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Economic growth results when the output of an economy grows because more land,
labor, capital, and entrepreneurial talent are devoted to the production process and/
or because the `productivity' of these factors of production rises. In recent
times, growing markets, technological improvements, and additional investment in human
beings (human capital) all have played a part in increasing productivity. While explaining
the continuation of poverty in countries like India many economic historians,
development economists, and specialists in growth accounting also point to the fact that the
`institutional framework' of a society provides the incentive structure that directs the economic
(and political) activity of the country. This becomes evident in the context of ancient
Indian economy where we find a good deal about the institutional foundations of
successful economic growth. A number of recent empirical studies have made it clear that
throughout history, humans have all too often failed to provide the institutional framework
necessary for productive activity. To shed new light on the shifting patterns of historical research
in India, the current issue includes a paper on `Environmental History' by tracing the
colonial backdrop of forest policies. The interplay of Indo-Central Asian cultures in medieval
times has been rightly captured in another paper on `painting'
and `literature'. Besides, the book review section features two reviews of two
prominent books on the theme, `Understanding Islam', which attempt to
project the ongoing debates from a new perspective.
Indian economy can be characterized by innumerable statistics on its
demographic, economic, technological, and institutional features, but what we really need to know is
the interplay among all these features that makes it work. The paper titled,
"Economic Principles in Ancient India", by Nicholas Kazanas
relates ancient Indian economic principles to modern economic theorists like Adam Smith, David Ricardo,
Karl Marx, Henry George, etc. The paper discusses, among other things, the system of
land tenure and the importance of free access or availability of land.
The impact of Persian culture on the growth and development of a larger,
syncretic Indo-Central Asian culture has been widely studied. As a matter of fact any
study which attempts to delineate the characteristics of an Indo-Central Asian
culture, invariably tends to highlight the Persian cultural elements, in the process neglecting
or ignoring various other constituents or subcultures that had a role to play in
the development of this amalgamated culture. However, of late, researchers have
recognized the importance of studying, what can be termed as a shared heritage of a large part
of the regions of Central Asia, and the South Asian subcontinent. In the process,
it acknowledges the contribution of the Arab, Turkish, Mongol, and Afghan cultures to
the development of the bigger Indo-Central Asian culture. It is in this context that the
study, "Central Asian Culture in Medieval Deccan: A Case Study of Painting and Literature",
by Salil Kader makes its presence felt. The author examines the
process of acculturation, which brought in Central Asian elements into the Deccan region, especially in the
spheres of art and literature. At the same time, this study also highlights how historians have
failed to look beyond the Persian and acknowledge other cultural strains which have
contributed in the `making' of the Indo-Central Asian culture.
The emergence of the Chipko movement since 1982 has politicized the
environmental history in South Asia. The debate
arose on the question whether Chipko is a Gandhian
style non-violent Satyagraha movement and what is the historicity of
such a movement. It was debated that the past had witnessed several movements but not always non-violent.
Under these circumstances, the attention of the
historians turned to the history of protest movement in India regarding various ecological issues. In the process three
ideological undercurrents emerged: Subalternist, statistical empiricist and the Oxford tradition.
Om Prakash's paper, "Green Imperialism and Deforestation in the
19th Century British Northern
India", is a response to the Oxford tradition which tries to portray the
British rule in India as a civilizing mission by arguing that they initiated scientific forestry
in India and that India had no such tradition. Here the attempt is to establish that the
so called scientific forestry was but selected manipulation of certain species
so that it was not scientific at all and moreover it had
long-term adverse ecological consequences.
Many scholars opine that the element of `Religion' figures prominently in unearthing
the roots of the social unrest accumulating in the Indian subcontinent for the past few
years. The layman understanding of this phenomenon certainly points to the role played by
`Islam' in the name of Jihad, which is unmistakably identified with the growing `terrorism'
menace in countries like India and Pakistan. For a thorough understanding of the spectrum of
Islam in the above context we have chosen the books titled, "Partisans of Allah: Jihad in
South Asia", by Ayesha Jalal and "Islam: Misgivings and History", by Asghar Ali Engineer that
help us in locating the key concepts and misconceptions. Laxman D Satya and Akhtarul
Wasey respectively were able to translate the key ideas with their critical acumen and
objective interpretation of social mechanisms.
--
Radha Mohan Chebolu
Consulting
Editor |
