Raag Darbari, a novel in Hindi written by Shrilal Shukla in 1968, tells an important story of rural India, local politics and administration. Through the use of dark humour and irony, it provides the first critique of the developmental state, its bureaucracy, and the democratic institutions of the country.

Is the novel still relevant? Does it continue to hold a mirror to everyday Indian social life? More importantly, what insights does it offer a student of public administration, development and politics?

This book situates Shrilal Shukla’s masterpiece within the social sciences, relating literature to political science, administrative theory and contemporary India. The authors show that it is informal, local institutions that determine the nature of state-directed development, and study whether, five decades later, the citizens of India are visible in our understanding of administration and politics. Have we managed to get local institutions to deliver welfare? Do we know how to handle corruption?

Making a strong case for the invaluable contribution of fiction to the discipline of political science, this exciting book emphasises that if fiction is rooted in a reality that people can relate to, its relevance to the study of politics cannot be ignored.