Talk:Dolly Daftary

By Anirudha Patel

Dolly Daftary is an Associate Professor, of International Development, at the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development, University of Massachusetts, Boston as of July 2023. According to her University Profile, her area of research includes the impact of social and economic change processes on individuals, households, and communities in resource-poor and natural resource-dependent environments in a global and comparative perspective, grounded in field research in India.

In 2021 she along with Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban co-signed a letter supporting "Dismantling Global Hindutva" Conference, as an academic and scholar and made the allegation

"the current government of India [in 2021] has instituted discriminatory policies including beef bans, restrictions on religious conversion and interfaith weddings, and the introduction of religious discrimination into India’s citizenship laws. The result has been a horrifying rise in religious and caste-based violence, including hate crimes, lynchings, and rapes directed against Muslims, non-conforming Dalits, Sikhs, Christians, adivasis and other dissident Hindus. Women of these communities are especially targeted. Meanwhile, the government has used every tool of harassment and intimidation to muzzle dissent. Dozens of student activists and human rights defenders are currently languishing in jail indefinitely without due process under repressive anti-terrorism laws."

Anti Hindu/Hindutva comments

#Daftary, D. “In 2019, Disenchantment with the BJP May Not Be Limited to Gujarat.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 53, no. 3, 2018.

Summary of "In 2019, Disenchantment with the B.J.P. may not be limited to Gujarat."

Journals Papers

1. Daftary, D. “Democratic Decentralization, Microcredit, and the Workings of Local Government in Rural India.” Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, vol. 38, no. 1, 2020.
2. Daftary, D. “Cultivating a Market like the State: Rural Development and Democratic Decentralization in India.” Journal of Asian and African Studies, vol. 55, no. 7, 2020, pp. 962-977.
3. Daftary, D. “Elected Local Bodies, Space, and the Governance of Market Expansion in Rural India.” Geoforum, vol. 103, 2019, pp. 105-113.
4. Daftary, D. “How Democratic Decentralisation Facilitates, Sustains, and Interrupts Market-driven Development in India.” Development in Practice, vol. 29, no. 3, 2019, pp. 360-370.
5. Daftary, D. “Market-driven Dairying and the Politics of Value, Labor and Affect in Gujarat, India.” Journal of Peasant Studies, vol. 46, no. 1, 2019, pp. 80-95.
6. Daftary, D. “Cattle, Milk and Women’s Labour: The Politics of Contemporary Dairying in Gujarat.” Economic & Political Weekly, vol. 53, no. 22, 2018, pp. 43-50.
7. Daftary, D. “In 2019, Disenchantment with the BJP May Not Be Limited to Gujarat.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 53, no. 3, 2018.

   This article centers around the 2019 election in India when the Bharatiya Janata Party won the election. The author, Dolly Daftary, argues that the Bharatiya Janata Party has fallen short of expectations and makes eight completely unsubstantiated claims, which are meaningless on their own and somewhat obvious in their nature.

   • The author allegedly blames the BJP Government, stating “In 2018, “India” mirrors Gujarat, with Hindu majoritarianism becoming commonsensical and brutal violence against religious minorities having become an everyday affair.”
   • The author describes the BJP's philosophy as "explicitly pro-rich, pro-corporate, and Brahminical".
   • According to the author, for the first time in 20 years, BJP's anti-Muslim rhetoric came off as "canned" to voters, but again the author does not cite any supporting data or context.
   • The author asserts that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been involved in anti-Muslim indoctrination and a program to “Hinduize” Adivasis, Kolis, and Dalits, but lacks evidence to support her claim.
   • While the author criticizes the microcredit program for favoring larger loans, the connection between this policy and the broader B.J.P.’s model of development in Gujarat is not fully detailed.
   • The author mentions the decline in the quality of public education is made with reference to the teacher-student ratio. Still, there is no detailed explanation or evidence linking this specifically to BJP’s policies.
   • The author alleges that PM Modi’s ego and appetite for public glorification expropriation of resources instead of development and social service provision.

   In conclusion, the author Dolly Daftary employs satirical elements to mention her claims, undermining the credibility of her argument on “Disenchantment with the B.J.P.”

8. Daftary, D. “Development in Post-liberalization India: Marketization, Decentralization and Informalization in Gujarat.” European Journal of Development Research, vol. 28, no. 4, 2016, pp. 690-704.
9. Daftary, D. “The Politics of Person, Property and Technology: Emergent Development Practice in Semi-arid Communities in India.” Community Development Journal, vol. 49, no. 4, 2014, pp. 573-588.
10. Daftary, D. “Development in an Era of Economic Reform in India.” Development and Change, vol. 45, no. 4, 2014, pp. 710-731.
11. Gonzales, E., et al. “Career Transitions in Mid-life: Pursuing an MSW as an Older Student.” Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, vol. 35, no. 2, 2013, pp. 134-151.
12. Daftary, D. “Watershed Development and Neoliberalism in India’s Drylands.” Journal of International Development, vol. 26, no. 7, 2013, pp. 999-1010.
13. Menon, N., and Daftary, D. “The Impact of Political and Social Associational Membership on Political Engagement: A Comparative Investigation of Brazil and India.” Journal of International Social Work, vol. 54, no. 1, 2011, pp. 81-96.
14. Daftary, D. “Democratic Decentralization from the Bottom Up: The Comparative Effect of Wealth and Electoral Capital on Elected Leaders’ Distribution of Development.” Social Development Issues, vol. 32, no. 2, 2010, pp. 42-54.
15. Daftary, D. “Elected Leaders, Community and Development: Evidence on Distribution and Agency from a Case in India.” Journal of Development Studies, vol. 46, no. 10, 2010, pp. 1692-1707.
16. McBride, A. M., et al. “Youth Service: A Comprehensive Perspective.” Journal of Community Practice, vol. 14, no. 4, 2006, pp. 71-89.

Book Chapters

1. Daftary, D. “An Improvising State: Neoliberal Governmentality, Gender and Caste in Gujarat, India.” Feminists Rethink the Neoliberal State: Inequality, Exclusion and Change, edited by Leela Fernandes, NYU Press, 2018, pp. 179-217.