PERSPECTIVES

creation of the Indian Empire was not the Social Change in India result of a clear design. Among the “price- less gifts” of the Company to the people Reconsidering Ramkrishna Mukherjee of India were “political unity,” “assured peace,” and the “reign of law” in place of the arbitrary will of despots. If there were Surendra Munshi instances of deviation from the good intentions that the Company had for the With Ramkrishna Mukherjee’s amkrishna Mukherjee provides people of India, these were isolated study of social change in India, a many narratives of social change instances of deviation arising from igno- scholar of his standing deserves R in India. It is useful to recognise rance about “oriental” mentality and them. Four such narratives are identi- “native” customs. There were also ins- to be read seriously, not ignored fi ed here. Two of these narratives belong tances of failure on the part of individu- or praised without an engagement to his early writings, and each of the als in its employment who failed to live with his writings. An exposition remaining two narratives belongs to his up to their duty in looking after the of his formulations is followed by later writings and his last writings, interests of the Company as well as the respectively. Together, they cover a people living under its rule. their critical examination, working life of more than 50 years, from The second view of the Company, on including his concept of 1948–2006. They cover a long span of the other hand, sees its role in a differ- “soft spots.” time in Indian society, from the appear- entiated manner—from its birth in 1600 ance of the East India Company (hence- up to the close of the 17th century as a forth, the Company) in 1608, to 2008, company representing a group of peace- the year when the land issue in West ful merchants. The battle of Plassey in Bengal became important and the par- 1757 gave full shape to the transforma- tial implementation of the Mandal Com- tion of the Company from a group of mission report in India took place. This peaceful merchants to ambitious rulers, article presents briefl y these narratives, fi lling them with ambition for the terri- followed by comments towards their torial acquisition of the entire country. critical evaluation. This ambition made them greedy and tyrannical. Such a view, notes Mukherjee, East India Company has been so common that it fi nds accept- The Rise and Fall of the East India Company ance even among Indian historians. (1974) is the result of a course of lectures Mukherjee sees the rise of the Company that Mukherjee gave as a guest professor in the historical context. He sees its at the Institute for Indian Studies of the origin in the context of the rise of Eng- Humboldt University in Berlin during the lish merchant capital, the prime mover autumn term of 1953–54. The book was of a “new civilisation” that came into published in Berlin originally in 1955. He existence with the break-up of feudalism, makes it clear in his introductory com- which took a monopolistic character ments that his book is not meant to be a from the beginning. Trade monopoly historical study, but a sociological appraisal was a characteristic demand of these of social forces behind the rise and fall merchant companies. The Company had An earlier draft of this article was presented at of the Company and their impact on to contend with competition for lucra- a conference commemorating Ramkrishna India in particular. He draws from the tive commercial gain from other mer- Mukherjee that was organised by Indian facts collected by historians and other chants in its country, which was resolved Statistical Institute, Kolkata, 28 –29 March scholars, claiming no originality in his- in its favour. In the European context, 2016. The proceedings of the conference are due to appear as a book. For his personal torical material. His study provides a the need for trade monopoly meant communication, I am thankful to Sabyasachi sociological study of the Company from rivalry between merchant companies of Bhattacharya, and for comments on the its formation to its decline. different nations for “colonial trade” article, my thanks go to Andre Beteille, In developing his argument, he con- and, in the end, meant the acquisition of Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, and T N Madan. tends against two prevailing views. He political power in “purchasing” countries Surendra Munshi ([email protected]) is faces, on the one hand, the general to ensure trading privileges. retired professor of sociology, Indian Institute European view that the Company played In the case of India, it was the English of Management Calcutta. a positive role in India, even though the company that succeeded in this endeavour

