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Akshaykumar Ramanlal Desai
Akshaykumar Ramanlal Desai(16 April 1915-12th November 1994) was an Indian Marxist,revolutionary thinker ,writer and  Sociologist|Muscovim (talk) 10:02, 3 July 2018 (UTC)User, he was a scholar activist hiwho combined social and political lactivism with academics MuscovimMuscovim (talk) 10:02, 3 July 2018 (UTC), ,and was Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology at Bombay University| in 1969  and  President of the Indian Sociological Society| (1980- 81). He received the  Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru National Award Social Sciences by Government of Madhya Pradesh|,India in 1987. Muscovim (talk) 09:57, 8 October 2018 (UTC)UserMuscovimMuscovim (talk) 09:57, 8 October 2018 (UTC).His best known work is Social Background of Indian Nationalism in which he offered a Marxist analysis of the emergence of Indian Nationalism using the historical method, which also had impact regarding path to socialism| in India. Studying Indian society from a Marxist Perspective he applied the dialectic -historical perspective to the study of Indian society and Indian Nationalism| and was a pioneer in introducing modern Marxist approach to empirical investigations involving bibliographic and field research.

Early life
He was born in Nadiad,  Gujrat, India Muscovim (talk) 09:23, 3 July 2018 (UTC)User muscovimMuscovim (talk) 09:23, 3 July 2018 (UTC) into a Nagar Brahmin household , he was influenced by his father Ramanlal Desai| in hias early days he beining a well known Gujarati| litterateur , nationalist and civil servant in Baroda State  whose   precepts  on nationalism andFabian Socialism| influenced him in his formative years.As an undergraduate he took part in student movements in Surat and  joined leftist nationalist movements in  Baroda and Bombay where  he pursued  further studies. Muscovim (talk) 10:23, 3 July 2018 (UTC)User MuscovimMuscovim (talk) 10:23, 3 July 2018 (UTC). |Muscovim (talk) 13:47, 3 July 2018 (UTC)userMuscovimMuscovim (talk) 13:47, 3 July 2018 (UTC). He was also active in the Kisan| and trade union movement|in 1936. and was a formal  member of various political parties such as the Communist Party of India|(CPI)in 1934 and joined the Trotskyist Revolutionary Socialist Party| in 1953. He studied closely the works of Karl Marx, Engles and Leon Trotsky| and became a Trotskyist Marxist in his ideology. He became editor of newspapers and bulletins of All India Kisan Sabha in 1937.

Education and career
He graduated in Political Science and Economics in 1935, obtained  law degree in 1941,and began his career in 1943 as a lawyer to help those in movements. He did his PhD in 1946 under the supervision of DrG.S.Ghurye| from  University of Bombay. Muscovim (talk) 13:27, 3 July 2018 (UTC)user muscovimMuscovim (talk) 13:27, 3 July 2018 (UTC) and later joined as a college lecturer in Sociology in Mumbai in 1946 and in  1951   officially joined Bombay University's  department of Sociology  as a faculty member and retired from the University in 1976 .Muscovim (talk) 11:55, 7 September 2018 (UTC)User talk:Muscovim|talk]]) 10:28, 31 August 2018 (UTC)UserMuscovim Muscovim (talk) 10:28, 31 August 2018 (UTC).He guided about 28 researchers in various subjects and authored  books in English and  Gujrati which have been translated into other languages.Being simultaneously an academician and social activist he  wrote pamphlets in the regional languages for those in struggle and books and articles for  academicians. . He represented India in the first conference in Rural Sociology| held in France| in 1964, visited the Soviet Union| as Senior Fellow (1971) and was deputed to Canada| by the University Grants Commission underShastri Indo-Canadian Institute|foundation in 1980.He participated in seminars and conferences held in Columbia University|(1976)and participated in an Expert Group Meeting on Population Growth and Economic Development in Sub-national areasin Bangkok| in 1977

Academic achievements and honors

 * ICSSR| Senior Fellow from 1973 to 1975 and 1976 to 1977
 * ICSSR National Fellow from 1981 to 1985 .Muscovim (talk) 07:14, 6 October 2018 (UTC)userMuscovimMuscovim (talk) 07:14, 6 October 2018 (UTC).
 * Member of various academic bodies and visiting committees approved by UGC| and ICSSR
 * President, Gujrat Sociological Society(1980- 90)
 * President- 15 th All India Sociological Conference held at Meerut| (U.P.)in 1981 Muscovim (talk) 03:53, 11 November 2018 (UTC)userMuscovimMuscovim (talk) 03:53, 11 November 2018 (UTC)

