EAR TO THE GROUND
K BALAGOPAL · New Arrivals
Price: Rs. 630. There is a perceptible mood of impatience, not only among the rulers but also much of public opinion with all obstacles to the one-dimensional notion of development mandated by globalisation. Scruples that raise questions, or doubts, about the consequences of this imperative are seen as a drag on development. Though this impatience speaks the language of reason and rationality, much of it is driven by the hunger for power: India is a potential giant, it can be an economic superpower, are expressions commonly heard these days. Small wonder that this view sits comfortably with the Sangh Parivar, the one political group that has always defined the goals of the nation unambiguously in terms of power. (K. Balagopal, A Tough Law for Other People's Crimes; Economic & Political Weekly, 21 April 2001) Ear to the Ground was first published in 2011 and this revised edition with one additional essay 'Caste and Law' issued fifteen years later, remains as relevant. There is prescient value to the essays - especially those that call attention to the political consolidation of the Hindu Right. As important are the appraisals of the contradictions that lie at the heart of the Indian republic: between constitutional promise and institutional and social impunity; a productivist vision of development and its, often, violent outcomes; a hierarchical social order, and its rebellious anti-caste constituents and finally between an unevenly constituted patriarchy and an evenly distributed misogyny. Drawing on his intimate knowledge of the Andhra-Telangana regions, gained through civil rights work, and grounded in a philosophical commitment to the human rights movement, Balagopal rethinks the soci