Unequal Worlds

In today's world social inequalities are diverse and intricate, and they are magnified by different kinds of discrimination. This volume takes up the question of social discrimination and group disadvantage of Dalits in India while also taking into account newer kinds of discrimination. The essays analyse conceptions of equality central to legislation in redressing previous discrimination in society and the discourses that have emerged around it in modern India. The Indian government and judiciary have been involved, through constitutional provisions and legal judgments, in abolishing caste discrimination. Despite efforts by the government, equality of opportunity remains an elusive ideal and several bases of discrimination continue to subvert a concern with formal and substantive equality. The promise of equality provisions and the struggle against caste discrimination are contradicted by the existence of newer kinds of social inequalities arising out of income, wealth, occupation, education, power and skills. This work specifically sets out to explore contemporary manifestations of discrimination that persist in our society through institutions and through norms and practices that define the terms on which certain social groups continue to be excluded.