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Audiobooks by Abhinav Chandrachud
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Reservation or affirmative action is a hugely controversial policy in India. While constitutionally mandated and with historians, political scientists and social activists convinced of its need, many resist it and consider it as compromising 'merit' and against the principle of equality of opportunity.In These Seats Are Reserved, Abhinav traces the history and making of the reservation policy.How were groups eligible for reservations identified and defined? How were the terms 'depressed classes' and 'backward classes' used in British India and how have they evolved into the constitutional concepts of 'Scheduled Castes', 'Scheduled Tribes', and 'Other Backward Classes' in the present day?The book delves into the intellectual debates that took place on this matter in the Constituent Assembly, the Supreme Court and Parliament. Several contentious issues are examined dispassionately: are reservations an exception to the principle of equality of opportunity? Do quotas in government service undermine efficiency? Can 'merit' really be defined neutrally? What is the thinking behind the rule that no more than 50 per cent of the available seats or positions can be reserved?Deeply researched and ably narrated, this volume is a compelling addition to every thinking individual's library.
The first authorized biography of Soli Sorabjee
'A gripping life story of a Goliath who strode the Indian legal canvass for nearly seventy years.' - Mukul Rohatgi, former Attorney General of India
'Superbly researched, this book by Abhinav Chandrachud is a must read. ' - Madhavi Goradia Divan, Additional Solicitor General in the Supreme Court of India
How does a Parsi lawyer, deeply influenced by the principles of Roman Catholicism, fall in love with a Bahá'í and go on to become the Attorney General of India for a Hindu nationalist BJP government? How does a boy with a broken leg, who studied in a Gujarati-medium school, and lost his father at the age of nineteen, go on to mount a heroic defense of the Janata government's decision to dissolve Congress state legislatures (in 1977) in the Supreme Court? How does a newspaper columnist who admires Nehru, who criticizes the BJP for being 'obsessed' with 'demolishing mosques' and advises them to replace 'Hindutva' with 'Bharatva' or 'Indianness', get chosen by Prime Minister Vajpayee to represent the government in the Supreme Court in many cases, including the Ayodhya case? How does a lawyer with a humdrum customs and excise law practice, whose grandfather sold horsedrawn carriages in Bombay, become a U.N. human rights rapporteur, and repeatedly defend the fundamental right to free speech and expression in the Supreme Court of India?
Definitive, comprehensive and absolutely unputdownable, this first biography of Soli Sorabjee opens a window into the life and times of one of India's foremost constitutional experts.
