Democracy Human Rights and Biodiversity in Indian Literature

Contents: Preface. 1. Hindu Muslim relations in India. 2. Muslim politics and growth in India. 3. Political aspects of Islam. 4. Religion and politics. 5. Democracy and development in India: the state society approach. 6. Conceptual dimensions of poverty and human rights in India. 7. NGOs and the protection of human rights in India. 8. The NHRC of India and its role in the protection of human rights. 9. Development and the environmentalism in India. 10. Humans animals and environment: : Indian perspectives. Bibliography. Index.

The Indian literary tradition is primarily one of verse and is also essentially oral. The earliest works were composed to be sung or recited and were so transmitted for many generation before being written down. Indian democracy has some features of anarchy. A serious claim for early democratic institutions comes from the independent republics of India Sanghas and Ganas which existed as early as the 6th century BC and persisted in some areas until the 4th century AD. The concept of human rights is as old as the ancient concept of natural rights based  on natural law. But these rights had been recognized and respected by all religions in the ancient India. The Mahabharata speaks about the importance of freedoms of individuals in a state. Long before ecology became the refrain of the global song at stockholm and rio the ancient Indic heritage had already provided a spacious spiritual home for the environmental ethos. (jacket)