Politics and Ethics of the Indian Constitution PDF
Preview Politics and Ethics of the Indian Constitution
Cover Page POLITICS AND ETHICS OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION Much of the germinal work on the Indian and historians. The distinctiveness of this collection of essays is its focus on the Indian Constitution from the perspective of political theory. Contributors to this volume view the Constitution either as a political or as an ethical document, reflecting configurations of power and interests or articulating a moral vision. Critically analysing the various aspects of the Constitution, the essays discuss equality, freedom, citizenship, minority rights, democracy, rights, property, and welfare. It also asks questions like: Does the Constitution recognize all moral rights possessed by citizens? Are these rights only against the state or also against fellow citizens? Is the section on duties consistent with the section on fundamental rights? Does the Constitution support liberty, equality, and fraternity in equal measure? If so, how does it balance them? Is the Constitution a framework for balancing liberty against power? Does the Constitution embody one ethical perspective or several competing moral visions? How, if at all, are these visions reconciled? Together, the essays offer a balanced view on the potential, achievement, and limitations of the Indian Constitution. They emphasize the Cont’d on back flap Cont’d from front flap Need to examine whether a disjunction exists between constitutional ideals and political practice. An important objective of this work is to resuscitate political theory in India, to 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. This volume will be useful to scholars and advanced students of political theory, moral philosophy, law, politics, and history. Rajeev Bhargava is Director, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi. Contributors ASHOK ACHARYA ROCHANA BAJPAI UPENDRA BAXI RAJEEV BHARGAVA PETER RONALD DESOUZA GOPAL GURU CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT SHEFALI JHA GURPREET MAHAJAN PRATAP BHANU MEHTA NIVEDITA MENON ADITYA NIGAM SANJAY PALSHIKAR SUHAS PALSHIKAR THOMAS PANTHAM BHIKHU PAREKH VALERIAN RODRIGUES OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS www.oup.com Rs. 695 POLITICS AND ETHICS OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION POLITICS AND ETHICS OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION edited by RAJEEV BHARGAVA OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi 110 001 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in India by Oxford University Press, New Delhi © Oxford University Press 2008 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Oxford University Press. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer ISBN 13: 978-0-19-569255-6 ISBN 10: 0-19-569255-1 Typeset in Dante MT 10.5 /12.5 by Sai Graphic Design, New Delhi 110 055 Printed in India at De-Unique, New Delhi 110 018 Published by Oxford University Press YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi 110 001 Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction: Outline of a Political Theory of the Indian Constitution 1 Rajeev Bhargava SECTION I 1. The Constitution as a Statement of Indian Identity 43 Bhikhu Parekh 2. Gandhi and the Constitution: Parliamentary Swaraj and Village Swaraj 59 Thomas Pantham 3. Institutional Visions and Sociological Imaginations: The Debate on Panchayati Raj 79 Peter Ronald deSouza 4. Outline of a 'Theory of Practice' of Indian Constitutionalism 92 Upendra Baxi 5. A Text Without Author: Locating the Constituent Assembly as Event 119 Aditya Nigam SECTION II 6. The Indian State: 143 Constitution and Beyond Suhas Palshikar 7. Citizenship and the Indian Constitution 164 Valerian Rodrigues Page vi Contents 8. Citizenship and the Passive Revolution: Interpreting the First Amendment 189 Nivedita Menon 9. Democracy and Constitutionalism 211 Sanjay Palshikar 10. Constitutional Justice: Positional and Cultural 230 Gopal Guru SECTION III 11. Containing the Lower Castes: The Constituent Assembly and the Reservation Policy 249 Christophe Jaffrelot 12. Affirmative Action for Disadvantaged Groups: A Cross-constitutional Study of India and the US 267 Ashok Acharya SECTION IV 13. Religion and the Indian Constitution: Questions of Separation and Equality 297 Gurpreet Mahajan 14. Passion and Constraint: Courts and the Regulation of Religious Meaning 311 Pratap Bhanu Mehta 15. Rights versus Representation Defending Minority Interests in the Constituent Assembly 339 Shefali Jha 16. Minority Representation and the Making of the Indian Constitution 354 Rochana Bajpai Notes on Contributors 392 Index 394 Page vii Acknowledgements This book consists of papers which were first presented at a conference on the Political Philosophy of the Indian Constitution held in Goa in September 2001. Both the conference and the book were an integral part of my commitment as a C.R. Parekh Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. My foremost gratitude is due therefore to the Nirman Foundation that instituted the C.R. Parekh Fellowship at the CSDS. Though I am indebted to every participant in the seminar, I need to make special mention of Andrew Sharp and Rainer Baubock who made presentations in Goa but for the sake of the book's overall coherence offered to leave out their own important contributions. Peter deSouza deserves to be singled out for more than one reason. Without his help and emphatic presence, the conference would not have had an idyllic setting. Another friend, Philip McDonagh chipped in with significant moral support. Special thanks are owed to Bhikhu Parekh and Dhirubhai Sheth, partners in an ongoing conversation on political theory, Indian politics, and the identity-constituting features of the Indian Constitution. Without them, this book is inconceivable. Finally, I would like to thank several of my students: Rinku Lamba, Rajesh Seth, Swaha Das, V. Sriranjini, Jaya Gupta, and Aparajita Narain who began to collectively work on the Constituent Assembly Debates a couple of years before the conference as well as Manash Bhattacharya, E. Arvind, Aryama, and Monika Dhami. All of them made learning as much of a joy in my last few years at the Jawaharlal Nehru University as it was when I first began teaching there. Another student, Jaby Mathew of the University of Delhi helped to give final shape to the book. Anthony Stephen always makes me computer-friendly. Without him, I cannot respond to any computer. As always, Tani Sandhu provided indispensable ground support.
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