agencies. This book integrates the two ideas — the uniqueness of India with a developed culture but a developing economy and the recent trend of considering culture as a factor in determining the status of a nation in the world after market and military strength. Providing a wide-ranging view of the various dimensions of culture, it explores the interconnections of culture with the social and political life in India.
India's Culture: Some Facts, Some Perspectives
Authors: Singh Balmiki Prasad
Published: October 2012

This chapter mentions the attainments of Indians prior to the beginning of the Christian era and how these influenced the succeeding generations of Indians. The cultural attainments of the people of India can be viewed in the context of language and literature; religion and spirituality; visual arts; performing arts; philosophy, science, and economics. Vedic literature was composed in Sanskrit and handed down orally. The Hindu religious philosophy is elaborated in a large number of texts and legends among which the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata with its Bhagavad Gita, are the most significant. Besides Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism have also been discussed. The performing arts includes music, theatre, and dance. By the beginning of the Christian era, the civilization of India had begun to spread into both the mainland and the islands of South East Asia. Two other integral aspects of India's culture and way of life, authority and respect, are also examined.
The New Millennium: Harmony among or Clash of Civilizations
Authors: Singh Balmiki Prasad
Published: October 2012

This chapter describes the value system in the third millennium in a global perspective, and whether Indians would continue to retain their distinctive character in an age in which modern methods of communication and media would knit the world even closer. There is a growth of three powerful lights, which if properly nurtured, could constitute the coming century an era of peace and harmony in the world. These three lights are those of democracy, ecology, and culture. As forces of democracy, ecology and culture in different parts of the world interact and support each other, many effects of value and substance would result and would enrich the world community. It then addresses the role that India might play in the world of tomorrow where cultural attainments and civilizational progress serve as determining factors. Gautama Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi stand out as world figures in the long history of Indian culture.
Language and the Literary Sphere
Authors: Orsini Francesca
Published: October 2012

From the second half of the nineteenth century to 1920, the linguistic economy of north India underwent a dramatic transformation, which was accompanied by significant changes in literary writing in Hindi language. The emergence of new discourses, genres, tastes, and literary figures could be made possible only through new institutional contexts. This chapter examines such changes and provides a historical background to the emergence of a community consciousness around language. Using the concept of ‘literary samskāra’ (acquired taste), it explains the stratification of tastes in the light of the different modes of literary apprenticeship and transmission. Besides, it explores the primary arenas in which Hindi literature came to be produced, transmitted, and consumed — the journals and the education system — as well as its publishing. Furthermore, the chapter discusses poetry-meetings and how they adapted to the changes in the Hindi literary system.
The Uses of History
Authors: Orsini Francesca
Published: October 2012

By the early twentieth century, the framework and features of the nationalist discourse on history had been worked out in Hindi, with orientalist historiography playing a major role. The result was a history of India that evolved into a highly successful rhetoric for political mobilization and contributed to the formation of modern ‘Indian’ identity that was essentially the same as modern ‘Hindu’ identity. Literature and education played a crucial role in disseminating such historical discourse. Since history was meant to inspire a collective sense of pride (or shame), biographies, poems, and ‘historical stories’ were even more effective than actual historical studies. Some critical voices among women and lower castes sometimes used the dominant discourse of Indian history against the grain.
The Hindi Political Sphere
Authors: Orsini Francesca
Published: October 2012

In 1920, India witnessed the emergence of a new phase in the nationalist movement in which mass politics, counter symbols, popular participants, indigenous languages, and counter authority played an unprecedented role. This chapter examines the relationship between the Hindi literary sphere and the political sphere. Furthermore, it considers several angles, including ‘institutional’ spaces and activities, both in the context of constitutional domains and non-constitutional domains. Besides, it discusses who had access to political institutions and analyses the profiles of several Hindi political leaders in terms of political career, connections, cultural makeup, and social background. Moreover, the chapter looks at what happened when peasants turned from objects of nationalist discourse into subjects of political activity, a question that is relevant to the issue of openness and exclusion in the Hindi public sphere.
Getting up to Speed after 1991
Authors: Balakrishnan Pulapre
Published: October 2012

This chapter examines the economic growth in India after 1991. It begins with a brief statement on the nature of the economic reforms initiated in that year and after. It then sifts through the arguments of political scientists regarding the politics of these reforms. It argues that the guiding principle of the reforms of 1991 was to integrate the Indian economy with the rest of the world. The decisiveness of the move in this direction sets it apart from any of the other liberalization episodes starting from the mid-1960s. As far as its impact on growth is concerned, the success of this strategy depends upon the validity of its premise that growth in India is constrained by lack of interaction with the rest of the world, largely via trade and capital and technology transfer. The chapter evaluates evidence for an acceleration of growth after 1991 based on the econometric investigation in this study. It also studies the constraints on accelerating agricultural growth and the general state of educational preparedness for faster overall.
The Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India
Authors: Pandey Gyanendra
Published: October 2012

