HISTORY

The history of the department may be highlighted in terms of its leadership and thus seen broadly in three phases. The first phase began with the establishment of the Department in 1958 and lasted till 1973 (15 years) when Prof. V.Venkata Rao, the founder head relinquished his office on superannuation. The second phase began when the mantle of headship passed on to Prof. D.P. Barooah and continued till his appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Gauhati University in 1986. With the appointment of Prof. (Ms) Niru Hazarika as Head in 1986, the headship of the Department has since become rotational every three years. Thereafter, headship has been held on the basis of seniority by Prof. P.S. Reddi (1989-92), Prof. Niru Hazarika for second term (1992-95), Prof. Kunja Medhi (1995-98), Prof. Anuradha Dutta (1998-2001), Prof. Monirul Hussain (2001-2004) and Prof. Niru Hazarika from January 2004 for the third term. In 2006, Prof.Sandhya Goswami has assumed the charge of the Department.

The foundation for academic pursuit in the discipline of Political Science was laid down in the first phase itself under the stewardship of Prof. V. V. Rao and it consolidated its position as a pioneer in the discipline during the second phase under the leadership of Prof. D. P. Barooah. During the third phase of the Department, it continued to prosper with tremendous inputs from its own students joining as faculty members. Presently the Department has qualified faculties- specialized in different emerging areas of political science like administration and governance, gender studies, electoral politics and democracy, development, displacement and democracy, peace and conflict studies, human security, environmental politics etc.

The Department has also been associated with various national and international research institutes. Prof. Sandhya Goswami, is the coordinator for Assam for National Election Studies (NES) conducted by the Centre for the Studies of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi. and also the state coordinator for the State of the Nation Survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi in collaboration with CNN-IBN Television. Professor Monirul Hussain is associated with the Human Security Project in South Asia conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), which is being sponsored by Ford Foundation. Prof. Hussain is also involved in the team which is preparing the India Social Development Report 2008 under the Council for Social Development, New Delhi. Dr. Akhil Ranjan Dutta acted as institutional and gender/caste expert in the UNICEF sponsored Project on Rapid Sector Assessment of Water Supply and Sanitation in Assam. Dr. Dutta is also currently working as the state supervisor for the State of the Nation Survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi in collaboration with CNN-IBN Television.

Some of our faculty members have also acted as members in different National and International Research and Academic Institutions. Professor Niru Hazarika served as a member of the ICSSR during the period 1986-99 and she is presently an executive committee member of International Public administration Association.. The Faculty members of the Department have also regularly contributed to various reputed academic journals and edited volumes in India and abroad. As a part of Ph. D. viva-voce, a good number of renowned academicians also visited the Department.