PPI100 | LAW, POLITICS AND SOCIETY IN INDIA

The course highlights key features of the constitutional, legal and processual contexts that serve as the frames for public policy in modern India. As such, this course aims to provide an avenue for a multidisciplinary engagement with some of the crucial questions of Indian democracy be it the trinity of liberty, equality or fraternity, the concerns around the redressal of economic inequality or the concerns around social and economic justice.

For the above, the course focuses on constitutional politics, and especially on the state and its practices of government to understand the complex ethos within which the different stages of public policy may be ensconced. Furthermore, the functioning of the state is analysed in tandem with the requirements of democracy. In doing so, the course builds on the notion that one of the central texts of the law in modern societies is the constitution. Accordingly, we hope during this course to look at some of the thematics of the transformative dimensions of the Indian

Constitution from diverse perspectives, and from the point of view of their implications for public policy. We have to remember that the transformative dimension of the Indian Constitution was not limited to the struggle against the colonial oppressor but also included the struggle for equality within India — for women, adivasis and Dalits — all of which find rich representation both in the struggle for independence as well as in the Constituent Assembly

Debates, and all of which continue to demand probing analysis even after Indian independence. A session-wise list of required readings is also provided in this course outline. The list of required readings is subject to change. Any changes made will be duly intimated to the class well in advance.