Article 370

Article 370
Author: A.G. Noorani
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 623
Release: 2014-11-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199088551

On 26 January 1950, the Constitution of India came into force with a unique provision—Article 370. The special status accorded to the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the article meant that its people lived under a different set of laws while being part of the Indian Union. Alternating deftly between history and politics, A.G. Noorani examines a wide range of documents pertaining to Article 370. He incisively analyses the implications and consequences of the article for the constitutional democracy of the state and the nation. From Jammu and Kashmir's accession to India in 1947 to the various negotiations thereafter; Sheikh Abdullah's arrest to the framing of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and the replacement of Sadar-i-Riyasat, this book impeccably documents the little-known constitutional history of the state. Noorani underscores the politics behind the gradual erosion of Article 370 and the need for restoration of autonomy. Critically analysing the various judgments relating to this constitutional arrangement, he suggests a framework for resolving the 'Kashmir problem'. Collecting together rare, often unseen and unnoticed, letters, memoranda, white papers, proclamations, and amendments, this book will be an indispensable resource on Kashmir.

Historical Title, Self-Determination and the Kashmir Question

Historical Title, Self-Determination and the Kashmir Question
Author: Fozia Nazir Lone
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 500
Release: 2018-05-07
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9004359990

In Historical Title, Self-Determination and the Kashmir Question Fozia Nazir Lone offers a critical re-examination of the Kashmir question. Through an interdisciplinary approach and international law perspective, she analyses political practices and the substantive international law on the restoration of historical title and self-determination. The book analytically examines whether Kashmir was a State at any point in history; the effect of the 1947 occupation by India/Pakistan; the international law implications of the constitutional incorporation of this territory and the ongoing human rights violations; whether Kashmiris are entitled to restore their historical title through the exercise of self-determination; and whether the Kashmir question could be resolved with the formation of international strategic alliance to curb danger of spreading terrorism in Kashmir.

Autonomy of a State in a Federation

Autonomy of a State in a Federation
Author: Waseem Ahmad Sofi
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2021-06-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9811610193

The book discusses the issue of autonomy in India’s federal system and its precision and focused nature. It inquires into the various aspects of the problem autonomy of the states and its emerging trends with special reference of Jammu and Kashmir State autonomy. The book addresses many controversial unanswered question like – Should India adopt and opt for ‘dual’ or ‘competitive’ model of federalism, which has long since been discarded even in the land of its origin or should we evolve robust indigenous solutions to our problem of autonomy of States? To change the metaphor, do we choose a ‘regression model’ or a ‘development model’ of our federal polity? All these discussions which deserve sustained citizen interest and national debate, have been answered in the present book.

Kashmir and the Future of South Asia

Kashmir and the Future of South Asia
Author: Sugata Bose
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2020-12-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000318842

This book uses an innovative people-centered approach to the Kashmir problem to shed new light on why postcolonial partitions remain unfinished and why the wounds of postcolonial nation-state formation in South Asia continue to fester. "Kashmir" is viewed as a metaphor for the permanent internal wars of partition that mark the South Asian experience. Chapters sensitively bring Kashmiri voices to the fore to examine Kashmir in the national discourses of India and Pakistan, resistance in the Kashmiri imagination and the Kashmir conflict in a global context. The book foregrounds how the space of Kashmir as a cultural, historical and political sphere persists and continues to haunt the postcolonial national present as the people of Kashmir and their cultural, literary and artistic productions cannot be contained within the regnant paradigms of the nations across which the region is partitioned. Additionally, the book explores how long-term resolution would demand engagement with historical forces, political actors and social formations that exceed the nation-state. An important contribution to the study of this troubled region, this book will be of interest to academics and researchers of modern South Asian history and politics as well as comparative politics and international relations.

The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution

The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution
Author: Sujit Choudhry
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 1328
Release: 2016-05-03
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0191058629

The Indian Constitution is one of the world's longest and most important political texts. Its birth, over six decades ago, signalled the arrival of the first major post-colonial constitution and the world's largest and arguably most daring democratic experiment. Apart from greater domestic focus on the Constitution and the institutional role of the Supreme Court within India's democratic framework, recent years have also witnessed enormous comparative interest in India's constitutional experiment. The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution is a wide-ranging, analytical reflection on the major themes and debates that surround India's Constitution. The Handbook provides a comprehensive account of the developments and doctrinal features of India's Constitution, as well as articulating frameworks and methodological approaches through which studies of Indian constitutionalism, and constitutionalism more generally, might proceed. Its contributions range from rigorous, legal studies of provisions within the text to reflections upon historical trends and social practices. As such the Handbook is an essential reference point not merely for Indian and comparative constitutional scholars, but for students of Indian democracy more generally.

