Book review: Zoya Hasan,Agitation to Legislation: Negotiating Equity and Justice in India

This book presents an insightful analysis of the enactment of rights-based legislation during the UPA-I and UPA-II (United Progressive Alliace) period. Zoya Hasan has focused on three empirical cases: Right to Employment and Right to Food (RTF), the anti-corruption or Lokpal movement and legislative reservations for women. The book makes it clear that the three campaigns show the importance of civil society action as a forerunner of progressive social change. Hasan has contextualized the mobilization for these laws in the developments related to the neoliberal era, which on the one hand led to the emergence of a strong middle class, and on the other increased the impoverishment of large parts of population. In this period, however, Indian democracy witnessed a greater participation of subaltern populations compared to the urban middle class. Previous movements such as the anti-nuclear movement and Narmada Bachao Andolan have also created awareness among marginalized people regarding their rights. Hasan argues that the rights-based approach prepared the groundwork for greater citizen participation in governance. She clarifies that most of these initiatives ‘can be more appropriately described as campaigns’ (p. 159) because networking and engagements with the state and other stakeholders has been central to this form of politics.

Indeed, in all demands related to rights-based laws, civil society organizations played a crucial role. The Right to Information Act (RTI) campaign was spearheaded by the Rajasthan-based Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), which was established in May 1990. Indeed, the origins of NREGA and the idea of guaranteed employment can thus be traced to Rajasthan. Similarly, RTF was an old campaign, which coincided with the emergence of a shift in the nature of judicial intervention in India. Ruling on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Rajasthan, the Supreme Court asked the government on April 2001 to take specific measures to provide right to life enshrined in Article 21, which affirms that ‘state has a duty to provide food, especially in situations of drought, to people who are not able to purchase it’ (p. 45). The campaign for the RTF continuously put pressure on the government to pass an Act to implement it. Finally, the government enacted the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013. Zoya Hasan presents the formation of the National Advisory Council (NAC) in 2005 as a product of this growing engagement, which provided further advice on social policies and monitoring of their implementation.

The second case study analyses the India Against Corruption (IAC) and Jan Lokpal Campaign that emerged in 2011 during the UPA-II, with growing charges of corruption and scams against many leaders of the ruling UPA. Due to the support of the middle class and extensive coverage and an appreciation for Anna Hazare’s Gandhian method in media, this campaign created a legitimacy crisis for the ruling UPA. The government constituted a Joint Drafting Committee (JDC) in 2011 of union ministers and civil society representatives to work on a Lokpal Bill. Although, as Hasan emphasizes, the JDC after many rounds of discussion could not succeed in reaching a consensus on the provisions of the Lokpal Bill, the creation of JDC was a positive development because it made an attempt to ‘convince the government to recognize the significance of the voice of citizen in a democracy’ (p. 12). The Lokpal Act that was passed was not implemented in the first four years’ rule of the Narendra Modi government, and none of the actors who demanded this Act started a new campaign for its speedy and effective implementation.

The third case study analyses the effort to enact a Women’s Reservation Bill that would require a 33 per cent quota for women in the parliament and state legislative assemblies. It should be noted that 33 per cent seats are reserved for women in panchayat and local urban bodies through 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments and ‘many states went on to raise women’s representation in local government to 50 per cent’ (p. 133). This effort has its roots as far back as the Towards Equality Report of 1974. Whenever a version of the Bill was listed for discussion, many members of parliament stalled the proceedings of the House. In 2008, the UPA introduced it in the Lok Sabha after it was passed in the Rajya Sabha. Parties such as Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal (United) opposed it on the basis of lack of sub-quota for the women of subaltern groups. Hasan claims that these leaders opposed the WRB (Women Reservation Bill) due to their patriarchal mindset and male insecurity.

In all three case studies, the author has provided a short analysis of the demand for these laws, and the role of different actors in their enactment or non-enactment (in the case of WRB). It seems, however, that some crucial aspects regarding this subject have been not discussed properly in the study. First, it is strange that though the purpose of the book is to study rights-based legislation during the UPA-I and UPA-II, the author has not even mentioned—let alone provided detailed analysis of—the enactment of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006. Second, the author is convinced that the opposition to the WRB by different parties is solely driven by their tendency to continue male dominance in legislature. It is, however, necessary to take the arguments of opposing parties more seriously: there is a valid question of whether there should be a sub-quota for the women of underprivileged castes. Rather than engaging with this kind of argument, the author has questioned the intention of those who have been opposing WRB. Third, there should be some critical evaluation of the role of the NAC, or the constitution of the JDC, from the perspective of the Indian constitutional scheme, in that they seem to be a creation of another ‘power centre’ (in the case of NAC) or violating the role of the parliament (in the case JDC).

However, there is no doubt that this book is a unique contribution for understanding the role of civil society in making rights-based legislation in the neoliberal era. The author presents a deep analysis of the different stages of the enactment of these laws or hindrances created by many actors (in the case of WRB). Thus, the book should be read in order to understand the intricacies of politics in the UPA era.