Changing the Terms of the Discourse

Introduction 1

1. Vulgarised by its latterday critics as the “nanny state”.

2. Rita Leer Montalcini (Nobel Laureate, Science, Italy). Cited in Hobsbawm, Eric—The Age of Extremes; p. 1.

3. Hobsbawm, Ibid, Chapters 10 and 11.

4. Evidence of such impact were visible in the writings of great poets essayists and movements—male and female, in various Indian languages from the early decades of the 20th Century. These are being gradually recovered by women’s studies scholars. Translations of some of these modern classics in recent years have facilitated such research, but much more is necessary. A request from Unesco in the early 1980s for an Indian feminist classiccon—veyed to Prof. Nabaneeta Dev Sen brought a prompt response—”Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyaya’s ...