The Role of Social Research by Ambrose Pinto SJ

The Role of Social Research

Ambrose Pinto SJ

 First published in http://www.sjweb.info/Sjs/pjold/pj_show.cfm?PubTextID=5632

What is Social Science Research?

Social science research engages with social issues through in-depth analysis of the social, economic and cultural dimensions of communities and of individuals who comprise them. The quantitative method in social science research depends on quantifying social phenomena through questionnaires, statistical data and surveys; its conclusions are based on numerical data. The qualitative method concentrates on personal experiences and the meaning of social phenomena; its inferences are based on interpretation. Social science research involves the people being studied in a profound way; they alone can provide both the information and the meaning and are as essential to research projects as the social science expert.

JESUITS, INTELLECTUAL LIFE AND MISSION IN INDIA by Ambrose Pinto

JESUITS, INTELLECTUAL LIFE AND MISSION IN INDIA[1]

Ambrose Pinto SJ

First published in http://www.sjweb.info/sjs/pjold/pj_show.cfm?PubTextID=4079

I am a Jesuit from India, heading a University college. Just a month ago, a fellow Jesuit from the Province of Mumbai who completed his doctoral studies at the National Law School, Bangalore, was felicitated by the community, and at this function he made a presentation on intellectual life in the Society of Jesus. The reflections in this paper were provoked by that presentation. What struck me most was that the institutions of the Society in India – our schools and colleges – have produced more intellectuals in different spheres than the Society of Jesus from its members. And yet it is important to ask, “What kind of intellectuals has the Society of Jesus produced both from within and through its institutions? Are they really the people who belong to the intellectual class in the Jesuit sense?”

Mainstream Vol. XLVIII, No 17, April 17, 2010

Should Dalit Christians/Muslims be excluded from Reservation?

Monday 19 April 2010, by Ambrose Pinto

The Ranganath Mishra Commission Report was tabled in December 2009 in Parliament. Some of its important recommendations are 15 per cent reservation to minorities in education, Central and State Government jobs and social welfare schemes in the OBC quota. Out of 15 per cent reservation for minorities, the Report recommends 10 per cent to Muslims and the remaining five per cent to other minorities. It also recommends the inclusion of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims in the list of the Scheduled Castes. How is the Report different from the present practice? At present all minorities, including the so-called Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians, are entitled to reservation of 8.4 per cent out of the 27 per cent reservation meant for the OBCs. This percentage has been hiked and religion has been kept out of reservation for the SCs in the Report.

Was there tampering with EVMs (ElectronicVoting Machines) in UP Elections? by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LV No 14 New Delhi March 25, 2017

Was there tampering with EVMs 

(ElectronicVoting Machines) in UP Elections?

Saturday 25 March 2017, by Ambrose Pinto

Kumari Mayawati, the chief of the Bahujan Samaj Party, has alleged that the prime reason for the landslide victory of the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh elections is due to tampering with the EVMs. “How come the BJP managed to win in Muslim bastions across the State? Did the EVMs not accept votes cast for other parties?”—Mayawati wondered. Though one is unsure whether there was tampering of the machines or not, she has a valid point in her allegations.

Communalism and Hate Speech by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, Vol XLVII, No 15, March 28, 2009

Communalism and Hate Speech

Thursday 2 April 2009, by Ambrose Pinto

Ordinary terms used by ordinary people to express significant experiences can be turned into hate speech. The word “conversion”, for example, means a profound experience of personal or social transformation. For Ambedkar, conversions were a symbolic expression of protest against caste. In one of his public discourses, he had said that “though born a Hindu, he will never die as one”. His outbursts were primarily because of the personal and social trauma that he and his community had undergone as untouchables in the Hindu social system. For Kabir, Buddha and Vardhman Mahavira and other mystics, religion was a personal transformation that helped them to be reformers in the system.

Why do we Need the Prevention of Communal Violence Bill? by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LI, No 47, November 9, 2013

Why do we Need the Prevention of Communal Violence Bill?

