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Why are the Bhil tribals increasingly converting to Pentecostalism in India? Drawing on more than a decade of in-depth ethnographic fieldwork among the Bhils in southern Rajasthan, this article argues that the Pentecostals have approached conversion not as "change of religion" (dharma parivartan) but as "holistic transformation of life" (jeevan parivartan). In a context in which the state has been withdrawing from providing basic social services to people at its margins, the pentecostal churches have come to play a vital role. Specifically, the article discusses that the presence of the Holy Spirit has brought about three major transformations—miracle healing, ethical subjectivity, and gender relations—in the lives of the Bhils. Finally, the article concludes that by combining developmental programs with prayer and fellowship, the pentecostal churches have not only brought ethical transformations among the Bhils but have also converted them "to a morally inspired existence." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research on civil society organizations (CSOs) facing restricted civic space largely focuses on the crackdown on freedoms and CSOs' strategies to handle these restrictions, often emphasizing impact on their more confrontational public roles. However, many CSOs shape their roles through collaborative relations with government. Drawing on interviews with state agencies and CSOs, this article analyes state–CSO collaboration in the restricted civic space context of disaster risk reduction in India. Findings are that the shaping of CSOs' roles through collaboration under conditions of restricted civic space is only partly defined by the across-the-board restrictive policies that have been the focus of much existing research on restricted civic space and its implications for CSOs. Interplay at the level of individual state agencies and CSOs, based on mutual perceptions, diverse organization-level considerations and actions, and evolving relations, shape who collaborates with whom and to what effect. This article thus stresses interplay and agency, moving away from simple understandings of co-optation, and calling for a more differentiated approach to the study of state–civil society collaboration under conditions of restricted civic space, with close attention to navigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A commonly explored theme in international civil society organisation (CSO) collaborations is the dominance of Northern CSOs and how this impinges on Southern CSOs' autonomy, but there is little work on the relative importance of different collaborations for Southern CSOs. This study examined complementarity as a new approach to understanding CSO collaboration. Seeking Southern perspectives, we examined the case of CSOs working on disaster risk reduction in India and developed a typology of complementarities in this domain. The article considers the implications for understanding complementarity in broader CSO collaborations. We find that constructing collaborations through the lens of complementarity may facilitate capitalising on diversity among CSOs and help build collaborations that consider the domestic orientation of many Southern CSOs and reshape the roles of Northern CSOs as complementary rather than leading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How is Pentecostalism changing the notions and experiences of citizenship at the margins of the state? Addressing this question, the paper argues that in the context of south Rajasthan, the Pentecostal church has played a vital role in combining the values of both pedagogical and governmental paradigms of citizenship not just to fill in the absence of the state but also to create an alternative model of citizenship that goes beyond the mere political rights. This alternative model of 'Christian citizenship' has effectively combined development with Pentecostal moral values. Furthermore, the Pentecostal church, by acting as a pedagogical agent, by organising active social ministries, and by developing ethical subjectivities among the Bhils, has engendered new notions of agency, autonomy and citizenship at the margins of the state. Résumé: Comment le pentecôtisme modifie-t-il les conceptions et les expériences de la citoyenneté aux marges de l' État ? Cet article montre que dans le contexte du Sud du Rajasthan, l' église pentecôtiste a joué un rôle déterminant, en combinant les valeurs des paradigmes pédagogiques et gouvernementaux de la citoyenneté, mais aussi en créant un modèle alternatif de citoyenneté qui va au-delà des seuls droits politiques. Ce modèle alternatif de « citoyenneté chrétienne » associe le développement aux valeurs morales pentecôtistes. En tant qu'acteur pédagogique, à travers son action sociale et en développant de nouvelles subjectivités éthiques chez les Bhils, l' église pentecôtiste a contribué à façonner de nouvelles formes d' agentivité, d' autonomie et de citoyenneté aux marges de l' État. