Dynamics of Caste and Law

Dynamics of Caste and Law

Author: Dag-Erik Berg

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-02-27

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 1108855601

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Dynamics of Caste and Law breaks new ground in understanding how caste and law relate in India's democratic order. Caste has become a visible phenomenon often associated with discrimination, inequality and politics in India and globally. India's constitutional democracy has had a remarkable goal of creating equality in a context of caste. Despite constitutional promises with equal opportunities for the lower castes and outlawing of untouchability at the time of independence, recurring atrocities and inadequate implementation of law have called for rethinking and legal change. This book sheds new light on why caste oppression persists by using new theoretical perspectives as well as Bhimrao Ambedkar's concepts of the caste system. Focusing on struggles among India's Dalits, the castes formerly known as untouchables, the book draws on a rich material and explains, among other things, mechanisms of oppression and how powerful actors may gain influence in institutions of law and state.


Dilemma in Politics

Dilemma in Politics

Author: Ravi Saxena

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-09-26

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1040128122

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Dilemma in Politics underlines the major faults and fissures in the academic discourses around the themes emphasizing upon the prevalence of dichotomy between ‘what ought to be’ and ‘what is’ in the political sphere. How do political values get marginalized, if not compromised, in the name of ideological conflicts and alliances? This book highlights this dilemma across a range of themes which explore the gaps in the practice and the praxis of politics. The chapters in this volume present detailed analytical perspective on issues concerning environment, female empowerment and feminist discourses and identity-based politics and its limitations, among various other key themes. Further, it analyses the concept of rights in the neoliberal democratic context, caste and class politics and its inherent dilemmas, and it also illustrates the gaps in the political discourses to discussion on possible alternatives or solutions. With contributions by eminent political scientists working on Indian politics, this book would be an invaluable resource for scholars and researchers of political science, political philosophy, public administration, governance, public policy, political participation, democracy and South Asia studies, and will be of interest to bureaucrats, policymakers and the general reader.


Animal Sacrifice, Religion and Law in South Asia

Animal Sacrifice, Religion and Law in South Asia

Author: Daniela Berti

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-07-13

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1000930106

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This book presents original research on the controversies surrounding animal sacrifice in South Asia through the lens of court cases. It focuses on the parties involved in these cases: on their discourses, motivations, and contrasting points of view. Through an examination of judicial files, court decisions and newspaper articles, and interviews with protagonists, the book explores how the question of animal sacrifice is dealt with through administrative, legislative, and judicial practice. It outlines how, although animal sacrifice has over the ages been contested by various religious reform movements, the practice has remained widespread at all levels of society, especially in certain regions. It reveals that far from merely being a religious and ritual question, animal sacrifice has become a focus of broader public debate, and it discusses how the controversies highlight the contrast between ‘traditional’ and ‘reformist’ understandings of Hinduism; the conflict between the core legal and moral principles of religious freedom and social progress; and the growing concern with environmental issues and animal rights. The Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 7 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.taylorfrancis.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International license. Funded by Centre National de la Recherche Scientific.


Fragile Hope

Fragile Hope

Author: Sandhya Fuchs

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2024-06-18

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 1503639371

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Against the backdrop of the global Black Lives Matter movement, debates around the social impact of hate crime legislation have come to the political fore. In 2019, the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice urgently asked how legal systems can counter bias and discrimination. In India, a nation with vast socio-cultural diversity, and a complex colonial past, questions about the relationship between law and histories of oppression have become particularly pressing. Recently, India has seen a rise in violence against Dalits (ex-untouchables) and other minorities. Consequently, an emerging "Dalit Lives Matter" movement has campaigned for the effective implementation of India's only hate crime law: the 1989 Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act (PoA). Drawing on long-term fieldwork with Dalit survivors of caste atrocities, human rights NGOs, police, and judiciary, Sandhya Fuchs unveils how Dalit communities in the state of Rajasthan interpret and mobilize the PoA. Fuchs shows that the PoA has emerged as a project of legal meliorism: the idea that persistent and creative legal labor can gradually improve the oppressive conditions that characterize Dalit lives. Moving beyond statistics and judicial arguments, Fuchs uses the intimate lens of personal narratives to lay bare how legal processes converge and conflict with political and gendered concerns about justice for caste atrocities, creating new controversies, inequalities, and hopes.