Tuesday 12 November 2013, by Ambrose Pinto

If media reports are right, then the UPA Government is likely to table the Communal Violence Bill in the winter session of Parliament. There has been wide opposition to the Bill. The media has alleged that the Bill is for appeasement of minorities and a vote-catching device for the UPA in the elections of 2014. Even the Centrist forces have accused the UPA for planning to introduce the Bill just prior to the coming elections while the Congress party had promised to enact it in their manifesto as soon as they took over power.

Sri Lankan War Crimes: Need for an International Inquiry by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LI, No 48, November 16, 2013

Sri Lankan War Crimes: Need for an International Inquiry

Tuesday 19 November 2013, by Ambrose Pinto

David Cameron, the Prime Minister of England, is not the first one to call for an international inquiry into allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka. Perhaps, he will be the first one among the heads of state to visit the war-ravaged north of Sri Lanka where he will meet people directly impacted by the civil war that ended in 2009 after the genocide of roughly a lakh-and-a-half of people. Sri Lanka has refused to answer the many questions on those war crimes. They have boldly stated that what took place in the northern part of their country is their business and the international community should not poke their nose into the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. Those killed were terrorists, and killed in the national interest to end terrorism and defend the rights of citizens.

A Symphony of the Absurd by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LI, No 50, November 30, 2013

A Symphony of the Absurd

Sunday 1 December 2013, by Ambrose Pinto

To secular Indians, who hold that religion belongs to the private and personal space, two recent national events of three state agencies should be a matter of concern. The first one was the act of ISRO Chairman Dr K. Radhakrishnan performing pooja with the replica of the Mars Orbiter Mission at the Lord Venkateshwara Temple in Tirupati a day before the launch of the spacecraft from Sriharikota. The second one was the digging for gold by the Archaeological Department with support from the Geological Survey of India on the basis of a dream of a holy man.

The Economics of Pope Francis by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LII No 1, December 28, 2013 - ANNUAL 2013

The Economics of Pope Francis

Sunday 29 December 2013, by Ambrose Pinto

The Catholic Church is the largest denomination among Christian churches with a membership of more than 1.2 billion.1 Its membership is scattered across the globe with a large institutional presence. The Pope as the Head of the Catholic Church not only commands respect among the Catholics but is held in high esteem by people of other faiths as well. As a global leader, his message does influence educational and social institutions established by the church. These Catholic educational, theological, social and other institutions from primary to the universities and centres of social sciences across the globe derive inspiration from the papal teachings. The church is also involved in grassroots movements.

Loss of an Ideological Battle by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LII, No 25, June 14, 2014

Loss of an Ideological Battle

Saturday 14 June 2014, by Ambrose Pinto

As people committed to Centrist politics, the victory of the BJP in the parliamentary elections has saddened many of us. That in no way means that we are making a case for the existing Congress. Not many tears are shed for the defeat of the Congress. The Congress surely deserved what it got, 44 seats in a House of 543, the lowest ever. The party can only reap what it had sown. Not only scams and scandals during the UPA regime, there was also plenty of arrogance besides the total betrayal of the poor and the subalterns. The policies of the Congress were not what the party professed. When there is a dichotomy between what the party says and what it does, then the party loses its credibility. That is what the Congress had become—a party without any ideological orientation. Of course, that lack of orientation has caused great damage to the country with no alternative to the voters.

A Liberal State is a Secular State by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LII No 27, June 28, 2014

A Liberal State is a Secular State

Saturday 28 June 2014, by Ambrose Pinto

The way certain forces have expressed their opposition to rational, critical and reflective statements during the elections and thereafter indicate that the spaces for discussion, debate and dissent are on the decline in the State of Karnataka and the country. There are unfort-unately groups affiliated to political parties that use the tactics of terror, intimidation and fear to prevent freedom of thought and expression and thus threaten the evolution of a rational society. Take the example of the response to the statements of veteran Kannada writer, U.R. Ananthamurthy. His criticism of Narendra Modi was more ideological than personal. Those who disagreed with him could have used another set of arguments to present their claims instead of verbal and psychological abuse and attacks. Then a debate would have been possible and in the process society would have been educated. Instead he was threatened with phone calls asking him ‘when he was going to leave India’ for saying: ‘I would not like to live in a country ruled by Modi.’

