Making Development Work for All

• Author: Sabith Khan
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12820
• Published date: 01 September 2017
• Date: 01 September 2017

Book Reviews 797

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 77, Iss. 5, pp. 797–799. © 2017 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12820.

Making Development Work for All

Sabith Khan is assistant professor at

California Lutheran University. Previously,

he was affiliated with the Center for

Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown

University. His research interests include

international NGO leadership, Islam in

America, and international development

and philanthropy. He is co-author of a book

titled

Islamic Education in the United States

and the Evolution of Muslim Nonprofit

Institutions

, due for release in fall 2017.

E-mail: sabithkhan@gmail.com

Abusaleh Sharif‌f , Institutionalizing Constitutional

Rights: Post-Sachar Committee Scenario ( Oxford :

Oxford University Press , 2016 ). 540 pp. $110.00

(hardcover), ISBN: 978-0199461158.

I ndia ’ s relationship with the United States has been

a great conversation starter in policy circles in

Washington, D.C. for the last few years. Under

the Obama presidency, United States–India relations

received a boost. With the visit of the once reviled

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed the

joint session of the U.S. Congress in June 2016, it

seems like India is firmly back on the map as far as

trade, technology exchange, and cultural diplomacy

are concerned. With the new administration under

President Trump, it is likely that the warm relations

are likely to continue, though with some challenges,

given the changing geo-political landscape in Asia

and the rising influence of China. Beyond the defense

deals and trade agreements, there is another area

where the two countries have long collaborated, even

before the Cold War politics and the non-alignment

era: development. This is an area where the two

countries have worked together very effectively—and

the process has not been necessarily uni-directional, as

one might assume.

Abusaleh Shariff ’ s new book, Institutionalizing

Constitutional Rights: Post-Sachar Committee

Scenario , is a welcome addition to the micro and

macro analysis of development in India. The book

has two main aims: to examine “the performance

of the national and state governments in advancing

social and economic development of socio-religious

communities in India; and identifying the institutions

and policies necessary for the government to ensure

the constitutional right of all Indian citizens to equal

opportunity, especially its minorities” (1). This is a

complicated turf, as anyone familiar with the debates

about affirmative action in India is aware. While the

battle for ensuring equal access to education, jobs,

and opportunities for all those who are deprived is

far from over, there has been a significant push since

India ’ s independence in 1947. By minorities, the

author means religious minorities. This refers to all

groups excluding the majority Hindu community,

and includes outcastes such as Dalits and others

such as Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, and

Zoroastrians. This focus is also relevant given the rise

of nationalist movements in India, post-election of

Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, whose

own political fortunes have been tied to the rise of

the right-wing in India (Sirvai 2016 ). The rising tide

of intolerance against minorities, who have been part

of Indian society for hundreds of years, is something

that has bothered observers, and poses a challenge to

the “development” of minorities, the author points

out. The backdrop to all of this intolerance is the

hyper-nationalistic rhetoric of the ruling BJP party,

which traces its origins to the pre-partition Hindu

Maha Sabha and related movements that called

for a “Hindu” nation, much as the Muslim league

called for a nation for Muslims, that resulted in the

partition of the subcontinent into Pakistan and India,

and later the splitting of Pakistan into Pakistan and

Bangladesh.

This book could be considered a district (similar

to a county, in the United States) level analysis of

the impact of the pro-poor policies implemented as

part of the “The Social, Economic, and Educational

Status of the Muslim Community of India: A

Report” (Sachar Commission 2006 ), also known

as the Sachar Commission Report. In other words,

Shariff has conducted an evaluation study of sorts

that creatively uses available data from various

sources: India ’ s census, state GDP reports, and other

publicly available data. Given the proximity to the

debates and discourses surrounding development of

minorities in India—Shariff served as one of the core

members of the Sachar Commission Report—this

book is ground-breaking in its analysis. It is also

relevant given the focus on local level development

and the increasing need for more micro-level analysis

of factors that lead to socioeconomic development of

minority communities.

Danny L. Balfour , Editor

Sabith Khan

California Lutheran University