The Indian Constitution and Social Revolution: Right to Property since Independence (SAGE Series in Modern Indian History) - Ananth, V. Krishna

ReviewIt is not very common to find a scholar who combines the skills of a historian and the craft of a lawyer. The book is an example of this combination, making for a fascinating read on the evolution of the Indian Constitution…We owe it to Ananth for bringing together juridical science and history, as it ought to be.-- Economic & Political Weekly, 9 January 2016[This book] provides a valuable understanding of the development of the right to property and will be of relevance to historians, lawyers and others interested in the intersection of this right with constitutional guarantees. -- The Hindu, 21 February 2016This book is a timely work recording the evolution of the right to property since India gained her -- LiveMint, 12 March 2015[The Book] is a fine product of thorough research done by the author. It is highly informative and greatly insightful, it not only helps the readers to understand the relationship between right to property and the socialist agenda of the Indian Constitution but also examines the changing pattern of relationships between the political establishment and the judiciary in India. -- Social Change, ― Vol 46 (Issue 3), September 2016Product DescriptionThis book highlights the evolution of India’s Constitution into a tool for social revolution, tracing the various stages through which the law on the Right to Property and its relationship with the idea of socialism―as laid out in Parts III and IV of the Constitution―have evolved.It underlines that the road to social revolution has been marked by a process where attempts to give effect to the idea of justice―social, economic, and political―as laid down in the Preamble have achieved a measure of success. If the Constitution, including the Preamble, is to be viewed as a contract that the people of India had entered into with the political leadership of the times and the judiciary being the arbitrator to ensure justice, it may be held that the scheme has worked. This book traces this history by placing the judicial and legislative measures in the larger context of the political discourse.About the AuthorV. Krishna Ananth teaches at the Department of History, Sikkim University. He did his PhD from the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He joined The Hindu in 1991 and reported on national politics for 13 years, and has also contributed to editorials and op-ed articles for the paper on national politics and developmental issues.Dr Ananth was associated with the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai, ever since its inception in July 2000, lecturing on Indian history, contemporary Indian politics, legal and constitutional issues, and training journalism students on news writing and editing. A freelance writer since 2004, he practiced law at the Madras High Court, specializing in writ jurisdiction, labour disputes, human rights, and the RTI Act.Dr Ananth has authored four books―India since Independence: Making Sense of Indian Politics (2009), Politics in the Times of Churning (2014), Arasiyal Suvadugal (Tamil) (2006) and Emergency: Nadanthathu Enna? (Tamil) (2007)―and contributed articles in edited volumes, journals, and newspapers.He was a fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi (May 2009-April 2011), during which he researched on the Retreat of the Nehruvian Socialist Project: A Study on the Political, Legislative and the Judicial Interventions, and this volume is based on that study.