Economic & Political Weekly EPW SEPTEMBER 24, 2016 vol lI no 39 35 PERSPECTIVES through various measures, including subinfeudatory landlords and the rela- in 1942 had sunk into the lower rank open wars, and took advantage of it. It tively prosperous peasantry, as well as in 1945 and, within the lower rank, was only when the merchant interest those persons who are in well-paid posi- 10% of the families had been further was superseded by the British industrial tions or engage in large-scale trade with impoverished. The Gazetteer of Bogra bourgeoisie that the typical monopolis- interest in land. The middle rank con- district confi rms that there is growing tic company of merchant capital went sists mainly of the self-suffi cient peas- “prosperity” of the landowning class and into decline. Such is the story, in its barest antry and others, such as artisans and increasing impoverishment over time of outline, of the Company that appeared small traders, who maintain a somewhat the bulk of peasantry, who are being in India in 1608 and was forced to liqui- self-suffi cient existence partly based on reduced to the position of sharecroppers date itself in 1858. land. The lower rank consists of the rem- and agricultural labourers. Mukherjee goes into some details aining occupational groups who depend In his second paper, Mukherjee (1949) about how the Company manoeuvred on working for others or even begging. shows the effects of economic changes the country’s strong central power to He fi nds a statistically signifi cant differ- on a few major social institutions in these gain a footing, and how it took advan- ence between the three ranks in terms villages. He fi nds that caste hierarchy tage of the disintegration of this central of per capita expenditure and other does refl ect to a certain extent the division power. The inherent weakness of the economic indicators. of people into separate economic units. Indian feudal structure contributed to Moreover, these occupational groups Thus, he fi nds that all the upper-caste its success. The reckless extraction of the indicate not only the generally recog- Hindu families (Brahmins, Kayasthas, wealth of the country by the Company, its nised positions in rural society, but also and their half-castes) are found in the offi cials and underlings, turned the one- the production relations of these groups. upper rank of the economic structure, time “Granary of the East” into a land of The upper rank own land, the principal and 83% of the Scheduled Caste families the destitute. This phase in the life of the means of production in an agrarian are found in the lower rank, and the rest Company gave full vent to the character economy, and employ the labour power in the middle rank. The “joint family” is of merchant capital. After more than a of others. The persons in the middle found more among the upper rank, the century of such a rule, faced by British principally produce for themselves and “simple family” (parents and dependent industrial capital, the Company seemed employ their own labour, and the persons children) more among the lower rank, to have spent its power and appeared to of the lower rank possess no or little with the middle rank behaving as a be an obstruction to the full play of land, living mainly by selling their labour group between the two. Literacy is of a British capitalism in the colony. power. Data from the rest of rural Bengal poor standard, and, whatever little edu- indicate that the economic structure cation there is, it is confi ned mainly to On Rural Bengal overall is similar to that shown by these the upper rank. The corresponding pro- During 1948 and 1949, Mukherjee pub- six villages. portions are as follows: in the upper lished two papers in the American Socio- This economic structure is mainly rank, 56%; in the middle rank, 13%; and, logical Review, “Economic Structure of responsible for the poor condition of the in the lower rank, only 9% (Mukherjee Rural Bengal: A Survey of Six Villages” rural economy, for the upper rank have 1949: 420). and “The Economic Structure and Social no incentive to develop production tech- Mukherjee (2012b) takes the argument Life in Six Villages of Bengal.” They were niques. With the pressure on land being forward in The Dynamics of a Rural based on his study of these villages in considerable in view of the poor devel- Society. The central argument of the the district of Bogra in North Bengal in opment of industry, the upper rank book is that the dynamics of a society, 1942 and 1945. Comparative data from benefi t from cheap labour. Further, they even a primitive peasant society, cannot 12 villages from the district of Birbhum can compel the impoverished peasantry be revealed without a close analysis of was also considered. Later, in 1958, a full to work as sharecroppers on their land, its economic structure. For Bengal, report was published. Meanwhile, he which, according to Mukherjee, gives them Mukherjee fi nds that under the British published The Dynamics of