ABSTRACT
In July 1991 the Government of India adopted neoliberal economic reforms, a euphemism for the macro-economic stabilisation and structural adjustment programmes sponsored by the Bretton Woods institutions that was projected as globalisation. The international experience incontrovertibly reveals that neoliberal policies have exacerbated inequality in every sphere – among countries, among regions within countries, among races, ethnicities, classes and so on. The neoliberal globalisation eroded the social justice discourse which constituted the premise behind the constitutional safeguards in favour of the Dalits. Proponents of neoliberalism held economic freedom is a necessary condition for the emergence of political freedom. Neoliberalism thus considers democracy as an end, rather than a means, which stands in stark contrast to a classical liberal interpretation of democracy as a means for empowering the people to accomplish self-imposed ends. Neoliberalism as the absolutist version of capitalism has provided fertile ground for resurgence of decadent customs and cultures with as much absolutist vigour.
