It is a common observation that the 21st Century has not been just to not only all the countries but also various section
of population within a country. There are winners and losers. The data on trade by the WTO and UNTAD indicate that the post GATT regime had been beneficial to developed countries and unfortunately the same had been at the cost of developing world, worst affected are ofcourse the African continent. The inequi-distribution of post liberalization benefits are visible with in country also, not the disparities were not there in the pre-1991 era. This is despite of the Indian Constitution’s commitment to ensure Social Justice to its citizens. Social and economical inequalities resulting in deprivations and exclusions had been part and parcel of South Asian economies, more so India.
The Jogdand and others edited book entitled Globalization and Social Justice focuses on Indian economies in the background of its old social structure divided on caste lines. It emphasized the difference between Ambedkar and Gandhi’s perception on ‘social liberation of Dalit and their political empowerment". The farmer of Indian Constitution Ambedkar said on December 13, 1946 "…….I do not understand how it could be possible for any future government which believes in doing justice socially, economically and politically, unless its economy is a socialistic economy."
The book aims at discussing various perspectives on social justice in the India context, issues and challenges for social justice conceptualization in the era of globalization, understanding the praxis of social justice in India and finally examining the role of religion for social justice. Accordingly, the book is divided in four sections, viz., Perspective on Social Justice; Social Justice – Issues and Challenges; Social Justice Praxis; and Religion and Social Justice.
The First Section has four contributions. The section focuses on theorizing social justice by bringing out relevance of John Rawls’ contributions. Accordingly the author argues that any theory of justice ought to take the complex understanding of the principles of social justices, i.e. liberty, equality and justice. The following paper brought out the importance of citizenship rights (civil, political, economic, social and cultural) in ensuring social justice. Mahadevan signified importance of Ambedkarian perspective while Vivek brings out importance of Ambedkar as emancipator of Dalits.
The Second Section too has four contributions. Rao paper highlights dalits awareness about lower status and instruments that leads to their exclusion. The following paper professes annihilation of caste as a measure for distributive justice and suggests that affirmative actions would improve individual’s capacities by creating equal opportunities. The following paper reflects on the status of Dalit movement and points out it to be social justice movement. The last paper takes the review on the constitutional dimension of social justice in the context of globalization.
The Section Three had only three papers. The first paper highlights the Corporate sector contribution to social justice is negligible despite of the fact that it makes financial assistance. The following contributions look at social justice with reference to rural wages and psychology as too for securing social justice.
The last section has two papers highlighting historical context to social injustice followed by a paper on Islamic discourse indicating that Qur’an deals not only with divinity but also with social, political and domestic concerns. Further, in Islamic conceptualization social justice as equality and justice for all irrespective of race, colour, gender and social status.
The book is an interesting insight into the dalits in India and its movement. It also can serve relevant reading for social policy maker as also those engaged in governance.