Department of Political Science

When Fergusson College was founded in 1885, it was affiliated to the Bombay University. The Degree Course then included the subject Political Economy, which was a part of the course in Economics. The Poona University was founded in 1949 and the College was immediately affiliated to the same. The Department of Politics is thus one of the oldest Departments of The Poona University.

Political Science as a discipline was taught as Civics and Indian Administration at the Inter Arts level and Political Theory at the Degree Level in the early 1930s. Later, Civics and Indian Administration was taught at the first year level and Political Theory at the Degree Level as General papers. Prof. SV. Kogekar, who later became the Principal of the College, played a very crucial role in the development of the Department. He was also the Vice-President of the International Political Science Association.

HOD & Vice Principal

Associate Professor

Assistant Professor

Name	Designation
Prof.Dr.Prakash M. Pawar	Chairperson , Board of Studies in Political Science & Head , Department of Political Science
Prof. Dr. Harsh Jagzap	V. C. Nominee
Prof. Dr. Chaitra Redkar	Subject Expert – I
Prof. Dr. Ashok Sidhewad	Subject Expert – II
Mr. Vishal Solanki, (IAS)	Subject Expert (Industry / Corporate sector / allied area relating to PLACEMENT)
Dr. Kalpana Dixit	One postgraduate meritorious alumnus
Ms.Arati Rohan Khatu	Faculty Members
Mr. Balasaheb Survase	Faculty Members
Ms. Rutuja Jadhav	Faculty Members
Ms. Ashwini Bharde	Faculty Members

Title of the Collaborative Activity	Name of the Collaborating Agency with Contact Details	Name of the Participants	Year of Collaboration	Duration	Nature of the Activity
Experimental Research Collaboration	Centre for Experimental Social Sciences Nuffield – FLAME University (“CESS”)	Student, teachers and non-teaching staff of the College participated in various experiments and simulation activities under the collaboration	2017-2019	September 2017 to September 2019	Experiments in Creativity and Judgment in the form of economic games and simulations were conducted in order to promote social scientific literacy among students with respect to Experimental Social Sciences research

Year	Name of the Workshop/Seminar	Number of Participants	Date From – To
2017-18	Election Surveys in India – A Methodological View by Dr. Nitin Birmal, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Political Science Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Arts & Commerce College Yerawada, Pune	50	January 11, 2019
2020-21	Interactive Session on Preparation for Post Graduate Entrance Examinations in different Universities by Mr. Sourav Patil, an alumnus from the 2020 batch	80	Saturday, 27th February 2021 from 2p.m. to 4 p.m. on MS-Teams platform
2020-21	Basic Skills in Political Science for SYBA Political Science Special students by Dr. Sneha Gole, Assistant Professor, KSPWSC, SPPU	90	16 January 2020 on MS-Teams platform

Name of the Capability Enhancement Program	Date of Implementation (DD-MM-YYYY)	Number of Students Enrolled	Name of the Agencies/Consultants Involved with Contact Details (if any)
A visit of the students of the Department to the Legislature of the Maharashtra State, Mumbai	05-03-2018	18
A visit to the villages Ralegan Siddhi and Hivare Bazar organised jointly with the Department of Geography	11-03-2017	42

Companies

About Department

Faculty

HOD & Vice Principal

Associate Professor

Assistant Professor

Board of Studies

Prof. Dr. Prakash M. Pawar – Chairperson, Board of Studies in Political Science & Head, Department of Political Science
Prof. Dr. Harsh Jagzap – V. C. Nominee
Prof. Dr. Chaitra Redkar – Subject Expert – I
Prof. Dr. Ashok Sidhewad – Subject Expert – II
Mr. Vishal Solanki (IAS) – Subject Expert (Industry / Corporate sector / allied area relating to PLACEMENT)
Dr. Kalpana Dixit – One postgraduate meritorious alumnus
Ms. Arati Rohan Khatu – Faculty Member
Mr. Balasaheb Survase – Faculty Member
Ms. Rutuja Jadhav – Faculty Member
Ms. Ashwini Bharde – Faculty Member

Physical Infrastructure

Research Projects

Consultancy Services

Title of the Collaborative Activity: Experimental Research Collaboration;
Name of the Collaborating Agency with Contact Details: Centre for Experimental Social Sciences Nuffield – FLAME University (“CESS”);
Name of the Participants: Student, teachers and non-teaching staff of the College participated in various experiments and simulation activities under the collaboration;
Year of Collaboration: 2017-2019;
Duration: September 2017 to September 2019;
Nature of the Activity: Experiments in Creativity and Judgment in the form of economic games and simulations were conducted in order to promote social scientific literacy among students with respect to Experimental Social Sciences research.

