Economy, culture, and human rights: turbulence in Punjab, India and beyond/ Pritam Singh.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [211]-234) and index.

1 Theoretical perspectives and personal experiences
Contesting perspectives on human rights - The context of India and Punjab -
Personal experience of human rights violations - Reflections on human rights and torture:'
Towards a critical approach
2 The political economy of centralisation in India; Shaping the
macro-environment for human rights
Historical background to the centralisation debate — The troika of capital, state
and the nation: The phase of planned capitalist development — The new economic policy
of 1991 - Political, economic and cultural implications of the centralisation process -
Conclusion
3 Economic interests, political culture and human rights in
Indo-British relations
Political parties in Britain - House of Commons debate - Economic and political
interests of Britain - Conclusion
4 Historical conduits of the political culture of Punjab
The duality of Punjabs location in India - The birth of Sikhism and its early guru
period (1469-1708) - The rise of the Sikhs to political power (1708-99) - The empire
of the Sikhs (1799—1849) — Punjab under British rule (1849—1947): Emergence of new
conflicts - The struggle for a Punjabi-speaking state (1947—66) — Punjab—centre conflict
(1966-84) leading to Operation Blue Star - Conclusion
5 Actions and reactions of 1984: State repression, militancy and
human rights
Alienation of the Sikhs and shaq^ening of the Hindu-Sikh divide - Political moves
towards reconciliation - Akali Dal election victory and the semblance of democratic
revival - Failure of the Punjab Accord, the rise ofSikh militancy and its suppression - The
zigzag return of democratic politics - Conclusion
6 Rural capitalism, religious revivalism and fractured
resistance
Religion and the left - Capitalist modernisation and religious revivalism -
Bhindranwale as a social reformer - Religion, the left and the culture of the oppressed
- Contesting tendencies in Sikh revivalism - The Punjabi left and Sikli revivalism; Common
ground of human rights - Conclusion
7 Combating sectarianism and instrumentalism in the human
rights praxis in Punjab
Sectarianism and its application in the context of human rights - Post-colonia'
Punjab from the perspective of human rights - The emergence of human rights
organisations in Punjab - Modes of articulation of sectarianism in human rights -
Sectarianism in the human rights praxis of political parties - The Maoist Naxalite period:
Responses of the political parties - Politics of human rights organisations - The period of
the Sikli militant movement from 1978 onwards - Modes of articulation of sectarianism
in the human rights praxis during the period of the Sikh militant movement - Some
general points as a critique of sectarianism in human rights praxis
8 Conclusions