Paper short abstract:

The paper seeks to explore the contradictory tensions anthropology has generated in public life of colonial and post colonial India.

Paper long abstract:

The paper traces the history of associational activities taking place around the discipline of anthropology much before its institutionalization in any university set up in India.Publications of journals and informal meetings by the concerned citizens have carved out spaces for anthropological insights to germinate ,grow and influence the public life.

The National imagination of its ethnic future is very much dependent on the way anthropological knowledge and expertise have been used by the republic of India.It took several decades to situate anthropological vision in one or other ministries of the Government puting it for the consumption of citizens on the margins.

The paper argues that ethnic and regional concerns have revolved around influential leaders who were not only pioneers in their fields but also shaped the development of the discipline having influence on various National Policies.