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This book explores the complex relationship between human rights and environmental protection. It analyzes the concept of environmental procedural rights from a comparative perspective in the European Union, India, and China. Arguing the need to apply a holistic approach which acknowledges the interlinkages between democracy, environmental protection, and climate change, it examines both theoretical and practical dimensions of the topic, with case studies drawn from empirical research. The work highlights the important role of environmental procedural rights at the intersection of environmental law and human rights, emphasizing the need for effective channels of communication between citizens and public authorities. The study calls for the taking into account of non-binding recommendations, such as the Maastricht Recommendations on Promoting Effective Public Participation in Environmental Matters, for developing public participation procedures in a manner that allows authorities to tailor these to the needs and situations of marginalized people. The book will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers and policy makers working in the areas of environmental law, international human rights law and transnational law and governance.

This book engages with the discourses on human rights as they apply to the transgender or the hijra community in India, capturing not only their larger struggle for legal rights and dignity but also their personal hardships. It situates the issues and concerns of the Indian transgender community within a global context to explore the extent of social justice in independent India.By narrating stories of individuals, local movements and activities of groups like the Association of Transgender/Hijra in Bengal (ATHB) and others, the book gives context to the changes that globalisation has brought to the narrative around transgenders in India. This shift has challenged their marginalisation and has led to stories, films and queer individuals like Chapal Bhaduri – the jatra rani – and the iconic filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh to flourish and become relevant. This book brings these literatures and personal stories to the fore, allowing readers to perceive the changes and the challenges that Indian society faces when it comes to ensuring the rights for transgender people.This volume will be of interest to scholars of gender studies, queer studies, literature and social work along with readers who want to engage with the transgender movement and community in India.

This book promises to be a profound exploration of the status and experiences of women in India. This powerful memoir merges political and social commentary with compelling narratives spanning from ancient civilizations to the present day. Vijay Pal Tonk's deep erudition and awareness make this sequel a crucial literary endeavour. The book dives headfirst into the multifaceted challenges and accomplishments of women, revealing their diverse stories. In a society where women often have to request what should be their basic rights and necessities, this book serves as a poignant reminder of the prevailing gender disparities. Through vivid storytelling, Vijay's work seeks to highlight the unique experiences, empowerment, and endurance of women. This compelling narrative touches upon both the joys and sorrows of women's lives, offering a thought-provoking insight into their world. The book also features masterful illustrations that complement the narrative, making it an enlightening and visually engaging read.

This book sheds light on the issues of structural violence perpetrated against the tribes and analyzes the infringement of human rights of the tribes in the neo-liberal hegemonic context, due to which the tribes are going through massive upheaval – induced displacement and dispossession from livelihood. They are unable to advance their existentialist interests and fulfil their aspirations, because of which they are taking recourse to extremism and get caught into the battle of state sponsored militia and forces on the one hand, and the extremists on the other. The mechanism of structural violence is embedded in the global capitalism, which has its roots in colonialism and imperialism. Tribal movements of the central-eastern India, inspired by human rights exigencies, are up against this imperial project that violates the trajectories of state-led development initiatives for the reason that these movements have been brutally suppressed by the military forces. This has given a political impetus to the tribes for self-assertion. Similarly, tribal activism in the central-eastern India during the twenty-first century addresses the issue of violence in nature and the infringement of human rights in the context of development-induced displacement and the spread of extremism. The book is based on the collection of data from the field investigations done during the last seven years, and it will definitely fill the vacuum in the history of tribal movements in the neo-liberal era.

This book studies the history of intercultural human rights. It examines the foundational elements of human rights in the East and the West and provides a comparative analysis of the independent streams of thought originating from the two different geographic spaces. It traces the genesis of the idea of human rights back to ancient Indian and Greco-Roman texts, especially concepts such as the Rigvedic universal moral law, the Upanishadic narratives, the Romans'model of governance, the rule of law, and administration of justice. It also looks at Cicero's concept of rights and duties which focuses on quality of compassion and fair play, and Seneca's expositions on mercy, empathy, justice, and checks on the arbitrary exercise of power.An important contribution, this book fills a significant gap in the study of human rights. It will be useful for students and researchers of political science, ancient history, religion and civilizations, philosophy, history, human rights, governance, law, sociology, and South Asian studies. The book also caters to general readers interested in the history of human rights.

