Passive Revolution in West Bengal: 1977-2011 
In the wake of the enormous interest across the globe in the fall of the Left Front in West Bengal, this book describes the Left era as one of passive revolution: limited reforms and changes, big compromises, corruption of the commissars and the failure of the Left in assessing popular discount and anger; thus, it is the end of revolution even in passive form. 

A collection of articles by Samaddar from leading national dailies and journals between 1977 and the downfall of the Left in West Bengal, this book analyses the era of the Left rule, its political decisions viability. Samaddar argues that the Left’s rule and its own governmental style destroyed the hegemony it had built up through assiduous work of decades. 

A Commentary on contemporary history and an assessment of it, this work helps the reader understand better, the re-emergence of the Maoist movement in West Bengal, the governmental techniques of the Left and dynamics of popular politics. 

The evening of 13 May 2011: The setting sun was never so ‘red’ in West Bengal. 

From ‘red’ to ‘green’, a change in regime ushered in. But what happened in West Bengal on that day came in with a sense of déjà vu, a recall of Bengal 1977. The people wanted change then and the Left provided that. Something of that nature happened again in 2011.With the widespread misrule and violence marking the last phase of the Left Front rule, people massively voted for regime change. As the author says: ‘Passive democracy is democracy as practiced by the people in an epoch of passive revolution.’ This book narrates the story of the people, the society, the transition and thus traverses the whole course of passive revolution. 

This compilation is at once a history and a diary, a book and a journal- a kind of political journalism, engaged with questioning the truths of the day. For years to come, the story of this transition will remain an important lesson in popular politics and governance.

To procure the book, please contact Sage which has published it  / Authored by Ranabir Samaddar
 

Branding The Migrant: Arguments of Rights, Welfare and Security 
This book deals with the Unique Identification (DID)/ Aadhaar project which has burst upon the nation with surprising ferocity. The government has started implementing Aadhaar enabled direct cash transfers for 29 schemes in 51 districts, spread over 16 states and also plans to cover the entire nation by the end of December 2013. Yet, it is far from clear if Aadhaar is an undisruptive benevolent initiative of the government, seeking to empower the needy and maximise the outreach of social-security schemes. Legal experts, scholars and activists have discussed and deliberated on the Aadhaar scheme and the governmental logic underlying it. However, the torrential commentary against the DID scheme notwithstanding, the Aadhaar juggernaut is forging ahead.
 
Against this backdrop, this volume endeavours to engage with the politics and history of the state's population identification exercises. In doing so, it goes beyond the specifics of the UID project to situate the issue in the broader context of identification technologies sponsored by the state and the market over time. Given the fact that there are writings on the UID project and its impact on the resident population but nothing on its impact on migrant population groups, this volume chooses to focus on the impact of the UID and similar identification technologies on migrants. The migrants may be a minority compared to the residents but, as individuals who remain mostly beyond the embrace of the state, they represent a limit on its penetration; they also remain at the metaphorical margins of the state's will to encompass all. This volume, therefore, aspires to test the idea and impact of the UID at its limits — focusing on its impact on migrants — and interrogate if the reach of the state can after all exceed its grasp.
 
The significance of the volume is in the diverse range of reports and opinions it presents. Bringing together case studies across the length and breadth of India as well as theoretical engagements with the theme, the book urges the reader to think if the implementation of the UID project would after all only faithfully serve age-old statist imperatives of identifying, de-legitimising and expelling migrants from ‘national’ territory; whether the language of welfare of the UID project masks an anxiety for security, in this case the securitisation of an entire nation.

To procure the book, please contact frontpage which has published it  / Edited by Atig Ghosh
 

Unstable Populations, Anxious States: Mixed and Massive Population Flows in South Asia 
‘From its inception, South Asia has been confronted by massive displacements', so states the editor, Paula Banerjee, who adds that liberation was intrinsically attached to the partition of states, lead­ing to huge human flows who faced horrific, indescribable violence. Aside from the refugees are the internally displace people (idps), largely belonging to vulnerable sections such as religious and ethnic minorities, indigenous people, dalits and the urban poor. Often the displaced face multiple displacements, and it becomes impossible to know whether displacement was due to conflict, development or ecological conditions.  

The complexities of displacement have created massive, mixed flows: refugees, asylum-seekers, illegal immigrants, idps, and other victims of violence, deprivation, hunger. Persecution and discrimination occur together, and the old forms of protection are often inadequate. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refu­gees (unhcr) responded with a Ten-Point Plan of Action for Refu­gee Protection and Mixed Migration. This was the focus of a two-day dialogue on 'Protection Strategies in South Asia' organized by Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group (mcrg), which led to this com­prehensive collection, compiled by social scientists, media analysts and activists.
 