Kabir Kala Manch, Bangalore Police and Free Speech by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LII No 51, December 13, 2014

Kabir Kala Manch, Bangalore Police and Free Speech

Monday 15 December 2014, by Ambrose Pinto

The Kabir Kala Manch, a cultural organisation that was formed in Pune, Maharashtra in 2002 in the wake of the Gujarat riots, was in Bangalore on November 21, 2014 for a performance in St. Joseph’s College. The venue was booked days in advance. Yet on the day of the performance, the police of the nearby police station came over to the college and the institution was asked to cancel the show. According to media reports, the request to cancel the show was from the Police Commissioner of Bangalore. The reason offered was that the organisation is pro-Naxal and the college should not entertain such groups. There was no way the college could proceed with threats that the Right-wing groups might obstruct the show. Helpless at the last-minute cancellation, the theatre group had nowhere to go. They were here for a show, all young people wanted to pass on a message of concern to students of their age.

Where is the Ghar to Return when it is Unjustly Occupied? by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LIII, No 15, April 4, 2015

Where is the Ghar to Return when it is Unjustly Occupied?

Sunday 5 April 2015, by Ambrose Pinto

The SCs/STs are recognised as indigenous people of the country. They constitute more than 25 per cent of the country’s population. However, at the United Nations, the Government of India had consistently denied existence or applicability of the concept of “indigenous peoples” to these groups though the country had voted in their favour at the General Assembly on September 13, 2007. India is also a signatory to the International Labour Organisation Convention concerning the Protection and Integration of Indigenous and Other Tribal and Semi-Tribal Populations in Independent Countries. India has ratified UN conventions including the Forced Labour Convention, Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, Equal Remuneration Convention and Discrimination (Employment Occupation) Convention. Nonetheless the concept of indigenous peoples has often been questioned in India.

Karnataka Legislators are India’s Best Paid Legislators by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LIII No 24 New Delhi June 6, 2015

Karnataka Legislators are India’s Best Paid Legislators

Saturday 6 June 2015, by Ambrose Pinto

With the passing of the twoBills—the Karnataka Ministers Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pensions and allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2015—on March 30, 2015 without any debate, the legislators of Karnataka have become the richest legislators of the country. The voting was unanimous in a House that was deeply polarised after the controversy of the suicide of an IAS officer, D. K. Ravi, and the illegal denotification of the Arkavathi layout scam where the BJP had accused the Chief Minister of the State of being a party. The justification given in the Bills for the increase in the salaries and reimbursements of the legislators is that there is a considerable increase in the cost of living and the legislators were unanimous on it without a single dissenting voice. Such an exorbitant hike in salaries of the legislators has been considered as a fraud on the public.

Why A Case Against Kancha Ilaiah? by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LIII No 32 New Delhi August 1, 2015

Why A Case Against Kancha Ilaiah?

Friday 31 July 2015, by Ambrose Pinto

Professor Kancha Ilaiah is the Director of the Centre for Social Exclusion in the Maulana Azad University in Hyderabad. All through his life as an academician, he has ignited minds by raising important questions on culture, caste and spirituality. The police have now booked a case on him for an article he wrote in Andhra Jyothi, a Telugu newspaper, on whether God is a democrat or not, on the complaint by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad that the article has hurt their religious sentiments. Is it right for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to complain against the professor? Even if a complaint is made, is it enough a reason to register case against him under Section 153 (A) and Section 295 (A), which empower the authorities to act against people who commit deliberate and malicious acts aiming at outraging religious sentiment and spreading enmity between groups? It is a different question whether he will be charge-sheeted or not. The question is whether a case should have been booked at all.

Are Universities Under Ideological Attack? by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LIV No 16 New Delhi April 9, 2016

Are Universities Under Ideological Attack?

