The Orient BlackSwan ‘Policy Studies’ series is designed to address, investigate, and analyse public policy in the field of governance.

Courts have always shaped the lives of citizens, but they have rarely been as visible as they are today. The live streaming of proceedings followed by real time reporting and wide circulation on social media has opened judicial proceedings to the public. Thus, the work of constitutional
courts, the final arbiters of constitutional rights, is now a matter of genuine popular engagement rather than specialist concern alone.

Interrogating India’s Equality Law Framework, the latest addition to our Policy Studies series, builds on this democratisation of legal discourse. The book simplifies the academic discussion around the equality provisions of the Constitution, analyses the institutions thus created and
traces how they have fared in the seven decades since independence.

Through the lens of law, this book addresses the state of social justice today and examines landmark judgments on crucial issues, such as the sub-classification of Scheduled Castes, denial of Scheduled Caste status to Christians and Muslims, EWS reservations, women’s representation in politics and the Uniform Civil Code. It also discusses the historical context and Constituent Assembly debates which shaped the drafting of the Constitution.

This book will be essential reading for students and practitioners of law, human rights and policy studies, journalists, UPSC/CLAT aspirants, and the general reader grappling with questions of equal rights, opportunities and dignity of life as an Indian citizen.