Divided into three parts, Part I, ‘Conflict-Induced Situations’, Part II, ‘Issues’, and Part III, ‘Institutions’, this book offers an overview of South Asian experiences, an analysis of the principles of protection and their inadequate implementation. It considers the disparity between economic growth and human development indices that leads to continuous massive human flows: refugees, idps or econom­ic migrants; ultimately human beings in great distress.

To procure the book, please contact Samya which has published it  / Edited by Paula Banerjee
 

The Nation Form: Essays on Indian Nationalism 
Most writings on the theme of the nation confine themselves to discussions of ideology and thoughts on nationalism, leaving out the question of the form of the nation. This selection of writings by Ranabir Samaddar fills in that void and presents a whole range of dimensions, perspectives, and controversies of the last two decades on the question of the nation in India. It looks at the form of the India nation in terms of contests, contradictions, classes, and nationalist strategies of inclusion and exclusion, thereby addressing two significant issues in view of the nation form –its relation with democracy and the problem of governing the nation. This selection not only comprises essays that stand on their own merit, but also, in totality, presents a historical summary of the nation’s experience through decades-before and after Independence. 

It was and still remains a dispute about how to study the nation, and therefore the form of the nation. … There is no transcendental ideal of the nation, and to the extent that such an ideal is present, it only serves to hide the reality of the nation form. This book, thus, is not about nationalism, but about nation.

To procure the book, please contact Sage which has published it  / Authored by Ranabir Samaddar
 

New Subjects and New Governance in India 
This volume explores the ways in which governance in the exercise of its strategies also acts as a process of production of subjects. It argues that governance is not a one-sided affair starting and ending with those who rule and govern, but a productive process — one that produces subjects of governance who in turn respond to the process, and make the field of governance a contentious one. This volume studies the transition towards developmental democracy, examining the interrelations between globalisation, development and structures of governance. It suggests that while there is need to reflect on the governance of transition, it is important to question how democracy negotiates this transition.

To procure the book, please contact Routledge which has published it  / Edited by Ranabir Samaddar and Suhit K.Sen

Political Transition and Development Imperatives in India 
This volume explores the transition from colonial to constitutional rule in India, and the various configurations of power and legitimacies that emerged from it. It focuses on the developmental structures and paradigms that provided the circumstances for this transition, and the establishment of the post-colonial state. Different articles interrogate the idea of liberal constitutionalism, the spaces it provides for rights and claims, the assumptions it makes about citizenship and its attendant duties, and the assumptions it further makes about what it can, or has to, become in the particular situation of India.
 
The book locates these questions in the reconfiguration of society, power, and the economy since the shift in the identity of the state after Independence, and deals with issues of constitution-making in a historical and political setting and its outcomes, especially the centrality of law and legalisms, in shaping civil society. This book emphasises continuity and change in the context of the movement from the colonial to the constitutional order.
 
To procure the book, please contact Routledge which has published it  / Edited by Ranabir Samaddar and Suhit K.Sen

Forced Migration in North East India: A Media Reader 
Forced Migration in North East India: A Media Reader is a comprehensive ready reference and toolkit for journalists, researchers, and people in general - who are interested in the media and North East India.

The region though geographically isolated and economically underdeveloped, has a distinctive cultural; socio-economic and Political identity. Viewed from within, it represents an incredible diversity comprising over 200 indigenous communities. 

As the states in North East India have borders with several countries – China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh-since vivisection of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, the region has faced waves of population influx from across the borders at various times. Forced migration and displacement due to repeated ethnic violence have led to hundreds of villages being burnt and thousands of people killed. The figure of internality displaced persons in the region has surpassed the half a million mark according to a recent estimate. 

Besides ethnic conflicts, natural calamites such as floods and erosion, as well as construction activities or eviction in the reserve forest areas have added to the misery of the displaced persons in North East India, many of whom are languishing in the temporary camps for decades.

However, the issue often does not get due coverage in the media and many journalists feel that  the resources, tools and skills to cover this issue at their disposal are inadequate, The Media Reader is an effort to bridge this gap.    

To procure the book, please contact frontpage which has published it  / Edited by Nilanjan Dutta

Women In Indian Borderlands 
Women in Indian Borderlands is an ethnographic compilation on the complex interrelationship between gender and political borders in south Asia. The book focuses on the border regions of West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir And Northeast India.

