Pluralism and Equality: Values in Indian Society and Politics

With the end of the Cold War, interest in the core-values of state, pluralism, secularism and equality have intensified. This important volume examines these principal values in the differing historical and socio-cultural contexts of Europe and India, emphasising their fundamental role in democratic governance, and highlighting the wide variations in both their meaning and content in different cultures. Comprising contributions from distinguished scholars, this volume constitutes a lucid and cogent analysis of recent shifts in public policies and political polemics on the meaning and content of various core-values.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction - Helmut Reifeld PART ONE: CIVIL SPACE AND VALUE PREMISES The Place of ′Individual′ in Indian Thought and Polity - Chaturvedi Badrinath The Cultural Capital of Europe - Andre Habisch Values, Norms and Institutions as Devices for European Developmental Success The State as Value - Satish Saberwal India, Europe, China More Equal but Still not Equal? - Zoya Hasan State and Inter-group Equality in Contemporary India Is Secularism a Value in Itself? - Rajeev Bhargava PART TWO: CONCEPTS OF THE ′OTHER′ IN INDIA Unity and Diversity in India - Ajay Mehra Two Ends of a Continuum or a Converging Horizon ′Majorities′ and ′Minorities′ in Modern South Asian Islam - Mushirul Hasan A Historian′s Perspective Basic Conflicts of ′We′ and ′They′ between Religious Traditions, between Hindus, Muslims and Christians in India - Imtiaz Ahmad Basic Conflicts of ′We′ and ′They′ between Social and Ethnic Groups - Ambrose Pinto ′We′ and ′They′ Syndrome: The South Asian Experience - Partha S Ghosh PART THREE: FACING UNIVERSALISM Reforms, Democracy and Justice - Ranabir Samaddar Some Issues of State and the Market in South Asia Is Globalistion a Threat to Regional and Local Identities? - Yogendra Singh Gender Lines - Kumkum Sangari Personal Laws, Uniform Laws, Conversion Individual and Group Rights in Western Europe and India - Dietmar Rothermund Summary of Discussions - Dietmar Rothermund Index

About the Author :
Partha S. Ghosh is an Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) National Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Till recently he was a Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi. Earlier he was a Professor of South Asian Studies at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His previous academic positions are: Visiting Professor, Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development (OKDISCD), Guwahati; Humboldt Fellow, Heidelberg University; Ford Visiting Scholar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Visiting Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. He has also served as a Visiting Professor for short durations at the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (MSH), Paris; University of Bordeaux; Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Chair in Indian Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand; and University of Heidelberg. For many years Professor Ghosh served as the Research Director at the ICSSR, New Delhi. His areas of interest are South Asian politics, migrations, ethnicity and domestic politics-foreign policy interface. For several years Professor Ghosh was the Editor of India Quarterly, the flagship journal of the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi. Professor Ghosh has a long list of publications. His books include Politics of Personal Law in South Asia (2007), Unwanted and Uprooted: A Political Study of Refugees, Migrants, Stateless and Displaced in South Asia (2004), Ethnicity versus Nationalism: The Devolution Discourse in Sri Lanka (New Delhi: SAGE, 2003), BJP and the Evolution of Hindu Nationalism (1999, 2000), Pluralism and Equality: Values in Indian Society and Politics (New Delhi: SAGE, 2000, co-edited), Rivalry and Revolution in South and East Asia (1997, edited), Cooperation and Conflict in South Asia (1989, 1995) and Sino-Soviet Relations: US Perceptions and Policy Responses: 1849–1959 (1981). He has written many research articles in eminent professional journals, and also many newspaper articles. Helmut Reifeld is at present the Representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in India. Formerly a research fellow with the German Historical Institute, London, and Bayreuth University, Germany, his co edited works include Pluralism and Equality and Women in Panchayati Raj.