This book charts the history of the term communalism and the politics and attitudes it seeks to encapsulate. While attending closely to the social, economic, and political issues underlying Hindu and Muslim struggles, it investigates and meanings different participants in the sectarian politics of the period attached to these politics. It is a part of a larger exercise aimed at understanding the construction of Indian society and politics in recent times by challenging the conventional analysis of communalism and providing alternative theoretical cues to grasp its nature and dynamics. The book also explores how nationalism and communalism are constructed out of shared as well as contested experiences and out of common and mutually contradictory visions and struggles. It is a milestone in contemporary debates on nationalist policies and modern political communities. Given the worldwide resurgence of religious nationalism and communalism, this new edition reopens many of the questions signalled in the first edition and carries the discussion forward through an analysis of the uses of the term communalism in a postcolonial world, and seeks to historicize the debate on political violence and the targeting of the minorities in recent times.
The Colonial Construction of the Indian Past
Authors: Pandey Gyanendra
Published: October 2012

This chapter addresses the following question: How did colonialist observers ‘read’ the history of Hindu–Muslim strife that they dug up in the course of their attempts to come to grips with Indian society? It draws on the evidence relating to the ‘grave’ Banaras riots of 1809, which figure prominently in colonial diagnoses of the social and political condition of India in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It demonstrates that a methodical reordering of Indian history was in process as the colonial regime set out to systematize its knowledge and consolidate its power. The most striking feature of the colonial writings under discussion and also perhaps the least investigated — in part because it has passed without much change into nationalist writings and a good deal of recent historiography — is the reduction of Indian history to the history of the state.
The Bigoted Julaha
Authors: Pandey Gyanendra
Published: October 2012

This chapter examines the origins of one particular colonial caste-stereotype — the ‘ bigoted Julaha’ — which was frequently used in the analysis of sectarian strife in the Bhojpuri region. This stereotype decimated the weavers' history. It erased the differences in the self image and historical circumstances of different groups of Muslim weavers in north India. The economic, social and political dislocation of the colonial period, combined with other factors, and the renewed struggle for power and prestige led to the julaha acts of resistance and outbreaks of fighting over the symbols of Hinduism and Islam. The colonial stereotype passed into sociological records and into the hands of the modern historian.
Nationalism versus Communalism
Authors: Pandey Gyanendra
Published: October 2012

This chapter shows how from the 1920s, there arose a new contest between two different conceptions of nationalism — one that recognized the givenness of ‘pre-existing’ communities which were to form the basis of the new India, and another that challenged this view of history, past and present. Alongside these there developed yet another kind of nationalism/communalism that sought to establish a hierarchy of cultures among the cultures of India, and to assign to one or another a primary place in the future of the society. The contest between alternative views of nationalism and alternative readings of history was not settled in the 1920s or 1930s or 1940s, and it has not been settled conclusively to this day.
Inference of temporally varying Bayesian Networks
Authors: Thorne Thomas , Stumpf Michael P. H.
Published: October 2012

Motivation: When analysing gene expression time series data, an often overlooked but crucial aspect of the model is that the regulatory network structure may change over time. Although some approaches have addressed this problem previously in the literature, many are not well suited to the sequential nature of the data.

Results: Here, we present a method that allows us to infer regulatory network structures that may vary between time points, using a set of hidden states that describe the network structure at a given time point. To model the distribution of the hidden states, we have applied the Hierarchical Dirichlet Process Hidden Markov Model, a non-parametric extension of the traditional Hidden Markov Model, which does not require us to fix the number of hidden states in advance. We apply our method to existing microarray expression data as well as demonstrating is efficacy on simulated test data.

Contact:  thomas.thorne@imperial.ac.uk
Interactive exploration of RNA22 microRNA target predictions
Authors: Loher Phillipe , Rigoutsos Isidore
Published: October 2012

Summary: MicroRNA (miRNA) target prediction is an important problem. Given an miRNA sequence the task is to determine the identity of the messenger RNAs targeted by it, the locations within them where the interactions happen and the specifics of the formed heteroduplexes. Here, we describe a web-based application, RNA22-GUI, which we have designed and implemented for the interactive exploration and in-context visualization of predictions by RNA22, one of the popular miRNA target prediction algorithms. Central to our design has been the requirement to provide informative and comprehensive visualization that is integrated with interactive search capabilities and permits one to selectively isolate and focus on relevant information that is distilled on-the-fly from a large repository of pre-compiled predictions. RNA22-GUI is currently available for Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans.

Availability:  http://cm.jefferson.edu/rna22v1.0/.

