Soviet Studies in India

Abstract

Paradoxically enough, while India's interest in the USSR has been traditionally keen and deep, Indian achievements in the realm of Russian and Soviet studies have been negligible. This is clearly seen in the almost total absence within India of indigenous Sovietologists, Russian research centres or even attempts to elevate studies on the USSR to the level of an academic discipline. This paradox appears all the more striking if one compares India's performance in this field with those of other countries. Many western countries, of which the United States is a notable example, have greatly augmented facilities for teaching and academic research in Russian and Soviet affairs in the post-war years. At present there exist, within the United States alone, as many as seventy university departments and research centres devoted to the systematic study of Russia before and after the Revolution of 1917. The rapid strides the U.S.A. has made in these studies in the post war years are evidenced by the fact that, compared to the two hundred and fifty doctoral dissertations on Russia and the Soviet Union submitted in the century between 1850 and 1950, one thousand of them have been completed since that date alone.1 In comparison, India is languishing far behind despite her traditional interest in the USSR. How does one explain this curious Indian paradox? No doubt the key is to be found primarily in the country's colonial past and in the attitude of the British Government towards this question.