Akshay Ramanlal Desai

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Akshay Ramanlal Desai
Born(1915-04-26)26 April 1915
Nadiad, British India
Died12 November 1994(1994-11-12) (aged 79)
Vadodara, Gujarat, India
NationalityIndian
EducationMA, LLB, PhD
Alma materUniversity of Mumbai
Employers
  • University of Mumbai
  • Indian Sociological Society
Spouse
​
(m. 1947)​
ChildrenMihir Desai
ParentRamanlal Desai (father)
Awards
  • Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Award for Social Sciences (1987)
  • Best Sociologist of the Year (1987) by UGC

Akshay Ramanlal Desai (26 April 1915 – 12 November 1994) was an Indian sociologist, Marxist[1] and a social activist.[2] He was Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology in University of Bombay in 1967.[3] He is particularly known for his work Social Background of Indian Nationalism in which he offered a Marxist analysis of the genesis of Indian nationalism making use of history, which set a path to build socialism in India.[4][5]

Biography

Desai was born in

ICSSR).[2] He authored several books in English and Gujarati which are translated into other languages. He wrote pamphlets and booklets in regional languages for common people in addition to books and pamphlets for those in academia.[6][2] He was president, Gujarat Sociological Society (1988–1990) and was President of the 15th All India Sociological Conference held at Meerut in 1980.[2][7] From 1980 to 1981, he was President of the Indian Sociological Society.[8]

He married Neera Desai in 1947, and they had a son, Mihir Desai, presently a human rights lawyer and an advocate in the Supreme Court of India.[4]

Work and views

In his attempt to understand Indian society from a Marxian perspective, he consistently applied Marxist methods in his treatment of Indian social structure and processes and adopted a

Rural Sociology showed how change and development was taking place in Indian rural society.[10] [unreliable source?] While focusing on the relevance of the Marxist approach for Indian society in his presidential address of AISC, he gave notice to the mainstream that Marxism indeed had a place in Sociology and accordingly created a forum for scholars in University of Bombay to broaden their horizons of research.[11] He was one of the concerned members of the Human Rights Commission which selected a tribunal to investigate cases of human rights violations by the state[12] and also extended support to groups seeking justice through demonstrations, meetings and workshops.[13]

Selected publications

Books

Edited volumes

Selected journal articles

References

  1. JSTOR 4289420. Closed access icon
  2. ^ a b c d Chattopadhyaya, Kaushik (2015). "A Tribute To A Sociologist:Akshay Ramanlal Desai(1915–1994)" (PDF). Edulight. 4 (7): 59–70.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "ARDesai". University of Mumbai- Department of Sociology.
  4. ^
    ISSN 0012-9976
    .
  5. ISBN 978-81-7930-688-8
    .
  6. ^ (Patel 2007b)
  7. S2CID 220051429. Closed access icon
  8. ^ "Office bearers over the years". Indian Sociological Society. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  9. ^ Mondal, Puja (11 April 2014). "Akshy Ramanlal Desai – biography and contribution to indian sociology". your article library.
  10. ^ "Rural Sociology in India" (PDF). Economic and Political Weekly. 7 March 1959.
  11. JSTOR 23620395. Closed access icon
  12. ^ D'Mello, Bernard (24 January 1987). "Democratic Rights Indian Peoples' Human Rights Commission". Economic and Political Weekly. 22 (4). Mumbai: 121. Closed access icon
  13. ISSN 0012-9976. Closed access icon

Further reading

External links
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