This book explores various aspects and processes of the twentieth-century Indian state, from the central, Union government down to grassroot-level in the provinces and villages.

This book addresses the paradox of political mobilization and the failings of governance in India, with reference to the conflict between secularism and Hindu nationalism, authoritarianism and democracy. It demonstrates how the Internal Emergency of 1975 led to increased support of groups such as the BJS and the RSS, accounting for the rise of political movements advocating Hindu nationalism - Hindutva - as a response to rapid political mobilization triggered by the Emergency, and an attempt by political elites to control this to their advantage. Vernon Hewitt argues that the political disjuncture between democracy and mobilization in India is partly a function of the Indian state, the nature of a caste-class based society, but also - and significantly - the contingencies of individual leaders and the styles of rule. He shows how, in the wake of the Emergency, the BJP and the RSS gained popularity and power amid the on-going decline and fragmentation of the Congress, whilst, at the same time, Hindu nationalism appeared to be of such importance that Congress began aligning themselves with the Hindu right for electoral gains. The volume suggests that, in the light of these developments, the rise of the BJP should not be considered as remarkable – or as transformative – as was at first imagined.

While a growing private sector and a vibrant civil society can help compensate for the shortcomings of India’s public sector, the state is—and will remain—indispensable in delivering basic governance. In Rethinking Public Institutions in India, distinguished political and economic thinkers critically assess a diverse array of India’s core federal institutions, from the Supreme Court and Parliament to the Election Commission and the civil services. Relying on interdisciplinary approaches and decades of practitioner experience, this volume interrogates the capacity of India’s public sector to navigate the far-reaching transformations the country is experiencing. An insightful introduction to the functioning of Indian democracy, it offers a roadmap for carrying out fundamental reforms that will be necessary for India to build a reinvigorated state for the twenty-first century.

This comprehensive book critically analyzes the successes and failures of federalism in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Nepal and Myanmar for the political accommodation of ethno-regional diversity and assesses their comparative democratic significance for other countries in Asia. This revised new edition incorporates updated demographic, religious and linguistic data for the case study countries and examines some of the major changes that have taken place in formally federal states since 2010, including the 18th Amendment of the Constitution in Pakistan in 2010, which gave a major turn to decentralization by empowering the provinces; the new federal democratic Constitution that was introduced in Nepal in 2015; and the abolition of the Planning Commission and the National Development Council in India. The author thematically examines the growing tensions between nation and state-building in ethnically plural societies; modes of federation-building in Asia; persistent ethnic tensions in federations and the relationship between federalism and democracy; and federalism and decentralization. The book will be of use to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of Asian politics, comparative federalism and modern Asian political history and institutions, as well as policy makers on ethnic conflict regulation and peace studies and stakeholders in ethnic power-sharing and political order.

Rethinking Empowerment looks at the changing role of women in developing countries and calls for a new approach to empowerment. An approach that adopts a more nuanced, feminist interpretation of power and em(power)ment, recognises that local empowerment is always embedded in regional, national and global contexts, pays attention to institutional structures and politics and acknowledges that empowerment is both a process and an outcome. Moreover, the book warns that an obsession with measurement rather than process can undermine efforts to foster transformative and empowering outcomes. It concludes that power must be restored as the centrepiece of empowerment. Only then will the term and its advocates provide meaningful ammunition for dealing with the challenges of an increasingly unequal, and often sexist, global/local world.

Over the past decade India has witnessed a number of land wars that have centred crucially on the often forcible transfer of land from small farmers or indigenous groups to private companies. Among these, the land war that erupted in Singur, West Bengal, in 2006, went on to make national headlines and become paradigmatic of many of the challenges and social conflicts that arise when a state-led policy of swiftly transferring land to private sector companies encounters resistance on the ground. Land Dispossession and Everyday Politics in Rural Eastern India analyses the movement by Singur’s so-called unwilling farmers to retain and reclaim their farmland. By foregrounding the everyday politics of popular mobilization, the book sheds new light on the movement’s internal politics as well as on contentious issues rooted in everyday caste, class and gender relations.

'Institutional Provisions and Care for the Aged' provides a detailed comparative study of social and economic issues facing the elderly in India, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands. All three countries offer interesting insights, and this book addresses a wide spectrum of issues faced by the elderly, and an understanding of the processes at work in the broader social and economic context.

About the Book : - Individual leaders play an important role in the politics of South Asia, the institutional set-up of the subcontinent providing them much room to manoeuvre. The carefully crafted personalities of these politicians are a focal point of their parties, of political movements as well as the media. Yet, curiously enough, scholars have paid little attention to how leadership is practised in South Asia. This volume addresses this gap by studying the different styles of political leadership in the region.Examining different settings rural and urban areas, political parties and state governments the articles are studies of various politicians making their careers and/or actively thinking about leadership. Written on the basis of participant observation, formal and informal interviews, media reports, and archival research, these articles explore the many facets of political leaders the boss, lord and captain. From symbolic actions and rhetorical usage, to moral conviction, alliance-building and modes of distribution, each article illustrates the opportunities and constraints experienced by the politically ambitious. In so doing, the book provides valuable insight into the nature of democracy and electoral politics in the subcontinent, providing clues for understanding and explaining the relative stability of the body politic of one of the most socially complex and economically differentiated regions of the world.

India’s Princely States covered nearly 40 per cent of the Indian subcontinent at the time of Indian independence, and they collapsed after the departure of the British. This book provides a chronological analysis of the Princely State in colonial times and its post-colonial legacies. Focusing on one of the largest and most important of these states, the Princely State of Mysore, it offers a novel interpretation and thorough investigation of the relationship of king and subject in South Asia. The book argues that the denial of political and economic power to the king, especially after 1831 when direct British control was imposed over the state administration in Mysore, was paralleled by a counter-balancing multiplication of kingly ritual, rites, and social duties. The book looks at how, at the very time when kingly authority was lacking income and powers of patronage, its local sources of power and social roots were being reinforced and rebuilt in a variety of ways. Using a combination of historical and anthropological methodologies, and based upon substantial archival and field research, the book argues that the idea of kingship lived on in South India and continues to play a vital and important role in contemporary South Indian social and political life. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

China, India, and East and Southeast Asia: Assessing Sustainability provides unprecedented analyses by regional experts and scholars elsewhere in the world on China, India, and their neighbors. Despite growing demands internally on their natural resources (China and India alone are home to more than one-third of the world's population), the expanding global economic influence of this region makes these countries vital players in a sustainable future for all citizens of the Earth. Regional coverage includes topics such as business and commerce, environmental and corporate law, and lifestyles and values.