Transcript Some facts and figures regarding the book..

The Group 4 consists of ,
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Sumesh Soman ;
Divya Chouhan ;
Sweta Yadav ;
Krisna Kumar Tiwaty
Indradeep Roy CHowdhury
6. Garima
7. Ajay Jha
8. Abhay
9. Saratbabu
Introduction
Some facts and figures regarding the book..
Title : The Argumentative Indians
Author : Dr. Amartya Sen
Publisher’s: Penguin publishers’
Year of Publishing: 2005
The purpose : To highlight & justify the different aspects
of Indian culture, religion, social and politics by means
of plethora of examples containing argumentative
behaviors of Indians.
The context : The citation of diverse and multifaceted
character of Indian rich culture and its’ evolution
through ‘arguments’ in a verve and candid way.
The intended readers : This book is basically aimed for
the a specific portion of the society, the intellectual .
Introduction
About author…………….
 Amartya Sen ( born on 3r Nov. 1933) , is an Indian
economist, a prolific writer , a researcher and a socialist who
likes to explore and articulate the different dimensions of the
society.
In the year of 1998, he was awarded with Nobel Memorial
Prize in Economic sciences , for his contributions to welfare
economics and social choice theorem.
Currently he has honored the post of professor of Economics
and Philosophy of Harvard University.
 Other books of Dr. Sen include, India: Development and
Participation , Development as Freedom, The Idea of Justice ,
On Ethics and Economics etc.
 Among many of his great contributions towards the mankind
includes, finding solutions for curbing the shortage of food in
affected areas, and mooted the notion of United Nations
Human Development Index.
Introduction
“ Just consider how terrible the day of your death be,
Others will go on speaking, and you’ll not be able to argue back.”
Raja Ram Mohon Roy, the great Bengali social worker
The profound and prolific writer come socialist of Bengal have echoed the
concept of something, which gets reiterated in the creation of Sen.
Introduction
An overview of the content………….
 Its’ the argument , which is the tradition of India, according to the writer
and through out his work he has decided to convey the same.
 Argument is indispensible for every segment of human life including
science, religion, integration of country, nationalism in order to thrive ,
transcend and extend its’ wing of prosperity.
 Issues like, gender, Hindutva movement, poverty , deprivation has been
mentioned.
Introduction
Purpose:
 Highlighting the argumentative tradition of India .

Edifying the society through arguments .

Highlighting the secularism and scepticism of Indian history.

Way forward to all social problems .
Summary
 Voice and Heterodoxy:
i) Argumentative tradition ;
ii) Social relevance ;
 Culture and Identity :
i) Communication as cultural tool ;
ii) Western idea of India
iii) India and China ;
Summary
 Politics , protest and its’ role in society :
i) Social problems
ii) Class issues of India
 Role of Reasons :
i) Reach of reason ;
ii) Secularism ;
iii) Indian Identity ;
Evaluation
Strengths & Weakness…
Strengths/positive points:
i.
ii.
Exploring a wide range of Indian social structure ;
Making use of numerous examples from all around the globe and across the
thousands of centuries , to support his ‘argument;
iii. Generating thoughts like ‘million missing women” ( in page no.-225) , and
supporting his thought of “Hinduism is above scepticism”.
Weakness/areas of improvement:
i.
ii.
The “Argumentative Indian” contains too much of citation from different sources ,
which generates a kind of fatigue in readers’ mind ;
Could have made bit more interesting by providing some ‘anecdotes’ ;
Evaluation
Uses of sources…..
 The entire documentary consists of thousands of information which have
been derived from all around the globe , of different era, by different authors
and the great epics.
The two great Indian epic “Ramayana” & “Mahabharata”, the Vedas,
Upanishads , Buddhists notion, quotes from renowned authors , poets, noble
laureates , freedom fighters…..Sen has made every possible resources available
to ameliorate his creation.
Methodology & Organization……
The methodology that Sen has adopted is quite systematic and he has started to
raise his voice start from the “heterodoxy in voice” to cultural aspect to religion;
he also pronounced his voice on the politics and the Hinduism & secularism.
In the entire scenario , he has organized the entire scenario of Indian society in a
compact methodology. But somehow he could have mentioned the
chronological order of development in order to make it more interesting.
Evaluation
Presentation…
 The knowledge, erudition , scholarly touch of Sen has been showered profusely in
his this creation .
The way in which he has explained his ‘different’ arguments by means of lucid yet
enriched language with a classy way of presenting the ‘dichotomy’ of the diverse
aspects of India…..is simply unexplainable.
Personal Experience
& Recommendation to others…
 As a reader, one bound to have the experience of ‘enriching’ and extending his
knowledge…once he go through the book.
 The exploration of different facets will always help him to raise his knowledge.
 As for foreign readers, they’ll gain some real inputs regarding India.
Conclusion
Opinion :

It is just because he has tried something stupendous , at time it seems
that perhaps he somehow elaborated things a bit more than it should
be instead of consolidating the thoughts.
 But if anybody wants to have an overview of the complete India and he
can afford to miss some tid-bits, it is always a book of choice for him.
Conclusion
 In his book , Sen has tried to convey two messages to us :
i) Indian culture is lot more than just the Hindu culture it is known for ;
ii) The “argumentative” characteristic of the nation i.e. its long tradition of
dialectic , heterodoxy , debate, discourse, critical and analytical thinking is
what keeps it alive and gives it its credibility and character.
Conclusion
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high ;
Where knowledge is free ;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls;…
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its’ way into the dreary
desert sands of dead habit;….
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father , let my country awake. “