Pieces of Earth

Pieces of Earth
Author: Peer Ghulam Nabi Suhail
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2018-02-16
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 019909165X

Resource exploitation in the form of land-grabbing has become a major debate worldwide. Based on extensive field research conducted at the India-Pakistan border, using Kishanganga Hydroelectric Project as a case study, this book on corporate land-grabbing in Kashmir explains how capital is at play in a conflict zone. The author explains how different actors—village elites, government officers, politicians, civil society coalitions, peasants, and the states of India and Pakistan—mobilize support to legitimize their respective claims. It captures how the tensions between developmentalism, environmentalism, and national interest on one hand, and universal rights, national sovereignty, subnational identity, and resistance on the other—facilitate and challenge these corporate resource-grabs simultaneously. The author argues that the patterns and scale of land- and resource-grabbing has led to depeasantization, dispossession, displacement, loss of livelihoods, forced commoditization of the local peasantry, and damages to the local ecology at large. The book thus combines the literature in violence and development and dispossession studies by addressing the socio-political conflict in land- and resource-grabbing in conflict zones.

India's Undeclared Emergency: Constitutionalism and the Politics of Resistance

India's Undeclared Emergency: Constitutionalism and the Politics of Resistance
Author: Arvind Narrain
Publisher: Westland
Total Pages: 292
Release:
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9395073047

About the Book A SHARP AND NECESSARY ANALYSIS OF THE NATURE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS INDIA FACES TODAY In 1975, the Indira Gandhi government declared Emergency in India, unveiling an era of State excesses, human rights violations, the centralisation of power and the dismantling of democracy. Nearly half a century later, the phrase ‘undeclared emergency’ gathers currency as citizens and analysts struggle to define the nature of India’s present crisis. In Undeclared Emergency, Arvind Narrain presents a devastatingly thorough examination of the nature of this emergency—a systematic attack on the rule of law that hits at the foundation of a democracy, its Constitution. This clear-eyed legal analysis of its implications also documents an ongoing history of constitutional subversion, one that predates the Narendra Modi-led NDA government—a lineage of curtailed freedoms, censorship, preventive detention laws and diluted executive accountability. Is history repeating itself then? Not quite. This book is an account of an inaugural era in Indian history. Narrain shows that the Modi government, unlike the Congress government of 1975, draws on popular support and this raises the dangerous possibility that today’s authoritarian regime could become tomorrow’s totalitarian state. A lament, Undeclared Emergency is also a war cry. It charts an alternative inheritance of resistance, acts big and small from the Emergency of 1975, the current day and times long gone. Dissent, Narrain says, is an Indian tradition. The Second Coming is at hand, and Narrain reckons that we have a responsibility to determine what it will look like.

You Must Know Your Constitution

You Must Know Your Constitution
Author: Fali S. Nariman
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2024-01-02
Genre: Law
ISBN: 8195991734

26 November 1949 marks the date when the longest constitution in the world was formally adopted to guide the largest democracy in the world. It effectively transformed the British Dominion of India into one nation—the independent Republic of India. The supreme law of the land set forth the workings of Indian democracy and polity, and its provisions aimed to secure justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity for the people of India. As drafted and as conceived, the constitution makes provision for a functioning democracy and not an electoral autocracy, and this is how it has to be worked. It is therefore imperative for all citizens to familiarise themselves with its provisions. In this definitive tome, the author (who commenced his legal practice in the year the constitution was enacted) presents his comments in a style that is comprehensive, lucid, and systematic. The book traces the history and the origins of India’s document of governance and explains its provisions. Some of the salient features of the book include: • An educative and informative exposition of the different parts of the Indian Constitution, including a bird’s-eye view of—and with comments on—all the three hundred and ninety-five articles of the constitution and additions made by constitutional amendments. • Provides references of critical cases and prominent constitutional developments up to 31 July 2023. • Insightfully describes the structure, powers, and directive principles of government institutions. • Contains updated judicial pronouncements and legislative and constitutional amendments. In essence, You Must Know Your Constitution is an immensely readable and insightful compendium, inter alia, for judiciary aspirants, academicians, legal and administrative authorities, policymakers, research scholars, and students as well as for general readers who are interested in exploring the manifold facets of India’s core document of governance.

Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris

Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris
Author: Christopher Snedden
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2015-09-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1849046220

In 1846, the British created the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) - popularly called "Kashmir" - and then quickly sold this prized region to the wily and powerful Raja, Gulab Singh. Intriguingly, had they retained it, the India-Pakistan dispute over possession of the state may never have arisen, but Britain's concerns lay elsewhere -- expansionist Russia, beguiling Tibet and unstable China "circling" J&K -- and their agents played the 'Great Game' in Afghanistan and 'Turkistan'. Snedden contextualizes the geo-strategic and historical circumstances surrounding the British decision to relinquish prestigious 'Kashmir', and explains how they and four Dogra maharajas consolidated and controlled J&K subsequently. He details what comprised this diverse princely state with distant borders and disunified peoples and explains the Maharaja of J&K's controversial accession to India on 26 October 1947 - and its unintended consequences. Snedden weaves a compelling narrative that frames the Kashmir dispute, explains why it continues, and assesses what it means politically and administratively for the divided peoples of J&K and their undecided futures.