About Department
The Department of Political Science aims at inculcating the values of higher learning and research among the students of Marathwada – a region comprising some of most backward districts in the country. Founded in 1962 in then Marathwada University, the Department boasted of the academically credentialed and socially committed teachers right from its inception. Professor G.N. Sarma, Prof. Adi Doctor, Prof. R.T. Jangam, Prof. Moin Shakir, Prof. J.R. Shinde and Prof. P.M. Bora were a few among those who set a high benchmark of learning and research for the students to strive to. Following in their footsteps, the succeeding generation of teachers in the Department endeavored to instill in students not only the values of excellence, but also those of humanity in a belief that knowledge cannot be produced in isolation. They continue to teach the students that the crux of success lies as much in acquisition of classroom knowledge as in developing a vision to reconnoiter a far more challenging life that awaits them outside the campus.
The Department offers M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. programs wherein around 100 students enroll every year. In recent years, the discipline of Political Science underwent a sea-change in its outlook on the extensive zones of its inquiry. As such, the Department, too, remolded its approach, incorporating the interdisciplinary thrust in teaching the core subjects like Political theory, philosophy, foreign policy and promoting research in the emerging areas of Dalit politics, and subaltern and minority studies. Consequently, research projects like ‘Political Socialization of the Tribal Leadership’, ‘Relevance of Ambedkar’s Thought to Farmers’ Suicide in Maharashtra’, Differential Impact of Affirmative Action, and so on have been undertaken by the teachers.
The Department regularly conducts, seminars and workshops. It enjoys an exceptional reputation for organizing Moin Shakir Memorial Lecture Series every year since 1989, in which internationally acclaimed scholars like Prof. Randhir Singh, Prof. Ejaz Ahmed, Prof. Prabhat Patnaik, Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty, Prof. Mushirul Hasan and hordes of others have visited the Department to deliver the lectures.
The Department has been an integral part of a collaborative effort to establish UGC-funded ‘Center with Potential for Excellence’ (CPEPA) that promotes integrative research and organization of seminars, conferences and workshops with a special focus on varied dimensions of the backwardness afflicting rural Marathwada.