Himalayan Studies in India

The book introduces the readers to a plethora of subjects that are being dealt with by Indian scholars specialising in Himalayan Studies in the twenty first century. The discourses contained in this book pertain to social-scientific investigation on the Himalayas in recent years. Various experts from the disciplines of History, Geography, Political Science, Economics and Sociology have contributed on a variety of thought-provoking issues ranging from geo-politics and security aspects, insurgency issues, globalization and related phenomena, environmental resources and problems associated with the distribution of resources, and culture in respect of language, religion and gender studies. The topics chosen for this edited book are mostly related to the Eastern Himalayas, so that the dearth of information on this part of the Himalayas can be lessened.

Maitreyee Choudhury (b. 1959) teacher at the Centre for Himalayan Studies, North Bengal University. She studied Geography at the University of Calcutta and was awarded doctoral fellowship by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). She served as the Head of the Department of Geography, Sikkim Government College, Gangtok, for seven years. Later she joined the Centre for Himalayan Studies as a Reader (1996) and had been the Director of the Centre for three years. She had been the Principal Investigator of a major Research Project on Sikkim sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and has Forests, Government of India, and several minor projects on the Eastern Himalayas. Dr. Choudhury is working and writing on the Himalayas for over two decades and has authored numerous research papers, articles, project report and edited a journal and an anthology on Himalayan Studies.