Sunday 10 April 2016, by Ambrose Pinto

Is there a concerted effort by the Sangh Parivar to infiltrate into the realm of higher education in the name of nationalism, culture and indigenous knowledge? In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, higher education was used by the powerful forces of nationalism in the USSR, Germany, Italy and even in Europe and the USA to shape national identities and serve narrow national interests. As a result higher education produced ideologues for Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, Communist Russia and China, and capitalist USA. It was a state- controlled education with clear goals and objectives without any autonomy in the educational sphere. Individuals were shaped by the ideology of the state and by being subservient to the designs aimed at promoting the legitimacy of the state.

Can we Think of South Asia without Borders? by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LIV No 28 New Delhi July 2, 2016

Can we Think of South Asia without Borders?

Friday 1 July 2016, by Ambrose Pinto

In dealing with neighbours, much of the energy of the leaders of South Asia is spent on responding to ceasefire violations on the borders. Each of these countries has become enemies of the other. There is rhetoric of hate, insecurity, control and domination in the public statements of all leaders of the neighbourhood as they respond to these violations. The daily news about new accumulation of increasing numbers of nuclear weapons and satellite launches as a part of competitive security measures to threaten or to express the military might of each of these countries towards the others is making the region more and more insecure. When India explodes a Hindu bomb, Pakistan has retaliated in the past by a Muslim bomb. China’s domination of the area has compelled India to become more security-conscious. Sri Lanka and Maldives continue to have problems with India and they look for their protection by aligning with other military forces.

Debate on Uniform Civil Code by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LIV No 32 New Delhi July 30, 2016

Debate on Uniform Civil Code

Tuesday 2 August 2016, by Ambrose Pinto

When the Prime Minister of the country makes a request to the Law Commission to examine the case of uniform civil code, like many others I wonder whether there are ulterior motives given his commitment to a definite ideology. Modi is a representation and he represents a definite school of thought. When he decides to request the Law Commission to provide him with inputs on the uniform civil code, he may have reasons or a hidden agenda. In the past there have been people with a liberal outlook who have made a plea for uniform civil code so that the laws of the country are premised on universal principles of human rights irrespective of caste, creed and gender.

Saffron Law in Congress-ruled Karnataka by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LIV No 44 New Delhi October 22, 2016

Saffron Law in Congress-ruled Karnataka

Sunday 23 October 2016, by Ambrose Pinto

The pseudo-nationalists have made Kashmir an issue of nationalism in Karnataka. If individuals or groups meet together to discuss or debate on Kashmir or screen a documentary about Kashmir, it is termed an anti-national act. In the month of August at a meeting held at an important city college, I was requested to preside over a panel, consisting of two Professors—one from the University of Bangalore and another from a Centrally-funded university—a Kashmiri journalist working in Bangalore and a former Foreign Service bureaucrat, discussing the Kashmir issue. The objective of the college, of course, was noble. As a part of the curriculum they had sufficiently prepared for the panel through readings and classroom presentations.

Why I think Ramnath Kovind is not the Right Candidate to be President of India by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LV No 28 New Delhi July 1, 2017

Why I think Ramnath Kovind is not the Right Candidate to be President of India

Saturday 1 July 2017, by Ambrose Pinto

That the UPA and NDA have chosen Dalits to be candidates for the office of the President is an expression of the importance of the Dalit constituency in the politics of India. As a person with a public conscience, however, I tend to hold that the NDA candidate, Sri Ramnath Kovind, is a big disappointment. Though a Dalit, he has not served the Dalit cause all through the years of his politics. It is true, the BJP has an ideology of its own. One did not expect them to nominate someone beyond and above their ideology. Any person the BJP nominates has to serve the party’s political end. As a party, the BJP has been anti-Dalit and anti-minority. In choosing a Dalit in the person of Ramnath Kovind, the party has found someone who would further the cause of the party than the Dalit cause.

