Piketty’s book Capital in the 21st Century has burst upon the sky of economics, like a huge round of fire crackers. It has sold 2 million copies and has been translated into several languages. The book has focused on economic inequality—its source and its impact. Piketty’s main thrust is to reveal that the wealthy, he calls it the one percent, will continue to accumulate wealth. He reveals the dynamics of such a process, and then concentrates on the tax system as a possible source to reduce this phenomenon. It is of course a startling revelation, especially the argument on the process.


Reviewed by: Devaki Jain
Saumya Dey

Saumya Dey’s Becoming Hindus and Muslims tries to provide an alternative understanding of the growth of HinduMuslim identities in the region of Bengal. He challenges the understanding of historians that attributed primacy to the coming of colonialism in forming Indian identities like the ever so contested Hindu-Muslim identity. The book then wants to shatter the myth that prior to the arrival of colonialism Indians were not conscious of group labels like ‘Hindus’ and ‘Muslims’.


Reviewed by: Aniket Tathagata Chhetry
By Anjali Dave

‘The Special Cells are located in the police system to draw on the power of the law and the Constitution to aid abused women to rebuild their lives, but this power is neither benign nor apolitical’ writes Anjali Dave in Women Survivors of Violence; Genesis and Growth of a State Support System. There is no one better qualified than Anjali Dave—a feminist activist, social worker and teacher—to critically look at the course and consequence of engaging with the state to address the issue of violence against women.


Reviewed by: Veena Gowda
By Nalini Natarajan

Anxiety about the safety of women in India has always been a topic of discussion in social and academic meetings. While articulate non-academics bemoan the continuing relevance of the topic in a developing and seemingly modern society, academics attempt to understand the underlying reasons for the persistent perception of women as vulnerable beings. The debate took a more urgent turn when world media reported the gang rape of a young physiotherapy intern in a moving bus on one of the arterial roads of Dehi during the night of December 16, 2012. The media’s coverage of the incident and civil society’s mobilization to demand an amendment in the law led to the passing of The Criminal Law (Amendement) Act of 2013.


Reviewed by: Usha Mudiganti
By Farrah Ahmed

Looking at the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly of India, between November 1948 and January 1949, one is compelled to note the immense amount of criticism that the draft constitution evoked. One of the draft articles that came up for discussion was the then Article 35 which stated that the state should endeavour to establish a Uniform Civil Code in India. In response, one member complained that the draft constitution lacked any ‘provisions which safeguard the personal law of the people’ (Nov. 8, 1948). Another member insisted that ‘The right of a group or a community of people to follow and adhere to its own personal law is among the fundamental rights and this provision should really be amongst the statutory justiciable fundamental rights’ (November 23, 1948).


Reviewed by: Shefali Jha
Rishi Singh

There is growing concern among a section of scholars that the ebbing away of the spirit of Punjabiyat results in erosion of interest in Punjab Studies. They strive to identify some of those over-arching Punjabi ties that communicate the message of Punjabiyat stretched across the five doabs and facilitate forging ties across the religious boundaries. These scholarly initiatives struggle to outline Punjab’s cultural diversity and portray experiences of plurality that flow along the Radcliffe boundary of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent and keep its residents aware of how Punjabiyat is still breathing in the lives of millions of Punjabis.


Reviewed by: Himadri Sekher Banerji