Contact:  Isidore.Rigoutsos@jefferson.edu

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
NARROMI: a noise and redundancy reduction technique improves accuracy of gene regulatory network inference
Authors: Zhang Xiujun , Liu Keqin , Liu Zhi-Ping , Duval Béatrice , Richer Jean-Michel , Zhao Xing-Ming , Hao Jin-Kao , Chen Luonan
Published: October 2012

Motivation: Reconstruction of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) is of utmost interest to biologists and is vital for understanding the complex regulatory mechanisms within the cell. Despite various methods developed for reconstruction of GRNs from gene expression profiles, they are notorious for high false positive rate owing to the noise inherited in the data, especially for the dataset with a large number of genes but a small number of samples.

Results: In this work, we present a novel method, namely NARROMI, to improve the accuracy of GRN inference by combining ordinary differential equation-based recursive optimization (RO) and information theory-based mutual information (MI). In the proposed algorithm, the noisy regulations with low pairwise correlations are first removed by using MI, and the redundant regulations from indirect regulators are further excluded by RO to improve the accuracy of inferred GRNs. In particular, the RO step can help to determine regulatory directions without prior knowledge of regulators. The results on benchmark datasets from Dialogue for Reverse Engineering Assessments and Methods challenge and experimentally determined GRN of Escherichia coli show that NARROMI significantly outperforms other popular methods in terms of false positive rates and accuracy.

Availability: All the source data and code are available at: http://csb.shu.edu.cn/narromi.htm.

Contact:  lnchen@sibs.ac.cn, hao@info.univ-angers.fr and zhaoxingming@gmail.com.

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
A hybrid continuum–discrete modelling approach to predict and control angiogenesis: analysis of combinatorial growth factor and matrix effects on vessel-sprouting morphology
Authors: Das Anusuya , Lauffenburger Douglas , Asada Harry , Kamm Roger D.
Published: October 2012

Angiogenesis is crucial during many physiological processes and is influenced by various biochemical and biomechanical factors. Models have proved useful in understanding the mechanisms of angiogenesis and also the characteristics of the capillaries formed as part of the process. We have developed a three-dimensional hybrid, agent–field model where individual cells are modelled as sprout-forming agents in a matrix field. Cell independence, cell–cell communication and stochastic cell response are integral parts of the model. The model simulations incorporate probabilities of an individual cell to transition into one of four stages—quiescence, proliferation, migration and apoptosis. We demonstrate that several features, such as continuous sprouts, cell clustering and branching, that are observed in microfluidic experiments conducted under controlled conditions using few angiogenic factors can be reproduced by this model. We also identify the transition probabilities that result in specific sprout characteristics such as long continuous sprouts and specific branching patterns. Thus, this model can be used to cluster sprout morphology as a function of various influencing factors.
Fetal and Neonatal Levels of Omega-3: Effects on Neurodevelopment, Nutrition, and Growth
Authors: Bernardi Juliana Rombaldi , Escobar Renata de Souza , Ferreira Charles Francisco , Silveira Patrícia Pelufo
Published: October 2012

Nutrition in pregnancy, during lactation, childhood, and later stages has a fundamental influence on overall development. There is a growing research interest on the role of key dietary nutrients in fetal health. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFAs) play an important role in brain development and function. Evidence from animal models of dietary n-3 LCPUFAs deficiency suggests that these fatty acids promote early brain development and regulate behavioral and neurochemical aspects related to mood disorders (stress responses, depression, and aggression and growth, memory, and cognitive functions). Preclinical and clinical studies suggest the role of n-3 LCPUFAs on neurodevelopment and growth. n-3 LCPUFAs may be an effective adjunctive factor for neural development, growth, and cognitive development, but further large-scale, well-controlled trials and preclinical studies are needed to examine its clinical mechanisms and possible benefits. The present paper discusses the use of n-3 LCPUFAs during different developmental stages and the investigation of different sources of consumption. The paper summarizes the role of n-3 LCPUFAs levels during critical periods and their effects on the children’s neurodevelopment, nutrition, and growth.
Effect of Composting on Dissolved Organic Matter in Animal Manure and Its Binding with Cu
Authors: Zhang Fengsong , Li Yanxia , Xiong Xiong , Yang Ming , Li Wei
Published: October 2012