Dr Sanjay Kumar Biswas (1945-2013) by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LI, No 40, September 21, 2013

Dr Sanjay Kumar Biswas (1945-2013)

Sunday 22 September 2013, by Ambrose Pinto

TRIBUTE

Sanjay was a Professor at the Indian Institute of Science and I was a teacher at St. Joseph’s College. He was a mechanical engineer and I taught political science. While he was a Communist, I was a Jesuit, a member of the Catholic Church. He was a Bengali and I am a Mangalorean, born and bred in the State (Karnataka). We met more than two decades ago. We were different and yet not once did we feel that we were not comrades in a common mission. We grew into intimate friends and collaborators in a common mission of making a difference. At least once a week we spoke to each other or met to converse, to plan or to organise. He was a frequent visitor to the campus and the house and we sat over a cup of coffee or tea conversing and discussing several times on the interventions we could make to make the young aware and agents of change.

British Legacy in Education: Is it “Cultural Pollution”? by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, VOL LI, No 39, September 14, 2013

British Legacy in Education: Is it “Cultural Pollution”?

Sunday 15 September 2013, by Ambrose Pinto

In an impressive seminar a noted Dalit columnist of The Pioneer, Chandra Bhan Prasad, had once said some years ago in Delhi that the Britishers “came too late to India and left too early”. India would not have been a modern state today with inclusion of all communities if the Britishers had not invaded the country with their language and culture was his argument. Without mincing words, he had asserted that the lives and cultures of the subaltern communities had no place as long as the Brahmanic education and culture was the only form of education that was existent. In contrast to Sanskrit education, English language has liberated the Indian minds and culture, he had opined.

Lalgarh: Intellectuals, Maoists and the State by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, Vol XLVII, No 30, July 11, 2009

Lalgarh: Intellectuals, Maoists and the State

Saturday 11 July 2009, by Ambrose Pinto

Intellectuals concerned with issues of people have been under attack in recent years in different states. The Karnataka Government had prepared a list of teachers of colleges, editors of newspapers and some NGOs alleging them to be close to the Naxals in the State because of their involvement in the anti-communal struggle. A group of them including Girish Karnad, Professor Govind Rao, Dr Sridhar and a host others were arrested in 2003 when they had gone to participate in a rally in support of the Supreme Court decision to maintain neutrality at the Bababudan Giri shrine in Chikmagalur when the saffron forces were attempting to communalise the Sufi shrine. In fact, it was the Congress Government headed by S.M. Krishna, the present Foreign Minister of the country, that was in power then.

Communalism and Hate Speech by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, Vol XLVII, No 15, March 28, 2009

Communalism and Hate Speech

Thursday 2 April 2009, by Ambrose Pinto

Ordinary terms used by ordinary people to express significant experiences can be turned into hate speech. The word “conversion”, for example, means a profound experience of personal or social transformation. For Ambedkar, conversions were a symbolic expression of protest against caste. In one of his public discourses, he had said that “though born a Hindu, he will never die as one”. His outbursts were primarily because of the personal and social trauma that he and his community had undergone as untouchables in the Hindu social system. For Kabir, Buddha and Vardhman Mahavira and other mystics, religion was a personal transformation that helped them to be reformers in the system.

Why We Oppose ‘Green Hunt’ Saturday by Ambrose Pinto

Mainstream, Vol XLVIII, No 11, March 6, 2010

Why We Oppose ‘Green Hunt’

Saturday 6 March 2010, by Ambrose Pinto

For the tribals and the poor, “Green Hunt” is nothing else but a united front of state and mining corporations to grab their land and rich natural resources by silencing the voices of those who fight for their homeland rights. The state, the tribals and the poor believe, is in nexus with the designs of the multinational and Transnational corporations. The Honourable Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, had said that sacred hills do not give people food to eat or clothes to wear. That is why he explains that the state has decided to modernise and industrialise the tribal belt to provide food, clothing and employment. The only question the tribals are raising is whether they have any say over the model of development that the state has decided to impose on them. Can the state along with the corporations decide what kind of development they should adopt in a democracy? What has happened to the tribal self-rule law?