Human Rights Issues and Other Radical Essays

Contents: Acknowledgement. Preface. Introduction. I. Issues of human rights: 1. Human rights panel spreads its wings. 2. NHRC and People\'s Movements. 3. NHRC\'s "Confidential" Document. 4. Right to Information and empowerment of the people. 5. "Missing" prisoners in India and Pakistan. 6. The Law of Blasphemy in Pakistan--an unlawful law. 7. A tribute to Justice Dorab Patel. 8. Women\'s movement in Islamic countries. 9. Akhtar Hameed Khan. 10. Torture and media awareness. 11. Police excesses. 12. Emergency: looking back. 13. Humanists and human rights under attack. 14. Human rights and nuclear explosions at Pokhran. 15. Affirmative action in danger. II. Dalits, reservation and caste: 16. Caste iron. 17. Reconversion \'Movement\' with a vengeance. 18. Academics renew anti-reservation stir. 19. President of India under attack. 20. Human rights of Dalits on the agenda of the UN. 21. Durban: a victim\'s conference. III. Hindutva and communalism: 22. Hindutvavad and communalism. 23. Hindutvavadis\' intolerance of minorities. 24. Communalism. 25. Objectionable nonsense. 26. The communal virus will destroy the country. IV. M.N. Roy, Gandhi and partition: 27. M.N. Roy--uncompromising Anti-Fascist and radical philosopher. 28. Life of an iconoclast. 29. A critical voice on Gandhi. 30. Opinion of political scientists on M.N. Roy and Gandhi. 31. What led to the Two-Nation Theory and partition? 32. Was partition of India inevitable? V. Essays on politics and other thorny issues: 33. Mischiefs of party spirit. 34. Ramblings on "Minor Foibles". 35. An unwarranted outburst. 36. Contempt of Court--a dicey question. 

"The dismal state of human rights and the surrounding political environment in India cannot be emphasised enough. The writings collected here are meant to raise the general level of awareness about the issues concerning human rights. Linked with these issues is also the painful subject of the partition of India.

Many of the conflicts one sees today are a result of this shattering event in India\'s history. The two essays that deal with this subject are included in the volume.

Human rights in India are linked to the twin menaces and communalism. Both these issues and their various aspects have been addressed in the sections on \'Dalits, Reservation and Caste\' and \'Hindutva and Communalism\'.

The writer\'s close relationship with one of the leading political thinkers of the twentieth century in India, M.N. Roy, forms the subject of the section \'M.N. Roy, Gandhi and Partition\'. The difference in Roy and Gandhi\'s approach to important matters concerning India has been scrutinized in the essay \'Opinion of Political Scientists on M.N. Roy and Gandhi\'.

This book is meant as much for the lay reader as for a serious researcher into human rights in India." (jacket)