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Indian Journal of Social Enquiry

Indian Journal of Social Enquiry

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Volume 17, Issue 4 - 2025 (December 2025)

Volume 17 Issue 4 Cover

Issue Details:

Volume 17 Issue 4
Published:Sep 3, 2026

Editorial: December 2025

Welcome to the 2025 issue of Indian Journal of Social Enquiry. This issue showcases the remarkable breadth and depth of contemporary research across multiple disciplines. From cutting-edge applications of machine learning in climate science to the revolutionary potential of quantum computing in drug discovery, our featured articles demonstrate the power of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing global challenges.

We are particularly excited to present research that bridges traditional academic boundaries, reflecting our journal's commitment to fostering innovation through cross-disciplinary dialogue. The integration of artificial intelligence with environmental science, the application of blockchain technology to supply chain management, and the convergence of urban planning with smart city technologies exemplify the transformative potential of collaborative research.

As we continue to navigate an era of rapid technological advancement and global challenges, the research presented in this issue offers both insights and solutions that will shape our future. We thank our authors, reviewers, and editorial board members for their continued dedication to advancing knowledge and promoting scientific excellence.

Prof Gitanjali Chawla
Editor in Chief
Indian Journal of Social Enquiry

Articles in This Issue

Showing 7 of 7 articles
Research PaperID: IJSE4170001Pages 7-25Open AccessOpen Access

Pilgrimage and Temple Economy in Early Medieval Kashmir (c. 625-1012 CE)

Navendu Shekhar, Anannya Bohidar

This paper looks into the significant role played by pilgrimages in the temple economy of Jammu and Kashmir. There have been many scholarly writings on the subject, but most of them deal with the temples in the southern part of India. The temples, pilgrimage of Jammu and Kashmir and their economic significance were never examined in the historiography. The reason cited for this may be the paucity of sources; the epigraphic records which are available for temples in southern India are not available for temples in Jammu and Kashmir. This study is an attempt to add to existing literature and the study relies on the Kalhana’s Rājataranginī, regional histories and colonial records.

Temple EconomyPilgrimageJammu and KashmirKalhana’s Rājataranginī
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Contributors:

 Navendu Shekhar
,
 Anannya Bohidar
Research PaperID: IJSE4170002Pages 26-37Open AccessOpen Access

Time-expired Labourers in Indenture Labour Regime

Deepak Raj

This article examines the position of time-expired labourers within the indenture labour regime, challenging the tendency in existing scholarship to treat them either as indistinguishable from freshly indentured workers or as a simple transition towards free wage labour. Drawing on primary and secondary sources from Assam and overseas colonies, it argues that time-expired labourers constituted a distinct and unstable category whose relative mobility and bargaining power unsettled plantation regimes. The article shows how planters responded through legal extensions of contracts, land policy, indebtedness, surveillance, and recruitment strategies to reassert control. By foregrounding time-expired labourers as historical actors, the article rethinks the dynamics of coercion, autonomy, and control within the indenture system.

Time-expired labourersIndenturePlantation labourLabour controlColonial political economy
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Contributors:

 Deepak Raj
Research PaperID: IJSE4170003Pages 38-50Open AccessOpen Access

A Comparative Analysis of Healthcare Governance in Kerala and Gujarat: Public- Private Partnerships, Policy Frameworks, and Health Outcomes

Akankshya Pani

This paper is a comparative study into the governance of healthcare in Kerala and Gujarat. The two Indian states vary in their economic and social aspects, which also reflects in the different public health systems they manage. The present research uses an interdisciplinary method to analyze the publicprivate partnerships (PPPs), policy frameworks, governance structures, and, last but not least, the effects of these partnerships on healthcare outcomes. The community-led health initiatives in Kerala stand in stark contrast with the market-driven, privatized healthcare expansion approach adopted in Gujarat. The research utilizes evidence from 2008 to 2025 to demonstrate the influence of governance quality, the regulation of public-private partnerships (PPPs), and participatory policy frameworks on maternal health, life expectancy, infant mortality, and equitable access. The proposed work exhibits that regulatory frameworks should be stronger, that public-private partnerships (PPPs) that focus on fairness should be better, and that Kerala’s decentralized approaches should be added to Gujarat’s policy framework.

