ABSTRACT

This book is a compelling examination of the theoretical discourse on rights and its relationship with ideas, institutions and practices in the Indian context. By engaging with the crucial categories of class, caste, gender, region and religion, it draws attention to the contradictions and contestations in the arena of rights and entitlements. The essays by eminent experts provide deep and nuanced insights on the intersecting issues and concerns of individual and group identities as well as their connection with the State along with its multifarious institutions and practices. The volume not only engages with the dilemmas emerging out of the rights discourse, but also sets out to recognize the significance of a shared commitment to a rights-based framework towards the promotion of justice and democracy in society.

The book will be useful to academics, social scientists, researchers and policymakers. It will be of special interest to teachers and students in the fields of politics, development studies, philosophy, ethics, sociology, gender/women’s studies and social movements.

chapter |30 pages

Introduction

Discourse on rights in India: debates and dilemmas

part I|145 pages

Theorizing rights

chapter 2|31 pages

Constitutionalizing rights, negotiating difference

The Indian experiment 1

chapter 3|25 pages

Gender, rights and the justice gap

Going beyond the politics of difference

chapter 4|22 pages

Law, rights and politics

Dilemmas and responses

part II|140 pages

Gender, religion, family, work, caste and community

chapter 7|36 pages

Sex-selective abortion and reproductive rights

A syncretic feminist approach

chapter 8|32 pages

Bodily rights and agency

Looking at the rights discourse of women in prostitution

chapter 10|24 pages

The triple talaq controversy

Gender concerns and minority safeguards

chapter 11|20 pages

Women and disability

Issues of care

part III|86 pages

The ‘myth’ of conflicting rights

chapter 13|8 pages

The ‘right’ music

Caste and ‘classical’ music in south India

chapter 14|12 pages

The trajectories of work, sexuality and citizenship

The rights of the transgender in India

chapter 15|9 pages

People and the terrains

PESA reconsidered

chapter 16|14 pages

Dilemmas in Kashmir

A human rights perspective

chapter 17|22 pages

Beyond conclusions

Discourse on rights in India: a case for reflective autonomy