The Chapters in the book examine the stories of women whose lives are interwined with borders, and who resist everyday violence in all its myriad forms. They show how most of the traditional efforts to make geopolitical regions mare secure end up privileging  masculine definition of security that only results in feminine insecurities.

These essays discuss hoe women negotiate their differences with a state that, though democratic, denies space to differences based on ethnicity, religion, class or gender. Borders are interpreted as ones where the jurisdiction of one state ends and that of the other begins. What comes  out is the startling revelation that women not only live on the  borders, but also , in many ways, form them.    

To procure the book, please contact Sage which has published it  / Edited by Paula Banerjee and Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury

Sustainability of Rights after Globalisation 
Sustainability of Rights after Globalisation is the result of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) - supported research programme. ‘Globalisation  and Sustainability of Rights’. The Thrust of this volume is an various concerns of globalization and its interface with rights.

The books talks about the interconnectedness of globalization with social and economic systems and how links develop with reference to both polity and common people’s movements. The book provides a new way of understanding the constitution of rights with the help micro-histories drawn from diverse fields, such as environmental rights, law, information, and labour studies in India. 

To procure the book, please contact Sage which has published it  / Edited by Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury and Ishita Dey 

Politics in Hunger – Regime (Essays on the Right to Food in West Bengal)
In India even after six decades of independence and planned economy employing ‘pro-poor’ assistance programmes, the hunger regime has consolidated in many parts of India including the state of West Bengal. 

In this book , the researchers examine the population living under the shadow of hunger with particular emphasis on the evolution of Foods movements in West Bengal along with the development of Right to Food as a inside the court room and the ways it has shaped outside the courts through  popular participation in political movements. 

While walking in-depth analyses of the hunger regime , the discourse throws light on the recent outrage in the Public Distribution System (Ration-Riots) in West Bengal, and  critically examines the status  in South Bengal , with particular emphasis on Paschim Medinipur , a District recording starvation deaths, seized the international media attention; the research simultaneously chronicles the true narratives of sufferings and struggle of the people in the Tea Garden region of the northern parts of West Bengal. 

To procure the book, please contact frontpage which has published it  / Edited by Sibaji Pratim Basu and Geetisha Dasgupta 

Counter-Gaze : Media, Migrants, Minorities
Counter-Gaze: Media migrants, minorities assesses the situation of migrant minorities not just in third World colonized countries in South Asia but also in the Western societies in Europe which hitherto had not been subjected to any meaningful analysis. Under the Eurasia-Net programme, scholars minority and human rights activists, researchers, and journalists from South Asia visited European countries while their counter parts from Europe came to South Asia to evaluate the conditions of the minorities  in each part of these region s participation , representation in public media and institutions and arranges for protection of their rights under a majority centric domination.  

The result is the present study that throws up some critical questions on how my migrants have come to form minority communities, how their claims to citizenship, rights and justice have occupied space in the politics  of the nation and supra-national bodies. The collection of essays here highlight how the protection arrangements always fall short of their goal ,where protection becomes one more tool  in the hands of the government to sustain the majority-minority divide and it refuses to accept the claims of minorities to equality and people-hood.  

A successful minority is one where the minority group withers away and the protection regime in turn becomes redundant. This research programme examined the European experience of the minority issues as well as the South Asian laws and practices. There is an increasing familiarity between the two sets of experiences and so the book is not so much about the counter gaze bu about the anticipated and resultant familiarity in human right’s struggles.

To procure the book, please contact frontpage which has published it  / Edited by Subir Bhaumik 

Minorities in South Asia and Europe
The book “ Minorities in South Asia and in Europe”, as the very title suggests, is an excellent compilation of extensive research done on minorities in South Asia and Europe from a comparative and transnational perspective. This book explores the formation of minorities which has often coincided with the very formation of nation states. While country based study on the theme is not hard to find, comparisons within a region like South Asia and Europe is something which the book stands out for. Reading through the various chapters of the book, one can understand how such distinct regions as Europe and South Asia are similar in their situations in terms of the problem and treatment of minorities. This book hence tries to answer the present challenges posed on the minorities, particularly the ones inflicted due to Globalization, for which  transnational linkages between various minority groups across the world have been made possible. Part One of the book discusses various aspects of Minorities in South Asia , including the problem of the minorities within minority groups and Part Two throws light on Minorities in Europe including transnational minority network within Europe.

