India Since 1950 : Society Politics Economy and Culture

Contents: Preface and acknowledgements. Introduction. Part I. Politics And Economy: India’s Path And Its Transformations: 1. The world’s largest democracy during the Congress system. 2. The first reign of Indira Gandhi: socialism, populism and authorization. 3. Congress versus Janata: Short-lived alterations in power and the resilience of the Gandhis. 4. The paradoxical democratization of Indian democracy. 5. Building the economy: 1947-1980. 6. The era of economic reforms: 1980-2011. 7. Is India’s development sustainable? 8. The Policy of non-alignment: 1947-1971. 9. The restructuring of India’s external relations: 1971-1998. 10. A quest of power: India’s foreign policy after the nuclear tests of 1998. 11. India in South Asia. 12. The Indian armed forces. Part II. The Indian Union And The Political Administration Of Its Diversity: 13. Indian federalism: Moving towards a more balanced system. 14. The Dravidian issue or well-tempered regionalism? 15. Sikhs Between integration and separatism. 16. Assam and its neighbouring states: A turbulent history. 17. The Kashmir conflict. Part III. The Indian People: Class, Caste And Communities: 18. Beyond the billion: India’s demography at the beginning of the Century. 19. Rural India. 20. Labour movements and organizations in India. 21. The caste factories: society, state, democracy. 22. Untouchables, Scheduled Castes and Dalits in the Indian Republic. 23. The World of tribes: Revolutionary movements and ethnic withdrawal. 24. Social and political transformations of Hinduism. 25. The Muslims of India: A minority of 170 million Muslims in South India. 26. The Muslims of India: Towards marginalization? 27. Muslims and politics. 28. The Christian Community: Christians who are very much Indian. Part IV. Media And The Arts: The Dynamics Of Culture: 29. Painting and sculpture in contemporary India: Thematics and aesthetics. 30. Primitivism and post-primitivism in modern Indian painting. 31. Indian cinema: Rasa cinematographica. 32. To be or not to be filmi: Opening the black box of film-making practices in India. 33. The golden age of the media: Rise of private radio and television. 34. The Indian Press: Diversity, growth and regionalization. 35. Indian music Twentieth century Carnatic music. 36. Indian writing in English: a focus on the novel. 37. Indian literature: a literature in several languages. The languages of India. Bengali literature since Independence. Modern Hindi literature. Urdu literature. Marathi literature. Tamil literature. Conclusion. Annexures. Chronology. Bibliography.

India Since 1950 tracks the dynamic trajectory of contemporary India as much on the political, diplomatic, economic, as on the social and artistic front. The non-alignment of the 1950s brought it close to USSR, but the 21st century ushered in an Indo-American convergence. The New Economic Policy of 1991 saw the states of federal India asserting themselves, while liberalization gave rise to a new middle class. It is impossible to understand India as a separate entity from its cultural diversity. Hence, cultural overtures underpin all aspects discussed in the book. The glory of the Indian subcontinent is marred by intense communal tensions, particularly between the Hindus and the Muslims. This was a result of partition and the contentious Indo-Pakistan hostility that caused three conflicts in a span of fifty years. This invaluable book gives readers an insight on India in all its complexity.