a Rural Soci- a better margin of profi t than what they rule a new relationship grew between ety in 1957 (Mukherjee 2012b), which would get by hiring daily wage labour. the propertied and propertyless classes drew from his study of these Bengal A study of the economic structure at the expense of the self-suffi cient peas- villages and added to them a historical over time, from 1922 to 1942, shows the antry of the pre-British time. perspective. extent of the disintegration of the old This new relationship had a particularly Mukherjee (1948) shows in his paper system in a subsistence economy. There “retrogressive” character, for the growth that, even though the average income of was slight movement from the middle of the landholder (jotdar)–sharecropper villages in Bengal was low due to primi- rank to the upper rank, but considerably (bagadar) relationship just maintained tive techniques of agricultural produ- so from the middle rank to the lower rank, the form of peasant cultivation, when, in ction, there is a well-defi ned income accentuating inequality. The changes effect, the relation of production was hierarchy to be found among villagers. taking place between 1942 and 1945 made suitable for the new function of He sees clearly three ranks of family oc- could be studied directly. He found that commodity production. The landholders cupations. The upper rank consists of 33% of the families in the middle rank functioned as rent-receivers by taking a

36 SEPTEMBER 24, 2016 vol lI no 39 EPW Economic & Political Weekly PERSPECTIVES share of the produce from the cultivators. and communal segregation. This made conducted under his guidance by the The concentration of land in fewer it diffi cult to organise them on progres- Sociological Research Unit of the Indian hands did not lead to improvements in sive lines. In the words of L S S O’Malley, Statistical Institute, Calcutta, covering agricultural production, for under colo- whom Mukherjee quotes, their present and their orientation tow- nial rule a progressive development of The idea of a class war is alien to a people ards the immediate future. the agrarian economy was ruled out. which believes that the social hierarchy is (vi) He also draws from National Sample The landlords remained satisfi ed as divinely ordained and that equality is not Survey data for West Bengal from dif- semi-feudal rent-receivers and thrived only contrary to experience but is impos- ferent rounds. sible because each man’s state of life is on the increasing appropriation of the predetermined by his actions in past lives. The context of the book, as his Fore- surplus labour of the peasantry. (2012b: 126) word makes clear, is the process of Against the opinion that the ever- change and associated problems in the increasing growth of sharecroppers in- Post Independence country. To motivate people to change in dicated the emergence of capitalism in For understanding Mukherjee on social the desired direction so that they need the agriculture of Bengal, Mukherjee change in India after independence, it is not be induced from above by efforts argues that capitalism does not merely useful to begin with The Sociologist and such as programmes and projects under mean the disintegration of the peasant- Social Change in India Today (1965). In different fi ve-year plans—this is the ry and the concentration of land in the this book, he brings together six papers, crux of the matter. It has to be kept in hands of a few. Capitalism in agriculture including the one under the same title mind that the assumption that if condi- means a fundamental change from feu- that had appeared in the Sociological tions for economic development are dal society, involving better organisa- Bulletin in 1962. It carries a Foreword created, social change would follow is tion of the agrarian economy through and two Resumes. not borne by evidence. It is also not con- large-scale farming and mechanisation. In these papers, especially the ones on fi rmed that educated persons are always This did not happen in Bengal under urbanisation and refugees, he draws precursors of change. Indeed, they may colonial conditions. On the contrary, the from enormous data: be relatively more conservative to the landowning class continued to thrive on (i) A sample survey, under the title, extent of resisting change. the rent received from the land without “Changes in Family Structures—Urban/ Does it mean, then, that such a process any investment in it. This arrangement Rural—West Bengal,” conducted under as urbanisation has no social impact? was strengthened over time. Thus, in his guidance by the Sociological Research Mukherjee recognises that urbanisation is 1943, during the famine, a large section Unit of the Indian Statistical Institute, taking place in the country. Rural–urban of the peasantry not only lost land and Calcutta, during 1960–61. This was a part