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Twenty years ago India was usually thought of as a typical developing country, home to the largest number of poor people of any country in the world, and beset by problems of low economic growth, casteism and violent religious conflict. Now India is being feted as an economic powerhouse which might well become the second largest economy in the world before the middle of this century. Its democratic traditions, moreover, remain broadly intact.
How and why has this historic transformation come about? And what are its implications for the people of India, for Indian society and politics? These are the big questions addressed in this book by three scholars who have lived and researched in different parts of India during the period of this great transformation.
Each chapter seeks to answer a particular question. When and why did India take off? How did a weak state promote audacious reform? Does caste still matter? Why is India threatened by a Maoist insurgency? In addressing these and other pressing questions, the authors take full account of vibrant new scholarship that has emerged over the past decade or so, both from Indian writers and India specialists, and from social scientists who have studied India in a comparative context.
Students, teachers, and research scholars of political science, particularly of South Asian politics; sociology; economics; and development studies
`If you want a smart, pithy and extremely well-informed take on the central issues facing India today, as well as a guide to all the main debates, then this is the book you need.`
?STEVEN WILKINSON
Yale University
`Scrupulous and wide ranging in its survey of the relevant literature, sober and balanced in its judgements on the economy, polity and society, this book will prove indispensable for understanding how and why India is what it is today, and where it may be heading.`
?ACHIN VANAIK
Former Professor of International Relations and Global Politics, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi
`A magisterial inter-disciplinary work that explains how pro-business reforms drove three decades of high growth in India and then explores in depth the many challenges that yet remain. India is at an exciting stage of its journey: this book captures its achievements and vulnerabilities.`
?MUSHTAQ H. KHAN
SOAS, University of London
ISBN 9780199450596
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Pages : 400
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