Understanding Contemporary India: Critical Perspectives brings together contributions from scholars and teachers of the Department of Political Science, University of Delhi. This Reader examines the peculiarities of Indian democracy—the character of its political institutions and patterns of governance—and the remarkable paradoxes that co-exist in what is easily the most diverse society in the world perceived from whatever angle one chooses—socially, culturally, geo-ethnically, politically and intellectually.
The widespread belief that India is an ‘emerging power’ on the world stage cannot hide the fact that India faces many grave problems and difficulties even as it is equipped with significant material and cultural resources to tackle them. This collectively agreed project deals with the central issues which confront India today.
This volume will be of great interest to not only the undergraduate and graduate students of Delhi University, but also to the students of other universities, as well as to a more general readership keen to understand how practicing political scientists view the various processes shaping contemporary India.
Achin Vanaik is Head, Department of Political Science, Delhi University. He writes widely on the political economy of India, International Relations, nuclear disarmament, secularism and communalism.
Rajeev Bhargava is Director, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi. He writes widely on issues of secularism, Indian Constitution, methodological individualism and on key issues in political theory.
Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations A Collective Vision Achin Vanaik and Rajeev Bhargava Introduction Achin Vanaik and Rajeev Bhargava State and Constitution: Indian Peculiarities 1. India’s Secular Constitution Rajeev Bhargava 2. Constitutionalising Difference: The Indian Experiment Ashok Acharya Matters of Governance: Theory and Practice 3. Putting Civil Society in Its Place Neera Chandhoke 4. State, Planning and Politics of Irrigation Development: A Critique of Large Dams Satyajit Singh 5. State Institutions and Poverty: A Case Study of Chittoor N. Sukumar National Re-imaginings: Clashes of Identity 6. History, Truth and Nation: Contemporary Debates on Education in India Nivedita Menon 7. The Conundrums of the Global-National: Using Tagore for a New Politics of the Global P. K. Datta 8. Contested Spaces of State and Identity Politics: Revisiting the Relationship Jammu & Kashmir’s with India Navnita C. Behera 9. Military in the Power Structure of Pakistan: An Indian Perspective Veena Kukreja New Explorations: Serving the Oppressed 10. How Egalitarian Are the Social Sciences in India Gopal Guru 11. Social Movements in Creative Society: Of Autonomy and Interconnection Manoranjan Mohanty Whither the Indian Polity? 12. Transformation of the Indian Political Party System M. P. Singh and Kyoung-Hee Koh 13. The Paradoxes of Indian Politics Achin Vanaik
Note on the Contributors Index