differences do exist with respect to physi- other means of production like draught of the study sponsored by the Research cal characteristics, density of population, cattle, but was also forced to borrow Programmes Committee, Planning Com- utilisation of land, and economic organi- grains year after year for survival, not to mission, Government of India. The sample sation with its impact on social stratifi - speak of borrowing grains as seeds survey covered the cities of Calcutta and cation. Indeed, towns can serve the role for production. Howrah, four towns of Adra, Berhampore, of a “bridge” between cities and villages. Mukherjee (2012b: 57–58) concludes: Contai and Siliguri, and 20 villages in Such a concept as rural–urban con- the agrarian crisis was due to the colonial West Bengal. tinuum, therefore, is valid in this respect, system imposed on the country and the role (ii) A study of the social structure of and it can serve as a policy tool as well. of the parasitic landowning class as an ap- Durgapur and Giridih townships con- He admits that these differences have pendage to that system, whereby their profi t- ducted under his guidance by the Socio- bearing upon the material well-being of motive could fi nd ample satisfaction while logical Research Unit of the Indian Sta- the people and their resultant cultural preserving the ‘peasant’ cultivation without any capital outlay in order to improve the tistical Institute, Calcutta. attainments. When it comes to the urban state of the productive forces. However in- (iii) A study of villages around Giridih versus the rural way of life, though, dustrious the mass of the peasantry might township conducted since 1958 under his especially with respect to the joint family have been and whether or not they wanted guidance by the Sociological Rese arch and caste, which are believed to be anti- to revolutionise agricultural production, Unit of the Indian Statistical Institute, thetical to the urban way of life, these the heavy burden of rents and interests on their head and their accelerated pauperisa- Calcutta, that had already covered by then institutions persist with adjustments, tion could never allow them to check the more than 500 villages within a radial without involving a break or even an crisis and improve the agrarian economy so distance of 15 miles from the township. attempt to break from them or their long as the parasitic landowning class main- (iv) An earlier study conducted under ideological orientations. With respect to tained its role in the production-relations. his guidance by the Sociological Re- the family as a social institution, there is The landlords dominated the society search Unit of the Indian Statistical In- no evidence pointing towards the emer- in ideological terms as well. Thus, instead stitute, Calcutta, on different industrial gence of a distinct urban way of life, nor of a progressive change in their outlook, locations. of the loosening of the caste ideology. people in the lower social strata re- (v) A study of East Pakistan Hindu refu- What is to be done in such a situation? mained steeped in the notion of caste gees found living in Calcutta in 1962, Mukerjee’s prescription is to identify

Economic & Political Weekly EPW SEPTEMBER 24, 2016 vol lI no 39 37 PERSPECTIVES “soft spots” through which the desired kind of life they lived and the course of refugees. Since the colony segment has course of change may be brought about their movement. While refugees in the built its future possibility within the in India. He describes soft spots in the platform and hovel segments were mainly urban economy of Calcutta, the integra- following words: “those vulnerable re- peasants and artisans rooted in villages tion of this segment will be further gions of the social structure through to whom city life was unfamiliar, for the facilitated if civic privileges and respon- which we may be able to break through majority of the refugees in the colony sibilities are extended to these colonies the impasse and effect the stipulated and city segments, the urban way of life as applicable to other areas of the city. course of change” (1965: viii). Why is it was not unfamiliar. They had contact As to the refugees from the hovel and important to identify them? His answer with the urban economy, some directly platform segments, they will be best is: “the facts show that without such an with Calcutta, through their engagements suited for the peasant economy and, in identifi cation we shall not be able to with relatively “higher” professions and view of their recent experiences, at the crystallize our vision from sporadic ex- services or even as landlords and whole- fringe of the urban sector in keeping with pression of progress to the ‘social forma- sale merchants. The lives of refugees in their training and habit. tion’ which is to be the forbearer of the their original homeland had