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'Mainstream' histories, premodern, colonial, or postcolonial, have often been critiqued for their association with centres of power, whether of hegemonic states or of their elites, who reimagine the past so as to prevent possible contestations of their status. The 'challengers', on the other hand, attempt to appropriate and subvert such legitimations of power. In India today, challenges to the dominant discourse are posed both by subaltern communities who had for long been erased from or marginalized within the mainstream discourse, as well as by dissenting interest groups within the dominant communities themselves. The rewriting of history amounts to much more than a simple retelling of history from the perspectives of the margins. It can be act of re-appropriation by the hitherto silenced and excluded groups who thus attempt to write themselves into nation's past, which almost inevitably lead to multiple contentions and competing claims. This volume seeks to re-appraise vernacular narratives of the past and the present and critically examine the impact of various factors (social and political movements; symbols and imaginings; law and policy) in envisioning multiple, dialogic and counter-hegemonic futures. In doing so it highlights some of the following issues: Inclusion/exclusion/contestations of the mainstream; reconstructing or reimagining the past and its deployment; processes and structures of such contests; and/or their normalization; boundedness by social or territorial delimitations; alternative models of dialogic and counter-hegemonic futures. In addition to reinterpretation of histories of marginalized communities, there are instances of grassroots communities themselves engaging in re-narration through their participation in the political process. This volume includes important contributions, which examine both these strands of re-interrogation and reformulation of dominant narratives. Taken together, articles highlight different facets of the new emergent subjectivities in colonial and contemporary India and explore how these can challenge, rewrite and reinvent the 'dominant' narratives.

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This book offers an overview of the history and development of civil society in three major nations of South Asia – Pakistan, India and Bangladesh – from colonial times to the present. It examines the liberalization of civil society since the 1980s, the needs it created for civil action, the professionalization of civil society organizations, and the extent to which civil society may benefit society at large in the context of local, national and global transformations in the economy, political regime and ideology. The reader will find new insights on the interaction between the liberalization of multifaceted civil societies in the three countries, presenting contrasts such as restrictions put on women’s organizations or labour unions and acceptance of religious organizations’ activities. The volume looks at forms of transfer of civil society models, representation and democratic legitimacy of civil society organizations such as nongovernmental organizations, government organized NGOs and faith-based organizations, along with the structuring of civil society through legal frames as well as female, religious, and ethnic mobilizations around language and literature. Using wide-ranging empirical data and theoretical analyses, it deals with civil society issues relating to human rights and political challenges, justice, inequality, empowerment, and the role of bureaucracy, women’s movements, and ethnic and linguistic minorities. It also presents early responses to the Covid-19 crisis in 2020 which created significant pressure on the states and on civil society. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of political studies, development studies, sociology, public policy and governance, law and human rights, as also to professionals in think tanks, civil society activists and NGOs.

Civil society

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EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Though a globally shared experience, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected societies across the world in radically different ways. This book examines the unique implications of the pandemic in the Global South. With international contributors from a variety of disciplines including health, economics and geography, the book investigates the pandemic's effects on development, medicine, gender (in)equality and human rights, among other issues. Its analysis illuminates further subsequent crises of interconnection, a pervasive health provision crisis and a resulting rise in socioeconomic inequality. The book's assessment offers an urgent discourse on the ways in which the impact of COVID-19 can be mitigated in some of the most challenging socioeconomic contexts in the world.

Development studies --- Poverty & unemployment --- Social impact of disasters --- Personal & public health --- Infectious & contagious diseases --- Africa; COVID-19; Disaster studies; Disease and health issues; Global health; global South; International development; Pandemic studies; Poverty; South Asia --- Since 2020 --- Developing countries. --- Emerging nations --- Fourth World --- Global South --- LDC's --- Least developed countries --- Less developed countries --- Newly industrialized countries --- Newly industrializing countries --- NICs --- Third World --- Underdeveloped areas --- Underdeveloped countries