A Survey of Human Rights in India

Human rights have most often been construed in terms of violation of civil–political rights or first-generation rights. While there is an acknowledgement of the existence of socio-economic rights and third-generation rights, they have not been given the importance that has been attributed to civil–political rights whose violation is considered to be a violation of the core human rights guaranteed to a person. Mapping Human Rights and Subalterns in Modern India largely focuses on issues of caste, poverty, gendered problems, education, and their intersection with human rights at every level. It draws attention to how globalisation has affected the marginalised sections in India along with stalling any real development in the country. The book is a collation of academic papers written with the help of primary and secondary data.

The book has its strong and weak chapters with each chapter authored by individual academics from varied backgrounds. The chapters which have significantly depended on primary data through fieldwork are largely statistical and documentary in nature. While they highlight the issues at the ground level, they lack an argumentative strand and are predominantly factual. However, these chapters manage to highlight issues of development or the lack thereof, in sample states. The chapters highlighting caste issues in Gujarat and education as well as development issues in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana provide categorised details of the prevailing conditions in the areas. Not only have they documented the current conditions but have also delved into the history of the issues along with expounding on the international recognition of the right to development and education.