an infl uence Mukherjee draws the following con- desired course of change in society” on the course of their movement. Nine- clusions from his illustrative study. First, (1965: viii). Through these soft spots tenths of the refugees in the city and although a large number of refugees have “social change may be effected on ex- colony samples came directly to Calcutta, been settled within the rural economy, pected to take place in due course” whereas only one-tenth of the refugees intra-group variations within the refugees (1965: 109). in the platform and hovel samples did on the whole lead us “to diagnose different He illustrates this point specifi cally with so, trying to settle down at fi rst in rural soft spots in the organism for respective respect to refugees in Calcutta. His con- areas of West Bengal or even other segments and suggest accordingly dif- cern is about their rehabilitation. Instead states in India. They were also the ones ferent measures to solve their problems” of bemoaning their indolence or ineffi - who were the most reluctant to leave (1965: 161). Second, he notes that, while ciency, he suggests it is important to their homeland. the economic basis of the group under carry out correct and specifi c diagnoses. As to distinctions in the economic lives discussion demands primary attention, The fi rst step to be taken is to differen- of Calcutta refugees, a clear gradation this need not be true in all cases. Other tiate between the refugees. He identifi es could be made among them, with the city societal considerations, including value four segments of these refugees: the segment at the top, the colony segment considerations, may play an important platform segment, the hovel segment, next, followed by the hovel segment, role. Third, an attempt at identifying the the colony segment, and the city seg- and with the platform segment at the soft spots of a group may indicate the re- ment. The segments of platform and hovel bottom. In terms of the different ways of actions of people to a course of induced were found centred around one of the life exhibited by these refugees in 1962, change, leading to greater effi ciency in railway stations of the city. While the the platform segment was the least inte- planning and implementing a programme platform segment consists of those refu- grated; the hovel segment, though living of social development. gee families that were found squatting in Calcutta lived a rather “anachronistic” on the platform of the railway station, life; the colony people were yet to be On Land the hovel segment consists of those fam- fully integrated, having created “pockets” In The Measure of Time in the Appraisal ilies that had built small hovels from such of East Bengal; and the city segment was of Social Reality (2012a), Mukherjee material as packing cases and tin sheets the most integrated. Apart from their takes up the land issue in West Bengal in in the lawns and lanes around the rail- characterisation of themselves as “dis- 2008. This was a burning issue at the way station. The colony segment con- placed persons,” there was hardly any time when the Left Front government sists of those families that had settled attribute that could classify the city seg- was being opposed for its policy of farm- down in swampy regions of the city, ment as refugees. land acquisition for industry. The critical creating “colonies” with distinct names Mukherjee makes it clear that the locations of the agitation were Nandi- that replicated their previous settle- refugee problem can be solved neither gram, where a special economic zone ments in East Bengal. The city segment, by taking a stand that the refugees (SEZ) for industrialisation was planned, on the other hand, consists of those fam- should be settled in India exactly as they and Singur, where Tata Motors was set- ilies that had settled down in the city lived in East Bengal, nor by a blanket ting up a factory for the manufacture of without creating any distinction specifi c understanding that all that is needed is its small car, the Nano. The Tatas were to themselves. for them to be provided with livelihood forced to announce in 2008 that they were These segments are not to be seen as opportunities. We need to take a differ- pulling out of Singur due to continued four stages that the refugees passed entiated view. The city segment of agitation, shifting to Sanand, Gujarat. The through sequentially in their assimilation. refugees has taken its position within fallout of these agitations was serious for These segments, on the contrary, repre- the middle-class milieu of Calcutta, the Left Front. It lost power in the assem- sent distinct categories of refugees who economically and culturally. They do bly elections of 2011 after being in power came to Calcutta; distinct in terms of the not need any special consideration as for more than 30 years in West Bengal.