Public-private partnershipsHealthcare governancePolicy frameworksGovernance structuresRegulatory frameworks
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Contributors:

 Akankshya Pani
Research PaperID: IJSE4170004Pages 51-60Open AccessOpen Access

Performing Subjective Motherhood: An Analysis of Pop-Culture TV Series

Deepanshi Gupta

The performative theory by Judith Butler states that all of our designated roles are a product of discourses. This means we perform roles based on sociocultural inscriptions. Butler argues that all human bodies are gendered from the moment they enter a society. Furthermore, an individual continues to perform these roles, considering them “natural”. However, Butler emphasises that inscribed performativity can be subverted through agency and subjectivity. In addition, they claim that agency over one’s role and identity is essential to practice who we are and how we want to be. This approach may also be applied to the performance of motherhood, which has been ruled by patriarchal notions for many years. Its subjective and liberating experiences can be brought forth if one studies the concept of mothering through the lens of female individual experience. Keeping in mind, this paper proposes to bring out the subjective experiences of mothering that challenge the institutional practices (Adrienne Rich’s idea) upheld by society. For this purpose, popular TV dramas such as Friends (1994), Sex and the City (1998), The Big Bang Theory (2007), and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017) are discussed to highlight that mothering can be done in one’s own way. This challenges traditional ideas about motherhood and shows that anyone, regardless of their relationship to the child, gender, or sexuality, can take on a mothering role.

Performing motherhoodPopular TV dramasMotheringGenderingAgencySubjectivity
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Contributors:

 Deepanshi Gupta
Research PaperID: IJSE4170005Pages 61-69Open AccessOpen Access

Love in Strange Lands: Fetishising the Foreign Subject in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines

Tanishka anishka

The idea of interracial desire and the conflict it tends to bring in the postcolonial discourse of looking at the relationship between the colonised and the coloniser remains a topic of debate. This idea is further problematised when the roots of an interracial sexual relation are rooted in the male desire that fantasises the foreign woman as a strange, exotic and mysterious subject. Here this desire is not limited to just a quest for love, but it tends to take the shape of a fetish that is often projected as a love quest. The aim of this paper is to explore the intricacies of interpersonal relationships in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines, with the focus on the treatment and fetishisation of female characters by the male characters in the novel. This paper intends to explore the depiction of interpersonal relationships between people from different nations, cultures and races through a close reading and textual criticism to explore the issues that such relationships tend to bring in The Shadow Lines which indicates the possibility of a foreign fetish as its root. It also attempts to understand the orientalist connotations and the role of colonialism at its foundation. Apart from this, the paper explores the idea of lands and spaces and how they work as a drop back to the fantasy and desire for a foreign and strange subject in terms of spaces as well as people.

ForeignFetishDesireInterracialInterpersonal relationshipsStrangeness
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Contributors:

 Tanishka anishka
Research PaperID: IJSE4170006Pages 70-96Open AccessOpen Access

Unravelling the Particulate Matter & Air Quality Index at Anand Vihar, Delhi: Trends, Exceedances and Meteorological Influences

Akansha Rai, Nibedita Khuntia

Air pollution is a significant environmental concern in Delhi, consistently jeopardizing human health due to high concentrations of pollutants that frequently exceed the WHO and NAAQS limits in India. Anand Vihar is a wellknown hotspot for localized air pollution and is often at the most hazardous end of the pollution spectrum. In this study, a quantitative analysis of PM10, PM 2.5, and AQI, along with meteorological parameters, was conducted over 6 years (2019-2024) at Anand Vihar, Delhi. The annual and daily concentrations of PM10 and PM 2.5 exceed the NAAQS by 3-4 times. The inter-annual average concentrations of PM10 and PM 2.5 were highest in 2022 and 2024, respectively, and lowest in 2020. The overall order of seasonal average concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 (μg m−3) was: post-monsoon ≈ winter > pre-monsoon > monsoon. The annual PM 2.5/PM10 ratios were highest in 2020 and lowest in 2022, suggesting a mixture of fine and coarse-mode combustion aerosols, which accounted for 39–55% of the total PM2.5 load. A strong correlation (>0.6) between PM2.5 and PM10 was observed, indicating the prevalence of fine particulate emissions. The annual AQI values have consistently fallen into the Poor category, with only a slight improvement in 2020. According to the exceedance factor, 2024 was the most polluted year, while 2020 was the least polluted. This study underpins the limitations of current management strategies to achieve long-term outcomes for better air quality. It underlines the importance of enforcing strict curbs on emissions from different sources, which assists in strengthening localized airquality assessment to implement more effective strategies.

PM 2.5PM10AQICPCBExceedance FactorPM2.5/PM10
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Contributors:

 Akansha Rai
,
 Nibedita Khuntia
Research PaperID: IJSE4170007Pages 97-113Open AccessOpen Access

Nitish Kumar’s Leadership in Bihar: Balancing Social Justice with Development-oriented Governance

Dilip Kumar

This study provides a critical analysis of Nitish Kumar’s leadership in Bihar, who has emerged as a significant regional leader in Indian politics since the 1990s. His political journey, marked by frequent shifts in alliances and an emphasis on governance, provides a significant case study for understanding leadership in the context of India’s fragmented party system. This article attempts to investigate the interaction between charisma and institutional strategies, the interface between populism and policy-oriented governance, as well as changing patterns of coalition-building in Bihar.

Good governanceIdentity politicsPolitics of patronageSocial equitySocial justice
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Contributors:

 Dilip Kumar

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