Negotiating Inclusion: Minority Institutions and Constitutional-Legal Dimensions in India
Constituent Assembly; Inclusion; Minority accommodation; Minority education; Minority safeguards; Negotiation; Supreme Court
The chapter Negotiating Inclusion: Minority Institutions and Constitutional and Legal Dimensions in India is based on the premise that special provisions for inclusion of minority groups were one of the contested topics that have been negotiated in India since independence. The present chapter critically explores the two main sites of negotiation: Constituent Assembly Debates and the cases involving the question of minority rights to culture and education as adjudicated by the Indian courts. In doing so, the paper undertakes an examination of the logic of state recognition and reservations, voiced by nationalist leaders and members of the Constituent Assembly, who were apprehensive that the provisions on minority accommodation may not be compatible with Indias secular credentials. Constitutional provisions, specifically the fundamental rights embodied in Articles 29 and 30 were further debated and re-interpreted by the High Courts and Supreme Court. Further on, the issue of minority accommodation led to the establishment of institutional mechanisms in India, one such institution being the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI)-a recent addition in the series of negotiating spaces of the religious and minority communities in India. A thorough examination of the functioning of the NCMEI, an institution which remains understudied, may inform new avenues into thinking about the sites of minority rights negotiations in India, given the shifting ideological positions at the national level. The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.
Critical Sites of Inclusion in Indias Higher Education, pp. 41-65.
Menon M., Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, School of Social Sciences, Christ (Deemed to be) University, Bannerghatta Campus, Bangalore, India