POLITICAL SCIENCE – VIVEKANANDA DEGREE COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

VISION

To motivate students to be politically conscious and responsible citizens.

MISSION

To create in students a deep insight into the complexity of political processes.

DEPARTMENTS

PROFILE

The Department of Political Science was established in the year 1982. The Department was for many years headed by the highly experienced Dr. Bhuvaneshwar Prasad.B.P who was in service till 2014. Thereafter Prof. Balakrishnappa, Associate Professor and Head of the Department continued till 2018. Currently the Department is headed by Prof. B.R. Lakshman, Associate Professor since 2019 till date. The Department considerably extended its reach after Indian Constitution was introduced as a compulsory subject for all Degree students of the University.

Prof. B R Lakshman

Professor & HOD

M.A., M.Phil., LLB., (Ph.D)

About Department

The Department attempts to use students-centric, teaching methods whenever possible.
Students seminars are conducted regularly.
Group discussions are held periodically.
Indian Constitution is often taught through student presentations.
Visit to State Legislative Assembly is organized in order to give students a first hand acquaintance with parliamentary procedures.
Visits to Karnataka Public Service Commission, State Human Rights Commission, State Information Commission, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), and Gandhi Bhavan.
Faculty closely involved in both Academic & Personal counseling.
Faculty counsel promising students on taking up Competitive Examinations for Government services like IAS & Allied Services. Faculty is also available to help students deal with personal problems.

STRENGTH

Career Guidance & Placements Cell Co-ordinates Placements for all students at the College. Faculty of the Department has been guiding the students about various career avenues related to the discipline.

Objectives

To make the subject more interesting and simple for students to understand various dimensions of the same.
To adopt & follow simple techniques or methods of teaching in order to reach to the expectation of the students.
To conduct awareness programmes for the students to understand the policies of Government.
To encourage students to develop competitive skills in order to face new challenges.
To make young minds to enjoy and exercise their rights, liberties responsibly.
To develop and maintain religious tolerance towards minorities in order to restore communal harmony in the society.
To strive hard to contribute good citizens for the country.
To ensure unity & integrity of the Nation.
To create and develop interest in students to actively take part in academics.
To help students to contribute articles to leading journals and magazines and other periodicals from time to time.
To conduct seminars/workshops/symposiums.
To encourage and motivate students to take up competitive exams like IAS, KAS & other Allied Services.
To bring out a newsletter of the department to encourage students to contribute articles.
To expose our students to the latest developments about the subject at the National and International levels.

Future plan of Action

To introduce add on courses on Gandhian studies.
To collaborate with Gandhi Peace Foundation & Promote Gandhian principles.
To conduct model Parliament/Mock Parliament sessions in the college.
To organize a study tour to the Parliament.
To study a coaching centre for UPSC & KPSC examinations.
To collaborate with B.PAC (Bengaluru Political Action Committee) for internship of our students which is a non-partisan citizens group that aims to improve governance in Bengaluru and to enhance the quality life of a Bengalurian.
To introduce Legal Literacy course for students of all streams irrespective of courses.

The Department is proposed to conduct survey on:

Why people don’t vote in election?
People’s expectations from the Government.
How much do you know about your Representatives?
Study of Electoral behavior during Election to Karnataka Legislative Assembly which may be scheduled in the months of April/May 2023.

Aims and Objectives of the bachelor's degree in political science:

The main objective of the course is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the discipline to the students who join the B.A at the undergraduate level. The students who join these courses are not necessarily trained in fundamentals of the discipline, as they came from the diverse disciplinary background. The program aims at making them understand the fundamental concepts, theories, perspectives and ideological discourses in Political Science. This will enable them to explain and evaluate the functioning of political systems and governments of diverse kinds with their institutions, structures and ideologies. Building a better society to live in has been a perennial question which all the disciplines of knowledge have pondered over and worked on, including Political Science. Aim of the course is to expose the students to the diverse political philosophies from the Ancient to Modern times and how have they envisioned of and engaged with the issues of rights, liberty, equality, justice, citizenship, constitution and constitutionalism etc.,. The objective is to train the students in understanding the Public Administrative system and policy science. The course also exposes the students to the interdisciplinary modules to demonstration. The interconnectedness of the discipline with other subjects and areas which don’t form the core of Political Science is yet very much conjoining it boundaries. The objective is also to understand the national interests of India in comprehensive terms and Indian endeavors and response to emerging challenges and issues in a fluid and dynamic global scenario.