Political Economy of Contemporary India

This book offers rich analyses of economic growth in India viewed through the lenses of caste, regional politics and public investment.

R. Nagaraj (Edited by), Sripad Motiram (Edited by)

9781107164956, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 April 2017

382 pages
23.5 x 15.5 x 2.9 cm, 0.65 kg

The need to understand regional variation in politics and political economy, and how these have contributed to different developmental outcomes across various parts of India, remains pressing. It was suggested in the early 1960s that in India the central government was largely under the control of a national capitalist class, while the states were dominated by landed interests. Does such a formulation hold ground today? With increasing political mobilization among lower classes and castes and the diffusion of economic power to the state level after the reforms, how can variation in regional development be characterized? This volume aims to answer these questions by studying aspects of macro-economy, land, labour and employment from a variety of analytical and disciplinary perspectives. It offers rich analyses of economic growth viewed through the lenses of caste, regional politics and public investment, while also looking at long-term trends in employment and wages in the public sector, and the consequences of legal and policy reform.

List of tables
List of figures and maps
1. From 'intermediate regime' to crony capitalism: changing contours of India's political economy R. Nagaraj and Sripad Motiram
Part I. Economy-wide Considerations: 2. The relationship between the Reserve Bank and the Government of India: political economy of central banking in India Partha Ray
3. The limits of liberalization: the power sector Elizabeth Chatterjee
Part II. Political Economy by Regions of India: 4. Political economy of a dominant caste Rajeshwari Deshpande and Suhas Palshikar
5. Populism and party: society developmental regimes in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal Kalaiyarasan A.
6. India's agricultural development: a regional perspective P. S. Vijayshankar
Part III. Urban Labour Markets: 7. Public sector employment: what has changed? R. Nagaraj
8. New paradigms of labour relations: how much do they explain? Supriya Roy Chowdhury
Part IV. Land and Rural Labour: 9. Peripheral agriculture? Macro and micro dynamics of land sales and land use changes in the 'rural' economy of Kancheepuram M. Vijayabaskar and Ajit Menon
10. Infrastructures of growth, corridors of power: the making of the SEZ Act 2005 Preeti Sampat
11. Land-based financing for infrastructure: what is new about India's land conflicts? Sai Balakrishnan
12. Political economy of land acquisition and resource development in India Shashi Ratnaker Singh
13. Advice and dissent: the federal politics of reforming India's land acquisition legislation Rob Jenkins
14. 'Workers' or 'beneficiaries': the varied politics of NREGA implementation in south-west Madhya Pradesh Nandini Nayak
About the contributors
Index.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Development economics & emerging economies [KCM]