http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/12 Welcome to MIER College Open Access Repository- an institutional Digital Repository to store, index, preserve, distribute and share the digital learning resources developed by the Institution. Items in MCE Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved by MIER, unless otherwise indicated. 2026-10-05T23:02:39Z http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/204 Title: Silenced Histories on Screen: A Cinematic Study of Displacement Narratives of Kashmiri Pandits Authors: Matto, Mehak Abstract: The forced displacement of Kashmiri Pandits in the late 1980s and early 1990s remains one of the most under-acknowledged injustices in modern Indian history. Confronted with targeted killings, threats, and destruction of property, the community endured not only physical violence but also the erasure of identity, cultural belonging, and collective memory. Families faced the indignity of refugee camps, economic dislocation, and loss of educational opportunities, while women experienced heightened vulnerability and trauma. Decades later, these struggles persist through generational displacement and fractured cultural continuity. Yet, despite its magnitude, this tragedy has remained inadequately represented in mainstream scholarship and cultural discourse. This research proposes to examine the injustices faced by Kashmiri Pandits through the lens of film studies, focusing on The Kashmir Files (2022) and Shikara (2020). These films, though differing in narrative strategies and aesthetics, both serve as cultural texts that bring suppressed voices and contested memories to the forefront. The Kashmir Files adopts a direct, confrontational style to foreground silenced atrocities, also presents an unflinching portrayal of mass violence and silenced suffering, while Shikara uses intimate storytelling, personal memory, love to depict exile and resilience. By analyzing these cinematic portrayals, this study aims to investigate how film functions as a counter-archive of violence, identity, and suppressed history. The research not only addresses a critical gap in the academic exploration of Kashmiri Pandits’ struggles but also highlights cinema’s role in shaping memory, identity politics, and discourses of reconciliation. Ultimately, it underscores the importance of film in giving voice to marginalized struggles and framing demands for justice. Description: B.A. English (H) Dissertation-2026 2026-07-15T00:00:00Z http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/203 Title: Unveiling Women's Sexuality and Desire in Indian Cinema: A Study of Parched and Lipstick Under My Burkha Authors: Rajput, Charu Abstract: This dissertation, titled Unveiling Women’s Sexuality and Desire in Indian Cinema: A Study of Parched and Lipstick Under My Burkha, explores the silence and repression surrounding women’s sexual desire in Indian culture. While much research has already examined women’s empowerment in political, social, and economic contexts, the subject of women’s pleasure continues to be overlooked. In Indian society, it is widely accepted when men express their desires, but women who speak about their own sexuality are often shamed, censored, or punished. This unequal treatment highlights how pleasure remains a taboo for women, even in a modern and supposedly progressive society. To address this issue, the dissertation studies two powerful Indian films, Lipstick Under My Burkha (2016) and Parched (2015). Both films present women as desiring subjects who seek intimacy, independence, and fulfillment. In Lipstick Under My Burkha, four women from different backgrounds attempt to pursue their sexual freedom but are met with ridicule, restrictions, and moral policing. The film itself was banned by the Central Board of Film Certification for being “lady-oriented,” which shows how society resists women-centered narratives of desire. Similarly, Parched portrays rural women in Gujarat who struggle against patriarchal customs that deny them the right to speak openly about their needs. Although the women in the film form bonds of support and dream of freedom, their desires are constantly silenced by traditions and social shame. This research highlights that despite globalization and modernization, Indian women’s sexuality is still censored, repressed, and treated as dangerous. Using feminist theories and cultural analysis, the research argues that acknowledging women’s pleasure is not just about sexuality but about giving women agency, equality, and dignity. By mapping this neglected area, the study reveals how true gender equality cannot exist until women’s desires are recognized and respected. Description: B.A. English (H) Dissertation-2026 2026-07-15T00:00:00Z http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/202 Title: Reclaiming Feminine Voices in Myth and Media: An Indian Knowledge System Oriented Study of the Palace of Illusions and Captain Marvel Authors: Sharma, Arzoo Abstract: Contemporary narratives have increasingly centered women as protagonists and positioned their stories as acts of empowerment. Yet the widening presence of women in literary and cinematic representation does not, by itself, constitute a transformation of the terms on which power is recognized. This study argues that empowerment, as it is currently constructed across dominant narrative forms, frequently operates as alignment with pre-existing masculine standards of strength rather than as a genuine reconfiguration of what strength means. The study examines how feminine agency is constructed, constrained, and potentially reclaimed in two primary texts: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions (2008) and the film Captain Marvel (2019), directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Through close textual and visual analysis, it interrogates the conditions under which empowerment is granted, the qualities it requires women to suppress, and the standards against which it is measured. The analytical framework draws on two bodies of thought used in productive dialogue. Western feminist theory, specifically the work of Luce Irigaray and Hélène Cixous provides the vocabulary for identifying how phallocentric structures silence, constrain, and misrecognise feminine agency. Indian Knowledge System concepts, particularly shakti and ardhanarishvara, extend this framework by proposing an alternative model of power understood as internally grounded, morally generative, and integrative rather than dominative. The two primary texts are read in dialogue rather than as equivalents, their differences in form, tradition, and medium making the shared structural problem more visible than either text could make it alone. The study concludes that the dominant model of feminine empowerment, as enacted across both texts, tends toward imitation of masculine norms rather than transformation of them. Meaningful empowerment, the study argues, requires not a revision of who holds power but a rethinking of how power itself is defined. Description: B.A. English (H) Dissertation-2026 2026-07-15T00:00:00Z http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/201 Title: Security and Strategy in the Himalayas: Examining India’s Approach to the China Challenge Authors: Gupta, Sonakshi Abstract: The Himalayas represent one of Asia’s most complex security frontiers, where territorial sovereignty, military contestation, ecological fragility, and hydrological interdependence converge within a single, strategically contested space. This study examines four core research objectives: the strategic and territorial significance of the Himalayas in shaping India-China relations; the historical and contemporary drivers of the border dispute; the impact of China’s assertiveness on India’s territorial, political, and environmental security; and the effectiveness of India’s post-2020 deterrence-diplomacy-development response. Employing a qualitative methodology drawing on government primary sources and peer-reviewed scholarship, the study applies Offensive Realism to explain China’s assertive behaviour, Defensive Realism is used to analyse state priorities security under anarchy, Liberal Institutionalism and Complex Interdependence to capture how rivalry coexists with diplomacy and institutional engagement and Environmental Security theory alongside hydro-hegemony to analyse transboundary river governance as an arena of strategic competition. The findings demonstrate that India’s post-Galwan strategy constitutes a coherent, and increasingly integrated response to China's challenge. Notable progress is visible in the strengthening of deterrence capabilities, the expansion of diplomatic engagement, and the consolidation of developmental initiatives in frontier regions. While structural constraints persist-particularly in achieving full deterrence parity, institutionalising transboundary water governance, and enhancing borderland resilience-India’s strategic approach reflects growing policy coordination and longterm orientation. Overall, the dissertation argues that India is not merely managing a protracted contest but progressively enhancing its capacity to shape outcomes in the Himalayan strategic environment, thereby contributing to a more stable and sustainable regional security framework Description: B.A. Political Science (H) Dissertation-2026 2026-07-14T00:00:00Z