Department of Political Science
Gauhati University, Guwahati 781014, Assam
Email : polsc@gauhati.ac.in
Web : gauhati.ac.in/arts/political-science
Facebook: FACEBOOK
Recent events
THE DEPARTMENT REGULARLY UPDATES ITS FACEBOOK PAGE AS WELL. All the events,activities, achievements and key publications (2024 onwards) is updated here.
The Department of Political Science of Gauhati University, which was established in the Year 1958, is one of the oldest departments in the University and a pioneer in North east India. In the year 2007, the department completed 50 years of its glorious presence with significant contribution towards teaching and research in the discipline of Political Science. Since its inception till today several thousand students drawn from various parts of India have walked through the portals of this department, many of whom have made their mark in academic, administrative fields as well as in public life. At present the department is actively engaged not merely in organizing formal courses of learning in the subject but also in promoting and pursuing study and research on the multifarious ethnic groups, their social and political structures, authority system and to find out to what extent the best in the indigenous traditions could be harmonized with the modern day institutions of governance. The department runs its academic course in semester mode and follows the grading system and has introduced the CBCS (Choice Based Credit System) from the academic year 2016-2017. The FYUGP in Political Science has commenced from 2023.
The Centre for South East Asian Studies, which was established in 2017 under the financial assistance of Government of Assam in the Gauhati University and currently being located in the Department of Political science, is the first of its kind in North East India.
In its continuous effort to achieve higher echelons of academic performance the department had achieved recognition from the University Grants Commission under the Special Assistance Programme(SAP) at the level of DRS-I . After successful completion of the first phase of the programme for a period of five years from 1-4-2009 to 31-3-2014, the Department is currently availing the second phase of the programme under UGC-DRS-II for the period 1-4-2015 to 31-3-2020.
The history of the department can be highlighted in terms of its various academic activities, innovative programmes and public interface. From its humble beginnings as a group of elective subjects taught in the Department of Economics in the fifties of the last century, Political Science emerged as a full-fledged academic department of Post-graduate teaching and research in this university in 1958. During the initial period (1958-1973) the department was manned by three teachers - Dr. V.V. Rao as the head along with Dr. Das Gupta and Dr. V.S. Budhraj. Dr. P.S. Reddi joined the department as lecturer in 1965 after the departure of Dr. D. Das Gupta. Later Padmeswar Gogoi was appointed as Reader in 1965 when Dr. V.S Budraj left for Kurukshetra University. Dr. Kunja Medhi was the first among the alumni to be appointed as a lecturer in 1966. Dr Padmeswar Gogoi retired from service within a few years of his appointment in the department. Thus until the late sixties the Department was run by four teachers with Dr Rao as the Head. Dr D.P. Barooah joined the Department in 1971. Under the dedicated leadership of Dr V.V. Rao, the Department grew in strength and vitality. It is in recognition of his scholarship, dediction and service to the society, Government of India honoured Dr. Rao with the Padmashree in 1970. When Dr. Rao relinquished his office on superannuation in 1973, the mantle of headship passed on to Prof. D.P. Barooah which lasted till his elevation to the exalted position of Vice Chancellor of this University in 1986. Subsequently however quite a few teachers have joined the department beginning with Dr. Phani Gogoi and Dr. D.B. Sharma in 1971, Dr Anuradha Dutta in 1969, Dr Niru Hazarika in 1972, Dr Usharanee Choudhury and Dr. Manoranjan Bezbarua in 1976. While others have stayed with the department contributing immensely to its growth until their superannuation , Dr. Manoranjan Bezbarua left for higher studies in the U.S.A. Since then many new teachers have joined the department- Dr Monirul Hussain in 1978, Dr Sandhya Goswami in 1990, Dr Alaka Sarmah in 1991,Dr. Nani Gopal Mahanta in 1995, Dr Akhil Ranjan Dutta in 2001, Dr Dhruba Pratim Sharma and Dr. Shubhrajeet Konwer in 2004. Ms Olindita Gogoi and Dr Akhil Ranjan Dutta joined the department under U.G.C. Innovative Programme in Peace and Conflict Studies in 2007. Dr Jayanta Krishna Sarmah had joined the department as Reader in 2008, while Dr. Joanna Mahjebeen and Ms Barasa Deka joined as lecturers in 2009. Mr Vikas Tripathi joined the department in 2014. Sukanya Bharadwaj worked as as Assisstant Pofessor during 20019-21.
Prof. Jayanta Krishna Sarmah is the Head of the Department.
Activities of the department from 2017 -2024 can be found at the following Facebook page.
All subsequent (2024 onwards) events/achievements/publications/events can be found at FACEBOOK page.
The Department plans to elevate its status to a leading centre in the field of teaching and research and reaching out to the community. The principal objectives of the plan are:
- To build up networking with the Department of Political Science of the Universities in Northeast India and beyond for inter-university exchange to augment teaching and research in the discipline.
- To reach out to the departments of Political Science of affiliated colleges for taking up joint ventures in areas like designing of syllabus, organization of national and international seminars, workshops on research methodology, and training of teachers on recent trends and techniques of Political Science.
- To set up a Policy Research Unit to address different issues concerning planning and decision making in diverse areas of public concern relevant to Northeast region.
- To build networking with universities of South and South-east Asia.
- To provide wider freedom of choice to students in selecting areas of study through interdisciplinary approach so that it could foster multi-cultural understanding in the context of national framework.
- To set up cell for the study of Electoral Politics and Behaviour Analysis in the North Eastern Region of India and building up of networking at the national and international level.
- To introduce employment oriented and professional short term courses for Master Degree holders in emerging areas like Human Rights, Peace and Conflict Resolution, Gender studies, Environmental Politics, Green Governance and Poverty Alleviation.
- To start extension programme on Human Rights and Duties with special emphasis on the rights of Women and Children.
MA : POLITICAL SCIENCE (Intake 75)
Ph.D (as per UGC guidelines)
JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
The Journal of Political Science (ISSN-2249-4170) is a peer reviewed journal that seeks to address the critical issues confronting society. This journal is annually published and thematic in nature. It seeks to encourage young research scholars and faculty members to work on areas which are complex and challenging.
Peer Review and Publication policy:
The credibility of any journal lies in having a robust peer review policy. It is essential so as to produce high quality academic work. While authors across the social science spectrum are free to contribute to the ‘theme’ of the journal, the Editor is responsible for determining the suitability of the content as well as may limit the size and word limit of the article.
Those articles meeting the minimum criterias will be subject to double blind review wherein the referee and the author remain totally anonymous. Authors of manuscripts will be informed about the status of their article within a month from the date of its submission. The ‘referees report’ will largely be based on issues of content, methodology, citation and references. Referees will advise the Editor who will subsequently make the final decision on inclusion of the same in the forthcoming journal.
Copyright Policy
Submission of an article implies that it has not been published previously neither it is under consideration for publication elsewhere. The authors are responsible for the work and its ideas. Copyrights for articles are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal/publisher.
Ethics policy:
To promote consistency among articles, the APA style is followed for all citation purpose. The journal has a well defined ethics policy which seeks to discourage instances of plagiarism and promote quality research work. The journal considers all forms of ghost, guest, and gift authorship to be unethical. The use of plagiarism-detection software is undertaken to detect instances of plagiarism and proper citation is needed for re use of text, data and images in the article.
Published so far:
JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 2009
JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 2012
JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 2014
JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 2017
JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 2018
The Centre for South East Asian Studies, which was established in 2017 under the financial assistance of Government of Assam in the Gauhati University and currently being located in the Department of Political science, is the first of its kind in North East India. The North East India region has assumed crucial significance with regard to India’s emerging relationship with South East Asian countries particularly in the context of India’s Act East Policy. Against this backdrop the Centre for South-East Asian Studies has been designed to further dialogue and generate knowledge network to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by the India and particularly North-East India in relation to East and South East Asia. In order to act as a knowledge hub for promoting India’s relation with South East Asia, the Centre has proposed to undertake number of academic activities which includes organizing regular seminars and symposia, publication of peer reviewed books, monograph and journals by research scholars and faculty members, liaison with scholars and students in various universities of North-eastern region, promoting inter university research programme on themes of trans-border challenges and opportunities.
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