Are you traveling with us? Or just interested in learning more about human rights issues in India? Below is a list of books and articles that we recommend to delve deeper into this topic.
Our “top picks” recommendations are marked with a *.
Books
* Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo (Nonfiction)
In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India by Edward Luce (Nonfiction)
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Fiction)
Articles
* New York Times Book Review on Behind the Beautiful Forevers
* The Smithsonian on the Dharavi slum tours
The Economist special report on India
The Economist on the Indian welfare system
New York Times op-ed on the anti-corruption movement
New York Times op-ed on India’s shortcomings as a rising power
New York Times blog post on gender-based discrimination in Bihar
New York Times blog post on ‘water wars’ in the Indian state of Maharashtra
New York Times on gender-based violence
New York Times on the Gujarati riots
The Hindu on Narenda Modi (possibly India’s next Prime Minister)
Reuters on homosexuality in India
Forbes on decriminalizing homosexuality in India
Human Rights Watch on the mining industry
The Guardian on the mining industry
AJWS Reports Magazine
* On a community’s fight for land rights against Coca-Cola (page 12 of PDF)
* On empowering girls to end violence (page 13 of PDF)
On the demolition of Mumbai’s slums (page 18 of PDF)
On the Jewish connection to supporting marginalized Indian communities (page 12 of PDF)
AJWS’s Blog, Global Voices
* On supporting sex workers’ rights
History
Looking for a brief overview? Lonely Planet offers a thorough synopsis here:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/india/history
But to get a full picture of India that includes the challenges faced by its poor and minority populations, we recommend reading a selection of the articles above.