Other Backward Classes in India: Modernisation and Exclusion

This book presents an exhaustive account of the development of movements, thoughts and policies of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in India. It discusses various facets of the OBC situation in India today along spatial and specific caste lines.

A comprehensive work on the politics of identity and plurality of experiences of OBCs in India, this handbook:

• Scrutinises social deprivation, mobilisation, involvement of the state, public policies and programmes for development and indent formation of OBCs
• Studies specific communities and industries shaped by OBC communities, the impact of these businesses on the larger socio-political scene and their changing contours
• Sheds light on the lives of nomadic and denotified tribes, weaver communities, shepherding tribes, Dudekula/Noorbasha Muslims and other minority groups
• Showcases the impact of new media and globalisation on shaping OBC experiences in the contemporary society

The companion to The Routledge Handbook of the Other Backward Classes in India, this book will be essential reading for scholars and researchers of exclusion and discrimination studies, diversity and inclusion studies, Global South studies, affirmative action, sociology, Indian political history, Dalit studies, political sociology, public policy, development studies and political studies.

Simhadri Somanaboina is a former professor at Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. He was associated with the Department of Geography and Geoinformatics for 35 years. He has published on development studies, urban, regional and environmental studies and geo-informatics. His interest has been social activism and the marginalised people. He has published books on internal colonisation of Telangana, election atlas and caste studies and has been associated with anti-caste movements and the movement for a separate Telangana state for over three decades.

Akhileshwari Ramagoud is an award-winning journalist and a teacher for 40-odd years. She was Deccan Herald’s foreign correspondent based in Washington DC, USA, and its special correspondent for Andhra Pradesh based in Hyderabad. She taught at the Department of Communication and Journalism in Osmania University and in Loyola Academy, Secunderabad, Telangana, India. She has published several research papers on media studies in national and international journals.