This book explores the conceptual and theoretical frameworks of Right to Water and analyzes its values in the context of water policy frameworks of the union governments in India. It uses a qualitative approach and combines critical hermeneutics with critical content analysis to introduce a new water policy framework. The volume maps the complex argumentative narrations which have emerged and evolved in the idea of Right to Water and traces the various contours and the nature of water policy texts in independent India. The book argues that the idea of Right to Water has emerged, evolved and is being argued through theoretical arguments and is shaped with the help of institutional arrangements developed at the international, regional, and national levels. Finally, the book underlines that India's national water policies drafted respectively in 1987, 2002 and 2012, are ideal but are not embracing the values and elements of Right to Water. The volume will be of critical importance to scholars and researchers of public policy, environment, especially water policy, law, and South Asian studies.

This book critically examines the social, psychological and legal perspectives of justice. It brings together a wide range of contemporary and relevant issues relating to the gross violation of human rights and presents situation-based evidence from firsthand experiences of behavioral, social as well as legal professionals. It deals with themes such as civic and legal rights of children; dignity of the third gender in India; food justice in a welfare state; rights of disabled children; secret marriage of individuals with mental health challenges; and ethics and good governance. Topical and comprehensive, this book will be an excellent read for scholars and researchers of political studies, legal studies, human rights, psychology, behavioral studies, political sociology, sociology, development studies, governance and public policy, and South Asian studies. It will also interest policy makers, NGOs, activists and professionals in the field.

Human rights, despite being prone to serious obstacles, have garnered immense attention in the recent years. This book is an authoritative study of the recent trends and challenges of human rights in India, focusing on the advancement of judicial activism and gross violations of these rights by the government and private stakeholders. Covering a wide range of topics, Advancement of Human Rights in India: Contemporary and Emerging Challenges features critical discussions on the legal rights of women, children, forest tribes, disabled individuals, prisoners and other socially disadvantaged groups whose welfare is heavily neglected, and thus, needs urgent attention. This book also addresses contemporary debates on consular access, privacy, paternity leave and food security, among others. This book acknowledges progress in the fight for human rights and also presents possible solutions to the many difficulties that lie ahead.

The wounds of emergency, even after four decades are as fresh as ever. Large scale arrests of the vocal leaders of the opposition parties including equally large scale arrests of the prominent congress leaders like Morarji Desai, Chandrasekhar, Bhimsen Sachar, Krishan Kant, Mohan Dharia was a real blow to the democracy of India. The innocent people of our country were suddenly plunged into gloom of censorship, incarceration in dungeons without even the elementary right to know the hows and whys of their arrest. The period of emergency brought untold misery and hardships to the innocent family members of those who had been detained in various jails of the country. On the other hand Indira Gandhi arranged made-to-order audience shouting slogans in her favour: lathi goli khayengay, Indira ko bachyengay. After the nine judges bench of the Supreme Court has over-ruled ADM Jabalpur Judgment upholding the minority judgment of Justice H.R. Khanna, the author has come out with a second revised edition of his earlier book on emergency, published by Regency Publications. The revised edition of the book contains 28 chapters, and 3 Annexures. The chapters of the revised edition cover almost all aspects, including the call for a total revolution by the Lok Nayak which ultimately culminated in the restoration of the democratic institutions destroyed by Indira Gandhi. The book covers the bogey of committed judiciary, supersession of three Supreme Court Judges, bringing poll expenses ordinance to dilute the Allahabad High Court judgment, as also the role of judges who were virtually working under fear and pressure. The relevant portion of nine judges bench judgment dealing with ADM Jabalpur case is also a part of the book. The book is a must for every shelf particularly for those who cherish freedom of expression, democracy and rule of law. The book deserves to be prescribed for the students of law, politics and history.

