Political Science with Rural Administration

The idea of security has drastically changed over time, especially in the post-Cold War period and emphasised has been shifted from traditional security threats to non-traditional security threats as far as nation-States in the contemporary world are concerned. The non-traditional security threats in its ambit include the non-State actors, terrorist networks, biological warfare, cyber-crime networks and the present COVID-19 pandemic other than food, water, internal security and environment issues which revolve around the human face of security. These were demarcated as new security threats or ‘new-age threats’ with a paradigm shift where India is not outside of its purview. Therefore, discourses and debates centering to non-traditional security approach have impacted the scenario of international relations and foreign policies of the nation-States of the world in general and India in specific. With the above, the paper tries to explore the variables of non-traditional security threats in the light of India’s peculiar condition and discusses the related issues and challenges. It also discusses the meaning, definition, and conceptual framework of NTS, as a basis for discussion of India’s typical non-traditional security problems in present days.

Keywords: Non-traditional Security, Variables of NTS, Human Security, Non-state Actors, Environment, COVID-19, Indian Scenario

One of the major problems for the vast majority of the rural population in India is the inadequate or almost
non-existent access to fertile land. Rural poverty in India has its roots in the absence of access to land. Securing access
rights to land are also an imperative for food security. Without land security, efforts to use the natural resources for
tribals’ development in a sustainable manner may not be fruitful. The skewed nature of land distribution in India is
reflected in the fact that approximately 2 percent of landholders own 25 percent of land whereas 98 percent of
landholders own just 75 percent of land. Around forty-three percent of rural households in the country are landless. In
order to bring a balance and bridge the gap between the poor landless and the rich landed peasantry, a number of land
reform legislation were promulgated after independence. The state of Odisha1 also initiated a number of legislative
reforms to improve access to land. The Orissa Land Reform Act of 1960 was regarded as a watershed in giving land right
to tenants. It was meant to go beyond the ideological goal of “land to the tiller” and achieve the more pragmatic
objective of promoting proper and effective utilization of land in an effort to increase food production in the state and the
country, by extension. Though a number of progressive legislations were promulgated in Odisha after independence,
their implementation remains a major concern. The Land Ceiling Act was enacted in 1974 with the intention of bringing
economic and social justice among the weaker sections of the society. The ceiling surplus operation failed to yield the
desired result because of lack of actual physical possession by the beneficiary, unavailability of records of rights, and
poor land quality making it almost impossible for him/her to cultivate the land and at times even identify it.

Keywords: Tribal Communities of India (Odisha), Land Alienation, Encroachment, Displacement, Land Reform
Legislations, Land and Food Security, Land and Tribal Movement, State Repression, Maoism

Even after seven decades of India's independence, the status of the Dalits remain unchanged where caste system, along with the practice of untouchability, remains a universal phenomenon of rural India, and the state of Odisha is not an exception. Among various issues that the Dalits in the state are facing, the greatest problem is that they are not allowed to worship inside some of the temples even today, by the upper caste Hindus. Against this flagitious practice, voices from the marginalized concerned have been raised time and again. However, like other states, the state of Odisha has not witnessed a strong all-Odisha Dalit movement either in colonial or in postcolonial period. But this does not mean that Dalits in the state are silently tolerating all caste oppressions and are not conscious; rather, they have protested against the dominant castes from time to time. There are different phases of Dalit protest literature and movements in the state from precolonial period to the present day. The state has witnessed some small, sporadic and scattered Dalit movements, and protest literature against the caste system and untouchability in the past, but these remained limited within the form of literature and religion due to various reasons. In this juncture, an endeavour has been made in this article to articulate and unify these small sporadic Dalit movements and protest literatures into a theoretical account by building coherency and continuity in its nature and spirit.

The period between colonialism and the twenty-first century gives horrible glimpses of temple entry and the violence attached with that. Keeping temple entry as an important issue in mind, here, the article reveals the social exclusion and the cultural subjugation of the Dalits since the colonial period to the present day. Dalits in the colonial period and also in present day are denied their social and religious rights in Hindu religion. The right to enter the temple is a fundamental right of a citizen in a religion like Hinduism. Among the various issues that Dalits have voiced since the colonial period, the issue of temple entry along with untouchability is one of the most important. It is not only a matter of excuse that Dalits till the present day (after seven decades of India's independence) are not allowed to enter inside the temple in some rural areas of the country. The temple entry bill and the legislations have also been adopted by the princely states and the Parliament of India in different times, but still, Dalits are not allowed to enter the Hindu temples even in various parts of India, for instance, in the Kendrapara district of Odisha. As temple entry is an important issue for Dalits as well as for upper caste Hindus in social and religious life, it is pertinent to revisit the historiography of temple entry movements including the contemporary movements which remain important in religious, social and academic spheres. With the aforementioned backdrop, the article first provides a synoptic view on the historiography of Dalit movements in India and on 'the Gandhi-Ambedkar debate on caste, untouchability and the issue of temple entry' as a background for the study, and the latter sections thoroughly explores the historicity of temple entry movements and the social exclusion and cultural subjugation inherited with it since the colonial period to the present day. The article also provides a particular section on the temple entry movement in Odisha (2005-2006) which is based on the empirical works of the author and examines the issue in a critical lens with observations and findings.

Traditional Indian society was founded on Varna and Jati, as is commonly known. This system has a long history and has experienced significant modifications throughout time, yet caste continues to be a prominent institution in our socioeconomic , religious, and political structures after 75 years of India's independence. The idea of untouchability has been the most perplexing and troubling aspect of the caste system. While Dalit movements in colonial India attempted to dismantle the upper castes' elite history by concentrating on Dalit history, heritage, epistemology, and worldview; Dalit movements in the postcolonial time attempted to construct and recreate the pan-Indian Dalit identity through a variety of identity politics and social-political movements. With the above backdrop, the article tries to explore some of the contemporary Dalit movements in India and examines its deep relation to the Bhim Army, Rohith Vemula case and Koregaon Bhima incident which not only influenced the contemporary Dalit movements in India but also have contributed for arousing Dalit consciousness for a pan-Indian dalit identity, organisation and movement. The paper also vividly examines the issues and challenges in the path of Dalit movements in the 21 st century under the impact of neoliberal globalisation.

The concept of security has changed in the post-Cold War periods which emphasised upon non-traditional dimension and include the socio-economic and environment security issues, non-state actors, terrorist networks, biological warfare, cyber-crime networks and the present COVID-19 pandemic which revolve around the human face of security. These were demarcated as new security threats or ‘new-age threats’. Now, the non-traditional security approach has impacted the post-Cold War international relations and foreign policies of the nation-states including academic discourses. Hence, the article aims to provide a theoretical framework for the discussion on non-traditional security threats including the theories and variables followed by the conclusion.

Keywords: Non-traditional Security, Theories of NTS, Realist, Liberal, Copenhagen, Critical Theory, Variables of NTS, Human Security, Non-state Actors, Environment, COVID-19.