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on development organizations' construction of representative roles in their work at the environment–development interface and on implications of these constructions for inclusiveness. While much of the past literature on representation has dealt with electoral representation, this article highlights the importance of nonelectoral representation. It follows a constructivist approach and is based on 36 in-depth interviews with the staff of different types of India-based development organizations working on disaster risk management. The article shows how development organizations in India contribute to inclusive development by representing groups that are vulnerable to disaster risk in diverse ways. Showing this diversity and how it is mediated by organizations, the article makes clear that representation is much more complex than literature commonly suggests. This complexity enables organizations to engage with specific dimensions of inclusive development. The article also illustrates how representation by development organizations happens through opportunities found and created through the intertwining of capacity development, service delivery, and advocacy. At the same time, the mediated nature of representation, and its embeddedness in a wide set of relations, makes representation by development organizations indirect and questionable in ways beyond the commonly understood dominance of powerful nongovernmental organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the international backdrop of rising religious tensions, this article explores contemporary civil society views on religious freedom in Bangladesh. It uses critical frame analysis of the corpus of civil society organizations' (CSOs) submissions to the United Nations' third cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR), 2013–18. It provides a timely assessment of Bangladesh's fulfilment of international obligations on religious freedom, and shows how the politicization of religion and the resultant conflict between 'secularism' and 'extremism' have been fuelling inter-communal tensions and religious intolerance. In particular, CSOs' UPR submissions present powerful accounts of the principal human rights pathology affecting the country today, religious-based violence. This is accompanied by a narrative of police malpractice, judicial failings, discrimination, oppression and incitement. A further key finding is 'situated knowledge' or first-hand accounts of legal restrictions and government repression of civil society organizations. Consonant with the classical work of liberal theorists, we argue that unprecedented importance now attaches to safeguarding civil society criticality in order to defend religious freedom and uphold human rights in the Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the use of the English term ‘matrimonial' in Indian context, which is processes of matchmaking through print and online media advertisements, marriage bureaus and television matrimony and proliferation of online matrimonial sites in India since 1990.

How has neo-liberalism transformed the economic structure and policies of India? And what are the politico-economic implications of such policies for marginalised populations? Following Karl Polanyi’s theory of “double movement”, this paper argues that while market liberalism has helped India overcome the slow so-called “Hindu rate of growth”, it has adversely affected the economic interests of the poor. It further argues that the expansion of the market (first movement) has led to various social dislocations in the lives of the poor. Such dislocations have generated several countermovements (second movement), which have found expressions not just in electoral politics but also in various grassroots movements. While it may be true that such countermovements have not always been successful in overturning the tide of neo-liberalism, they have certainly influenced the policy priorities of the state in favour of the poor and the marginalised in India. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dense, smooth, and high-purity FexCo(1-x) thin films have been grown by chemical vapor deposition using a coflow of Fe(CO)5 and Co2(CO)8 precursors. High precursor fluxes and precise control over both the substrate temperature and relative precursor pressures are keys to reproducibly obtaining high quality films with the desired stoichiometry. Films with the composition Fe0.55Co0.45 show excellent soft magnetic properties: the saturation magnetization of 2.45 ± 0.05 T approaches the theoretical maximum, and the coercivity is less than 20 Oe. Conformal films have also been grown successfully in a trench structure with an aspect ratio of 4:1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses whether civil society promotes democratization, as has been argued implicitly or explicitly in the political discourse, following the publication of Putnam's Making Democracy Work. The theorists of “third-wave” transitology have advocated civil society as the indispensable instrument for the survival and sustenance of democracy. This article, however, argues that civil society is not necessarily a democratic force. It may or may not have positive implications in regard to democratization and the functioning of democracy. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the tribal-dominated south Rajasthan, this article analyses the case of Rajasthan Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad (RVKP), a Hindu(tva)-oriented non-governmental organization (NGO), to demonstrate how civil society could also be anti-democratic. It shows that by utilizing development as a medium of entry, the RVKP has not only successfully presented itself as a counter-force against the “threatening others”, such as Muslims and Christians but also mobilized electoral support for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In return, the BJP-led state government has provided economic, political and legal support to the RVKP and facilitated the Hindutva politics at the grassroots level. The article concludes that in the context of Rajasthan, a conservative state has collaborated with an exclusivist civil society organization – the consequence of which has not just been the spread of violence and demonization of religious minorities but also a serious undermining of cultural pluralism and democratic values of Indian society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper addresses two basic questions in the globalization literature: (1) is globalization a threat or an opportunity? And (2) how far does market deepening actually encourage genuine substantive democracy in the world? Many scholars have argued that globalization has resulted in increasing inequality and marginalization of the poor, which is not conducive for democracy. Drawing on the case of India, this paper, however, argues that the rolling back of the welfare state and the demise of developmentalism led to the mobilization of the masses against the elitist and exploitative agenda of globalization. As a result, a counter-hegemonic vibrant civil society has emerged, which challenges the hegemony of the elites and channels the empowerment agenda of the subaltern groups. This new politics of the subaltern is grounded on the idea of social justice and citizenship rights, which is redefining the nature of the Indian state and democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the role of non-government organisations (NGOs) and the implications for democratisation in India. By analysing one such organisation, this paper argues that NGOs do not always contribute positively to the democratisation process. It shows how Seva Mandir, an NGO working in the tribal areas of Rajasthan, has adopted a purely technocratic and apolitical service delivery approach and promoted a neo-liberal model of development. The unintended consequence of promoting this model has been the growth of a culture of ‘organised dependency’ at the grass-roots level, which has adversely affected the larger objectives of empowerment and democratisation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Globalisation has had far-reaching implications for the dynamics of liberal democracy and governance in India. With the opening of the Indian economy in the 1990s, global market forces and private sector organisations have played an increasingly significant role in the political life of the nation. Given this background, several central questions are addressed. How has globalisation affected the way that state and civil society relations in India are constituted? In particular, what are its political implications for the poor who had previously relied on the services provided by the post-colonial state that carried out significant welfare-orientated functions? The paper argues that the contradictions of globalisation have transformed the dependent identity of the poor and marginalised toward a greater propensity for collective mobilisation. While the longer-term outcomes of such mobilisation remains unclear, the hegemonic position of entrenched elites is more clearly being challenged by the emergence of new agendas of inclusion, welfare rights and social justice appearing under conditions of neo-liberal globalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the role of Rajasthan Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad (RVKP), an ethnic Hindu(tva) organisation, among the tribal populations in south Rajasthan. It argues that the RVKP has been able to enhance its legitimacy and expand its socio-political support base among the tribals through a well-articulated and planned process of ‘ethnification’. This process has been carried out in four basic ways: (1) utilising development projects as means to spread the ideology of Hindutva, (2) bringing religious awakening and organising mass re-conversion programmes, (3) redefining indigenous identity and characterising certain communities as ‘the other’, and (4) with the support of the various state institutions. The paper concludes that by ethnicising indigenous identity, the RVKP has not just created a ‘culture of fear and violence’ in the tribal regions but also threatened the secular democratic ethos of Indian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to analyze the effects of globalization on Indian civil society. Following a historical analysis, the paper argues that civil society during the colonial and early post-colonial period remained confined to the English educated upper-caste elites. The subaltern populations were excluded from its sphere because of the virtues of modernity and the paternalistic policies of the post-colonial state and ruling elites. The decline of the moderate state and the Congress system in the mid-1970s and the policies of globalization and the rolling-back of the welfare state in the mid-1980s transformed the state-society relationship and brought incongruous implications for civil society in India. The apparatus of the state became pluralized, and several non-governmental organizations and people's movements emerged to take up issues affecting the lives of poor and marginalized. The paper concludes that, although globalization has radicalized civil society activism and expanded its sphere over the past few years, in the process it has turned civil society into a site of increasing class war, widespread violence and growing unfreedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the books "The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy," by C. B. Macpherson and "Democracy in the Making: How Activist Groups Form," by Kathleen M. Blee.