Let me explain this topic first. Let's start with a quote from Sanjeev Sanyal:
"The Left dominance over the intellectual establishment has its roots in the systematic “ethnic cleansing” of all non-Left thinkers since the 1950s. One of its early victims was liberal economist B.R. Shenoy who questioned Nehru’s economics. He was squeezed out of the establishment and persecuted, but continued to write against socialist planning. ... The result of the systematic cleansing was that there were no non-Left academics remaining in the social sciences field in India by the early 1990s. ... Since the 1990s, the more explicitly Soviet-derived material has been removed from curriculums, but they remain heavily dominated by the Left. Thus, economics students are mostly taught material written by Amartya Sen and his stable of academics but exposed only in passing to the thoughts of Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman or Jagdish Bhagwati, Sen’s intellectual rival. Even when non-Left thinkers are included, their ideas are lumped together as exotic curiosities to be critiqued, rather than imbibed. Shenoy is still deemed too dangerous to be taught widely. The situation is much worse in other disciplines like sociology and history."
While the focus of Sanyal's article is DU and JNU, the problem he identifies is also very much true for NLUs and places like JGLS. In economics, most our profs teach Sen but not Bhagwati. In sociology, many of our profs include Kancha Ilaiah's writings (which are full of factual errors) and some actually glorify Periyar (who Nehru had called a "lunatic"). Among Western thinkers, most profs teach Marx and Foucault. In history, the list goes Althusser, Hobsbawm, Bipan Chandra etc.
So there's obviously a serous gaping hole that needs to be bridged. Ideally, reading materials by non-left thinkers should replace/complement those above. If the left establishment resists, then students can form their own Study Circles. Below is a suggested reading list. Looking forward to your suggestions to expand it.
GENERAL READING:
1. Nani Palkhivala, We the People
2. Nani Palkhivala, We the Nation
3. JS Mill, On Liberty
4. Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story
5. Arun Shourie, Courts and their Judgements
6. Margaret Thatcher, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World
7. Ayn Rand, For The New Intellectual
8. George Orwell, 1984
ECONOMICS:
1. Bhagwati, In Defence of Globalisation
2. Panagariya and Bhagwati, Why Growth Matters
3. Milton Friedman, Why Government is the Problem
4. Milton Friedman, Free to Choose
5. Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics
6. BR Shenoy, Indian Economic Crisis: A Programme for Reform
7. Richard Posner, The Economics of Justice
HISTORY:
1. RC Majumdar, Historiography in Modern India
2. Jadunath Sarkar, India through the Ages
3. Arun Shourie, Eminent Historians
4. Sanjeev Sanyal, Revolutionaries
5. General readings on the collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, on North Korea, Mao etc.
SOCIOLOGY:
1. Thomas Sowell, Social Justice Fallacies
2. Majority judgement in Students For Fair Admission v Harvard
3. Dissenting judgment in Indra Sawhney v Union of India
One should also read political Hindutva literature, not just respected scholarship like Bhagwati or Friedman. This is to understand the Hindutva viewpoint and support/critique it, in the same way that reading Marx or Lenin or Mao makes you understand the communist viewpoint and support/critique it. For example these books:
- Bunch of Thoughts, Gowalikar (RSS founder and echoes RSS beliefs)
- Six Glorious Epochs of History, Veer Savarkar (reference point for Hindutva-centric history)
- Vikram Sampath's biography of Veer Savarkar (more complex portrait of Savarkar by a modern pro-RSS person)
- J Sai Deepak's book India That is Bharat (modern pro-RSS lawyer using jurisprudential arguments)
- Arghya Sengupta's new book The Colonial Constitution (non-RSS person but convergence of views with JSD)
Kindly include literature on the persecution that tribals, 'lower' castes faced and still face in the hands of the UC Hindus too. Those are recorded facts. Highlighting the good points of a religion and its persecution from outside is a welcome move, but not the at the cost of hiding the darkness within.
Oh, so you mean RW literature to you is all about whitewashing your culture and religion and brushing everything uncomfortable under the carpet? Good to know! As for such literature being pushed onto your face, had you maybe bothered reading it every once in a while, then you would not have embarked on this singular journey of differentiating literature/culture/economy between RW and LW.
Sorry I downvoted by mistake. This is a very good comment. Caste-centric literature is indeed pushed in our face everyday. There is more to Hindu civilisation than caste!
