Kumar Suresh Singh (1935–2006) commonly known as K. S. Singh, was an
Indian Administrative Service
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...
officer, who served as a Commissioner of Chotanagpur (1978–80) and Director-General of the
Anthropological Survey of India
Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) is the apex Indian government organisation involved in anthropological studies and field data research for human and cultural aspects, working primarily in the fields of physical anthropology and cultural ...
. He is known principally for his oversight and editorship of the ''
People of India
Indians or Indian people are the citizens and nationals of India. In 2022, the population of India stood at over 1.4 billion people, making it the world's second-most populous country, containing 17.7 percent of the global population. In a ...
'' survey and for his studies of tribal history.
Life
Kumar Suresh Singh came from a privileged background, growing up in
Munger
Munger, formerly spelt as Monghyr, is a twin city and a Municipal Corporation situated in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the administrative headquarters of Munger district and Munger Division. Munger was one of the major cities in Eastern In ...
, Bihar. He studied history, gaining a first-class BA from
Patna University
Patna University is a public state university in Patna, Bihar, India. It was established on 1 October 1917 during the British Raj. It is the first university in Bihar and the seventh oldest university in the Indian subcontinent in the modern er ...
. He subsequently obtained a master's degree, and finally a PhD on the subject of the revolutionary,
Birsa Munda
Birsa Munda (15 November 1875 – 9 June 1900) was an Indian tribal freedom fighter, and folk hero who belonged to the Munda tribe. He spearheaded a tribal religious millenarian movement that arose in the Bengal Presidency (now Jharkhand) in ...
.
He joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1958. He worked among the
Mundals
[ and then spent the period 1965–1968 as Deputy Commissioner at ]Palamu
Palamu district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India. It was formed in 1892. The administrative headquarter of the district is Medininagar (formerly DaltonGanj), situated on the Koel River.
History
The Palamu district ha ...
, in the Chhotanagpur
The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the bas ...
area. This posting coincided with the Bihar famine, for which he helped to organise relief and which introduced some innovative approaches that have subsequently been adopted elsewhere.
His posts in the government of Bihar included being Secretary in various departments: Industries (1973–1974), Rural Development (1974–1975, and 1980–1981), and Forest and Environment (1982–1984). A. K. Sinha has noted that "Because of his honesty, integrity and adherence to the norms of administration, he was not allowed to complete his term in any department in Bihar."[
In between these various government posts, Singh returned to Chhotanagpur as Commissioner for the period 1978–1980. In 1984 he was appointed Director-General of the Anthropological Survey of India (ASI) and also Director of the ]Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya
Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) or National Museum of Humankind or Museum of Man is an anthropology museum located in Bhopal, India, to present an integrated story of the evolution of man and culture with special reference ...
(National Museum of Mankind) in Bhopal
Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
.[
Although Singh retired from the ASI in 1993, he remained General Editor of the ''People of India'' series until his death on 20 May 2006. He completed the final volume just before dying, having previously suffering partial ]paralysis
Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...
from a stroke. He was a National Fellow of the Indian Council of Historical Research
The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) is a captive body of the Ministry of Education, Government of India established by an Administrative Order. The body has provided financial assistance to historians and scholars through fellowshi ...
at the time of his death.[ ]Muchkund Dubey
Prof. Muchkund Dubey is a Former Ambassador and Former Indian Foreign Secretary, the administrative head of the Indian Foreign Service, Government of India.
Career
He is also President of Council for Social Development (CSI), and Chairman ...
subsequently commented that
Tribal studies
Singh wrote a PhD thesis on Birsa Munda, the leader of an insurgency campaign against British rule. To do this he had to rely significantly on folk-lore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fro ...
and other forms of oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
practised by the tribal inhabitants of the Jharkhand
Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...
area of Bihar, where in total he spent 15 years conducting fieldwork. Although Singh considered Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi
Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi (31 July 1907 – 29 June 1966) was an Indian polymath with interests in mathematics, statistics, philology, history, and genetics. He contributed to genetics by introducing the ''Kosambi map function''. In statist ...
to be the first mainstream subaltern
Subaltern may refer to:
*Subaltern (postcolonialism), colonial populations who are outside the hierarchy of power
* Subaltern (military), a primarily British and Commonwealth military term for a junior officer
* Subalternation, going from a univer ...
historian, Sinha notes that Singh himself may have been. He went on to produce other works on tribal history.[
]
People of India
Singh had responsibility for the organisation, compilation and oversight of the ''People of India'' survey, which was intended to be an anthropological
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
study of the differences and linkages between all of the communities in India.The survey involved 470 scholars and identified 4694 communities during its period of fieldwork between October 1985 and 1994. Sinha notes a total of 3000 scholars, which figure appears to include those involved at various seminars and workshops. The full results of the survey fill 43 published volumes, of which 12 had been produced at the time of Singh's death.[
The purpose and methodology of the survey has received criticism. Laura Dudley Jenkins, for example, has said that
A review of the first volume of the series over ]Contributions to Indian Sociology
''Contributions to Indian Sociology'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering sociology with an emphasis on South Asian societies and cultures. It was established in 1957 by Louis Dumont and David Francis Pocock. It is published by S ...
, noted:-
Another opinion favourably contrasts the project with colonial ethnography, with Sinha saying that
Another informed opinion states that, ‘The People of India study conducted by K.S.Singh was entirely swadeshi. This presented a major breakthrough not only in terms of conceptual framework but also in methodology. The POI project sought to assemble people’s knowledge pertaining to culture and environment, and explore the idioms, the structures, and the cognitive processes reflected in the understanding and perception of people about themselves, and their relationship to one another and with the environment’.[
It further states that, ‘It is this home-grown approach to visualize Indian society in terms of native paradigms which made the PoI project an essentially Swadeshi Mission, designed in terms of indigenous prerequisites and ethos of people. It was meant to situate the people in diverse culture zones which were not bounded but porous. The ‘People of India’ study has indeed proved to be a milestone in post-colonial ethnography, with emphasis on Indian ideal of cultural pluralism’.]
Publications
Aside from his writing, as author and as editor, in volumes related to the ''People of India'' survey, Singh also wrote and edited other works, a selection of which are:
* – published version of Singh's PhD dissertation
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See also
*William Crooke
William Crooke (6 August 1848 – 25 October 1923) was a British orientalist and a key figure in the study and documentation of Anglo-Indian folklore. He was born in County Cork, Ireland, and was educated at Erasmus Smith's Tipperary Grammar S ...
*Herbert Hope Risley
Sir Herbert Hope Risley (4 January 1851 – 30 September 1911) was a British ethnographer and colonial administrator, a member of the Indian Civil Service who conducted extensive studies on the tribes and castes of the Bengal Presidency. ...
References
Further reading
*
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* Das, N. K. (2021). K.S. Singh: Anthropologist and Tribal Historian. In Architects of Anthropology in India Vol. 1 Edited by Sarthak Sengupta. pp. 225–240. New Delhi: Gyan Publishing House
External links
Anthropological Survey of India
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Kumar Suresh
1935 births
2006 deaths
Indian anthropologists
Indian civil servants
Patna University alumni
20th-century Indian biographers
Indian social sciences writers
People from Munger district
Scholars from Bihar
Scientists from Patna
20th-century anthropologists