This book critically examines the relationship between civility, citizenship and democracy. It engages with the oft-neglected idea of civility (as a Western concept) to explore the paradox of high democracy and low civility that plagues India. This concept helps analyse why democratic consolidation translates into limited justice and minimal equality, along with increased exclusion and performative violence against marginal groups in India.The volume brings together key themes such as minority citizens and the incivility of caste, civility and urbanity, the struggles for ‘dignity'and equality pursued by subaltern groups along with feminism and queer politics, and the exclusionary politics of the Citizenship Amendment Act, to argue that civility provides crucial insights into the functioning and social life of a democracy. In doing so, the book illustrates how a successful democracy may also harbour illiberal values and normalised violence and civil societies may have uncivil tendencies.Enriched with case studies from various states in India, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of political science, political philosophy, South Asian studies, minority and exclusion studies, political sociology and social anthropology.

This volume presents an integrated collection of essays around the theme of India's failure to grapple with the big questions of human rights protections affecting marginalized minority groups in the country's recent rush to modernization. The book traverses a broad range of rights violations from: gender equality to sexual orientation, from judicial review of national security law to national security concerns, from water rights to forest rights of those in need, and from the persecution of Muslims in Gulberg to India's parallel legal system of Lok Adalats to resolve disputes. It calls into question India's claim to be a contemporary liberal democracy. The thesis is given added strength by the authors'diverse perspectives which ultimately create a synergy that stimulates the thinking of the entire field of human rights, but in the context of a non-western country, thereby prompting many specialists in human rights to think in new ways about their research and the direction of the field, both in India and beyond.In an area that has been under-researched, the work will provide valuable guidance for new research ideas, experimental designs and analyses in key cutting-edge issues covered in this work, such as acid attacks or the right to protest against the ‘nuclear'state in India.

This book focuses on women's human rights in India. Drawing on case studies, it provides a clear overview of the key sources on gender and rights in the country. Further, it contextualizes women's rights at the critical intersection of caste, religion and class, and analyses barriers to the realization of women's human rights in practice. It also develops strategies for moving forward towards greater recognition, protection, promotion and fulfilment of women's human rights in India. Drawing on critical pedagogical tools to analyse groundbreaking court cases, this book will be a key text in human rights studies. It will be indispensable to students, scholars and researchers of gender studies, sociology, law and human rights.

'The military plays an important role in nation-building and national security. Notwithstanding special requirements of military life, the members of the armed forces should enjoy the rights guaranteed in the Constitution and other relevant international human rights treaties which India has ratified to the extent that those rights are available to other citizens of the country. The guarantee of a fair trial should apply to all proceedings under the military legal system, including summary trial and summary systems of court martial. The government must ensure the economic, social, and cultural rights of military personnel including housing, medical care, education, free legal aid and social security. Derogations of the Fundamental Rights under Article 33 should not be carried so far as to create a class of citizens who are not entitled to the benefits of the liberal interpretation of the Constitution. This book is aimed at all those who are involved in promoting, protecting, and enforcing the rights of not only the members of the armed forces, but also the other forces engaged in the security of the country. It will of relevance to parliamentarians, government officials, military authorities and members of the civil society who have a stake in the armed forces.'

This book demonstrates why economic development is synonymous with institutional development for the furthering of human development issues.

Since its inception, the Indian model of development has the twin objectives of economic development and social justice woven together. This has shaped both policy and popular aspiration in post-Independence India. In this context, Democratizing Development: Struggles for Rights and Social Justice in India explores and analyses how development gets vitiated by multiple powers and subverts the democratic ideals of participation, equality, inclusion, redistribution and equity, and how the poor and socially marginalized struggle to make development democratic. Examining development through the lens of the most marginalized, the book shows the democratic potential of development as well as the result of its absence. The book contains empirically drawn cases and supplements these with theoretical and analytical arguments. It contributes to contemporary debates in social science such as democracy, social justice, civil society, social mobilization, social inclusion, redistribution and participatory governance.