The agricultural application of raw animal manure introduces large amounts of dissolved organic matter (DOM) into soil and would increase transport of heavy metals such as Cu which are widely present in animal manure. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the evolution of DOM from pig and cattle manures during composting through excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy and the binding ability of DOM toward copper (Cu) ions with the aid of fluorescence quenching titration. The excitation-emission matrix spectra indicated that tyrosine-like, tryptophan-like, and soluble microbial byproduct-like fluorescence decreased significantly, while humic-like and fulvic-like fluorescence increased and became the main peaks in composted manure DOM. Fluorescence quenching titration showed that the complexing capacities of pig and cattle manure DOM decreased after composting. Correlation analysis confirmed that complexing capacity of DOM positively and significantly correlates with tyrosine-like and soluble microbial byproduct-like materials which mostly degraded after composting. These results would suggest that the ability of manure DOM to complex with Cu is inhibited as a result of reduced protein-like materials after composting.
Ethylene Inhibitors Enhance Shoot Organogenesis of Gloxinia (Sinningia speciosa)
Authors: Chae Soo Cheon , Kim Haeng Hoon , Park Sang Un
Published: October 2012

Shoot organogenesis and plant regeneration inSinningia speciosawere improved using ethylene inhibitors. The leaf explants were cultured on initial shoot regeneration media (MS media with BAP at 2 mg/L + NAA at 0.1 mg/L) supplemented with different concentrations of aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG), cobalt chloride (CoCl2), and silver thiosulphate (STS). The addition of AVG, CoCl2, and STS significantly improved the regeneration frequency giving higher shoots per explant and longer shoot length. The highest shoot growth was found when STS at 5 mg/L was incorporated with generation medium, performing highest regeneration frequency with highest number of shoots. This treatment (STS at 5 mg/L) produced 40% more shoots per explant compared to control followed by STS at 10 mg/L with increasing 37% more shoots compared to control. In the cases of AVG and CoCl2the highest shoot number per explant was found at 1 mg/L. Treated with AVG and CoCl2at 1 mg/L increased shoot number by 16 and 12%, respectively, compared to control. Ethylene inhibitors could be used as a possible micropropagation and plant transformation protocol inS. speciosafor plant regenerations.
MSK1 regulates environmental enrichment-induced hippocampal plasticity and cognitive enhancement
Authors: Karelina Kate , Hansen Katelin F. , Choi Yun-Sik , DeVries A. Courtney , Arthur J. Simon C. , Obrietan Karl
Published: October 2012

Environmental enrichment (EE) has marked beneficial effects on cognitive capacity. Given the possibility that this form of neuronal plasticity could function via the actuation of the same cellular signaling pathways that underlie learning/memory formation, we examined whether the MAPK cascade effector, mitogen/stress-activated kinase 1 (MSK1), could play a role in this process. MSK1 functions as a key signaling intermediate that couples changes in neuronal activity into inducible gene expression, neuronal plasticity, and learning/memory. Here, we show that MSK1 is expressed in excitatory cell layers of the hippocampus, progenitor cells of the subgranular zone (SGZ), and adult-born immature neurons. MSK1−/− mice exhibit reduced spinogenesis and decreased dendritic branching complexity in hippocampal neurons, compared with WT mice. Further, in MSK1−/− mice, progenitor cell proliferation within the SGZ was significantly reduced and, correspondingly, the number of immature neurons within the dentate gyrus was significantly reduced. Consistent with prior work, MSK1−/− mice displayed deficits in both spatial and recognition memory tasks. Strikingly, cognitive enhancement resulting from a 40-d period of EE was markedly reduced in MSK1−/− animals. MSK1−/− mice exhibited reduced levels of EE-induced spinogenesis and SGZ progenitor proliferation. Taken together, these data reveal that MSK1 serves as a critical regulator of hippocampal physiology and function and that MSK1 serves as a key conduit by which enriching stimuli augment cellular plasticity and cognition.
Reinstatement in honeybees is context-dependent
Authors: Plath Jenny Aino , Felsenberg Johannes , Eisenhardt Dorothea
Published: October 2012

During extinction animals experience that the previously learned association between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) no longer holds true. Accordingly, the conditioned response (CR) to the CS decreases. This decrease of the CR can be reversed by presentation of the US alone following extinction, a phenomenon termed reinstatement. Reinstatement and two additional phenomena, spontaneous recovery and renewal, indicate that the original CS–US association is not lost through extinction but can be reactivated through different processes. In honeybees (Apis mellifera), spontaneous recovery, i.e., the time-dependent return of the CR, has been demonstrated, suggesting that also in these insects the original CS–US association is not lost during extinction. To support this notion, we ask whether honeybees show reinstatement after extinction. In vertebrates reinstatement is context-dependent, so we examined whether the same holds true for honeybees. We demonstrate reinstatement in restrained honeybees and show that reinstatement is context-dependent. Furthermore, we show that an alteration of the color of light illuminating the experimental setup suffices to indicate a contextual change. We conclude that in honeybees the initially formed CS–US memory is not lost after extinction. Rather, honeybees might learn about the context during extinction. This enables them to adequately retrieve one of the two opposing memories about the CS that have been formed after extinction.