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[nirmal saha]

A brief outline on the genesis of Anya Artha

When the Soviet model of western socialism was faced
with the eastern model of China, when the students
became strong political agents in the world scenario,
a Journal was silently born in the metropolis of
Calcutta. The initiative was mainly taken by the
students (mostly from the 1968 batch) of the Calcutta
University, specially the economics dept, situated a
bit away from the main campus.  These group of
students got their masters degree almost around 1972,
courtesy to the then existing political scenario. By
the time the initiatives took the form of the journal,
most of them had started working for their doctoral
theses, almost all of them with a political
inclination, which might be termed as left. Today,
majority of them have earned respect and repute for
the contributions they have made to social sciences.
At the start of their journey with Anya Artha, it was
a state of unease that served as their motivating
factor. None of them were satisfied with the soviet
model, neither were they in a situation to accept the
then existing radical left positions, and the official
left position in India offered them no hope. It was a
time for new thoughts to ripe. 

My initial work was to interview the persons whose
prolonged joint effort gave birth to the journal. Many
interviews have already been taken. The remaining will
be taken by the end of May. Besides I am also
undergoing a through scanning of the literature
reflecting the socio-economic-political-cultural
landscape of Calcutta of that time. The interviews
give multi directional dimensions to the genesis of
this journal and its activities. The first interview
taken was that of Dr. Subhendu Dasgupta , publisher of
most of the issues of this journal and a very
important member of the editorial collective.
Presently he is teaching at Calcutta University in the
dept. of South East Asian Studies. Interview of Prof.
Partha Chatterjee, Director of Centre For Studies In
Social Sciences Calcutta has also been taken. While
taking the interviews many interesting elements
surfaced. They reflect on the features which made the
journal such an unique endeavor.

While giving his interview for the SARAI project on
this journal, Prof. Parth Chatterjee commented that at
that juncture little magazines were mushrooming in
Calcutta. Still they felt the need for an-other one,
perhaps in search of the hitherto unanswered
questions, or perhaps in search of a space to
articulate the questions, to reach out to people with
their articulation. Dr. Subhendu Dasgupta stressed the
importance of a space left almost untouched by both
the official left and its radical counterparts. The
spirit of questioning the existing social orders, of
agitation, of formulating newer ideas and ideals was
the then existing environment in the city of Calcutta,
and it’s University. In fact students across the globe
were vibrant over various issues and making their
presence felt. To go by Dr.Dasgupta all these served
as major motivating factors for the genesis of the
Journal. Dr. Anjan Ghosh, another member of the
editorial collective claimed it as the only Journal so
far published in Bengali that dealt with various
issues of social sciences rigorously. 




Why a Journal?

Anya Artha came into being in the winter of 1973. Its
last issue was published in the hot summer of 1985. A
total of 19 issues were brought out during these
twelve years.
To understand that the then existing situation needs
to be analyzed. The whole world was shaken with a
strong student movements and the socialist movement
was divided along two broad camps. If this is the
background worldwide what was happening in India and
narrowly in Calcutta? The left movement here had also
been divided - the more powerful part attaching itself
with Soviet line with a concomitant downfall of the
Naxalite movement. It was a time of unease
 a time
when everything was viewed with a pinch of skepticism.
The Neheruvian development model was unable to satisfy
the agrarian community constituting most of the Indian
population. Students at the Universities were in a
process of gradual alienation from the reality. Social
sciences study could hardly help to analyze the then
present social issues. The University syllabi were
following the colonial legacy with little or no
connection with the ground reality and the changes
taking place worldwide. A range of issues starting
from the mode of production to that of University
syllabi were debated among the academicians, but they
remained almost unreachable to the so called
activists. Debates among the social scientists hardly
found a match in the thoughts and activities of the
activists. The theory practice division was widening
all the more. Practicing theory in English language
had kept not only the vast majority of common people
but also a large section of students at bay, away from
any sort of participation. The social sciences issues
became an-other subject of study. The whole system of
academia as well as official and unofficial party
activities seemed to be hollow blubber. A new meaning
to life was required. New economic theories were on
the call. Yet an-other analyses of the social
phenomenon were required. Hence the journal Anya Artha
, An-other Economy. Interestingly the word ‘artha’ in
Bengali also means meaning. Retroactively we might see
the journey of this journal as a pilgrimage in the
landscape of meaning, meaning of economy, meaning of
various social sciences with a perspective of the then
present social scenario. Political unrest, large-scale
migration from Bangladesh added to the problems in the
life of Calcuttans. Its urban character was changing
at a fast speed. All this forced a sensitive section
of students to think afresh on various issues ranging
from syllabi to mode of production debate. The
analyses of the relationship between state and power,
party and state, party and power were put into the
dissection table. Though Economy remained the most
important element, it was felt that a serious analysis
was required which would provide a combination of
cultural-political-social and economic forces at a
time. The scene was almost prepared for an
inter-disciplinary approach in the arena of social
sciences. So the Journal, which started as a Journal
of social economy made its way to the field of social
sciences. This could largely be pointed as the moment
of difference of Anya Artha from the political
publications as well as the popular Journals and
little magazines. So the journal was born from the
want of a space where the above issues could be
discussed. Also the emergence of middle class service
holders who did not fit properly with the definition
of working class, the student community and its role
in social movements raised new problems to handle.




For whom?

There were huge debates over the various issues
published throughout the life of the journal.
Initially it was thought to cater to the needs of the
students, the activists and the general urban
population associated with various jobs and services.
It was thought out as a meeting point for all of them.
It was looked upon as a space where difference in
opinion and ideas could be celebrated. But in the
process it failed to reach the common people and
became more accepted among the students and academic
segment. The problem was that of communication. How to
communicate serious theories in the language of a
layman? How to represent facts and figures to attract
the reader’s imagination to build up an opinion of her
own? Again a condition of unrest leading to adapting
various writing styles was taken up as experiments.
Various other activities in the form of publishing
bimonthly pamphlets focusing on news items, a regular
gathering of people from various walks of life,
increasing the reach of the journal in various
district towns of West Bengal were practiced. A very
interesting feature of the journal was its editorial
collective. The name of the editor kept changing. All
the articles published had to be a consensus decision
of all the members. Until the consensus was reached it
was debated upon. All the members would participate
not only in writing articles but also in the
associated technical activities such as proof reading,
circulation and collection of money. Though the
members of the editorial collective shared a common
ideology of socialism they tried to engage with other
ideologies. So people with a strong inclination
towards market economy, believing in Gandhi’s ideology
found a space in the journal. The members entered a
serious debate over this issue too. It was debated
that whether offering different views would give the
reader a freedom to choose from or would confuse them
about the characteristics of the Journal. They were
uncertain with it till the end. The rigor of their
analysis could be seen when in an article analyzing
the Indian state they made  a prediction of a
situation where emergency becomes necessary to sustain
the same. The emergency followed almost after a few
months. Some members of this group were largely
instrumental in the creation of Subaltern Studies.
 
For the past few months I have collected 18 issues of
the journal. One more issue needs to be obtained,
which I hope to get by the end of May. Also all the
members of this journal living in this country have
been contacted for their interviews. All the issues
collected so far (except one) are now in the press to
prepare a soft copy of them. Most of the interviews
have been taken in Bengali and so the process of
transcription and transliteration are on. They will
also be sent to the interviewee for any correction
before submitting it to SARAI. Instead of publishing
some selected articles from the journal I have thought
to make it available in electronic format so that it
could be readily available for the further
researchers.


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