To procure the book, please contact Samya which has published it  / Edited by Samir Kumar Das 

Terror, Terrorism, States & Societies : A Historical and Philosophical Perspective
The world today is marked by different kinds of terror—individual, state, anarchist, revolutionary, religious, imperial or communal; or the terror of insecurity or catastrophe—each with its particular imprint. Their different ideological and philosophical justifications need to be understood, especially now, when distinctions between them have been obliterated by the blanket term, ‘terrorism,’ and the habit of calling those who practise this generalised ideology, ‘terrorists’.  

This volume contains essays by international scholars, across different disciplines, and engages with several aspects of terror: as historical event; as a generalised discourse of ideology; as a feature in the continuum of violence; as ‘extreme violence’; and as the final marker of identity—ascribed, undertaken or imposed. The authors also discuss the historical and discursive relations between democracy and terror, liberalism and the rule of law, the ‘war on terror’ and the need for legitimacy; and a philosophical engagement with terror. Its scope ranges from the era of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution to the instruments of colonial terror, to post-colonialism and the global situation today, post-September 11, 2001.

A compelling and sober consideration of one of modernity’s most intractable and complex issues.

To procure the book, please contact Women Unlimited which has published it  / Edited by Samir Kumar Das & Rada Iveković 

Volume I Edited by Pradip Kumar Bose and Samir Kumar Das

Volume II Edited by Ashok Agrwaal and Bharat Bhushan

Volume III Edited by Paula Banerjee and Sanjay Chaturvedi

Volume IV Edited by Sanam Roohi and Ranabir Samaddar

CONTENTS
VOLUME I: Series Introduction by RANABIR SAMADDAR / Introduction by PRADIP KUMAR BOSE and SAMIR KUMAR DAS / Land Acquisition Act and Social Justice: A Study on Development and Displacement RATAN KHASNABIS / Two Leaves and a Bud: Tea and Social Justice in Darjeeling ROSHAN RAI and SUBHAS RANJAN CHAKRABORTY / Deprivation and Social Injustice in a Rural Context: An Ethnographic Account KUMAR RANA with AMRIT PAIRA and ILA PAIRA / On the Wrong Side of the Fence: Embankment, People and Social Justice in the Sundarbans AMITES MUKHOPADHYAY / Prescribed, Tolerated, and Forbidden Forms of Claim Making RANABIR SAMADDAR / Consolidated Bibliography / Index
VOLUME II: Series Introduction by RANABIR SAMADDAR / Introduction by ASHOK AGRWAAL and BHARAT BHUSHAN / Justice in the Time of Transition: Select Indian Experiences SABYASACHI BASU RAY CHAUDHURY / The Founding Moment: Social Justice in the Constitutional Mirror SAMIR KUMAR DAS / Indexing Social Justice in India : A Story of Commissions, Reports and Popular Responses BHARAT BHUSHAN / Trivialising Justice: Reservation under Rule of Law ASHOK AGRWAAL / The Fallacy of Equality: ‘Anti-Citizens’, Sexual Justice and the Law in India OISHIK SIRCAR / Consolidated Bibliography / Index
VOLUME III: Series Introduction by RANABIR SAMADDAR / Introduction by PAULA BANERJEE and SANJAY CHATURVEDI / Gulamiya Ab Hum Nahi Bajeibo: Peoples’ Expressions for Justice in Jehanabad MANISH K JHA / Ethnography of Social Justice in Dalit Pattis (Hamlets) of Rural UP BADRI NARAYAN TIWARI / Rights and Social Justice for Tribal Population in India AMIT PRAKASH / AIDS, Marginality and Women PAULA BANERJEE / Towards Environmental Justice Movement in India? Spatiality, Hierarchies and Inequalities SANJAY CHATURVEDI / Consolidated Bibliography / Index
VOLUME IV: Series Introduction by RANABIR SAMADDAR / Section I: Development and Discontent: The Question of Injustice: Introduction / Ethnic Politics and Land Use: Genesis of Conflicts in India’s North-East SANJAY BARBORA / Contexts and Constructions of Water Scarcity LYLA MEHTA / Karnataka: Kudremukh: Of Mining and Environment MUZAFFAR ASSADI / Report of Investigation into Nandigram Mass Killing: A Report by Sanhati / Eroded Lives: Riverbank Erosion and Displacement of Women in West Bengal KRISHNA BANDYOPADHYAY, SOMA GHOSH and NILANJAN DUTTA / Section II: Social Justice: The State and its Perceptions: Introduction / The Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005 / The National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 / The Right to Information Act, 2005 / The National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2007 / The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 / Section III. Justice: Law and Beyond: Introduction / Illegality and Exclusion: Law in the Lives of Slum Dwellers USHA RAMANATHAN / Illegal Coal Mining in Eastern India: Rethinking Legitimacy and Limits of Justice KUNTALA LAHIRI-DUTT / Verdict on an HIV Case, Supreme Court of India LAYA MEDHINI, DIPIKA JAIN and COLIN GONZALVES / An Indian Charter for Minority Rights SABYASACHI BASU RAY CHAUDHURY / Section IV: Women and Marginality: An Issue of Gender Justice: Introduction / Gender: Women and HIV LAYA MEDHINI, DIPIKA JAIN and COLIN GONZALVES / National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (2001) / Women, Trafficking and Statelessness in South Asia PAULA BANERJEE / Section V: Justice: Marginal Positions and Alternative Notions: Introduction / Voices from Folk School of Dalit Bahujan and Marginalised to Policy Makers PEOPLE'S VIGILANCE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS / Social Assessment of HIV/AIDS among Tribal People in India NACP III PLANNING TEAM / Caste is Dead: Long Live Caste G P DESHPANDE / Tehelka Debate: Beyond Caste PUROSHOTTAM AGARWAL / Report from the Flaming Fields of Bihar: A CPI (ML) Document / Section VI: Freedom and Equality, Rights and Social Security: Building Blocks of Justice: Introduction / Jungle Book: Tribal Forest Rights Recognised For First Time NANDINI SUNDAR / Informal Sector in India: Approaches for Social Security / Arguments, Protests, Strikes and Free Speech: The Career and Prospects of the Right to Strike in India RAJEEV DHAVAN / Democracy and Right to Food JEAN DREZE / Index

