From the Publisher
“This excellent volume is most topical given the challenges the rule of law is facing in India today. It offers a comprehensive and up to date analysis of the judiciary’s functioning, with special references to its fragile independence, and the status of human rights. While in the 2000s Indians got new rights, like the Right to Information, their enforcement has become more precarious, especially in the case minorities and Dalits (ex-Untouchables) on which the book focuses.” (Christophe Jaffrelot, CERI-Sciences Po/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, and King's College, London)
“This book provides new insights into the dynamic interaction between the legal order and its institutionalisation through people’s everyday human rights practices. It is a useful addition to our understanding of the ways in which the struggles for rights by diverse populations in India activate democracy and the rule of law.” (Jayshree Mangubhai, Senior Human Rights Adviser, the Pacific Community (SPC), Fiji)
“Law and Democracy in Contemporary India is an outstanding interdisciplinary contribution to our understanding of the complicated and often ambiguous relationship between justice-seeking, governance, and cultural conflict. The editors have assembled a compelling group of anthropologists, sociologists, and political scientists in order to unpack some of the most critical questions confronting the ‘world’s largest democracy.’ The collective result sheds new light on how legal forms and logics emerge through the interplay between what the editors describe as ‘institutionalisation from above’ and ‘institutionalisation from below.’” (Mark Goodale, Professor of Cultural and Social Anthropology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland)
