The No Nonsense Guide to Minority Rights in South Asia

This a practical primer on issues related to minority rights in South Asian countries. By taking a rights-based approach, the book clearly develops an understanding that majoritarian and authoritarian policies have always got an upper hand throughout the history of nation-building in South Asia. While elaborating on such 'politics of recognition and inequality' and 'modes of exclusion', it goes on to explore the ethnic composition of each South Asian country-India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. It presents a detailed account of the socio-economic inequality, religious and language discrimination, political under-representation and constitutional and legal oppression meted out to the minorities in these countries.

Rita Manchanda is Director, Research at South Asia Forum for Human Rights, Nepal.