1st Edition
Companion to Indian Democracy Resilience, Fragility, Ambivalence
This book presents a comprehensive overview of the contemporary experiences of democracy in India. It explores the modes by which democracy as an idea, and as a practice, is interpreted, enforced, and lived in India’s current political climate.
The book employs ‘case studies’ as a methodological vantage point to evolve an innovative conceptual framework for the study of democracy in India. The chapters unpack a diverse range of themes such as democracy and Dalits; agriculture, new sociality and communal violence in rural areas; changing nature of political communication in India; role of anti-nuclear movements in democracies; issues of subaltern citizen’s voice, impaired governance and the development paradigm; free speech and segregation in the public sphere; and, the surveillance state and Indian democracy. These thematic explorations are arranged in an engaging sequence to offer a multifaceted narrative of Indian democracy especially in relation to the recent debates on citizenship and constitutionalism.
A key critical intervention on contemporary politics in South Asia, this book will be essential reading for scholars and researchers of political studies, political science, political sociology, comparative government and politics, sociology, social anthropology, public administration, public policy, and South Asia studies. It will also be of immense interest to policymakers, journalists, think tanks, bureaucrats, and organizations working in the area.
Introduction
Peter Ronald deSouza, Mohd Sanjeer Alam and Hilal Ahmed
1. Democracy, Dalits and Struggle for Common Land in Punjab
Jatinder Singh
2. Agrarian Transformation, Emergence of New Sociality and Communal Violence in Rural Western Uttar Pradesh.
Satendra Kumar
3. Electoral campaign as a performative plebiscite: Mapping the changing nature of political communication in India
Radhika Kumar
4. The Role of Anti-Nuclear Movements in Deepening the Meaning and Practices of Democracy.
Deepa Mariam Varughese
5. People, Protected Areas and Political Parties: A Study of Two Protest Movements in Odisha
Sthitapragyan Ray and Neha Ojha
6. Democratisation of Communities through Rural Local Governance
G. Palanithurai
7. Regional Movements in Democracy: The Case of Telangana
Gaurav J. Pathania
8. From Land Reform to Guaranteeing Title to Land (Secure Property Rights) in India: Implications for Democracy
Pradeep Nayak
9. From Jan Sunwai to Social Audit: Trust, Contention, and ‘Workable Democracy
Gitika De
10. Democracy (practice) in Question? Subaltern Citizen’s-Voice, Impaired Governance and Development Paradigm
Satyajeet Nanda
11. Election Campaign in Mizoram
Ayangbam Shyamkishor
12. Making Sense of Democracy: Musahars of Eastern Uttar Pradesh
Shilp Shikha Singh
13. Political Mobilisation of Muslims in Kerala: Towards a Communitarian Becoming of Democracy
KM Thahir Jamal
14. Conceiving Scientific Expertise Democratically: A Study of Western Ghats Ecological Controversy
Nitin Jacob Thomas
15. Free Speech, Democracy and the “Hidden Persuaders”: Segregation in the Public Sphere
Sukumar Muralidharan
16. Regulatory Reforms in Electricity Sector: Systemic Change or Sabotage?
Kalpana Dixit
17. In Pursuit of Personal Data: A Survey on State’s Surveillance and Democracy in India
P. Arun
18. Contemporary Moment in Indian Democracy
Hilal Ahmed
Biography
Peter Ronald deSouza, formerly Professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, is D.D. Kosambi Visiting Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies at Goa University, India.
Mohd. Sanjeer Alam is Associate Professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, India.
Hilal Ahmed is Associate Professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, India.