Gandhi’s Dilemma in War and Independence
In the socio-political milieu of the forties in India, the most contentious decade of the last century, ravaged with war, the Quit India movement, famine, partition and the civil war, the author draws our attention to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the father of the Indian Independence Movement, who, as he puts it, “symbolised the conflicts and paradoxes of that time of transition”.

As one critically examines Gandhi’s views during the period of India’s passage to political independence on issues such as war, decolonisation, nationalist challenge, state sovereignty, problems of governance and so on, a pertinent question surfaces: was Gandhi as confident in his political agenda and methods as history has asserted to the present day?

Gandhi, again a satyagrahi, an ardent propagator of nonviolent resistance to injustice throughout his life, appears in the eyes of the Englishmen, as an extremist and saboteur of the Allied democratic cause in the World War II.

Using his scholarly acumen, the author unveils a new dimension to Gandhi’s towering personality with the suggestion that time was closing down on him. It was a situation of classic aporia, when exit from the problem that Gandhi struggled to escape from became impossible in its own terms.

To procure the book, please contact FrontPage Publication which has published it on behalf of CRG. / Authored by Ranabir Samaddar 

Human Rights and Peace: Ideas, Laws, Institutions and Movements
Human Rights and Peace: Ideas, Laws, Institutions and Movements redefines the ambit of peace, presenting a radically different per­spective of looking at its relationship with human rights. It deals with the transformation of both the definition and practice of peace, showing how it has now taken the domain of human rights into its fold.

Through experiential articles on the themes of ideas, laws, institutions, and movements, this collection reveals how people's struggles against specific forms of institutionalised violence take the form of calls for 'peace'. It brings together hitherto unpublished writings on peace and human rights. It also includes some rare articles extracted from landmark published pieces.

This book is an insightful resource for students and researchers of Peace Studies, Human Rights, Politics and International Relations. It is also an invaluable idea bank for activists, think tanks and policy makers who seek to understand the evolving paradigm of peace and human rights.

To procure the book, please contact Sage Publication which has published it on behalf of CRG. / Edited by Ujjwal Kumar Singh 

Fleeing People of South Asia: Selections from Refugee Watch 
This book is a collection of essays from 30 volumes of Refugee Watch published by Calcutta Research Group over the last ten years. The book bears reflections of the Refugee Watch series throughout and captures the agony, tension and struggle of the refugees and internally displaced in South Asia in its different dimensions. The book tries to catch the multidimensionality of the journal as much as possible. 

Essays have been divided, not chronologically, but on lines of broad based themes like ethical issues, laws, South Asia, India, gender, interview/correspondence and representations. Each section has been given a separate introduction, orienting the reader to the core-thought behind the classificatory scheme. Such categorization helps the reader in finding particular essays relevant to interests and makes the experience different from sifting through pages of the journal; thus justifying the conglomeration in the form of a book. 

