A full-fledged department of Political Science at the undergraduate(Hons.) level came into being in 1960. Teaching of Politics began with the creation of a post of Professor of Law and Political Economy in 1927. In 1905, Political Economy and Political Philosophy became separate subjects at the B.A. level. Around the same time, affiliation of the Calcutta University was acquired for sending the students for M.A. examination in Political Economy and Political Philosophy. University affiliation for Civics in 1933 gave another scope for study of politics. Between 1949 and 1959 the quantum of political studies increased significantly in B.A. Economics and Political Science course at the honours level. The new syllabus for a full-fledged 800 marks honours course in Political Science was in a way inter-disciplinary because it had full papers on Sociology and Public Finance. The department has consistently maintained a tradition of training minds of the students in theoretical thinking and at the same time imparting empiricist orientation. Many among the teachers were also students of the department who lived up to the glorious tradition of this department. If one examines research papers and books of successive cohorts: from R.N.Gilchrist ( 1912-1916 ) to likes of Partha Chatterjee and Sudipto Kaviraj, one is struck by the evolution of research interest. From an initial interest in conventional studies of Political institutions, the teacher- scholars and research students have moved into contemporary issues in Political Sociology and Political Philosophy. A few are experimenting with post-modernist perspective as well. Many of our students have completed Ph.D. in major American and British Universities. A similar number is now working for their Ph.D. degrees. They bring back to the department their intellectual insights in seminar lectures delivered from time to time. Some of them are now teaching in colleges and universities abroad or are associated with research institutes like Schools of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. With a steady flow of excellent students, the department issustaining a very high academic standard.
One common measure of intellectual attainment is the quality of scholarship revealed in books and article written. To name a few, Partha Chatterjee, Sudipto Kaviraj, Sobhanlal Dutta Gupta, Mohit Bhattacharya,Radharaman Chakraborty, Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Arun Banerjee, Bidyut Chakraborty, Ranabir Samaddar have made rich contributions to the growth of the discipline of Political Science. The success of the department has other indicators. It has produced Vice-Chancellors and Directors of prestigious institutions like the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Netaji Institute of Asian Studies. All the major universities of West Bengal have teachers who are alumnus of the department. Some of our bright students are in Civil Services, Corporate Management, Journalism, Art and Culture, Legal profession etc.