This collection of essays analyses the Indian Constitution as a political or an ethical document, from a political theory perspective, reflecting configurations of power and interest or articulating a moral vision. This study of the Constitution provides a platform on which extensive political
deliberations and arguments over procedural and substantive issues relating to Indian society can take place. The essays discuss ideas of equality, freedom, citizenship and property, minority rights, democracy and welfare as found in the Constitution. It also asks questions like: Does the
Constitution recognize all moral rights possessed by the citizens? What importance does the Constitution accord to the rights that it recognizes? Is the section on duties consistent with the section on fundamental rights? If so, then why do tensions between rights and duties still exist? Is it
because the Constitution prescribes duties over rights? Does the Constitution support liberty, equality, and fraternity in equal measure?
The contributors critically examine the potential, achievements, and limitations of the Indian Constitution. They further emphasize the need to
examine whether or not a serious disjunction exists between the ideals as enshrined in the Constitution and their expression. The volume also aims to resuscitate political theory in India, evolve a form of political theory that is suitable in the Indian context, and to simultaneously open up Western
political theory as it exists today.
Acknowledgements
Rajeev Bhargava: Introduction: Outline of a Political Theory of the Indian Constitution
Section I
1. Bhikhu Parekh: The Constitution as a Statement of Indian Identity
2. Thomas Pantham: Gandhi and the Constitution: Parliamentary Swaraj and Village
Swaraj
3. Peter Ronald deSouza: Institutional Visions and Sociological Imaginations: The Debate on Panchayati Raj
4. Upendra Baxi: Outline of a 'Theory of Practice' of Indian Constitutionalism
5. Aditya Nigam: A Text Without Author: Locating the Constituent Assembly as an
Event
Section II
6. Suhas Palshikar: The Indian State: Constitution and Beyond
7. Valerian Rodrigues: Citizenship and the Indian Constitution
8. Nivedita Menon: Citizenship and the Passive Revolution: Interpreting the First Amendment
9. Sanjay Palshikar: Democracy and
Constitutionalism
10. Gopal Guru: Constitutional Justice: Positional and Cultural
Section III
11. Christophe Jaffrelot: Containing the Lower Castes: The Constitutent Assembly and the Reservation Policy
12. Ashok Acharya: Affirmative Action for Disadvantaged Groups: A
Cross-constitutional Study of India and the US
Section IV
13. Gurpreet Mahajan: Religion and the Indian Constitution: Questions of Separation and Equality
14. Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Passion and Constraint: Courts and the Regulation of Religious Meaning
15. Shefali Jha: Rights
versus Representation: Defending Minority Interests in the Constituent Assembly
16. Rochana Bajpai: Minority Representation and the Making of the Indian Constitution
Notes on Contributors
Index
There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.
Rajeev Bhargava is Director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi.
Working A Democratic Constitution - Dr Granville Austin
The Indian Constitution - Granville Austin
Making Sense in the Social Sciences - Margot Northey, Lorne Tepperman and Patrizia Albanese
