Routledge Readings on Law, Development and Legal Pluralism : Ecology, Families, Governance

Routledge Readings on Law, Development and Legal Pluralism presents some of the finest essays on social justice, environment, rights and governance. With a lucid new Introduction, it covers a vast range of issues and offers a compelling guide to understanding the harm and risk relating to biodiversity, agro-ecology, disaster and forest rights. The book covers critical themes such as ecology, families and governance and establishes the trajectory of contemporary ecology and law in South Asia. The thirteen chapters in the volume, divided into three sections, trace violence and marginality in the plurality of families and their laws in India, as well as discuss community-based just practices. With debates on development, governance and families, the book highlights the politics and practices of law making, law reform and law application. This multidisciplinary volume foregrounds the politics and plural lives of/in law by including perspectives from major authors who have contributed to the academic and/ or policy discourse of the subject. This book will be useful to students, scholars, policymakers and practitioners interested in a nuanced understanding of law, especially those studying law, marginality, kinship and indigeneity studies. It will serve as essential reading for those in law, socio-legal studies, environment studies and ecology, social exclusion studies, development studies, South Asian studies, human rights, jurisprudence and constitutional studies, gender studies, history, politics, conflict and peace studies, sociology and social anthropology. It will also appeal to legal historians and practitioners of law, environmentalists and those in public administration. Cover Endorsement Page Half-Title Page Routledge Readings Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: The Sites and Possibilities of Interdisciplinary Law Section 1: Law, Development, and Social Justice Representing Justice, Intersectionality, and Interpretive Communities States of Exception, Lawfare, and Self-Determination Vernacularization, Demosprudence, and Justice Claims Ecologies of Justice and Belonging Technology, Development, and Social Justice Section 2: Ecology, Families, Legal Pluralism Questions of Justice: Environment, Ecology, and Disaster Fluvial Landscapes and Fluid Lawscapes Feminist Environmentalism Bhopal Catastrophe Families in Law Ambedkar and Hindu Kinship Violence and Women’s Lifeworlds An Unresolved Question Plural Domains of Law and Governance ‘People’s Law’ and ‘State Law’ Vernacular Laws Women, Custom, and Resistance Autonomy and Self Governance Conclusion Cases Cited Notes References Part I Questions of Justice: Environment, Ecology, and Disaster 1 Law, Agro-Ecology and Colonialism in Mid-Gangetic India, 1770s–1910s Seasonality, measurement and law ‘Principle of equity’: rights and occupancy Conclusions Notes References Internet sources 2 Historical Wrongs and Forest Rights: Nascent Jurisprudence on FRA and Participatory Evidence Making Introduction Forest laws in India: a snapshot Courting justice: coming up empty Early shifts in forest policy towards forest governance The Forest Rights Act Innovations in evidence and evidence gathering under the Forest Rights Act Types of evidence Process of examining evidence Use of satellite imagery: the case of Gujarat Recent developments in GIS technology and role of the nodal ministry MoTA Other categories of evidence being used under the FRA Conclusion Notes References 3 Feminist Dimension of Biodiversity Challenges I. Women and biodiversity: a gendered difference A. Women as food producers B. Shrinking biodiversity, shrinking lives C. Feminist voices II. International legal framework: limited recognition, limited role for women III. Domestic legal framework: more access, less conservation of biodiversity IV. Conclusion Notes 4 An Overview of the Law Governing Hazardous Substances in the Post-Bhopal Era Part 1 The Planning Commission’s approach to environment-related problems The Environment (Protection) (EP) Act, 1986 Transportation of dangerous/hazardous substances by road—Order of the Transport Commissioner, Maharashtra State The Government of India’s rules and regulations Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989 Rules for the manufacture, use, import, export and storage of hazardous microorganisms or genetically engineered organisms or cells, 1989 Part 2 Factories (Amendment) Act, 1987 The Public Liability Insurance Act (PLIA) 1991 Hazardous substances Owner’s liability Insurance structure Establishment of the Environment Relief Fund Relief redressal mechanism Accident prevention Penalties Miscellaneous The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Act, 2010 Tribunals Composition Appointment of members Qualifications for appointment Tenure Removal Jurisdiction, powers and proceedings of the tribunal Liabilities and penalties Financial and administrative powers of the chairman The scheme of labeling environment-friendly products Notes 5 Disability, Disaster and the Law: Legislating Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction Disaster laws ignore ‘disability’ International frameworks protecting the rights of persons with disabilities Developing national frameworks for disaster risk reduction from a disability lens Administrative accountability and public liability during the ‘relief – rehabilitation – reconstruction phase’ References Part II Families in Law: Property, Custom, and Violence 6 Family, Work and Matrimonial Property: Implications for Women and Children Importance of property for a woman’s well-being Personal law and matrimonial property Unpaid work and the sexual division of labour Occupational segregation by sex and the earnings gap Conclusion Notes References 7 Sex-selective Abortion and Reproductive Rights: A Syncretic Feminist Approach The evolution of reproductive rights Sex-selective abortion in India The state in India and policy responses Discourses: debates and dilemmas (a) The equality discourse versus demographic discourse (b) The justice discourse versus