This book analyses legal orders, actors and democracy in contemporary India, with a particular focus on the everyday contexts and dynamics of human rights, citizenship and socio-economic rights and laws. The contributions explore both ‘institutionalization from above', where the judiciary and legislative body aim to govern people, and ‘institutionalization from below', where the governed attempt to expand their substantive rights embedded within their everyday lives. This analysis identifies contact zones between the two directions, which act as spaces for democratic participation and negotiation. Such a perspective should be useful to both those who are interested in Indian politics, and anthropologists and sociologists working on dynamics of laws and rights.

In 2003, the United Nations adopted a common rights-based approach to development in their efforts to promote an international standard of human rights throughout the world. The approach emphasizes economic, social, and cultural rights, but plays down the role of civil and political rights in development. Intergovernmental and non-governmental agencies operate only at the invitation and sufferance of their hosts, and states retain full sovereignty and control over their territory; and the direct promotion of civil and political rights by foreign organizations has seemed beyond the ability of multilateral development agencies. But as Development and Human Rights shows, UN agencies have begun to take on a remarkable set of development priorities that, while carefully circumscribed and defined, constitute greater involvement in a state's internal affairs than anyone would have considered in the past. In this book, Joel E. Oestreich presents the first full-length study of how international agencies evaluate the rights situation in a single country, and the first study to look at both the good and the bad in a rights-based approach. It looks particularly at the human rights challenges faced in India, considering the work of five UN agencies: UNICEF, the UN Development Programme, the World Bank, the UN Fund for Population Activities, and UN Women. Over the course of the book, Oestreich summarizes how the UN navigates this difficult political terrain, and how effectively these policies are being implemented. Development and Human Rights ultimately considers how rights-based approaches fit in the traditional discourse on human rights, and the ability of these agencies to initiate meaningful change on state behavior in the rights arena.

Why are inter-state differences in human development in India so high? What explains regional patterns where overall the southern region has some of the best human development outcomes in the country while the states in the northern ‘heartland'have the worst? In addressing these important questions, this volume provides a detailed analysis of health outcomes in India, especially its effects on women. It offers insights into how multiple factors affecting human development, in particular health, play out differently in various socio-cultural and economic contexts. This book will interest scholars and researchers of sociology, development studies, gender studies, economics, public policy as well as general readers.

This volume looks at human rights in independent India through frameworks comparable to those in other postcolonial nations in the Global South. It examines wide-ranging issues that require immediate attention such as those related to disability, violence, torture, education, LGBT, neoliberalism, and social justice. The essays presented here explore the discourse surrounding human rights, and engage with aspects linked to the functioning of democracy, security and strategic matters, and terrorism, especially post 9/11. They also discuss cases connected with human rights violations in India and underline the need for a transparent approach and a more comprehensive perspective of India's human rights record.Part of the series Ethics, Human Rights and Global Political Thought, the volume will be an important resource for academics, policy makers, civil society organisations, lawyers and those concerned with human rights. It will also be useful to scholars and researchers of Indian politics, law and sociology.

About one-third of the world's population currently lives under pluri-legal systems where governments hold individuals subject to the purview of ethno-religious rather than national norms in respect to family law. How does the state-enforcement of these religious family laws impact fundamental rights and liberties? What resistance strategies do people employ in order to overcome the disabilities and limitations these religious laws impose upon their rights? Based on archival research, court observations and interviews with individuals from three countries, Yüksel Sezgin shows that governments have often intervened in order to impress a particular image of subjectivity upon a society, while people have constantly challenged the interpretive monopoly of courts and state-sanctioned religious institutions, re-negotiated their rights and duties under the law, and changed the system from within. He also identifies key lessons and best practices for the integration of universal human rights principles into religious legal systems.

