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The Oxford Companion to Politics in India: Student Edition
This paperback edition with a new Preface is specially designed and priced for the student market. The thirty-eight essays provide every significant topic in the study of Indian politics by eminent experts. They address the links between Indian politics and institutions of the state, ideologies, political processes, social movements, identity politics, government policy, international affairs, and the academia.
The success of India's democratic political system despite immense and multidimensional diversity and differences has been a subject of longstanding academic debate and analysis. In the last few decades, in an increasingly globalized and multicultural world, India has carved its position as a global economic and political power, and Indian polity and society have witnessed rapid transformation in terms of structure, processes, success, and failures. Grasping this swift and phenomenal change is a mammoth task, and The Oxford Companion to Politics in India is the best resource to capture the macro as well as micro view of Indian politics in a global world.
Specially designed and priced to serve the needs of students and teachers of Indian politics, this unprecedented survey presents in one volume, thirty-eight essays on every theme of Indian politics written by experts in the field, and a substantial new Preface for the student readers. Clustered into eight sections, these essays address the links between Indian politics and institutions of the state, ideologies, political processes, social movements, identity politics, government policy, international affairs, and the academia. Weaving together historical narratives with fresh analyses, this volume provides an accessible yet deeply researched narrative of politics in modern India.
The success of India's democratic political system despite immense and multidimensional diversity and differences has been a subject of longstanding academic debate and analysis. In the last few decades, in an increasingly globalized and multicultural world, India has carved its position as a global economic and political power, and Indian polity and society have witnessed rapid transformation in terms of structure, processes, success, and failures. Grasping this swift and phenomenal change is a mammoth task, and The Oxford Companion to Politics in India is the best resource to capture the macro as well as micro view of Indian politics in a global world.
Specially designed and priced to serve the needs of students and teachers of Indian politics, this unprecedented survey presents in one volume, thirty-eight essays on every theme of Indian politics written by experts in the field, and a substantial new Preface for the student readers. Clustered into eight sections, these essays address the links between Indian politics and institutions of the state, ideologies, political processes, social movements, identity politics, government policy, international affairs, and the academia. Weaving together historical narratives with fresh analyses, this volume provides an accessible yet deeply researched narrative of politics in modern India.
644 pages, Paperback
First published March 5, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 10, 2012
(Review of the Paper Back edition)
The book features many prominent Indian scholars and political analysts and covers a wide variety of political issues. I can divide the book into two groups, which I discuss individually:
a. the genuine scholarly investigative group
b. the congress-marxist group
The genuine scholarly investigative group (Rating 4/5)
The articles in this group are unbiased, multi-perspective, extremely nuanced and discuss a host of relevant issues like accountability, foreign policy, the failed Nehruvian social experiment of the first two decades of independence (1947 - 1967), caste and minorities politics, the institutional setting etc. This section is an invaluable and excellent guide for all students desirous of understanding the political landscape of India in the last sixty years under varied contextual frame-works.
The congress-marxist group (Rating 0/5)
In this section the articles are entirely leftist ideologies paraded as scholarly investigation of political issues. Some examples:
a. While there is a constant reference to the Godhra "pogrom" by Hindus and the plight of "minorities", there is absolutely no reference to the Godhra train burning by "minorities" which kick-started everything or the Kashmiri Pandit "pogrom" by the "minorities"
b. While there is a big discussion about the plight of "minorities" under the "majority" Hindu dominance, there is absolutely no mention of the condition of "majorities" in the southern West Bengal, Assam, Tripura etc, states where minority population vary from 30% to 50%.
c. Everything is based on the typical colonial-Marxist class construct - where the upper class or caste, "oppresses" the lower caste or class, and apparently any event that ever transpired in the last 60 years, is the outcome of "revolution" (passive or otherwise) of the "oppressed" against the "elite"
d. Sangh Parivar/ BJP is equated to "Hindu militancy" and its political implications discussed (along with Sikh militancy in a different context), but there is no discussion of minority militancy, and the structural changes in the aftermath of Kashmir militancy, Parliament blasts, Mumbai blasts. There is no discussion on the implication of the rise or power of the "minorities" parties of Kashmir, Kerala, Hyderabad who provoke the minority populace by making communal and secessionist statements but are not held accountable, so that the government can maintain "communal harmony" and ensure "secularism"
Most glaring omission is the lack of discussion on governmental corruption - things like bofors scam, 2G scam, Commonwealth games scam and a host of other scams which have riddled the political system over the last 20-30 years and run into lakhs of crores (tweleve zeroes) of loss of public monies.