It carries essays and articles by the CRG umbrella of scholars like Ranabir Samaddar, Paula Banerjee, Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury and Samir Kumar Das. Others include Meghna Guhathakurta, Jagat Acharya, Ammu Joseph, Tapan Kumar Bose, Flavia Agnes, Patrick Hoenig, Subir Bhaumik, Monirul Hussain, Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and Rajesh Kharat to name a few.  

Particularly interesting is the section on interview/correspondence. There are letters from Palestinian Refugee Camp. There are several interviews with representative personnel like Ratan Gazmere from Bhutan, Dr Nawal El Saadawi from Aram Women’s Solidarity Association and Lev Grinberg from Israel. This section makes the book a winner because it straightaway passes over the microphone to the field people and makes their voice audible.

To procure the book, please contact Anthem Press Publication which has published it on behalf of CRG. / Edited by Sibaji Pratim Basu

Women in Peace Politics 
Women in Peace Politics explore the role of women as agents and visionaries of peace in South Asia. Peace is redefined to include in its fold the attempt by women to be a part of the peace making process, reworking the structural inequalities faced by them and their struggle against all forms of oppression.

This volume, the third in the series of the South Asia Peace Studies, deals with the myriad dimensions of peace as practiced by South Asian women over a period of time. It chronicles the live of  “ordinary “ women- their transformative role in peace and an attempt to create a space of their own. Their peace activism is examined in the historical context of their participation in national liberation movements since the early 20^th century. The articles in the collection adopt a new approach to understanding peace- as a desire to end repression that cuts across caste, class, race and gender and an effort on the part of women to transform their position in society.

This complication would interest a wide readership, beside s students and scholars of human rights, peace and security studies, politics and international relations.

To procure the book, please contact Sage Publication which has published it on behalf of CRG. / Edited by Paula Banerjee 

Autonomy: Beyond Kant and Hermeneutics
In the first decade of the twenty-first century autonomy has become one of the major concerns of our social and political existence. The right to autonomous life is now a political, cultural and social call of both individual and the groups—a rare conformity that points to the critical importance of the problematic of autonomy on the agenda of critical thinking. 

Though the notion of autonomy in the modern era began to be applied primarily in a political context, the term was then taken up again in the context of individual rational persons, their individual rights and existences. In the wake of anticolonial movements the term gained new perspectives and meanings, which would now imply not only new rights, but also new responsibilities. It became the emblem of group rights, in particular minority rights. In time the idea of autonomy became not only the standard of rights or responsibilities, but also an issue of governmentality. 

The present volume is a critical attempt to understand autonomy from both historical and analytical perspectives. An international group of scholars seek the answers that go beyond the thinking of Immanuel Kant and only a hermeneutic reading of the principle of autonomy. Autonomy in this collective reading emerges as deeply rooted in social practices and contentious politics. 

To procure the book, please contact Anthem Press which has published it on behalf of CRG. / Edited by Paula Banerjee and Samir Kumar Das

The Materiality of Politics
The Materiality of Politics uses a series of historical illustrations to reveal the physicality and underlying ‘materiality’ of political processes. The political subject of the study is the collective political actor poised against governmental rules for stabilizing order. Samaddar’s tour de force propels readers through an account of blood, violence, bodies, controls, laws and conflicts. Politics is examined not as an abstraction, but as a ‘real’ field of dynamic factors rooted in everyday life.  
Volume 1, subtitled The Technologies of Rule discusses the techniques of modern rule which form the basis of the post-colonial Indian state. Beginning with the rule of law, the volume analyses the nature and manifestations of constitutional rule, the relation between law and terror and the construction of ‘extraordinary’ sovereign power. The author also investigates the methods of care, protection, segregation and stabilization by which rule proceeds. In the process, the material core of the ‘cultural’ and the ‘aesthetic’ is exposed.  

Volume 2, subtitled Subject Positions in Politics focuses on the political subject emerging from post-colonial politics. The 1940s are closely examined in order to trace the genesis of the modern Indian political subject, his/her dreams of liberty and recognition of freedom’s qualifications. Contentious politics illuminates the dual tendency of the political subject to demand justice in court, and engage in rebellious street politics, clamouring for justice and equality. As the author demonstrates, the subject’s desire for the autonomy of politics manifests itself in various ways. 

To procure the book, please contact Anthem Press which has published it on behalf of CRG. / Authored by Ranabir Samaddar

The Politics of Autonomy: Indian Experiences
At a time when movements by women, indigenous people, dalits, various minority groups, and other sections are rising to prominence, what will the future of politics be like? How will autonomy-the efforts of various sections of society to resist the power of the state-change the way we understand democracy?

