Activities and Achievements

The funding under the ‘University with Potential for Excellence’ Scheme (UPE) of Rs. 1.20 crores provided by the UGC was utilized mainly in the five areas of activities from 2003-04 to 2007-08 : Research, Building intellectual resources, Support for academic interactions, Capacity Building and Infrastructure development. After the first phase of the UPE funding was over, the CSSH activities continued because of the encouragement from the University authorities and the valuable financial support of Rs. 60,00,000 from the ‘University Fund’.

The CSSH provided support to the following Departments/Centres for various activities :

The main activities and achievements (2003-2010) of CSSH were as follows :

• The CSSH Website (http://cssh.unipune.ernet.in/) was launched.

• The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), internationally renowned and used software for quantitative analyses in the Social Sciences, which was installed in 2007, was made available to the Social Science Departments. SPSS, for example, is extensively used at the Department of Political Science and it is also taught to the students at the Department of Anthropology.

• The CSSH supported research by faculty members involving interdisciplinary areas and methodologies. More than 29 research projects were supported (the original research proposals are shown separately), seventeen of which are now available in printed form. The pre-submission peer-review workshops were conducted by all researchers involved in this activity. Marathi translation of Kamala Bhasin’s book ‘Understanding Gender’ has also been made available in the printed form. The compilation of Dictionaries and Bibliographies in Sanskrit, Pali, Foreign Languages Sections are also the academic activities worth mentioning.

Related Publications

In the first phase of UPE, the CSSH supported many research projects and brought out publications (in the form of occasional papers) in the focus areas. The list is given below for reference :

1. A Study of Maths in Pandharpur

2. Assessment of Nutritional Status of Some Tribal Groups of Maharashtra

3. Can microcredit be an effective strategy for gender mainstreaming?

4. Challenges to the Indian Society and Culture in the Age of Globalization

5. Devadasi Practice / ‘Sacred Prostitution’ in Contemporary Maharashtra (Foregrounding Caste in Analyzing Prostitution)

6. German Perception of the Indian Workplace : A Study in Intercultural Understanding

7. Intergenerational Occupational Mobility across Caste Groups : A Study of Pune City.

8. Maharashtra in the 19th Century : Literature and Thinking on Science in Marathi

9. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Buber on the Juish Question : Revisiting a Controversy

10. Marathas in Orissa, 1751-1803

11. Marathi translation of Kamala Bhasin’s book ‘Understanding Gender’

12. Paraskar Grihya Paddhati of Vasudeva Dikshit (Edited with introduction)

13. Religion of Warli : A study from the perspective of Philosophical Anthropology

14. Studies in Political Leadership : A case study of candidates in Nagpur Municipal Corporation Election

15. Sutrapaths in Mahanubhav Literature and Brahmasutras of Badarayana : A comparative Study

16. Towards understanding the Gendered Character of Seva : A Case study of ‘Samtol’, ‘Samvadini’ and ‘Jijamata Dal’ of Dnyana Prabodhini

17. Tracing the Deserted (In collaboration with SOPPECOM)

18. Understanding Cultural Marginality : A Case study of Brass Bands in Pune.

The CSSH aims at creating durable intellectual resources for future researches in the form of documentation and digitization. Massive documentation on Social Movements and socio-cultural and intellectual life of Maharashtra has been done. The necessary funding has been given to many Departments for this purpose and the Departments have done remarkable work in this area.

• The CSSH supported many academic activities such as Seminars, Workshops, Lectures, ‘Gharana Sammelans’ etc. Activities such as SET-NET workshops, remedial courses and preparation of the study material for the P.G. students were also supported by the CSSH. Many departments were granted funds for research assistance.

• The CSSH has also facilitated the strengthening of infrastructure in Social Science and Humanities Departments of the University in terms of physical infrastructure and equipment needs of various Departments. Especially the Departmental libraries have been strengthened. The Interdisciplinary School, for example, added about 500 books in its library with the CSSH support.

• We had invited Professor Javeed Alam, Chairman, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi to visit CSSH and IDS and to address the faculty and research students on ‘Current trends in Social Science research’ on 23rd Feb. 2010.