38 SEPTEMBER 24, 2016 vol lI no 39 EPW Economic & Political Weekly PERSPECTIVES Mukherjee notes the changes that captures Indian reality the best. Mean- Mukherjee’s studies deserve intensive have taken place in agriculture in West while, B R Ambedkar’s dream of the re- engagement. In one such engagement, Bengal since the 1940s. Villages in Ben- moval of economic and social inequality Mukherjee’s model in The Dynamics of a gal, indeed in the whole of India, over- remains a “mirage” (Mukherjee 1965: 40). Rural Society has been questioned. whelmingly subsisted on agriculture, pro- “Coming now to the central assumptions ducing one crop a year and depending Soft Spots of Mukherjee’s model,” it has been ar- on locally available resources such as In his Preface to the second edition of gued, “the statistical evidence available water, fertilisers, implements, and seeds. The Dynamics of a Rural Society (2012b), from censuses and village surveys does This elementary stage of agriculture Mukherjee mentions that D F Pockok not prove any striking development in was entirely dependent upon the em- found the book an example of conjectural the direction of concentration of land- ployment of peasant and animal labour. history posed as a scientifi c study. He also holding and swelling of landless labour. Land was, thus, the backbone of the mentions that D D Kosambi wrote to him Such a development, leading eventually rural economy and of the entire state in and praised the book for blending the past to the complete disintegration of the view of the rudimentary development with the present to depict the dynamics of self-employed peasantry working on of the industrial sector. a rural society. What Immanuel Waller- their own farms, hardly seems to have The situation has changed since. Irri- stein (1985) writes about Mukherjee’s ever been a serious possibility. The class gation projects, fertiliser production, study of Uganda applies, to my mind, to of owner-cultivators is still, by and large, improved seeds for diverse crops, and his studies of Bengal villages as well. a very substantial element in rural soci- portable husking machines reaching in- It is diffi cult to imagine the atmos- ety” (Ray and Ray 1973: 107). This needs dividual households—all these improve- phere of the times when these studies to be examined, for, if true, it does cre- ments have meant that the cultivation of were written. As in Uganda, so in India, ate a serious question for Mukherjee. On two to three high-yielding crops per year in the words of Wallerstein, the other hand, Rajat Ray and Ratna Ray on the same plot of land has become a need to be questioned on the strength of It is important … to assess once again what reality. The success of Operation Barga really happened in the colonial era if we are their own admission: of 1978–82, an ambitious land reforms to interpret intelligently the current situa- No doubt with the growth of rural popula- programme, has contributed to this tion. A careful reading of this book will lay tion and the deepening crisis of agriculture changed situation. Thus, the rural–urban the base for just such an intelligent interpre- in Bengal since 1920, a number of cultivat- dichotomy is being replaced by rural– tation of the present in the context of the co- ing families have been reduced each year to lonial past. (1985: iii) sharecroppers and agricultural labourers on urban continuum. Rural and urban their own land (taken over by their credi- people are less and less identifi able in D N Dhanagare (2007) notes that tors), but such a trend has not brought about their distinctness. This relates to the Mukherjee made a signifi cant contribu- a radical alteration in the proportion of the manner in which rural and urban inter- tion at a time when ethnographic classes in village society. (1973: 109) ests intersect with each other. Agricul- research dominated village studies or the From Mukherjee’s (1965) study of ture needs industrialisation and the studies of peasant societies. He showed contemporary India, an attempt may be urban economy needs further industri- that the dynamics of any society, not just made now to examine his concept of soft alisation for its survival and prosperity. agrarian societies, could not be grasped spots. We have seen that for him the Agriculture is based on land and indus- without a historical analysis of its eco- identifi cation of soft spots is important, try is established on land; both need nomic structure. Dhanagare takes par- for they offer the possibility to effect land. And in West Bengal today, land is a ticular note of Mukherjee’s methodolog- social