This book critically studies descriptive, normative and ethical aspects of violence to understand the Maoist conflict in India. It studies important but often overlooked issues such as reasons for youth participation in insurgency, the reality and the rhetoric of the urban Maoism debate, rights and entitlements of the local communities and their interactions with the Maoist conflict, and issues of governance and development. The volume, - examines the origins of Maoist insurgency, why it continues, the factions, counterinsurgency, impact of violence on education and other development indicators; - investigates how a conflict with an alternative idea of democracy violently clashes with an established democratic Indian state; - deals with the critical aspects of the Maoist movement in India and the status of Urban Maoism or Urban Naxal; - evaluates state responses to the movement and its impact on the economic status of affected communities; - discusses the gender dimension of armed conflict through a feminist lens and explores how women navigate through varied socio-cultural and gender norms while participating in the conflict. Studying a wide range of critical issues, this volume will be of interest particularly to scholars of political science, development studies, public administration, security studies, peace and conflict studies and human rights.

This book critically examines various facets of conflicts between people and the State arising due to the uneven distribution of natural resources. It provides an overview of the people’s movements in Odisha, a resource-rich state in eastern India, reflecting on the conceptual frameworks of conflict, violence and the struggle for rights and resources, and analyses the public policies around natural resources, alongside local strategies and governance. Drawing from extensive field surveys in the villages of undivided Koraput and Kalahandi districts in Odisha, this volume explores the socio-political and economical aspects of people’s movements instead of solely viewing them as political and security threats. The authors demonstrate the misappropriations of these movements both by the state and non-state actors for their vested interests. This book offers recommendations for policymakers to draw up a more ready response to mitigate and minimize the conflict and violence and implement equitable policies around land and resources. The volume will be an indispensable read for researchers and students of social history, social reform, tribal and indigenous studies, postcolonial studies, exclusion studies, development studies, political sociology, and South Asian Studies.

This book engages a comprehensive approach to understand both traditional and non-traditional security issues in addressing dimensions of India's national security. The issues highlighted in the book through fourteen distinct, yet inter-related, chapters offer insightful reading to India's national security. This edited book explores the criticalities of various security issues in India, internal and external, and digs deep into the government responses to each of these issues. Stepping away from merely focusing on the state-centric understanding of national security, this book also includes human security perspectives. In this process, this book also offers set of policy recommendations which could be used for effectively dealing with the national security challenges. The themes covered in this edited book range from offering a conceptual framework of national security to issues such as energy security, maritime security, nuclear security, internal security, neighborhood policy, dumping, terrorism, economic security, cyber security, role of media, defense preparedness, and use of GIS in security domain. This book highlights some of the important security issues around the larger perspective of India's national security. This book will be highly useful for the students and scholars of security and strategic studies and international relations and also to the policymakers in the region.

This volume examines the multiple forms of reasoning in Indian politics and explores a framework to understand them. In the process, it looks at a series of issues involving the relationship between politics and philosophy, including the status of political theory, political practices, identity politics, and political ontology. The book argues that in the years leading up to and soon after independence, the task of conceptualizing politics was largely in the domain of practising politicians who built theories and philosophical methods, and further took those visions into the practice of their politics. It maintains that Indian politicians since then have not been as inclined to articulate their theories or methods of politics. This book traces the transition from philosopher politicians to politicians seeking philosophy in Indian polity in the post-independence era and its implications for current practices. It views Indian political philosophy from the standpoints of political theorists, philosophers, and practitioners. With expert and scholarly contributions, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of Indian political thought and political philosophy, social sciences, and humanities.

This volume examines the multiple forms of reasoning in Indian politics and explores a framework to understand them. In the process, it looks at a series of issues involving the relationship between politics and philosophy, including the status of political theory, political practices, identity politics, and political ontology. The book argues that in the years leading up to and soon after independence, the task of conceptualizing politics was largely in the domain of practising politicians who built theories and philosophical methods, and further took those visions into the practice of their politics. It maintains that Indian politicians since then have not been as inclined to articulate their theories or methods of politics. This book traces the transition from philosopher politicians to politicians seeking philosophy in Indian polity in the post-independence era and its implications for current practices. It views Indian political philosophy from the standpoints of political theorists, philosophers, and practitioners. With expert and scholarly contributions, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of Indian political thought and political philosophy, social sciences, and humanities.