Social Change and Political Discourse in India: Structures of Power, Movements of Resistance

The central concern of this volume is the character of India’s economic policy. It analyzes the role that the Indian state has played in intensifying the demands of different segments of the dominant producing and non-producing classes in Indian society. Competition among these classes has become especially fierce in some regions. Concurrent with this heightened competition, state policy has augmented pressures for more equitable distribution from different segments of the population. The contributors, specially commissioned for this four-volume series, conclude that in the four decades following Independence the government’s overall economic policy–as well as its industrial, technological, and agricultural policies–has exercised a differential impact on the capitalist and working classes in India.