Perspectives and contributions
He studied Indian society from a Macro| and Meso| perspective, in which he studied  state, capitalism, nationalism, class, agrarian structures and peasant movements  much differently from the micro perspective dominant in Indian Sociology in the 1960s. Muscovim (talk) 09:58, 8 July 2018 (UTC)UserMuscovimMuscovim (talk) 09:58, 8 July 2018 (UTC) Muscovim (talk) 09:59, 8 July 2018 (UTC)UserMuscovimMuscovim (talk) 09:59, 8 July 2018 (UTC).He was a Marxist Sociologist who questioned mainstream sociology's conservative positions and presented an interdisciplinary social science viewpoint.He also documented the history  of working  classes  and was the first to notice and highlight ,record and draw attention to the informal sector and struggles of unorganized workers later to be theorized by economists and anthropologists. In many of his writings he highlighted the violation of democratic rights of  women, slum dwellers, press and other media by the post-independence  capitalist state in India,which, with its administrative  level apparatus , protected the propertied classes and suppressed the struggles of the exploited classes. . His compendium on rural sociology in India was a pacesetter in Indian agrarian sociology In getting Marxism to the mainstream of Indian academics,he gave notice  that Marxism had a place within Sociology and also provided a forum  for radical minded scholars in Bombay University to broaden their horizons of research Muscovim (talk) 04:42, 28 October 2018 (UTC)UserMuscovimMuscovim (talk) 04:42, 28 October 2018 (UTC). Muscovim (talk) 04:53, 22 November 2018 (UTC)User MuscovimMuscovim (talk) 04:53, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

Personal life
He married late Dr.Neera Desai in 1947,a leading figure in womens' studies in India.Their only  son Mihir Desai| is a human rights| activist.

Books

 * ARDesai(1948) Social Background of Indian Nationalism Popular Prakashan ISBN 9386042258


 * ARDesai ''(1986) Agrarian Struggles in India after independence- Oxford University Press ISBN 978-0195616811


 * ARDesai(2005)  Rural India in Transition  Popular Prakashan ISBN 9788171540167
 * ARDesai(1984)  India's Path of Development - A Marxist Approach Popular PrakashanISBN 9780861320646
 * ARDesai,Sunil Dighe(2003) ''Labor Movement in India (2003)ISBN 9788173070877
 * ARDesai and Pillai(1990) ''Slums and urbanization in India.ISBN 086132224XISBN 978-0861322244
 * ARDesai(2008) State and Society in India -Essays in Dissent Popular Prakashan
 * ARDesai(1979)  Peasant Struggles in India  Oxford University Press - Bombay
 * ARDesai(1960)  Recent Trends in Indian Nationalism- Supplement to Social Background of Indian Nationalism Popular Prakashan ISBN 8171540422
 * ARDesai(1980)  Urban Family and Family Planning in IndiaISBN 978-0861320097
 * ARDesai(1990)Changing profile of Rural India and Human Rights of the agrarian poor- an assessment of strategy of Rural Development since Independence.
 * ARDesai, Uday Mehta(1993) Modern Godmen in India, Bombay, Popular Prakashan
 * ARDesai,Wilfred D'costa(1994) State and Repressive Culture - A case study of Gujrat- ISBN 8171547028

Edited volumes

 * ARDesai (ed.)(1969) Rural Sociology in India ,Popular Prakashan Bombay
 * ARDesai(ed.)(1986) Violations of Democratic Rights in India (Vol.1)Popular Prakashan Bombay ISBN 0861321308


 * ARDesai(ed.)(1991)Expanding Governmental Lawlessness and Organized Struggles/ Violations of Democratic Rights in India(Vol.2) ISBN 8171545297
 * ARDesai(ed.)(1976)Essays on Modernization of Underdeveloped Societies.New York Humanities Press

Festschrift

 * ARDesai Ghanashyam Shah (1990)'' Capitalist Development-Critical Essays- Felicitation volume in honor of Prof. A R Desai Popular Prakashan BombayISBN 0861322703

Selected journal articles

 * ARDesai's Journal Articles Economic and Political Weekly
 * A R DesaiRelevance of Marxist Approach to Indian Society  Sociological Bulletin (1981)
 * A R DesaiNational Integration & Religion Sociological Bulletin (1963)
 * A R Desai Rural Sociology:Its Need In India Sociological Bulletin(1956)
 * A R Desai Community Development Projects, a Sociological Analysis''Sociological Bulletin(1958)
 * A R Desai Urbanization &Social Stratification Sociological Bulletin(1960)

External link
Prof. Desai's Curriculum Vitae

category:1915 births category:1994 deaths category:Indian Marxist writers category:People from Vadodara district category:Indian sociologists category:Indian Marxists category:Gujarati people category:Indian independence activists category:Indian socialists Category:Workers' rights activists Category:Indian independence activists from Gujarat Category:Activists from Gujarat Category:Indian Marxist historians Category:University of Mumbai alumni| Category:writers from Mumbai