Comparative Approaches in Law and Policy

Comparative Approaches in Law and Policy

Author: Joshua Aston

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-09-13

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 9819944600

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This book encompasses areas of research like comparative constitution, transformative constitution, environmental law, family law, child rights and so on. The main theme of the book is comparative law. We intend to incorporate into this book laws pertaining to diverse field wherein it can be compared with the laws of other countries which brings in better understanding and conceptual clarity. The book focuses on the jurisprudence of different countries which enables the readers or clientele to get a better understanding of the principles of comparative law. The book showcases the comparative law jurisprudence prevalent across the globe so as to make use of the best practices for the betterment of humanity.


From Anthropology to Social Theory

From Anthropology to Social Theory

Author: Arpad Szakolczai

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-01-17

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1108423809

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A rethinking of contemporary social theory that provides a vision about the modern world through key ideas developed by 'maverick' anthropologists.


Founding Mothers of the Indian Republic

Founding Mothers of the Indian Republic

Author: Achyut Chetan

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-11-30

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 1009032356

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The book begins with the momentous task of demolishing the prejudices attached with the phrase 'founding fathers' that has held an immense sway over constitutional interpretation. It shows that women members of the Indian Constituent Assembly had painstakingly co-authored a Constitution that embodied a moral imagination developed by years of feminist politics. It traces the genealogies of several constitutional provisions to argue that, without the interventions of these women framers, the Constitution would hardly have a much poorer document of rights and statecraft that it is. Situating these interventions in the larger trajectory of Indian feminism in which they are rooted, in the nationalist discourse with which they perpetually negotiated, and in the larger human rights discourse of the 1940s, the book shows that the women members of the Indian Constituent Assembly were much more than the 'founding mothers' of a republic.


Freedom in Captivity

Freedom in Captivity

Author: Radhika Gupta

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-11-30

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 1009276786

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How do borderland dwellers living along militarised frontiers negotiate regimes of state security and their geopolitical location in everyday life? What might 'freedom' mean to those who do not resist captivity engendered by borders? Focusing on the predicaments of a double-minority, Freedom in Captivity examines the affective attachments, political imaginaries, and ethical claims-making among the Shia Muslims of Kargil. In contrast to calls for freedom in the Kashmir Valley, Shias on the frontiers of Kashmir have sought belonging to India. Yet they do not entirely succumb to its hegemonic ideological boundaries. Departing from the dominant focus on physical cross-border mobility, this book is an invitation to reimagine borderlands as cartographies of ideas, cutting across spatial scales. Based on original ethnographic research conducted between 2008 and 2021, this monograph offers a unique long durée insight into the lives of people residing at the intersections of the biggest states in Asia.


Inequality

Inequality

Author: Carles Lalueza-Fox

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2023-09-19

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 0262547317

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How genomics reveals deep histories of inequality, going back many thousands of years. Inequality is an urgent global concern, with pundits, politicians, academics, and best-selling books all taking up its causes and consequences. In Inequality, Carles Lalueza-Fox offers an entirely new perspective on the subject, examining the genetic marks left by inequality on humans throughout history. Lalueza-Fox describes genetic studies, made possible by novel DNA sequencing technologies, that reveal layers of inequality in past societies, manifested in patterns of migration, social structures, and funerary practices. Through their DNA, ancient skeletons have much to tell us, yielding anonymous stories of inequality, bias, and suffering. Lalueza-Fox, a leader in paleogenomics, offers the deep history of inequality. He explores the ancestral shifts associated with migration and describes the gender bias unearthed in these migrations—the brutal sexual asymmetries, for example, between male European explorers and the women of Latin America that are revealed by DNA analysis. He considers social structures, and the evidence that high social standing was inherited—the ancient world was not a meritocracy. He untangles social and genetic factors to consider whether wealth is an advantage in reproduction, showing why we are more likely to be descended from a king than a peasant. And he explores the effects of ancient inequality on the human gene pool. Marshaling a range of evidence, Lalueza-Fox shows that understanding past inequalities is key to understanding present ones.