Caste And Democracy Prospects Of Democracy In India

'Indian Democracy' is an attempt to understand the development of democratic polity in India. It covers a wide range of issues - theoretical concepts, political institutions, federalism, electoral process, individual and group rights and mass media - drawing attention to the significant broadening of Indian democracy.

The Indian constitution seeks to prevent the perpetuation of caste and build a casteless social system. But in over half a century since Indian independence, this has not been achieved and does not seem likely in the near future. Therefore, no understanding of Indian politics is possible without a thorough understanding of the complexities of the caste system. The aim of this four-part book is to bring about such an understanding. It begins by examining the various meanings attached to the notion of caste. The essay and book extracts in this first section include classic writings on caste such as those by G S Ghurye, Louis Dumont, Mahatma Gandhi and B R Ambedkar. The second part consists of essays that demonstrate the relationship between caste and power. The third part comprises material that investigates caste and various Indian political practices on the ground. The fourth, on caste and social transformation, includes discussion on one of the most salient topics in contemporary Indian politics, namely, the issue of reservations for socially backward castes.

This richly informative book is perhaps the first book written for American students of international education, comparative education, and government by an Indian scholar familiar with both cultures. Dr. Shrimali received his Ph.D. from Teachers' College, Columbia University, and has taught in this country. What he has to say about education in the land of Dharma is as valuable as it is interesting. By democracy, Dr. Shrimali means education, which he equates with freedom and equal opportunity. Dr. Shrimali highlights the major problems of his country--population, culture, and politics--in discussing, in some detail, India's modern history since separation, and he pays special attention to Indian characteristics and institutions which, he feels, have hindered India's development as a nation. Highly critical of the English heritage in India, Dr. Shrimali offers scant hope for democracy in India unless there is radical change in some of her institutions.

Leading scholars consider how democracy has taken root in India despite poverty, illiteracy and ethnic diversity.

Contributed articles.

Steven I. Wilkinson explores how India has succeeded in keeping the military out of politics, when so many other countries have failed. He uncovers the command and control strategies, the careful ethnic balancing, and the political, foreign policy, and strategic decisions that have made the army safe for Indian democracy.

More than seventy years after its founding, with Narendra Modi's authoritarian Hindu nationalists in government, is the dream of Indian democracy still alive and well? India's pluralism has always posed a formidable challenge to its democracy, with many believing that a clash of identities based on region, language, caste, religion, ethnicity, and tribe would bring about its demise. With the meteoric rise to power of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the nation's solidity is once again called into question: is Modi's Hindu majoritarianism an anti-democratic attempt to transform India into a monolithic Hindu nation from which minorities and dissidents are forcibly excluded? With examinations of the way that class and caste power shaped the making of India's postcolonial democracy, the role of feminism, the media, and the public sphere in sustaining and challenging democracy, this book interrogates the contradictions at the heart of the Indian democratic project, examining its origins, trajectories, and contestations.