ABSTRACT

Noted Tamil writer Rajam Krishnan was known for her exhaustively researched social novels that depicted characters that were rarely seen in the Tamil fiction of the time. Krishnan’s fiction is unabashedly didactic, with her characters often voicing the author’s own views on social reform and serving to emphasise her penchant for reshaping society. The British strategy for the development of India was based on the adoption of policies that would provide law and order, the development of foreign trade based on the free trade principle and the investment of capital. The transformation of colonised lands into an imitation of the imperialists’ homelands was part of the superego of the colonisers. They imbued the material features of their mother country with quasi-ethical qualities. Despite its global relevance and prominence in public discourse, environmentalism has not been able to significantly impact development policy in India.