Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T01:57:34.962Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - PUCL v. Union of India

Political Mobilization and the Right to Food

from Part II - The Supreme Court of India, Social and Political Mobilization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2019

By
Alyssa Brierley
Edited by
Gerald N. Rosenberg ,
Sudhir Krishnaswamy  and
Shishir Bail
Gerald N. Rosenberg
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Sudhir Krishnaswamy
Affiliation:
Azim Premji University, Bangalore
Shishir Bail
Affiliation:
Azim Premji University, Bangalore
Get access

Summary

Activists have long turned to courts to influence policy. Much of the literature analyzing the experience of activists using courts has focused on judicial outcomes, yet accomplishments beyond successful judgments can be of equal importance as they also effect social change. In particular, engaging in litigation can have a demonstrable impact on the social movements themselves – building and strengthening movements, and providing spaces for manoeuvring. This chapter examines the impact of litigation on the development of the Right to Food Campaign in India, one of India's largest contemporary social movements. Using qualitative data from in-depth interviews with activists and lawyers and a comparative analysis with an earlier case, this chapter analyzes the factors and conditions under which courts can be catalysts for social mobilization, including the existence of opportunities for reform, pre-existing rights consciousness and organizational resources available for mobilization.

Keywords

political mobilizationlitigationright to foodhuman rightshungerIndiasocial activismdevelopmentjudicial activismsocial justice
Type
Chapter
Information
A Qualified Hope
The Indian Supreme Court and Progressive Social Change
 , pp. 212 - 240
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Ahluwalia, Montek. 1994. “India’s Quiet Economic Revolution.” Columbia Journal of World Business 29(1): 6–12.Google Scholar
Ahluwalia, Montek. 2002. “Economic Reforms in India since 1991: Has Gradualism Worked?” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 16(3): 67–88.Google Scholar
Banik, Dan. 2007. Starvation and India’s Democracy. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Banik, Dan. 2010. “Governing a Giant: The Limits of Judicial Activism on Hunger in India.” Journal of Asian Public Policy 3(3): 263–280.Google Scholar
Birchfield, Lauren, and Corsi, Jessica. 2010. “Between Starvation and Globalization: Realizing the Right to Food in India.” Michigan Journal of International Law 31: 691–764.Google Scholar
Drèze, Jean. 1991. “Famine Prevention in India.” In The Political Economy of Hunger: Volume 2: Famine Prevention, edited by Drèze, Jean and Sen, Amartya, 13–122. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jean, Drèze. 2004. “Democracy and the Right to Food.” Economic and Political Weekly 39(17): 1723–1731.Google Scholar
Drèze, Jean, and Sen, Amartya. 1989. Hunger and Public Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gauri, Varun, and Brinks, Daniel. 2008. Courting Social Justice: Judicial Enforcement of Social and Economic Rights in the Developing World. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gauri, Varun, and Gloppen, Siri. 2012. “Human Rights-Based Approaches to Development: Concepts, Evidence and Policy.” Polity 44(4): 485–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gloppen, Siri. 2008. “Litigation as a Strategy to Hold Governments Accountable for Implementing the Right to Health.” Health and Human Rights 10(2) 21–36.Google Scholar
Gonsalves, Colin. 2009. Right to Food. (4th ed.). New Delhi: Human Rights Law Network.Google Scholar
Government of India. 1880. Report of the Indian Famine Commission. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office. https://archive.org/details/FamineCommission.Google Scholar
Hunt, Alan. 1990. “Rights and Social Movements: Counter-Hegemonic Strategies.” Journal of Law and Society 17(3): 309–328.Google Scholar
Kent, George. 2005. Freedom fom Want. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Lal, Chaman. 2007. “NHRC and Right to Food.” In Food Security and Judicial Activism in India, edited by Human Rights Law Network, 113–116. New Delhi, Socio-Legal Information Centre.Google Scholar
Mander, Harsh. 2012. “Food from the Courts: The Indian Experience” IDS Bulletin 43(S1): 15–24.Google Scholar
Mander, Harsh. [undated] “The Struggle for the Right to Food.” www.sccommissioners.org/Starvation/Articles/strugglertf.pdf.Google Scholar
McCann, Michael. 1994. Rights at Work: Pay Equity Reform and the Politics of Legal Mobilization. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Mishra, Neelabh. 2001. “Anatomy of Hunger.” Hindustan Times, May 2001.Google Scholar
Mishra, Neelabh. 2001 “Drought and Deaths.” Frontline, April 14, 2001.Google Scholar
Mishra, Neelabh. 2001. “Post-Mortem of Hunger.” Hindustan Times, April 4, 2001.Google Scholar
Mishra, Neelabh. 2002. “Hunger Deaths in Baran.” Frontline 19(24), December 6, 2002.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Gerald. 1991. The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring about Social Change? Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Ruparelia, Sanjay. 2013. “A Progressive Juristocracy? The Unexpected Social Activism of India’s Supreme Court.” Working Paper 391. The Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies.Google Scholar
Sainath, P. 1996. Everybody Loves a Good Drought. New Delhi, Penguin.Google Scholar
Sainath, P. 2001. “Rajasthan’s Drought: Abundance of Food, Scarcity of Vision” The Hindu, March 18, 2001.Google Scholar
Sathe, S. P. 2002. Judicial Activism in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 1981. Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Miriam. 1999. Lesbian and Gay Rights in Canada: Social Movements and Equality-Seeking, 1971–1995. Toronto, University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2012. “Structural Adjustment in India.” http://lnweb90.worldbank.org/oed/oeddoclib.nsf/b57456d58aba40e585256ad400736404/0586cc45a28a2749852567f5005d8c89. Accessed August 31, 2018.Google Scholar
Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India & Others 1984 AIR 802.Google Scholar
Kishen Pattnayak And Anr. v. State of Orissa AIR 1989 SC 677.Google Scholar
M. C. Mehta v. Union of India Writ Petition (Civil) No. 13029 of 1985.Google Scholar
Mohini Jain v. State of Karnataka, 1992 AIR 1858.Google Scholar
Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation 1986 AIR 180.Google Scholar
P.U.C.L. v. Union of India & Ors. W.P (Civil) 96/2001.Google Scholar
P.U.D.R. v. Union of India 1982 AIR 1473.Google Scholar
Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar & Ors, 1991 AIR 420.Google Scholar
Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India & Others 1984 AIR 802.Google Scholar
Kishen Pattnayak And Anr. v. State of Orissa AIR 1989 SC 677.Google Scholar
M. C. Mehta v. Union of India Writ Petition (Civil) No. 13029 of 1985.Google Scholar
Mohini Jain v. State of Karnataka, 1992 AIR 1858.Google Scholar
Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation 1986 AIR 180.Google Scholar
P.U.C.L. v. Union of India & Ors. W.P (Civil) 96/2001.Google Scholar
P.U.D.R. v. Union of India 1982 AIR 1473.Google Scholar
Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar & Ors, 1991 AIR 420.Google Scholar

Cases

Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India & Others 1984 AIR 802.Google Scholar
Kishen Pattnayak And Anr. v. State of Orissa AIR 1989 SC 677.Google Scholar
M. C. Mehta v. Union of India Writ Petition (Civil) No. 13029 of 1985.Google Scholar
Mohini Jain v. State of Karnataka, 1992 AIR 1858.Google Scholar
Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation 1986 AIR 180.Google Scholar
P.U.C.L. v. Union of India & Ors. W.P (Civil) 96/2001.Google Scholar
P.U.D.R. v. Union of India 1982 AIR 1473.Google Scholar
Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar & Ors, 1991 AIR 420.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×