change. He advises that these scarce commodity. ical rigour in his empirical studies and studies be carried out as diagnostic stud- Thus, land becomes a central issue in the competence with which he combines ies and “the proper method to ascertain West Bengal. The manner in which this it with historical work. the soft spots in the organism under ref- issue is resolved will decide whether Sabyasachi Bhattacharya wrote an erence in a line similar to that employed “prosperity” or “demise” faces it, for, enthusiastic review of The Rise and Fall for the study of epidemiological prob- neither persisting land consciousness in of the East India Company when he was lems” (1965: 12). Later, in 1973, in his pa- the situation of moribundity, if not dete- still a student, which he published in a per “Indian Sociology: Historical Devel- riorating, economy, nor hastily planned student journal in 1958. He welcomed in opment and Present Problems,” Mukher- rapid industrialisation can provide the this review the comprehensive consider- jee returns to the problem of soft spots resolution that is needed. ation of the Company from a Marxist point and puts it in the centre of the sociologi- The other issue that he takes up in the of view, pointing out at the same time cal enterprise. He writes: “what is need- book is the caste issue in India in 2008. that the study was based on secondary ed for India (as for any country in the Critical of the Mandal Commission and sources. In a personal communication to world) is a comprehensive and concerted its identifi cation of caste as a criterion me, he confi rms that he stands by this attempt to identify the soft spots in the for the recognition of backwardness in youthful assessment and adds that sub- social organism, for which all explana- Indian society, he argues that it is not sequent research works have confi rmed tory models and evermore effi cient de- “class in caste,” but “caste in class” that Mukherjee’s general contentions.1 scription and explanation of the societal

Economic & Political Weekly EPW SEPTEMBER 24, 2016 vol lI no 39 39 PERSPECTIVES phenomena and the society itself would about pathology which is not easy to a course of empirical research where the be relevant and necessary” (1973: 50). A make about society. Who defi nes what a statistical frame became more impor- clarifi cation is offered with reference to pathological condition is? Fourth, even tant than the sociological frame, throw- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, to if the assumption about pathology is not ing up more and more statistical data as whom “the social group identifi ed as made, his approach suggests that the an end in itself? Further, could it be that the ‘proletariat’ (and not the ‘poor’ per change is to be introduced from the in moving from Marx to Mahalanobis he se) represents the soft spot to bring outside: “those vulnerable regions of the paid a heavy price? His shift from the about a revolutionary change in the social structure through which we may concept of “production relations,” which world society.” He is aware that “in be able to break through the impasse and strongly characterised his early studies, some later Marxist variations, a par- effect the stipulated course of change” to his later search for “soft spots” was ticular section of the peasantry repre- (1965: viii). This is, at best, social engi- not rewarding. Finally, could it be that sents the corresponding soft spot, or it neering. It leaves open the questions he escaped from problems and paradoxes may be additionally or exclusively rep- about “whose vision” and “whose desired of inductive social science, for which resented by the ‘nonconformist young course of change.” Fifth, his entire nomen- Pradip Bose (1997) criticises him, only intelligentsia’ (Marcuse) and so on” clature suggests as if the task is to iden- later in The Measure of Time in the (1973: 49–50). tify “vulnerable” or “soft” targets. If we Appraisal of Social Reality? First, it is not clear whether Mukherjee are looking for change agents, then, means, by soft spots, groups or features indeed, we are looking for not vulnera- Note of groups. While his reference to the bility, but strength, to be expected from 1 Personal communication with Sabyasachi proletariat suggests he has groups in those who can lead forward. Bhattacharya in 2016. mind, his study of the refugees, as seen It is not surprising that an entire REFERENCES earlier, suggests that he has some fea- study of refugees that is presented as tures of groups in mind. Consider the “an illustrative diagnosis of soft spots” Bose, Pradip Kumar (1997): “Problems and Paradoxes of Inductive Social Science: A Critique of formulation, “the group under reference throws up very little by way of even Ramkrishna Mukherjee,” Sociological Bulletin, in order to identify its soft spots” practical measures. His recommenda- Vol 46, No 2, pp 153–71. Dhanagare, D N (2007): “Practising Sociology (Mukherjee 1965: 162), or more explicitly, tions for the four segments of refugees through History: The Indian Experience – I,” his recommendation “to diagnose different cannot be considered profound, nor Economic & Political Weekly, Vol 42, No 33, pp 3414–21. soft spots in the organism for respective indeed serve as a model for a collective Mukherjee, Ramkrishna (1948): “Economic Struc- segments and suggest accordingly dif- sociological enterprise. ture of Rural Bengal: A Survey of Six Villages,” American Sociological Review, Vol 13, No 6, ferent measures to solve their problems” Mukherjee dedicates The Sociologist pp 660–72. (1965: 161). and the Social Change in India Today — (1949): “The Economic Structure and Social Second, Mukherjee also ignores the (1965) to, in his words, “my teacher, Life in Six Villages of Bengal,” American Socio- logical Review, Vol 14, No 3, pp 415–25. fact that for Marx and Engels the prole- Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, who — (1965): The Sociologist and Social Change in tariat suggests an agency of change based taught me the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of scien- India Today, New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India. — (1971): Six Villages of Bengal, Bombay: Popular on an explicit theory that they advance tifi c investigation.” He talks elsewhere Prakashan. on capitalism and its supersession. In of the profound infl uence exercised by — (1973): “Indian Sociology: Historical Develop- ment and Present Problems,” Sociological the absence of a theory, the diagnosis of Mahalanobis on him. He tells Partha N Bulletin, Vol 22, No 1, pp 29–58. soft spots becomes a blind activity. He Mukherji and Chandan Sengupta that, — (1974): The Rise and Fall of the East India suggests patience as he is aware that “Whatever I learned later it was from Company: A Sociological Appraisal, New York: Monthly Review Press. “instead of being unduly impatient, we Mahalanobis. Things like logic, the — (2012a): The Measure of Time in the Appraisal of must accept the fact that the fulfi lment concept of causality, the difference bet- Social Reality, 2009, Delhi: Primus Books. — (2012b): The Dynamics of a Rural Society: A of the objective is a time-consuming ween association and causality, correla- Study of the Economic Structure in Bengal process, requiring sustained effort and tion does not denote causality, that Villages, Kolkata: The Asiatic Society. intensive analysis of a clinical nature” there is a difference between a behav- — (2014): “Ramkrishna Mukherjee in Conversation with Anjan Ghosh,” Sociological Bulettin, Vol 63, (1965: 6). It can be argued that, more ioural variable and a perceptual vari- No 1: 113–40. than patience, the light that theory can able, that the perceptual variable is not Mukherji, Partha Nath and Chandan Sengupta (2000): “On Methodology of Social Research: shed is needed even in a clinical exami- just an opinion, and so forth” (2000: Conversations with Ramkrishna Mukherjee,” nation. How can a doctor make sense of 241). Later, he tells Anjan Ghosh that he Methodology in Social Research: Dilemmas and Perspectives: Essays in Honor of Ramkrishna multiple symptoms that a patient shows learnt from Mahalanobis to understand Mukherjee, Partha Nath Mukherji, New Delhi: unless he has a theoretical understand- “mathematics as philosophy,” so that “I Sage. Ray, Rajat and Ratna Ray (1973): “The Dynamics of ing of possible diseases? can think statistically enough to cast a Continuity in Rural Bengal under the British Third, his approach suggests that research in statistical frame” (Mukherjee Imperium: A Study of Quasi-Stable Equilibrium in Underdeveloped Societies in a Changing sociologists are doctors who have to en- 2014: 139). World,” Indian Economic & Social History Review, gage in “diagnosis,” “clinical” examination Could it be that for Mukherjee statis- Vol 10, No 2, pp 103–28. Wallerstein, Immanuel (1985): Foreword, Uganda: An and the treatment of “epidemiological tics did not remain a key technology, but Historical Accident? by Ramkrishna Mukher- problems.” This involves an assumption became philosophy and took him towards jee, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, p iii.

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