A comprehensive socio-political study of the Gorkha people and their demand for the separate state of Gorkhaland

Introduction : reinventing the plantation for the 21st century -- Darjeeling -- Plantation -- Property -- Fairness -- Sovereignty -- Conclusion : is something better than nothing?

The definitive book on the changing political winds in West Bengal, and what it means for local governments fighting the might of the BJP nationwide. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP pulled off an unbelievable feat in Bengal-taking their tally of seats from 2 to 18 and vote share of 17 to 40 per cent in just four years. What were the reasons behind such a surge in support for the saffron party in the eastern Indian state? In The Bengal Conundrum, senior journalist Sambit Pal attempts to explain why a state that was the citadel of Left politics for decades has turned Right in less than 10 years. Documenting the contemporary political history of Bengal, both through written and exclusive first-hand accounts, the author answers how Mamata Banerjee's politics and governance over the past few years set a fertile ground for the combined force of the BJP and the RSS to construct a compelling political narrative in Bengal. As West Bengal grapples with tumultuous times-from the controversy surrounding the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic-on the cusp of a crucial election, the BJP and the TMC are rolling their dices to win the strategic battle. Whether Mamata Banerjee wins or loses the 2020 state elections, it remains clear that politics in eastern India has changed irrevocably, and will be experiencing the aftereffects for years to come.

Since the British colonial period anthropology has been central to policy in India. But today, while the Indian state continues to use ethnography to govern, those who were the "objects" of study are harnessing disciplinary knowledge to redefine their communities, achieve greater prosperity, and secure political rights. In this groundbreaking study, Townsend Middleton tracks these newfound "lives" of anthropology. Offering simultaneous ethnographies of the people of Darjeeling's quest for "tribal" status and the government anthropologists handling their claims, Middleton exposes how minorities are—and are not—recognized for affirmative action and autonomy. We encounter communities putting on elaborate spectacles of sacrifice, exorcism, bows and arrows, and blood drinking to prove their "primitiveness" and "backwardness." Conversely, we see government anthropologists struggle for the ethnographic truth as communities increasingly turn academic paradigms back upon the state. The Demands of Recognition offers a compelling look at the escalating politics of tribal recognition in India. At once ethnographic and historical, it chronicles how multicultural governance has motivated the people of Darjeeling to ethnologically redefine themselves—from Gorkha to tribal and back. But as these communities now know, not all forms of difference are legible in the eyes of the state. The Gorkhas' search for recognition has only amplified these communities' anxieties about who they are—and who they must be—if they are to attain the rights, autonomy, and belonging they desire.