Rapid Scoping Review 2025: India

Over the past decade, entrenched intersectional inequalities in India have been deepened by the shrinking space for civil society, the criminalisation of dissent and mass-incarceration of activists, state-sponsored violence against marginalised communities, the corporatisation of media, and the rise of anti-feminist trends, particularly following the change in government after the 2014 elections. Women human rights defenders, and Dalit, Adivasi, Bahujan, and Muslim women have been especially impacted by these shifts. This brief explores the background and context of rollback in India, the landscape of anti-rollback actors, counter-rollback strategies, and gaps and areas for future research/work.