Author: Zoya Hasan
E Sridharan/R Sudarshan
Editor: Zoya Hasan, E Sridharan and R Sudarshan
Publisher: Permanent Black
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 446
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8178240351
Description
Half a century of constitutional democracy in India is something that political scientists and legal scholars need to analyze and explain.This book does that with the greatest authority. It locates the Constitution in the history and sociology of modern India.
India became independent in 1947 and adopted, after nearly three years of debate in the Constituent Assembly, a Constitution which came into effect on 26 January 1950
This Constitution has lasted until the present, with its basic structure unaltered. India has had thirteen general elections between 1952 and 1999 (despite the nineteen-month Emergency, which itself was based on a provision of the Constitution) and is often called the world’s largest democracy.
This is a remarkable achievement, given that the generally accepted prerequisites for democratic stability did not exist, and do not exist even today. Half a century of constitutional democracy is something that political scientists and legal scholars need to analyze and explain.This book does that with the greatest authority. It locates the Constitution in the history and sociology of modern India.
Its first part consists of overview essays on the Constitution and Justice; on Democracy; on the Nation and the State. The second part is on organizing principles- on Federalism; on the rationale for incorporating in the Constitution fundamental ideological goals as binding upon the state; on Secularism; and on the Basic Structure Doctrine. The third part is on Rights and Justice – on Individual and Group Rights, on Gender Equality and Personal Liberty.
The forth part is on Equity- on Economic Justice and on Affirmative Action. The fifth part is on the Polity- on Trends in the Constitution’s Working; on Decentralization and Local Government, on Parties and Political Representation; and on Electoral Rules, Representation and Power-sharing.
Contents
Preface
Notes on Contributors
INTORDUCTION
1.Introduction: Civilization, Constitution, Democracy
Satish Saberwal
I.OVERVIEW
2.The (Im) possibility of Constitutional Justice:
Seismographic Notes on Indian Constitutionalism
Upendra Baxi
3.The Indian Constitution and Democracy
Sunil Khilnani
4.The Nation and the State in India: A Difficult Bond
Javeed Alam
II.ORGANISING PRINCIPLES
5.India’s Secular Constitution
Rajeev Bhargava
6.How Has the Proliferation of Parties Affected the Indian Federation? :
A Comparative Approach
Douglas V Verney
7.Stateness and Democracy in India’s Constitution
R Sudarshan
8.The Inner Conflict of Constitutionalism:
Judicial Review and the Basic Structure
Pratap Bhanu Mehta
III.RIGHTS AND JUSTICE
9.Individual and Group Rights: A View From India
Neeta Chandhoke
10.Sex Equality, Liberty, and Privacy:
A Comparative Approach to the Feminist Critique
Martha C Nussbaum
IV.EQUITY
11.The Pursuit of Social Justice
A Vaidyanathan
12.The Long Half-life of Reservations
Marc Galanter
V.INDIA’S POLITY
13.The Expected and the Unintended in Working a Democratic Constitution
Granville Austin
14.The Origins of the Electoral System:
Rules, Representation, and Power-sharing in India’s Democracy
E. Sridharan
15.Decentralization and local Government: The Second Wind of Democracy in India Peter Ronald deSouza
16.The Politics of Presence and Legislative Reservations for Women
Zoya Hasan
INDEX