PLD100 | Law, Policy and Development

This course on law and Development will deal with three elements namely Law, Policy and Development. Our study is located within what is internationally known as the field of “Law and Development”. Among scholars in the field there are those who are keen to draw “Disciplinary Parameters” in ways which restrict the field of study narrowly to Law at best extending to economic development of the dominant variety. Even the analysis of “Three Moments,” in law and Development is based on Periodisation and Economic Analysis. Fortunately there are some scholars and some sources even in the “North” searching beyond the narrow confines of “Western Orthodoxies”.

Multiple streams have influenced the said thinking. These range from institutional influences (UNO along with its agencies, Bretton Woods institutions, Trade regulating institutions and our own Constitutional scheme-especially Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) to that of scholars in the field. We will not only capture these influences succinctly but also ask the question as to what kind of an approach would be appropriate for our studies.

Turning specifically to Art. 37 we take special note of the duty placed on the Indian State to apply (DPSP) in the making of laws (Art. 37). This widens the scope of our study to include the central role of policy in the making of laws as also in the actual system of governance at both macro and micro levels.

We will take note of heterodoxy, especially through the discourse on ‘Development as a Human Right,’ ‘UN Declaration of NIEO’s’ ‘Development as Freedom’, while remembering Gandhian, Ambedkarite & Nehruvian ideas that add to the richness of heterodoxy.

We will make an attempt to understand the correlation between State strategies and forms of pressure for policy change. These may vary from international pressure flowing from the “Washington Consensus” or adaptation to lessons learnt from “chastised neo-liberalism” or due to compulsions of “Transformative Constitutionalism” or from bottom up pressures of the electorate resulting in “Popular or Populist Packages”.

We will also contrast the first generation of ‘Self-Reliance’ with the evolving second generation – now known as ‘Atmanirbharata’. The core of this course will be the dynamic interactions between Law, Policy and Development and its consequent implications for policy practitioners. More specifically we will examine the Social Security Code, 2020 along with recent concerns to look at universalization of pensions for working people.