crime discourse (c) The rights discourse versus ethics discourse The syncretic feminist perspective with an intersectionality approach Way forward Towards a conclusion Notes Bibliography 8 Adjudicating Domestic Violence in the Courts Marriage is not construed as a companionship Colonial mind-set operating in post-colonial India The ‘women question’ in post-independence India The state sanctions dowry and domestic violence Technical defects are evoked to exonerate violent men A woman is painted negatively with suspicion and assigned low credibility in the courts The law questions women, not men Courts uphold conservative notions and not constitutional values Construing an ideal woman as a perfect wife through a judicial lens Courts preach on the duties of wives but not about the role of husbands Courts on the issue of marital rape Domestic violence is a continuous offense, not episodic Standards of cruelty as a matrimonial offense are different from cruelty in criminal law The fragile masculinity of the androcentric courts Courts penalize woman for giving dowry and not the husbands for demanding dowry Courts impose penalties on women for filing false complaints Filing a complaint under Section 498A is construed as cruelty by the wife The doctrine of battered woman syndrome in India Can a mother-in-law file a complaint against the daughter-in-law? The PWDVA: the male is a respondent A live-in relationship is not considered a domestic relationship Erasing entitlements: misinterpreting the right to reside in the shared household Quantum of monetary relief The basic premise behind domestic violence remains unchallenged The justice system has failed to meet the changing needs of society Summary Notes 9 Feminist Activism, Violence in the Family, and Law Reform in India: A Three Decadal History Introduction: contextualizing personal laws in India Background of women’s rights in India: 1970s and beyond Voices from the struggle Feminist reasoning Dowry deaths, Hindu women, and law reform: the 1980s Muslim women organizing around rights in the family, 1986–2016 Family law jurisprudence: an interreligious snapshot Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 Conclusions Acknowledgements Notes References Abbreviations in Case Citations 10 Saving Custom or Promoting Incest? Post-Independence Marriage Law and Dravidian Marriage Practices North and South Indian kinship Legislating marriage in post-independence India Marriage rules under classical Hindu law Prohibited relations under the Special Marriage Act (1954) and the Hindu Marriage Act (1955) ‘Saved’ by ‘custom’ Case law on questions of ‘prohibited relationships’ Conclusion: ‘prohibited relationships’ or allowable custom? Acknowledgements Notes References Part III Plural Domains of Law and Governance 11 Conflict Resolution in Tribal Societies of Northeast India: Legal Pluralism and Indian Democracy Conflicts Individual versus the state Community versus the state State versus the state (and other federal states) Individuals/communities versus corporations Individual versus community Women versus community Insurgent groups Community versus community Tribal laws, legal pluralism and the Indian constitution Tribal jurisprudence and conflict resolution Community rights versus individual rights Conflict resolution Nationalism versus religion Where lies the hope? Note References 12 Forums for Conflict Resolution in the Jaintia Tribal Community over Land Resources Brief background The genesis of traditional institutions The pre-British Era The British Era Socio-political systems Customary law courts The current situation and powers of village courts Formal law courts The role of the judicial wing Conflict in the tribal community and forums for its resolution Land tenure systems and conflict Women’s participation in the forums of conflict resolution Role and functions of the dolloi Role and functions of the customary law court or chiefs Samples of cases Advantages and disadvantages of customary law courts and formal law courts: a summary Concluding remarks Notes References 13 Pathalgadi Movement and Conflicting Ideologies of Tribal Village Governance Introduction Understanding the Pathalgadi movement English translation of the declaration on the slab Juxtaposition of the traditional and modern forms of village governance Pathalgadi movement: the conflict of ideologies Responses of the mainstream Concluding remarks Notes References List of newspapers "Routledge Readings on Law, Development and Legal Pluralism presents some of the finest essays on social justice, environment, rights and governance. With a lucid new Introduction, it covers a vast range of issues and offers a compelling guide to understanding the harm and risk relating to biodiversity, agro-ecology, disaster and forest rights. The book covers critical themes such as ecology, families and governance and establishes the trajectory of contemporary ecology and law in South Asia. The thirteen chapters in the volume, divided into three sections, trace violence and marginality in the plurality of families and their laws in India, as well as discuss community-based just practices. With debates on development, governance and families, the book highlights the politics and practices of law making, law reform and law application. This multidisciplinary volume foregrounds the politics and plural lives of/in law by including perspectives from major authors who have contributed to the academic and/ or policy discourse of the subject.This book will be useful to students, scholars, policymakers and practitioners interested in a nuanced understanding of law, especially those studying law, marginality, kinship and indigeneity studies. It will serve as essential reading for those in law, socio-legal studies, environment studies and ecology, social exclusion studies, development studies, South Asian studies, human rights, jurisprudence and constitutional studies, gender studies, history, politics, conflict and peace studies, sociology and social anthropology. It will also appeal to legal historians and practitioners of law, environmentalists and those in public administration. "