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Mahesh Rangarajan (born 22 April 1964) is a researcher, author and
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
with a special interest in environmental history and colonial history of ''British and contemporary India''. He has taught
Environmental Studies Environmental studies is a multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. Environmental studies connects principles from the physical sciences, commerce/economics, the humanities, and socia ...
and
History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
at
Ashoka University Ashoka University is a philanthropy-driven private university located in the National Capital Region (India), National Capital Region (NCR), India, focusing on a liberal education in the Humanities, the Social Sciences, and the Science and tech ...
and Krea University, and served as the
Vice Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor i ...
of Krea University. He appears frequently on
India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
n
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
as a political analyst. He is also a
columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short ess ...
in the
print media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...
writing on
wildlife conservation Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often ...
, political and environmental issues. In 2010, he chaired the Elephant Task Force (''Gajah'') of the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests. The Task Force was formed to formulate measures for the protection of
elephants Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...
in India.


Early life

Mahesh Rangarajan was born in New Delhi and finished his ICSE and
ISC #REDIRECT ISC #REDIRECT ISC {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
{{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
from
St. Columba's School, Delhi , motto_translation = "Dare to be wise, sincere and constant" , streetaddress = 1 Ashok Place , city = New Delhi , zipcode = 110001 , country = India , coordinates = , pushpin_map = India Delhi#India , pushpin_mapsize = 220 , establishe ...
. He then did a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in History (Honours) from
Hindu College, University of Delhi Hindu College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi in New Delhi, India. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in sciences, humanities, social sciences and commerce. In 2022, it is ranked 2nd nationally by National ...
. He received the
Rhodes scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world ...
in 1986 to do a BA in Modern History from
Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided th ...
at Oxford, which he finished in 1988. He graduated from Delhi university and then from Oxford each with First Class. He was awarded a doctorate (D.Phil.) in Modern History from Nuffield College, Oxford University in 1993, the subject being Forest policy in the Central Provinces''.' He was awarded a studentship at Nuffield and was also a Beit Senior Scholar, 1991–1992.


Career

Mahesh Rangarajan studied at Hindu College, Delhi University (1982-1985) and at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...
(1986-1993) where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He worked as the assistant editor of
The Telegraph (Kolkata) ''The Telegraph'' is an Indian English daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Kolkata since 7 July 1982. It is published by the ABP Group and the newspaper competes with '' The Times of India''. The newspaper is the eighth most ...
for a year during 1993–94. He taught at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA from 2002 to 2004, and served as Professor, Department of History, University of Delhi, 2007-2011 and as Director, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, 2011–2015. He was a Professor of Environmental Studies and History at
Ashoka University Ashoka University is a philanthropy-driven private university located in the National Capital Region (India), National Capital Region (NCR), India, focusing on a liberal education in the Humanities, the Social Sciences, and the Science and tech ...
. He was appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Krea University in July 2021 and stepped down from this position in less than a year citing personal reasons. In 2000 he co-authored ''Towards Co-existence'', and the following year a brief work, ''India's Wildlife History, An Introduction, Battles over Nature'', a book he co-authored with Vasanth Saberwal analyses present-day conservation conflicts and finds their roots in India's colonial past and in the
governance Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society over a social system ( family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories). It is done by the ...
system that was adopted as an independent nation state. The book ''Making Conservation Work'' (2007) co-edited with Ghazala Shahabhuddin looks at ways of securing India's biodiversity in the new century. The same year 2007 he Co-edited a Reader ''Environmental Issues in India.'' He was a member of the founding team and corresponding editor of the Cambridge-based journal ''Environment and History'' (founded 1996) headed by Richard Grove and also of the journal ''Conservation and Society'' (founded 2003). He is a member of the executive board of the ''Association of South Asian Environmental Historians''.


Political commentary

He is a columnist and essayist and writes frequently in the newspapers and magazines. He also appears on television as a political analyst during elections. He is known for his commentary on issues and writes analytical articles for Indian and international media.


Awards

In 1988, he was awarded the Martin Wright Prize at Balliol College and the Charles Wallace Scholar and Beit Scholar at Nuffield College, Oxford University in 1991. He was a Junior fellow of the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library. He was awarded the TN Khooshoo Memorial Prize for Environment and Development in 2014.


Books

* ''Fencing the Forest, Conservation and Ecological Change in India’s Central Provinces, 1860-1914'', Oxford University Press, Delhi and Oxford, 1996; OUP Paperback, 1999. * Ed., ''The Oxford Anthology of Indian Wildlife'', Volume I, ''Hunting and Shooting'', Oxford University Press, Delhi and Oxford. * Ed., ''Volume II, Watching and Conserving,'' Oxford University Press, Delhi and Oxford. * Co-authored with V.K. Saberwal and A. Kothari (2001), People, Parks and Wildlife: Towards Coexistence. New Delhi:
Orient Longman Orient Blackswan Pvt. Ltd. (formerly Orient Longman India, commonly referred to as Orient Longman), is an Indian publishing house headquartered in Hyderabad, Telangana. The company publishes academic, professional and general works as well a ...
. * India's Wildlife History: An Introduction Permanent Black in association with the Ranthambhore Foundation, Delhi, 2001, Paperback, 2006. * Vasant Kabir Saberwal and M Rangarajan, Ed. Battles over Nature, Science and the politics of conservation, Permanent Black, Delhi, 2003, Paperback, 2006. * Edited, Environmental Issues in India: A Reader, Delhi: Pearson Longman, Published January 2007. * Ghazala Shahabuddin and Mahesh Rangarajan edited, Making Conservation Work, Securing biodiversity in this new century (Delhi: Permanent Black, June 2007). * William McNeill, Jose Padua and Mahesh Rangarajan Ed. Environmental History As if Nature Existed, (Delhi: OUP, 2010). * ed., Bharat main paryavaran ke mudde, Hindi translation of the Reader by Rita Sridhar, (Delhi: Pearson, 2009). * Mahesh Rangarajan and K. Sivaramakrishnan Ed., India's Environmental History Volume I, From Earliest times to the Colonial Era. Volume II: Colonialism, Modernity and the Nation, (April 2012, pp. 1200). * Mahesh Rangarajan, N. Balakrishnan, Deepa Bhatnagar eds., Selected Works of C. Rajagopalachari, Vol. 1, 1907-1921 (Hyderabad: Blackswan Pvt Ltd., 2013). * Mahesh Rangarajan, MD Madhusudan and Ghazala Shahabuddin edited, Nature Without Borders,( Hyderabad: Orient Black Swan, 2014) * M Rangarajan and K. Sivaramakrishnan ed. Shifting Ground, People, animals and mobility in India's Environmental history, (Delhi: OUP, 2014). * Mahesh Rangarajan, Nature and Nation, Essays in Environmental History, ( Ranikhet: Permanent Black, 2015).


See also

*
Ramachandra Guha Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, and the field of economic ...


References


External links


Featured Articles by Mahesh Rangarajan on India Environment Portal

Bibliography on Open Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rangarajan, Mahesh 20th-century Indian historians 1964 births Living people Writers from Delhi St. Columba's School, Delhi alumni Hindu College, Delhi alumni Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford Indian male essayists Psephologists Environmental historians Indian Rhodes Scholars Academic staff of Delhi University Historians of India 20th-century Indian essayists Indian political scientists 21st-century Indian historians