Planning Democracy
Modern India's Quest for Development

An innovative history exploring independent India's experiment fusing Soviet-inspired economic management with Western-style liberal democracy.

Nikhil Menon (Author)

9781009044585, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 March 2022

285 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.44 kg

'This book provides a well-written and fresh perspective on centralized economic planning in post-independence India. Past studies have primarily focused on the economic impact of planning. Menon's richly detailed study instead explores an important set of political and institutional questions raised by this approach: How did planning in India seek to blend seemingly contradictory Soviet-inspired ideas of economic planning with commitments to liberal democratic institutions and increasing citizen participation in politics? How did the quotidian implementation of planning expand the state's footprint in ways that endure beyond any individual government or ideological era? And how were the language and ideas behind planning infused within Indian society, shaping everything from political life to popular culture? Menon's compelling answers are worth reading for anyone interested in contemporary India, especially at a time of renewed debate and concern regarding the degree of centralization in India's political and economic institutions.' Tariq Thachil, University of Pennsylvania

The Indian planning project was one of the postcolonial world's most ambitious experiments. Planning Democracy explores how India fused Soviet-inspired economic management and Western-style liberal democracy at a time when they were widely considered fundamentally contradictory. After nearly two centuries of colonial rule, planning was meant to be independent India's route to prosperity. In this engaging and innovative account, Nikhil Menon traces how planning built India's knowledge infrastructure and data capacities, while also shaping the nature of its democracy. He analyses the challenges inherent in harmonizing technocratic methods with democratic mandates and shows how planning was the language through which the government's aspirations for democratic state-building were expressed. Situating India within international debates about economic policy and Cold War ideology, Menon reveals how India walked a tightrope between capitalism and communism which heightened the drama of its development on the global stage.

List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I. Data: 1. A Nation in Numbers
2. Calcutta Conquers Delhi
3. Chasing Computers
Part II. Democracy?: 4. Help the Plan—Help Yourself
5. Salvation in Service
Epilogue
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Development economics & emerging economies [KCM], Economic growth [KCG], Political structures: democracy [JPHV], Politics & government [JP]