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The British parliament passed the Government of India Act 1858 through which the Indian empire of the British East India Company was transferred from the Company to the British Crown. Along with many other changes that this Act brought about in India, a process of indigenization of institutions and Indianisation of services was started to make the governance process inclusive. This indigenization process included establishing a local government system and granting autonomy to it. Moreover, these institutions were handed over to the Indians who were elected to their offices and remained in them for the prescribed period of time. Furthermore, the eligibility and franchise were restricted either to property holding, education and/or the payment of taxes. The British Indian government achieved two-fold objectives through this policy innovation: on the one hand, this ensured inclusiveness of public policy to make governance effective and efficacious while on the other hand, this inclusiveness built trust among people and encouraged them to pay more taxes to make the empire stronger. In modern parlance, this process was the initiation of democratization in British India the results of which were yielded to the successor states after the withdrawal of British rule in 1947. Its beneficial effects and support to democracy can well be assessed by drawing a comparison with any successor state getting independence from German or French colonial rule where this process did not take place. The present study is aimed at exploring the British policy of local self-government and the class/classes that it was designed to serve as well as to highlight the principles on which these local bodies were erected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan, in terms of its physical and psycho-social environment, is one of the most vulnerable states in the world. Since its independence in 1947, it has struggled to achieve socio-economic stability, internal and external security and good governance. However, extremism, bad governance, authoritarianism and lack of tolerance are the hallmarks of Pakistani polity since many decades. This study is based upon the framework of analysis developed by Jared Diamond in his various historical studies. His framework encompasses the evolution and development of trajectories of progress in human existence on the basis of available compulsions and opportunities offered by geography, environment and historical experiences. The present paper tries to explore the causes of the ills of Pakistani society by tracing their origins in geography, history and the traumatic events which have contributed in shaping the character and outlook of the people and the state of Pakistan. Some of relevant analogies have been drawn from the national characters of few other nations too which have passed through the same historical experiences or locked in geographical barriers as are being faced by Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anjuman Khuddam-i-Kaaba (Society of the Servants of Kaaba) was established in May, 1913, with the objective of protecting holy places of Islam located, then, in the domain (modern day Saudi Arabia) of Turkish Empire. The establishment of such an organization was necessitated by the rising tide of pan-Islamism. The rising trend of pan-Islamism in India was due, mainly, to the particular conditions of Muslim elite (ashrafiah) who felt disempowered and rendered irrelevant under the colonial administrative structure. This loss of temporal Muslim authority in India made Muslim elite take refuge in asserting their identity as deeming themselves part of larger community of Muslim world (ummah). Moreover, the reformed and willed individual self who believed in struggle within inner-self and outer mundane life, started asserting his/her identity as a Muslim who was poised to do his/her best for the community of Muslims. The contemporary declining conditions of Muslims and their subjugation by colonial powers encouraged their solidarity on the basis of ummah as increasingly relevant to take refuge in. The establishment of Anjuman Khuddam-i-Kaaba was but one such expression of assertion of Muslim identity by bringing sanctity of the sacred places of Islam in political arena. It envisioned massive projects for the welfare of Muslim community of India including making its own ship making company to facilitate pilgrims of Hajj (sing. Haji, plu. hujjaj) besides its main function i.e. the protection of holy places of Islam in Makkah and Madina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern conception of individual rights took many centuries to emerge in its current state. The Europeans trace the origin of representative traditions of democratic political system and many aspects of their culture to ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, collectively referred as the 'Western Heritage'. The idea germinated during the intellectual, cultural, and religious reform movements, and this growth took speed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The movements of Renaissance, Reformation and Humanism played a key role in the emancipation of people. This paper recaptures the history of the origin and development of individual rights within European context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) was launched by Bhutto in 1967, which pledged to have reforms in industrial and agriculture sector, after coming into power. Moreover, the manifesto of the party reflected a strong socialist tendency and election campaign was also directed towards creating an aura of socialist longings. It was partly expected to yield dividends in the backdrop of the popularization of the famous twenty-two families' phenomena. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came into power as a result of the first general elections held in 1970. Pakistan had lost East Pakistan in December, 1971 and state of Bangladesh appeared on world's map. Amidst these crucial times, political, social, and economic stresses were overwhelming for the country. Thus, after winning elections, Bhutto started economic reforms on massive scale. Through these reforms, a series of nationalization of industries was carried out; and such steps distressed not only the large-scale but the medium-scale industries also. These reforms had a potential of immediate and long term effects not only on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the PPP era (1970-77) but for the economic future of the country as well. The mandate of this paper is to explore and examine the short and long term effects of the 'policy of nationalization' on Pakistan's economy in general and industrial sector in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karl Marx is one of the nineteenth century's most influential philosophers of history. He, besides history, was a philosopher of sociology, economics and political economy. He advocated joining and strengthening an intellectual working class movement the destiny of which, he predicted, was to overthrow capitalism as a socio-political and economic system and replace it with a more humane system that could deliver people while discouraging sheer inequities and disparities. He believed his writings would provide this movement with a theoretical insight and make it stronger. There is no denying that he often emphasized that the movement is propelled by circumstances and will accomplish its mission of universal human emancipation. He created differences with others on the basis of not only his interpretation of history but also on the nature of politicalactivism and ideological fervour engendered by his amalgam of ideology and history. Marx was the one whose intellectual endeavours and achievements, in economics, social theory and history, deserves to be called 'philosophical' exposition in the most honorific sense of this term. He interpreted human past in a way that unfolds materialistic aspect of human nature and social conditions. Human beings are conditioned by the circumstances they pass through; this ceaseless combat between humans and material social conditions determines the course of history. Marx's contributions in social theory, economics and history gave birth to a new genre of historiography, namely Marxist historiography. Historians of this school of historiography interpret history in consonance with what Marx conceived of human past, present and future. Marxist historians use typical diction, jargon and terminology to ascribe importance to matter as prime-agent in progression of human historical process. This makes Marxist historiography a distinct and separate branch of the discipline of history. Marx wrote many books and founded the International Working Men's Association in 1864 and guided it through holding six congresses in the next nine years. He remained active in the working class movement throughout his life. He left an indelible imprint on the discipline of history; post-modernist and subaltern studies schools of historiography take many inspirations from and are grounded in the base provided by Marxist historiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]