As this volume tells us, a critical inquiry into the idea of autonomy suggests that the politics of the future will be the politics of autonomies: an engagement that combines notions like self-government, women's autonomy, devolution of power, the rights of minorities, greater popular access to resources, and legal pluralism, and where different autonomies must learn to negotiate and co-exist. Viewing democratic theory through the lens of autonomy, the contributors:

• argue that autonomy has to be an essential ingredient in the building of post­colonial democracies, not merely a residual measure to keep some constituencies happy;

• draw attention to the contending principles of autonomy, the consequent politics of autonomies, the inescapable co-existence of autonomies, and the need for dialogue; and

• analyze the instructive Indian politico-historical experience because of its diversity and range, the extent of colonial institutionalization, multiple forms of autonomy, the complex path of constitutionalism, a wide variety of accords, and the unyielding state that is determined to keep the nation intact.

In the process, the contributors traverse a wide range of issues relating to women's autonomy, peace accords, the nature of federalism in the Indian Constitution, autonomy in international law, and fiscal decentralization. These debates are then supported by case studies on the autonomy experiments in Kashmir, Darjeeling, and the entire Northeast, and on fiscal devolution.

Rich with empirical findings and combining research with dialogue, The Politics of Autonomy represents cutting-edge research on democracy. It will be widely welcomed by scholars of nationalism, democratic theory, federalism, law, women's rights, and multiculturalism.

To procure the book, please contact Sage Publications, which has published it on behalf of CRG. / Edited by Ranabir Samaddar

Peace Processes and Peace Accords

The first volume in the South Asian Peace Studies (SAPS) series had advanced a general understanding of the nature of peace as a political problematic. This volume, the second, continues with the inquiry, looking at the political question of peace from three perspectives: the process of peace; the contentious issues involved in the peace process; and the ideologies that come in conflict in this process.

Arguing that peace is not a one-time event to be achieved and rejoiced over but a matter to be sustained against various odds, the contributors show that the sustainability of peace depends on a foundation of rights, justice, and democracy. Peace accords, they maintain, are only a moment in the process-the very act of signing an accord could mark either a continuation of the same conflict, or simply its metamorphosis. Therefore, as this volume shows, "negotiation" should be redefined as "joint problem-solving" on a long-term sustained basis, rather than "one-off hard bargaining."

While positing peace as a universal value, this book locates it in the specifics of both the internal and international contexts of South Asia, and provides a useful morphology of violence and conflicts. It also raises the question: How gender equitable is the peace we seek to achieve? Critiquing the dominant principles and protocols of peace accords and peace processes of the region, this volume also reinforces the importance of dialogue in the democratic theory of peace. It will attract the attention of students and scholars of political science, international relations, conflict resolution and defence studies, anthropology, and political philosophy. It will also be of interest to human rights lawyers, activists, and NGOs.

To procure the book, please contact Sage Publications, which has published it on behalf of CRG. / Edited by Samir Kumar Das

Indian Autonomies – Key Words and Key Texts
This compendium of keywords and key texts addresses predominantly – though not exclusively - the varied experiences with autonomy in India. Growing out of a two-year research work by a collective, it reflects the rainbow nature of the enterprise and findings. The keywords in particular reflect on the philosophical, social, legal and political dimensions of the notion and experiences of autonomy. The compendium will be a valuable sourcebook for students, researchers, activists in the autonomy movements and lay readers. The keywords selected here cut across the immediate experiential horizons and utmost care has been taken to tease out their deeper philosophical and praxiological implications in a direct and simple way that does not unduly repel the interested yet untrained readers. While documents issued by governmental sources have their own ways of publicising themselves, those relating to popular mobilisations and popular politics find it difficult – if not impossible - to reach wider readership. Most of the documents have been included here keeping this in view and they represent a wide variety of experiences from Kashmir to Kohima and from Lund Conference to Ladakh.

To procure the book, please contact SAMPARK, which has published it on behalf of CRG. / Edited by Sabyasachi Basu Roy Chowdhury, Samir Kumar Das and Ranabir Samaddar 

Internal Displacement in South Asia 

This book deals with the situation of internally displaced people - those who have been forcibly displaced by natural disasters or development projects.

Each chapter is a case study authored by specialists from seven countries - India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Mayanmar and Afghanistan. The latter two countries have been included for their shared ethnic continuities with people of the neighbouring countries. The authors provide recommendations on how to minimize the insecurity of the displaced, as well as suggesting early warning systems as preventive measures to forestall displacement at the outset.