Capacity Development

Year: 2017-18;
Name of the Workshop/Seminar: Election Surveys in India – A Methodological View by Dr. Nitin Birmal, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Political Science Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Arts & Commerce College Yerawada, Pune;
Number of Participants: 50;
Date From – To: January 11, 2019
Year: 2020-21;
Name of the Workshop/Seminar: Interactive Session on Preparation for Post Graduate Entrance Examinations in different Universities by Mr. Sourav Patil, an alumnus from the 2020 batch;
Number of Participants: 80;
Date From – To: Saturday, 27th February 2021 from 2p.m. to 4 p.m. on MS-Teams platform
Year: 2020-21;
Name of the Workshop/Seminar: Basic Skills in Political Science for SYBA Political Science Special students by Dr. Sneha Gole, Assistant Professor, KSPWSC, SPPU;
Number of Participants: 90;
Date From – To: 16 January 2020 on MS-Teams platform

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Name of the Capability Enhancement Program: A visit of the students of the Department to the Legislature of the Maharashtra State, Mumbai;
Date of Implementation (DD-MM-YYYY): 05-03-2018;
Number of Students Enrolled: 18;
Name of the Agencies/Consultants Involved: —
Name of the Capability Enhancement Program: A visit to the villages Ralegan Siddhi and Hivare Bazar organised jointly with the Department of Geography;
Date of Implementation (DD-MM-YYYY): 11-03-2017;
Number of Students Enrolled: 42;
Name of the Agencies/Consultants Involved: —

Placements

Companies

Syllabi

Since 1952 a centralized system was introduced, whereby all Social Sciences, including Political Science were taught at S.P. College. The subject began to be taught again in Fergusson College starting 1959. The Courses now taught were as per the University of Pune Syllabus Guidelines. Eminent teachers like Late Principal S.V. Kogekar and Late Principal V. M. Bachal taught the different papers in Political Science during this period.

In 1964 Dr. V. M. Bachal became the Head of the Department. He led the Department in hosting the 46th All India Political Science Conference in 1989 and retired as the Principal of the College in 1993. Prof. S.M. Golwalkar, who later took voluntary retirement in 1996, succeeded him. Dr. Lalita Honap took charge in 1996.

Shri Prakash Pawar joined the Department in 1993 and Smt. Arati Kulkarni joined in 1997. Shri. Prakash Pawar was appointed as Head of the Department with the retirement of Dr. Lalita Honap in 2005. Smt. Kalpana Sidhewad joined the Department in November 2005.

Shri. Prakash Pawar was later appointed as the Vice-Principal (Arts). He led the Department in conducting the 23rd Maharashtra State Political Science and Public Administration Conference in 2006. He continues to discharge of his duties as Head of the Department and the faculty includes Smt. Arati Khatu (nee Kulkarni) and Smt. Kalpana Rajesh Kanke (nee Sidhewad).

The Department faculty consists of Prof. Dr. Pawar, Ms. Arati Khatu and Ms. Kalpana Kanke, ever focused on excellence in teaching, learning and evaluation under Autonomy and NEP2020.

Contact Information :

Dr. Prakash Maruti Pawar,
Vice-Principal & Head,
Department of Political Science
politicalscience@fergusson.edu

Programmes Offered –
B.A. (Political Science)

Features of the Department:

The Department takes pride in a democratic way of functioning and an academic atmosphere of mutual enrichment.
Untiring efforts to enrich the learning experience of their students by undertaking an interactive teaching methodology, enabling them to learn and acquire appropriate skills for this purpose.
The Department conducts programmes in English and Marathi mediums, so a wide variety of students from varied backgrounds mingle to give it a diverse composition.
The students of the Department have consistently succeeded at the UPSC and the MPSC examinations.
A large number of our students have been going abroad as well as to many apex educational institutions in India for higher studies in Political Science, Development Studies, International Relations, Social Welfare, Management, Mass Communications and Journalism in recent times.
Study tours to Parliament in New Delhi and State Legislature in Mumbai have been the highlights of the extra-curricular activities of the Department.
The Department has been coordinating the Certificate Course on ‘Women & Development’ conducted by the Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule Women’s Studies Centre, Savitribai Phule University of Pune since the last 05 years for the Marathi Medium Batch on the College Campus.
There is an emphasis on inclusiveness and a concern for the environment in all the activities of the Department.

Ready to Become Fergussonian?



Apply for Under Graduate Programme



Apply for Post Graduate Programme

Join 1000s of Students

Vivamus id gravida mi, nec ullamcorper purus. Suspendisse ut nibh sagittis lacus viverra aliquam. Praesent ac lobortis mauris, non imperdiet quam. Praesent laoreet elit nisi, id feugiat ante accumsan sed. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae.

Fergubot

Department of Political Science