This book should ideally have been published as two separate books. The selective reporting and omissions, one-sided non-neutral view of the Marxist-group, outweighs the excellence of the empirical-scholarly unbiased first group of scholars and their articles. Thus my average rating for the book is 2/5.
The book features many prominent Indian scholars and political analysts and covers a wide variety of political issues. I can divide the book into two groups, which I discuss individually:
a. the genuine scholarly investigative group
b. the congress-marxist group
The genuine scholarly investigative group (Rating 4/5)
The articles in this group are unbiased, multi-perspective, extremely nuanced and discuss a host of relevant issues like accountability, foreign policy, the failed Nehruvian social experiment of the first two decades of independence (1947 - 1967), caste and minorities politics, the institutional setting etc. This section is an invaluable and excellent guide for all students desirous of understanding the political landscape of India in the last sixty years under varied contextual frame-works.
The congress-marxist group (Rating 0/5)
In this section the articles are entirely leftist ideologies paraded as scholarly investigation of political issues. Some examples:
a. While there is a constant reference to the Godhra "pogrom" by Hindus and the plight of "minorities", there is absolutely no reference to the Godhra train burning by "minorities" which kick-started everything or the Kashmiri Pandit "pogrom" by the "minorities"
b. While there is a big discussion about the plight of "minorities" under the "majority" Hindu dominance, there is absolutely no mention of the condition of "majorities" in the southern West Bengal, Assam, Tripura etc, states where minority population vary from 30% to 50%.
c. Everything is based on the typical colonial-Marxist class construct - where the upper class or caste, "oppresses" the lower caste or class, and apparently any event that ever transpired in the last 60 years, is the outcome of "revolution" (passive or otherwise) of the "oppressed" against the "elite"
d. Sangh Parivar/ BJP is equated to "Hindu militancy" and its political implications discussed (along with Sikh militancy in a different context), but there is no discussion of minority militancy, and the structural changes in the aftermath of Kashmir militancy, Parliament blasts, Mumbai blasts. There is no discussion on the implication of the rise or power of the "minorities" parties of Kashmir, Kerala, Hyderabad who provoke the minority populace by making communal and secessionist statements but are not held accountable, so that the government can maintain "communal harmony" and ensure "secularism"
Most glaring omission is the lack of discussion on governmental corruption - things like bofors scam, 2G scam, Commonwealth games scam and a host of other scams which have riddled the political system over the last 20-30 years and run into lakhs of crores (tweleve zeroes) of loss of public monies.
This book should ideally have been published as two separate books. The selective reporting and omissions, one-sided non-neutral view of the Marxist-group, outweighs the excellence of the empirical-scholarly unbiased first group of scholars and their articles. Thus my average rating for the book is 2/5.
July 30, 2014
A review in the Economic & Political Weekly (EPW) calls it "truly a remarkable collection." I do not know what more can be or needs to be said about this book - only that you cannot claim to have an interest in or understanding of Politics in India without having had read this book.
June 21, 2017
Good for theoretical background for Civils Pol science optional. You can derive lots of quotes and opinions from leading political thinkers- Jayal, PBMehta, Khilnani etc.
It is a little too detailed for GS paper II perspective. Although Sri Ram IAS swears by it.
It is a little too detailed for GS paper II perspective. Although Sri Ram IAS swears by it.
March 17, 2019
The historical part is very good....the leftist thought dominated the writing in some lessons badly....while the rest are fine....some aspects have been missed especially north east...Kashmir....ICT...etc....still a preferred read....
Currently reading
July 31, 2020Nice
May 23, 2021
Amazing collection of essays on Indian politics.
July 31, 2013
want to read
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews