Book Review: India’s Rights Revolution: Has it Worked for the Poor?
| Author | Monica Sakhrani |
| DOI | 10.1177/2321023013509156 |
| Published date | 01 December 2013 |
| Date | 01 December 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
244 Book Reviews
Studies in Indian Politics, 1, 2 (2013): 241–257
minority in their own homeland. The issue of immigration has thus continued to occupy the centre stage
of politics ever since the students-led ‘anti-foreigner’ movement that began in 1979. The militant demo-
cratic student’s agitation in Assam over the foreigner issue, though generally peaceful, eventually culmi-
nated in the worst ethnic carnage in India’s post-independence history, between Assamese indigenous
peoples and the migrant Bengalis in 1983. The rise of ULFA, Mahanta argues, is thus a manifestation of
such an unresolved conflict between India and Assam over the immigration issue.
ULFA is perhaps currently down and out, but the issues it raised are far from over. Assam, according
to it, is but an internal colony of India, as most of the natural resources are extracted out with no benefits
accruing to the indigenous peoples of the state. Despite being endowed with rich natural resources like
oil, tea and forest products, Assam is one of the poorest states of India. Added to this is the looming threat
of Assamese getting reduced to a minority in their own homeland. Such a perception is still widely
shared by the people in Assam. What they do not approve of is the blatant and random use of violence
by ULFA in civic life. Also, Mahanta argues, ULFA’s quest for sovereignty has lost much of its appeal
amongst the people who have of late become increasingly wary of the means that ULFA adopts to
meet its goal. The reason why ULFA has lost much of ground is that it drifted from its ideology and
became oblivious of the daily needs and requirements of the people. Struggle over control of resources
like land, forest and water—once central issues on the agenda of ULFA—have receded into the back-
ground, as it is far more busy hobnobbing with international networks. The vacuum thus created has
been filled by a peasant movement known as Krishak Mukti Saangram Samiti which came into existence
in 2005 under the leadership of RTI activist Akhil Gogoi. This is the reason, argues Mahanta, why
‘movements centering on people’s issues have become more popular and sustainable in comparison to
the armed groups which have perennially neglected these issues for a dream of independent sovereign
homeland’ (p. xx).
Students of political science, history and sociology will find the books by Das and Mahanta very
useful. These will also be of particular interest to policy makers, security experts and journalists working
on the NER.
Deepak K. Singh
Department of Political Science
Panjab University, Chandigarh
E-mail: deepakks_67@yahoo.co.in
S.K. Das, India’s Rights Revolution: Has it Worked for the Poor? New Delhi: Oxford University Press. 2013.
330 pages. ` 795.
DOI: 10.1177/2321023013509156
The book discusses and evaluates the workings of four statutes that were enacted this millennium with
much fanfare: the Right to Information Act, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (both 2005), The
Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and the
Right to Education Act, 2009. The author, a retired bureaucrat and author of several books, begins by
setting out the objective of the book:
whether these laws are adequate for the poor to full their rights, whether institutions, norms, and an enabling
economic environment really translate into realized rights for the poor; whether the rights are being realized
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