India Social Development Report 2016: Disability Rights Perspectives, New Delhi: Oxford University Press. 2017. Co-editor.
The India: Social Development Report 2016—Disability Rights Perspectives presents new research in disability studies, a little understood subject in the social sciences and humanities in India, as also in the development discourse. The disproportionate disadvantage, exclusion and stigmatization suffered by persons with disabilities are caused by cultural, social and physical barriers that obstruct their effective participation in social and political life. Encompassing the diversity of life-worlds of persons with disabilities, the first part of the report presents research findings in the areas of health, socio-economic status, custodial facilities and psychiatric care for persons with psycho-social disabilities; Employment and labour, right to education, higher education, status of women and girls with disabilities and status of women with intellectual disabilities. The second part of the report deals with other critical aspects of social development such as ageing, housing, displacement, degrading labour, labour migration and financial inclusion. The third part presents the cumulative Social Development Index.
The Social Development Report 2016 addresses the fundamental elements of non-derogable rights of all citizens of India, illuminating the pathways to their realization for persons with disabilities in all their heterogeneity. By addressing the need for setting the constitutional standard of non-discrimination and dignity, the report also shows how entrenched social practices can be dislodged with appropriate, mandatory and necessary governance structures.