Social Movements in India

Social movements have played a vital role in Indian politics since well before the inception of India as a new nation in 1947. During the Nehruvian era poverty alleviation was a foundational standard against which policy proposals and political claims were measured; at this time movement activism was directly accountable to this state discourse. In the first volume to focus on poverty and class in its analysis of social movements a group of leading India scholars shows how social movements have had to change because poverty reduction no longer serves its earlier role as a political template. With distinctive chapters on gender lower castes environment the Hindu Right Kerala labor farmers and biotechnology <I>Social Movements in India</I> will be attractive to students and researchers in many different disciplines.