India and the Quest for One World revolutionizes the history of human rights, with dramatic impact on some of the most contentious debates of our time, by capturing the exceptional efforts of Mahatma Gandhi and the Nehrus to counter the divisions of the Cold War with an uplifting new vision of justice built on the principle of'unity in diversity.'

This book examines the ‘cultural apparatus'of Human Rights in India today. It unravels discourses of victimhood, oppression, suffering and witnessing through a study of autobiographies, memoirs, reportage and media coverage, and documentaries. Moving across multiple media and genres for their representations of Dalits, riot victims, prisoners, abused and abandoned women and children, examining the formal properties of victim texts for their documentation of trauma, and analyzing the role of the sympathetic imagination, Writing Wrongs inaugurates a whole new field in literary–cultural studies by focusing on the narratives that build the culture of Human Rights. It argues for taking this cultural apparatus as essential to the political and legal dimensions of Human Rights. The book emphasizes the need for an ethical turn to literary–cultural studies and a cultural turn to Human Rights studies, arguing that a public culture of Human Rights has a key role to play in revitalizing civil society and its institutions. It will be of interest to Human Rights scholars and activists, and those in political science, sociology, literary and cultural studies, narrative theory and psychology.

Human Rights and Law: Bonded Labour in India deals with the problem of debt bondage and the way it has been treated during the British as well as in the post-independence period. Analysis has been made of the motivations for carrying out the reform; the processes involved in formulating the legislation, contributions by different agencies, discussion in the parliament, etc. The two legislations: the Indian Slavery Act, 1843 and bonded labour system (Abolition) Act, 1976 provide a comparative perspective in the making of social legislation in two different historical settings and different political systems. The statute on debt and its enforcement has been carried out by four distinct political authorities. India under the Company, India under the Crown; Provincial Governments (1937–1939); and Independent India. The problems in the enforcement of the statutes have been analyzed drawing evidence from modern Indian history, state-society relationship, motivations of the officials and the political context of administration.

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As the world is changing, many scholars, analysts, and policy makers agree that even as governments need to confront external threats, creating sustainable domestic environments is imperative as a policy priority. As events surrounding September 11, 2001 continue to remind us, marginalized sections of the population can become breeding grounds for dissatisfaction, disenchantment, and eventually, targets for terrorist groups. Throughout the cold war period, South Asia served as a strategic region in the bilateral rivalry between the United States and the former Soviet Union, coupled with China's careful scrutiny. In the post cold war period, several bilateral conflicts, the nuclear tests of 1998, the post 9/11 world in which South Asia has become a breeding ground for terrorists, entwined with an embattled, albeit a shared history, continue to make India and Pakistan a pivotal region to study. A timely analysis which starts with traditional approaches and combines them with new thinking within a human security policy framework, this book will contribute to a deeper and more holistic understanding of policy priorities of major players in a pivotal region of the world. It begins by analyzing security policies of India and Pakistan that have emerged in the context of geo-political concerns based on realist calculations. It also looks at the policies of the two governments in key areas such as the economy, education, public health, and safeguarding against gender-based violence. Concern with human security prompts analyses such as the one adopted in this book to argue that governments should empower and protect their citizens from serious threats to their survival. Home to a fifth of the world's population, large numbers of whom are reeling in poverty, where terrorism continues to be a concern, along with ongoing border disputes, India and Pakistan will find it imperative to make careful evaluations of this multipronged challenge to security. While it has relevance for regional policy priorities, this analysis also has broader implications for world powers such as the United States and China, for whom South Asia remains a key strategic area.

The human rights question becomes pertinent in the contemporary situation of political re-configuration, terror—counter terror scenario, economic globalisation and consequent inequality and marginalisation. The book deals with the diverse issues of civil, political, economic and social rights emerging in India, China, South Asia and expatiates on the emergence of the regional human rights mechanism in South Asia, Africa and the Americas. The book analyses the rising impact of the ‘non-state'actor on human rights, while the interface of threat and opportunity between business and human rights is increasing. India, China and Brazil are emerging as global players, forging new political and economic alliances with nations from Asia, Africa and Latin America, but their allegiance to human rights standards remains unclear and erratic. Amidst the constant evolution of the human rights agenda, the book focuses on the human rights defenders in India and South Asia, and captures the current human rights situation in India, a mix of progress and regression, gains and losses. It captures this complexity with a positive but cautious note.

Description based on print version record.

The core concern underlying the various problems in applied ethics is that of human rights. While most writings on human rights deal with its legal, political and socio-economic aspects, this collection instead addresses the philosophical aspect which has hitherto been neglected. Furthermore, the book explores the Indian counterpart of the idea of human rights which can be found in the notion of'dharma'. The text addresses issues of conceptual analysis as well as contextual applications of the idea of human rights and its fine nuances. It also contains papers which analyze the concept of'dharma', raising questions on whether this concept can do'double duty'for the notions of human rights as well as the notion of human duties. The collection offers papers on human rights issues of different categories of people, including ethnic minorities, homosexuals, women, mentally ill people and prisoners. The papers in this volume also afford grounds for comparative study.

In Indian context.

Description based on print version record.

The recent trend in the global system is to evaluate the development of any country not in terms of their military or economic strength or the splendor of their capital cites and big public buildings, but also in terms of human development or the well being of its citizens. Against this backdrop, the existence and perpetuation of child labor has been one of the main limiting factors standing in the way of human development in almost all the developing countries, including India.,, The issue of child labour is a worldwide phenomenon and it exists in almost all the countries of this planet. Meanwhile it is very sadding to write that our India is one among the nation in the world, which has the unique distinction of being a large employer of child labour. Since child labour is a more complex natured problem a balanced approach is needed to solve this issue with an interactive role from all concerned people and the agencies. It is the right time for all to be highly and really think regarding ensure of better social, political and economic lives to all sections of the society, at least in the interest of human rights in this new millennium.,, Apart from the normal style, this Book contains some thematic discussion on child labor and human rights. Each chapter has written based on grass root experiences of the author. This is the most creamy part of this book. Each and every chapter of this book gives a different outlook on the problem to the readers. This book will be highly useful to academic people, anthropologists, policy makers, NGOs, research students, development agencies and others, interested in studying the growing problem of child labour.

This rare comprehensive critique of criminology in India brings together widely respected activists, advocates, bureaucrats, scholars and practitioners who share their concerns about the Indian criminal justice system through an interdisciplinary lens and discuss the need to entrench human rights in Indian polity. It is a significant step towards mapping the ways in which interdisciplinary research and human rights activism might inform legal praxis more effectively and holistically. Challenging the Rule(s) of Law: Colonialism, Criminology and Human Rights in India contests unproblematic assumptions of the rule of law and opens out avenues for a renewed and radical study of criminal law in the country. The collection looks at the problem of criminal law from the early colonial period to the present, examining the problem of overt violence by state actors and their compliance with dominant private actors. It calls into question the denial by the state of the wherewithal for bare life, which compounds people's vulnerability to a repressive rule of law. This work is a must read for students, researchers and faculty of Law, Criminal Law, Criminology, Legal History, Human Rights, Sociology of Law and Colonial History. It will also be invaluable for law historians, legal scholars and policy makers, especially the judiciary.

International Human Rights Law primarily aims at protecting individuals and groups from abusive action by states and state agents. India, being a signatory and a founder member of UNO, has tried its best to prevent human rights violations by legislating several laws from time to time since independence. But 1993 is a significant year for the Republic of India and its people as a statutory body i.e. NHRC came into existence to fulfill the aspirations of the people in accordance with the norms of UDHR as regards human rights. This book highlights the details of NHRC and its role in the protection of Human Rights since its formation. The purpose of the book is to make people aware of human rights violations and to inform them how they will get rid of the problems when human rights are violated. Apart from this, book will be useful for sociologists, researchers, professors, law students, human rights activists, administrators, security personnel and many others who are devoted to the noble cause of humanity.