Examines whether the Indian Supreme Court can produce progressive social change and improve the lives of the relatively disadvantaged.

Introduction; The Indian Supreme Court and progressive social change Gerald N. Rosenberg, Sudhir Krishnaswamy and Shishir Bail; Part I. The Supreme Court of India - An Institutional Overview: 1. The structure and functioning of the Supreme Court of India Nick Robinson; 2. The Supreme Court of India: an empirical overview of the institution Aparna Chandra, William H. J. Hubbard and Sital Kalantry; 3. The recent evolution of public interest litigation in the Indian Supreme Court Poorvi Chitalkar and Varun Gauri; 4. Suo Motu intervention and the Indian judiciary Marc Galanter and Vasujith Ram; 5. Public trust in the Indian judiciary: the power to transform Sudhir Krishnaswamy and Siddharth Swaminathan; Part II. The Supreme Court of India, Social and Political Mobilization: 6. The art of buying time: street vendor politics and legal mobilization in metropolitan India Karthik Rao-Cavale; 7. Court as a symbolic resource: the Indra Sawhney case and the Dalit Muslim mobilization Mohsin Alam-Bhat; 8. PUCL v. Union of India: political mobilization and the right to food Alyssa Brierley; Part III. Welfare Rights and the Environment: 9. A case for qualified hope? The Supreme Court of India and the Midday Meal Decision Rosalind Dixon and Rishad Chowdhury; 10. Implementation in the Delhi pollution case: lessons for the future Robert Moog; Part IV. Discrimination: 11. The polarizing face of law: religious conversion judgments and political discourse in India Shylashri Shankar; 12. Evaluating the impact of the Indian Supreme Court judgment on sex-selective abortion Sital Kalantry and Arindam Nandi; Conclusion. Neither a silver bullet nor a hollow hope: the Indian Supreme Court and progressive social change Gerald N. Rosenberg, Shishir Bail and Sudhir Krishnaswamy.