Law and Social Transformation in India
LL.M. · 13 topics in 5 units
Unit I 3 topics
- Law and social change: theories, models and the Indian experienceWhether law leads or follows society, the theoretic models of social transformation, law as a product of tradition and culture, and what colonial rule did to Indian law.8 min
- The Constitution as an instrument of social transformationHow the text, the directive principles and the Supreme Court have used the Constitution to reorder Indian society, and the idea of transformative constitutionalism.6 min
- Alternative approaches: Gandhi, Vinoba, JP, socialist thought and the Naxalite movementSarvodaya, Bhoodan and Total Revolution as non-State routes to social change, Indian socialist and Marxist thought on law and property, and the causes of and legal responses to Naxalism and Maoism.6 min
Unit II 3 topics
- Religion, secularism, conversion and the uniform civil codeWhether religion divides or synthesises, the Indian model of secularism against the American and French ones, conversion, personal law reform and the uniform civil code debate.7 min
- Language policy, linguistic states and the language of courtsPart XVII and the Eighth Schedule, the reorganisation of States on linguistic lines, medium of instruction after the 2014 Constitution Bench, linguistic rights and the case for people's language in the courts.6 min
- Regionalism, sons of the soil, national unity and ethnic pluralityHow the Constitution holds India together as one unit while accommodating regions, tribes and communities, and how courts treat domicile and local-preference rules.6 min
Unit III 3 topics
- Caste, untouchability and protective discriminationArticle 17 and the atrocities law, the reservation jurisprudence from Champakam to Davinder Singh, the backward classes commissions, and the debate on caste as a basis of social justice.6 min
- Women, gender justice and the lawThe constitutional policy on gender justice, the adequacy of laws against crimes and sexual exploitation of women, the National Commission for Women, and political empowerment.6 min
- Children and the law: child labour, education, sexual abuse, adoption and child marriageThe constitutional and international framework for children, the adequacy of child labour and POCSO law, the right to education, adoption and the child marriage law.7 min
Unit IV 2 topics
- Modernisation, agrarian reform and sustainable developmentModernisation as a value, the land reform programme and the right to property, free enterprise against State regulation, and sustainable development as the reconciliation of environment and growth.6 min
- Family law, modernisation and social transformationHow Indian family law moved from status to choice: divorce on breakdown, freedom to marry, live-in relationships, the wife's place in the household and in property, and how far law has run ahead of social practice.7 min
Unit V 2 topics
- Reform of justice delivery: legal aid, Lok Adalats, ADR, Gram Nyayalayas, PIL and plea bargainingHow Indian law has tried to bring justice within reach of the poor: legal aid and Lok Adalats, mediation and conciliation, Gram Nyayalayas, public interest litigation, plea bargaining, victim justice and prison reform.8 min
- Democratic decentralisation: Panchayati Raj and urban local bodiesFrom Gandhi's gram swaraj and Ambedkar's objection to the 73rd and 74th Amendments, the reservation and election cases, and whether local self-government has transformed rural power.7 min