Introduction

In 1991, the Indian government publically mandated a new agenda known as liberalization. The agenda was the domestic variant of neoliberalism, namely the giving over of large areas of the state and social life to the private business sector. In every aspect of their lives, people experienced the impact of liberalization. Survival in agricultural areas was damaged, cultural imaginations of people were foreshortened, and the well-being of the most vulnerable people became more precarious. Liberalization produced a churning of Indian society, with grotesque social consequences. Religious and communal violence increased; in 1992, the tearing down of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya during the anti-Muslim riots in India signaled future carnage. Caste conflict intensified. The Mandal Commission recommendations to reserve more seats for lower caste students, among other policy suggestions, were enacted in 1989. The vociferous protests in response to these new reservation policies revealed the hardening of caste hierarchies across the country. Landlordism gained new weapons. The blatant theft of common lands and the loss of political will around land reform matched the private property dogma of the new world order. Conspicuous consumption spiraled upwards, putting pressure on gendered traditions of accruing capital. Dowry harassment became an epidemic, with the overt violence against and murder of daughters-in-law often linked to demands for ongoing payments and goods from the woman's natal family. The precarious social value of women eroded further in these patriarchal economic regimes. Older forms of social, religious, and class fissures took on incendiary new forms with liberalization, and social justice movements were caught in the crossfire.