The Social Lens: Insights on Institutions, Inequality, and Innovation

The oriental and occidental philosophies, in the ancient age, were more concerned about the knowledge of self. The concept of dualism, monism and various other abstract notions of life-world showed various ways to attain the knowledge of self and the meaning of ‘existence’. Socrates says, “To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge”. He says that self-introspection is the most important thing and we should start with the dictum “I don’t know”. The theories in social sciences also talked about subjectivity of truth and reality. The initial view that the notion of consciousness and self cannot be deciphered. These views were contested in the field of neurology and cognitive sciences. The theory about outer world came in the epidemiological foundations of various disciplines. Various disciplines started talking about the role of emotions, feeling and so on for in societal context. The concept of social embeddedness of ‘self’ came into existence. Th...

The regime in Pakistan is not able to support minorities in Pakistan. It is one of the reason, why forcible conversion of Hindu youth and especially Hindu girls and Christians is common in Pakistan. Pakistani Hindus feel discriminated against the government policy but it is more about the apathy of state towards Hindus that they migrate to India. They get Indian pilgrimage visa on the premise of visiting holy places of Hindu religion [1] . These Hindus do not leave India after the expiry of visa rather they say Indian government to give them refugee state. The citizenship for Pakistani Hindus in India is not possible due to bilateral problems because Pakistan might accuse India of involvement in domestic problems. However, various newspaper articles and my interview with Pakistani immigrants posits the fact that they are not also told to leave India and various Hindu groups come for their assistance. Hindu groups make refugee camp for them and also some of Hindu like Nahar Singh, Sup...

The historiography of South Asia has been profoundly shaped by Western rationalist-modernist discourses, which privileged certain narratives while marginalizing others. Colonial, nationalist, and postcolonial schools of historical interpretation have played a crucial role in diversifying perspectives, yet each has been influenced by its own ideological biases. The colonial school, rooted in European preconceptions about the Orient, constructed stereotypes that reinforced imperial dominance (Thapar 2000). Nationalist historiography, emerging in response to colonial narratives, sought to reclaim India’s past but often relied on mythologized constructions, such as the Aryan invasion theory [1] and the golden age of Hindu civilization. Postcolonial approaches, particularly Marxist and Subaltern historiography, attempted to challenge elite-centric narratives by emphasizing class struggle and the agency of marginalized groups. However, these perspectives, too, had limitations—especially in...