‘Routledge’ Releases Groundbreaking Book on Untouchability in Contemporary India
Mangalore: ‘Routledge’ has published and released ‘Untouchability in 21st Century India’, a pioneering new book by legal scholar Dr. Preethi Lolaksha Nagaveni, of Mangalore origin, offering a comprehensive legal and human rights analysis of the continued existence of untouchability in modern India.
The book examines two of the most significant contemporary manifestations of untouchability—manual scavenging and caste-based discrimination in higher educational institutions. Challenging the widespread perception that untouchability belongs to India’s past, Dr. Preethi argues that the inhuman practice continues to exist in both visible and subtle forms despite constitutional guarantees and legislative safeguards.
Drawing upon extensive doctrinal and socio-legal research, including interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, the author demonstrates that untouchability continues to affect both the most deprived, economically marginalised sections of Dalit communities, particularly manual scavengers, as well as highly educated Dalit students and academics within institutions of higher education.
The study is regarded as a rare and significant contribution to scholarship on caste discrimination. While numerous works have examined untouchability from sociological, political, and historical perspectives, ‘Untouchability in 21st Century India’ is among the first book-length studies to analyse the subject primarily through the lens of international human rights law. The book argues that untouchability should not be viewed solely as a social, economic, political, or cultural issue, but also as a legal one, exposing the limitations of existing legal mechanisms in eradicating the practice.
Dr. Preethi’s wider academic and policy engagement has attracted international recognition. Her oral and written submissions have contributed to discussions before United Nations human rights mechanisms, the UK Parliament, and the New Zealand Parliament. Among her notable interventions is an oral statement before a United Nations CEDAW highlighting the persistent human rights violations faced by manual scavengers, underscoring the global relevance of the issues explored in her latest publication. Her other interventions include advocating for Persons with disabilities, women, and Children. Her work has been cited by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, and Parliament Committees of the House of Lords and House of Commons, UK.
An accomplished legal academic, Dr. Preethi has authored 19 peer-reviewed journal articles and five peer-reviewed book chapters with internationally recognised publishers. Her chapter on the International Health Regulations, published by Oxford University Press, is listed in the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Research Database. In addition, two of her journal articles and two book chapters have been indexed in the catalogue of the United Nations Office Library in Geneva. The present book is kept in the catalogue of the British Library, London.
With Untouchability in 21st Century India, Dr. Preethi makes a significant contribution to contemporary legal scholarship on caste, human rights, and equality. The book is expected to be of considerable interest to academics, policymakers, legal practitioners, human rights organisations, and anyone seeking to understand the continuing realities of caste-based discrimination in twenty-first-century India.