Indian Politics and Women: Concepts and Discourses is a curriculum-oriented, research-based textbook developed in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the revised undergraduate framework of the University of Delhi. Written primarily to address the long-standing gap in quality Hindi-medium academic resources (though conceptually bilingual in scope), the book positions itself at the intersection of political science, women’s studies, and development studies. Its central strength lies in combining historical depth, feminist theory, and contemporary policy analysis within a structured pedagogical framework.

The book adopts a chronological-analytical approach, tracing the position of women from the Vedic period to contemporary India. By engaging extensively with classical Indian texts such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Manusmriti, and the Mahabharata, the authors challenge the dominant assumption that women were uniformly marginalized in pre-modern India. Figures such as Gargi, Maitreyi, Lopamudra, and Apala are used effectively to demonstrate women’s intellectual and spiritual agency in early Indian society. This section is valuable for problematizing linear narratives of decline, though at times it tends toward cultural affirmation rather than sustained critique.

The transition to........

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