Social Justice in India ― Social Justice and Enlightenment, Justice and Law, Marginalities and Justice, Key Tests on Social Justice in India

This is a four-volume work that is the product of a collective research project conducted by the Calcutta Research Group, India, on the state of social justice in India, in practice and in conceptualization. The first volume consists of ethnographic studies of injustice in the state of West Bengal. It discusses issues of development and displacement, the labor conditions of workers on Darjeeling tea plantations, and deprivation in rural West Bengal, as well as forms of claim making for justice. The second volume focuses on the relationship between social justice and the law and contains articles assessing the social justice provisions of the constitution, government measurement of social justice issues, the failure of the law to deliver equality to women, and the problems with the reservation (affirmative action) programs aimed at generating employment opportunities for Dalits. The theme of the third volume is the question of social justice for marginal populations, which is taken up in articles exploring issues pertinent to Dalits, the Indian tribal population, and women, as well as the environmental movement. The final and largest volume carries the subtitle "Key Texts on Social Justice in India" and revisits many of the earlier themes in writings concerned with questions of development and discontent, women and marginality, justice and the law, freedom and equality, and rights and social security. It also presents the state's perspective of justice through the presentation of the texts of five pieces of legislation addressing communal violence, welfare for disabled persons, the right to information, population resettlement, and the protection of women from domestic violence. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)