Bro, virtually the entire Socio 2 course is based on caste discrimination. Certainly, it’s a dark spot in our history but all religions have such dark spots. Look at ISIS or Pakistan’s treatment of Hindus or the atrocities by the Catholic Church.
The point being made is that we need to look beyond grievances and study non-left perspectives too.
"The Left dominance over the intellectual establishment has its roots in the systematic “ethnic cleansing” of all non-Left thinkers since the 1950s. One of its early victims was liberal economist B.R. Shenoy who questioned Nehru’s economics. He was squeezed out of the establishment and persecuted, but continued to write against socialist planning. ... The result of the systematic cleansing was that there were no non-Left academics remaining in the social sciences field in India by the early 1990s. ... Since the 1990s, the more explicitly Soviet-derived material has been removed from curriculums, but they remain heavily dominated by the Left. Thus, economics students are mostly taught material written by Amartya Sen and his stable of academics but exposed only in passing to the thoughts of Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman or Jagdish Bhagwati, Sen’s intellectual rival. Even when non-Left thinkers are included, their ideas are lumped together as exotic curiosities to be critiqued, rather than imbibed. Shenoy is still deemed too dangerous to be taught widely. The situation is much worse in other disciplines like sociology and history."
http://www.sanjeevsanyal.com/home/article_detail/86
While the focus of Sanyal's article is DU and JNU, the problem he identifies is also very much true for NLUs and places like JGLS. In economics, most our profs teach Sen but not Bhagwati. In sociology, many of our profs include Kancha Ilaiah's writings (which are full of factual errors) and some actually glorify Periyar (who Nehru had called a "lunatic"). Among Western thinkers, most profs teach Marx and Foucault. In history, the list goes Althusser, Hobsbawm, Bipan Chandra etc.
So there's obviously a serous gaping hole that needs to be bridged. Ideally, reading materials by non-left thinkers should replace/complement those above. If the left establishment resists, then students can form their own Study Circles. Below is a suggested reading list. Looking forward to your suggestions to expand it.
GENERAL READING:
1. Nani Palkhivala, We the People
2. Nani Palkhivala, We the Nation
3. JS Mill, On Liberty
4. Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story
5. Arun Shourie, Courts and their Judgements
6. Margaret Thatcher, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World
7. Ayn Rand, For The New Intellectual
8. George Orwell, 1984
ECONOMICS:
1. Bhagwati, In Defence of Globalisation
2. Panagariya and Bhagwati, Why Growth Matters
3. Milton Friedman, Why Government is the Problem
4. Milton Friedman, Free to Choose
5. Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics
6. BR Shenoy, Indian Economic Crisis: A Programme for Reform
7. Richard Posner, The Economics of Justice
HISTORY:
1. RC Majumdar, Historiography in Modern India
2. Jadunath Sarkar, India through the Ages
3. Arun Shourie, Eminent Historians
4. Sanjeev Sanyal, Revolutionaries
5. General readings on the collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, on North Korea, Mao etc.
SOCIOLOGY:
1. Thomas Sowell, Social Justice Fallacies
2. Majority judgement in Students For Fair Admission v Harvard
3. Dissenting judgment in Indra Sawhney v Union of India
- Bunch of Thoughts, Gowalikar (RSS founder and echoes RSS beliefs)
- Six Glorious Epochs of History, Veer Savarkar (reference point for Hindutva-centric history)
- Vikram Sampath's biography of Veer Savarkar (more complex portrait of Savarkar by a modern pro-RSS person)
- J Sai Deepak's book India That is Bharat (modern pro-RSS lawyer using jurisprudential arguments)
- Arghya Sengupta's new book The Colonial Constitution (non-RSS person but convergence of views with JSD)
1. Hindu Temples: What happened to them.
2. How I became a Hindu.
3. The Story of Islamic Imperialism in India.
All three by Sita Ram Goel.
4. Eminent Historians by Arun Shorie.
5. Breaking India + Snakes in the Ganga by Rajiv Malhotra.
SECURITY:
1. Operation Lebensraum by Hiranya Bhattacharya.
=
The point being made is that we need to look beyond grievances and study non-left perspectives too.
End the Fed by Dr Ron Paul
and basically every single book written by Ludwig von Mises (economics)
https://theprint.in/opinion/left-historians-have-distorted-indian-history-young-minds-must-bring-back-nationalist-spirit/1865191/