Book contents
- A Qualified Hope
- Comparative Constitutional Law and Policy
- A Qualified Hope
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The Supreme Court of India – An Institutional Overview
- Part II The Supreme Court of India, Social and Political Mobilization
- 6 The Art of Buying Time
- 7 Court as a Symbolic Resource
- 8 PUCL v. Union of India
- Part III Welfare Rights and the Environment
- Part IV Discrimination
- Conclusion
- References
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
- A Qualified Hope
- Comparative Constitutional Law and Policy
- A Qualified Hope
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The Supreme Court of India – An Institutional Overview
- Part II The Supreme Court of India, Social and Political Mobilization
- 6 The Art of Buying Time
- 7 Court as a Symbolic Resource
- 8 PUCL v. Union of India
- Part III Welfare Rights and the Environment
- Part IV Discrimination
- Conclusion
- References
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.
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- A Qualified HopeThe Indian Supreme Court and Progressive Social Change, pp. 212 - 240Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019