Mr. Vikramaditya Awasthy, Ph.D. scholar at the Department of History, School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH) received the Charles Wallace India Trust (CWIT) short term research grant (2023-24). He visited the U.K and successfully conducted archival research at the British Library in London and the Cambridge University Library with the CWIT fellowship.
Working under the research supervision of Dr. V.J. Varghese, Mr. Awasthy works on the dynamics of Great Depression in India with special reference to the policy of rupee devaluation and its failure to achieve the expected expansionary effects in the economy. The project is tentatively titled as ‘British pursuit of Indian gold during the Great Depression: A critical study into the economic policy in India, 1931-1935’. He explored the ‘India Office Records and Private Papers’ as well as the political correspondences during the five weeklong visit, as part of his effort to examine the policy dynamics at work with respect to India during the Great Depression. The visit also helped him undertake important academic consultations and collect material to unravel the genesis of economic troubles and socio-political unrest in India as a consequence of the British requirement of gold during the Depression in the wider context of global economy.