The Constitution of India is a dream, a vision, a set of promises. Step into the pages of Indian history to understand what this important document means for our present and our future, and what it means to be a citizen of this country.

This feeble blemished light, this dawn mangled by night, this is not the morning we had all so longed for... -Faiz Ahmed Faiz In the two decades since the early 1990s, when India confirmed its allegiance to the Free Market, more of its citizens have become marginalized than ever before, and society has become more sharply riven than ever. In 'Looking Away', Harsh Mander ranges wide to record and analyse the many different fault lines which crisscross Indian society today. There is increasi...

This book is a chronicle of memories ... narratives from an India which few of us who read this book will ever encounter. Have you ever really looked at the people who live on the streets around you? Many of them have fought against unimaginable odds to live a life of dignity and courage. Some have emerged from their sufferings with greater strength, and gone on to help others like them. Harsh Mander writes with compassion and deep sensitivity about these unsung heroes of India—Mogalamma w...

This volume collects seventeen stories of women and men who, simply because they were born poor, or a particular gender, or into a certain caste or religion, fell prey to the many atrocities and indignities endemic to contemporary India. Some resisted, survived, and soldier on. Some did not. Lachmi Kaur lost almost all the male members of her family in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. She then overcame despair to singlehandedly bring up her children and grandchildren with fierce love and pride...

There was one partition of the land in 1947. Harsh Mander believes that another partition is underway in our hearts and minds.How much of this culpability lies with ordinary people? What are the responsibilities of a secular government, of a civil society, and of a progressive majority? In Partitions of the Heart: Unmaking the Idea of India, human rights and peace worker Harsh Mander takes stock of whether the republic has upheld the values it set out to achieve and offers painful,...

An overview of the nation’s politics, economics, culture, society, and sports by an author whose work “has been an illuminating introduction to India” (Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22).In recent years, the country of India has evolved from a poverty-stricken sleeping giant into a world leader in science and technology that now boasts a middle class of over 300 million people—almost as large as the entire population of the United States.Here, Shas...

As the world's largest democracy and a rising international economic power, India has long been heralded for its great strides in technology and trade. Yet it is also plagued by poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and a vast array of other social and economic issues. Here, noted journalist and former Financial Times South Asia bureau chief Edward Luce travels throughout India's many regions, cultures, and religious circles, investigating its fragile balance between tradition and mo...

Identity movements, based on ethnicity, caste, language, religion and regional identity, have become increasingly significant in Nepal, reshaping debates on the definition of the nation, nationalism and the structure of the state. This book analyzes the rapid rise in ethnic and nationalist mobilization and conflict since 1990, the dynamics and trajectories of these movements, and their consequences for Nepal.From an interdisciplinary perspective, the book looks at the roots of mobi...

India today looms large globally, where it hardly loomed at all twenty years ago. It is likely to be a key global actor throughout the twenty-first century and could well emerge soon as one of the top five global powers. Does the Elephant Dance? seeks to survey the main features of Indian foreign policy. It identifies elements of Indian history relevant to the topic; examines the role therein of domestic politics and internal and external security challenges, and of domestic and internatio...

India is widely recognised as a new global powerhouse. It has become one of the world's emerging powers, rivalling China in terms of global influence. Yet people still know relatively little about the economic, social, political, and cultural changes unfolding in India today. To what extent are people benefiting from the economic boom? Does caste still exist in India? How is India's culture industry responding to technological change? And what of India's rapidly changing role international...

Often dismissed as the rumblings of "the street," popular politics is where political modernity is being formed today, according to Partha Chatterjee. The rise of mass politics all over the world in the twentieth century led to the development of new techniques of governing population groups. On the one hand, the idea of popular sovereignty has gained wide acceptance. On the other hand, the proliferation of security and welfare technologies has created modern governmental bodies that admin...

This timely and significant study explores the reasons behind the rise in Sikh militancy over the 1970s and 1980s. It also evaluates the violent response of the Indian State in fuelling and suppressing the Sikh separatist movement, resulting in a tragic sequence of events which has included the raiding of the Golden Temple at Amritsar and the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The book reveals the role in this movement of a section of young semi-literate Sikh peasantry who were...