To procure the book, please contact Sage Publications, which has published it on behalf of CRG. / Edited by Paula Banerjee, Sabyasachi Basu Roy Chowdhury, Samir Kumar Das 

South Asian Peace Studies 1 

The first volume of the South Asian Peace Studies (2004) introduces the concept, scope and themes of peace studies. The second volume deals with peace accords in this region. The third volume narrates the experiences of women in conflict and peace. The fourth volume deals with human rights institutions in this region. The series is different from the usual conflict and conflict resolution studies, which revolve around interest-based approaches and game theories, and are based on the premise that  “peace with justice” is an impossible agenda. The South Asian Peace Studies series has been planned as an exercise against that politics of excluding justice and democracy from conflict resolution and peace processes. The aim of the series is to bring into light practices of human rights, justice, dignity, reconciliation, and democracy, and lodge them at the heart of peace studies. 

To procure the book, please contact Sage Publications, which has published it on behalf of CRG. / Edited by Ranabir Samaddar

Refugees and the State – Asylum and Protection Policy of India, 1947-2000 

This is a collection of essays (2003) on the practices of asylum and refugee protection in India over the last fifty years. Written by specialists in the field of Political Science, History, Administration, Law and Gender Studies, this volume is a political, legal, institutional and ethical history concerning hospitality, care and protection. The book highlights the contradictions between these virtues and the manner in which state power organises care and protection of the vulnerable groups and communities, such as the asylum seekers. It is an extra-ordinary study on the interface between care and power.  

To procure the book, please contact Sage Publications, which has published it on behalf of CRG. / Edited by Ranabir Samaddar

Refugees in West Bengal – Institutional Practices and Contested Identities

This book (2000) is a significant addition to the existing discussion on how refugees are treated and managed worldwide under two different circumstances - with and without international support. This collection of essays by political scientists, sociologists, historians and human rights activists narrates the activities of the refugee protection institutions in West Bengal in the wake of the massive influx of refugees from East Pakistan after the Partition of 1947. The book highlights how the society of West Bengal absorbed this huge influx in the post-partition era in a quiet and effective manner despite a serious lack of necessary institutions of relief and care. At the same time, as the volume shows, the response and self-activism of the refugee community was a great factor in enabling the refugees to negotiate with an alien world and often a hostile political environment. 

The result was not only some relief, rehabilitation, and re-settlement, but a contest of identities too. To procure this book, please contact CRG. / Edited by Pradip Kumar Bose

Living on the Edge – Essays on the Chittagong Hill Tracts  

This collection of essays on the Chittagong Hill Tracts published (1997) immediately after the CHT Accord is based on three sets of writings - by human rights activists and researchers of Bangladesh who deal with several dimensions of the conflict as they impact on Bangladesh society, by Indian   human rights activists and researchers who look into the impact on India including the refugee crisis, and the third, which is the heart of the volume, writings that carry the rebels' voices. Widely acclaimed as one of the most authoritative accounts on the CHT conflict and struggle, the volume is a product of CRG's long campaign for peace in the CHT, and collaboration between Bangladeshi and Indian peace activists. 

For a copy of the volume please contact Manohar Publishers, Delhi. / Edited by Subir Bhaumik, Meghna Guhathakurta, and Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury

Reflections on Partition in the East    

This is a collection of essays (1997) written by eminent historians, sociologists, and political scientists on the Partition of 1947 as it happened in the East. This volume takes a critical look at some of the existing accounts of the Partition in the east, and shows how the history that a partition creates becomes as significant for a political understanding of the event of partition as the history that produced partition in the first place. If an example of such history of partition is the continuing trans-border population movement across the borders, other instances are the continuing labour of memory, the emergence of new geo-political regions that make nation a problematic concept in South Asia. 

For a copy of the book, please contact Vikas Publishers, who have published the volume on CRG's behalf. / Edited by Ranabir Samaddar

Anyo Pakistan 

A pioneering work in Bengali on Pakistani writings, this is a Bengali collection (1996) of essays, poems and short stories that reflect the other voices in Pakistan. The contributors to this volume are engaged in struggles for peace and democracy in Pakistan. The original compilation was done by the Pakistan India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy. 

For copies contact Punascha, Kolkata. / Edited by Ranabir Samaddar

Parbottyo Chattogram – Simanter Rajniti 

This is a chronicle (1995) in Bengali of the struggle for self-determination, autonomy and peace by the indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill tracts (CHT), Bangladesh. The monograph traces the origin of the CHT movement, and examines the politics of demographic change and environment in a strategically located region at the junction of South and Southeast Asia. /  Debjani Datta and Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury