Indias Living Constitution

by Hasan, Zoya; Sridharan, Eswaran; Sudarshan, R.

• ISBN13: 9781843311379
• ISBN10: 1843311372
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-28
• Publisher: Anthem Pr

Summary

India became independent in 1947 and, after nearly three years of debate in the Constituent Assembly, adopted a Constitution that came into effect on 26 January 1950. This Constitution has lasted until the present, with its basic structure unaltered, a remarkable achievement given that the generally accepted prerequisites for democratic stability did not exist, and do not exist even today. Half a century of constitutional democracy is something that political scientists and legal scholars need to analyze and explain. This volume examines the career of constitutional-political ideas (implicitly of Western origin) in the text of the Indian Constitution or implicit within it, as well as in actual political practice in the country over the past half-century.

Author Biography

Zoya Hasan is Professor of Political Science, Centre for Political Studies, and Director of the Women's Studies Programme, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

 

E. Sridharan is Academic Director of the University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India, New Delhi.

 

R. Sudarshan is Senior Governance Advisor to the UNDP in Indonesia, and has worked for the UNDP since 1991, heading divisions in the India Office dealing with public policy and human development.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Notes on Contributors	xiii
Introduction
Introduction: Civilization, Constitution, Democracy	1	(30)
Satish Saberwal
Overview
The (Im)possibility of Constitutional Justice: Seismographic Notes on Indian Constitutionalism	31	(33)
Upendra Baxi
The Indian Constitution and Democracy	64	(19)
Sunil Khilnani
The Nation and the State in India: A Difficult Bond	83	(22)
Javeed Alam
Organizing Principles
India's Secular Constitution	105	(29)
Rajeev Bhargava
How Has the Proliferation of Parties Affected the Indian Federation?: A Comparative Approach	134	(25)
Douglas V. Verney
`Stateness' and Democracy in India's Constitution	159	(20)
R. Sudarshan
The Inner Conflict of Constitutionalism: Judicial Review and the `Basic Structure'	179	(28)
Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Rights and Justice
Individual and Group Rights: A View From India	207	(35)
Neera Chandhoke
Sex Equality, Liberty, and Privacy: A Comparative Approach to the Feminist Critique	242	(42)
Martha C. Nussbaum
Equity
The Pursuit of Social Justice	284	(22)
A. Vaidyanathan
The Long Half-life of Reservations	306	(13)
Marc Galanter
India's Polity
The Expected and the Unintended in Working a Democratic Constitution	319	(25)
Granville Austin
The Origins of the Electoral System: Rules, Representation, and Power-sharing in India's Democracy	344	(26)
E. Sridharan
Decentralization and Local Government: The `Second Wind' of Democracy in India	370	(35)
Peter Ronald deSouza
The `Politics of Presence' and Legislative Reservations for Women	405	(23)
Zoya Hasan
Index	428