particularly in social science and humanities. The first by Harsh Sethi is inIndian Express and a follow up by Arun Thiruvengadam is in Law and Otherthings Blog . From Harsh Sethi's article:
"Alongside the horror of what seems to have transpired in Nandigram, though verifiable details are still awaited, is the deep disappointment with the attempt of some prominent Left intellectuals to ‘rationalise’ and contextually locate the actions of the Left Front government in West Bengal.
......
The end result is not only the paucity of quality research — exceptions apart — in the social sciences and humanities, but worse, ex-ante postulations, over-reliance on experiential insights and ideological biases marking public debate, often to the detriment of public policy. Without falling prey to xenophobia, it is time that we ask ourselves why so often some of the best analysis of Indian problems, both past and present, is available in the work of the foreign or non-resident Indian scholar.
.......
How often do we come across examples of involvement with student learning, mentoring younger researchers or translating key texts in non-English Indian languages. So why be surprised if there is considerable scepticism about the constant carping about work loads, salary scales and retirement benefits? Let’s face it, once tenured in public institutions, there is little demand for performance. More than a shortage of resources, far too many of our academics are lazy; they can get away without working.
As one of my senior colleagues once pointed out, the Indian intellectual environment is characterised by a skewed bi-modal distribution. Most academics do not have the wherewithal to engage in meaningful intellectual tasks. Those that do, once they have made their reputations or established their networks, are chased by a plethora of clients. For them it is a seller’s market. Quality invariably suffers."
Arun is concerned about the paucity of quality research on the reservations problem and says:
"Hopefully, the debate over the case will spur more academic legal research on the issue of reservations in India. It is clear that policy-makers and judges in India will greatly benefit from such research."
Even though many of the foreign researchers are very professional and seem thorough, it is not always clear what their interests are. Again we may need some help and study to sort such things out. See, for example the articles on GM seeds by various experts. In this context, I found the format of some of the articles in Current Anthropology useful. For example the article by Glenn Davis Stone "Agricultural Deskilling..." (http://artsci.wustl.edu/~anthro/research/stone/stone480102.web.pdf) has substantial comments by other experts and Davis' response at the end. This kind of format brings together diverse opinions, researches and references so that the reader has a wide choice and research to base his/her opinions.
