MCRG
ABOUT Mahanirban CALCUTTA RESEARCH GROUP
Born as a facilitating group in support of the peace movement in West Bengal, the Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group is now known as the Calcutta Research Group (CRG). The Third Joint Conference of the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (1996), an unprecedented four-day public gathering of 400 peace activists of the sub-continent in Calcutta, marked the beginning of CRG. The
founders were a group of researchers, trade unionists, feminist thinkers and women’s rights campaigners, academics, journalists, and lawyers. This was to be a forum for policy discussion and analysis on issues of democracy, human rights, peace, and justice.
Developing as a forum of mostly young public activists and socially committed researchers, CRG is now well-known for its research, dialogues, and advocacy work. It has carved out a niche for itself in the scholar-activist world for its policy studies on autonomy, human rights, women’s dignity, issues of forced displacement and migration, peace and conflict resolution, citizenship, borders and border-conflicts, and other themes relevant to democracy. The emphasis that CRG places on the East and the Northeast in its research and dialogues has now resulted in a strong network of scholars, activists, and institutions in the region.
RECENT ACTIVITIES
A Report on Researchers Proposal Presentation Workshop Date: 20.05.2021 . For details CLICK HERE
One day workshop on ‘The Migrant in the electoral time: a study of Bihar, Bengal and Assam, 2020-2021’; Date: 30th June 2021. For details CLICK HERE
Annual Planning Meeting : CRG’s Research and Orientation Programme in Migration and Forced Migration Studies on 26-27 January 2021. CLICK HERE
ESSENTIAL LINKS ON CALCUTTA RESEARCH GROUP’S WORKS ON MIGRATION AND FORCED MIGRATION STUDIES
The Calcutta Research Group has organised annual Winter Courses on Forced Migration from 2003 to 2013. For details such as course modules, readings, assignments and reports,see: CLICK HERE
The fourteenth Conference of the International Association for Studies in Forced Migration (IASFM) on ‘Contested Spaces & Cartographic Challenges’ was hosted by the Calcutta Research Group during January 6-9, 2013. This was the first time that the conference was hosted in South Asia. For details see: CLICK HERE
An extensive campaign and detailed study of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the form of workshops, roundtables and public lectures has been initiated by the Calcutta Research Group. For details see:CLICK HERE || For reports on IDPs, see: CLICK HERE
For a detailed information on significant works on IDPs, such as Internal Displacement in South Asia (Edited By Paula Banerjee, Sabyasachi Basu Roy Chowdhury, Samir Kumar Das, Thousand Oaks, California, New Delhi, London: Sage Publishers, 2005) see: CLICK HERE
Calcutta Research Group’s study on forced migration focuses on state policies in South Asia and elsewhere with relation to refugee rights, gender rights, refugee care and forced displacement. For details on the subject of refugee studies, see: CLICK HERE
For particulars on important publications on migration and refugees such as Refugees in West Bengal – Institutional Practices and Contested Identities (Edited by Pradip Kumar Bose, Calcutta : Calcutta Research Group, 2000); Refugees and the State-Practices of Asylum and Care in India, 1947-2000 (Edited by Ranabir Samaddar, Thousand Oaks, California, New Delhi, London: Sage Publishers, 2003); Unstable Populations, Anxious States: Mixed and Massive Population Flows in South Asia (Edited by Paula Banerjee, Calcutta: Stree Publishers 2013) & Migration and Circles of Insecurity (Ranabir Samaddar and Paula Banerjee, New Delhi: Rupa & Co, 2010) see:CLICK HERE
Calcutta Research Group has a peer-reviewed and refereed journal; Refugee Watch that offers an analysis of migration and forced migration from a distinctively South Asian perspective. It can be accessed at CLICK HERE || The Fleeing People of South Asia, A Collection of Essays from Refugee Watch, (Edited by Sibaji Pratim Basu, London: Anthem Press, 2009) can be accessed at CLICK HERE
RECOGNITION OF MCRG'S WORK
- Topped a list of ‘Centres with Potential’ in a report prepared for Research Councils, UK by India Foundation For The Arts, Bangalore, 2010
- Received special mention by the Special Representative of the UN Security General in his report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, 2008
- “Centre of Excellence” in Migration Studies by Government of Finland, 2005-07
- Recommendation of publication of work deemed “rich in historical and analytical rigor” by ICSSR, 2013