Mapping Human Rights in India: the NHRC Pathway focuses on linking the rights discourse and the institutions that are set up for redressal of grievances regarding human rights. It delves in how the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in India was constituted to address certain human wrongs in the form of gross violations of rights of the citizens. This book also attempts to examine, how NHRC has played a significant role in translating ‘universal human rights’ norms and values for realization of effective human rights, thereby reiterating the importance of institution building in a developing country like India. It is widely acknowledged that human rights jurisprudence in India took birth during the colonial rule, in the form of constitutional and statutory provisions. This work engages in providing a definition and understanding of human rights through a historical and analytical perspective, in context of colonization, cultural pluralism and constitutional democracy in India. Consequently, the book deals with the contradictory nature of human rights discourse in India. It highlights that even the existence of a formal judiciary within a constitutional democracy, does not guarantee the protection of human rights. Since the State failed to promote these rights effectively, there arose a need to build an institutional environment, in which bodies like human rights commissions were able to enforce the constitutional guarantees of fundamental rights. Thus, the book is an effort to understand the role of NHRC as an institutional back up, and how it has impacted upon strengthening of a culture of human rights.