Dalits and the Indian Constitution

It is perfectly possible to pervert the Constitution, without changing its form, by merely

changing the form of the administration.-B.R. Ambedkar

Dalits and the Indian Constitution asks a stark question: what has the Constitution

actually done for the community most closely identified with its emancipatory

promise-and where has it failed? In the lucid, argument-led cadence of this

series, Anand Teltumbde moves from nationalist politics and the making of the

Constitution to its most consequential provisions-abolition of untouchability;

reservations in representation, education, and public employment; secularism

and the everyday realities of impunity. He shows how constitutional ideals

met entrenched social power, and why formal safeguards, without structural

change, could not deliver substantive equality.

Refusing fatalism and nostalgia alike, Teltumbde insists that constitutional

morality must be cultivated through institutions that check arbitrary power

and transform social habits, not merely recite pieties. Drawing on historical

debate and contemporary evidence of discrimination, this compact monograph

sets out first principles and practicable directions to turn rights into realities.

Clear-eyed, rigorous, and deeply committed to the Preambles promise,

Dalits and the Indian Constitution is essential reading for citizens, students, and

policymakers who want to recover the moral centre of Indias democratic

project.