3. Colonial India: religious and caste divides

India is often identified as a Hindu country, but there are many other religions in India including Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity. ‘Colonial India: religious and caste divides’ explains India’s religious diversity and the inequalities that are associated with the assumed ‘Hindu-ness’ of India. It also describes the Partition of India into three new nations in 1947 and the accompanying violence. A sharply hierarchical caste system is not necessarily a natural feature of Indian society. Caste is rather a social institution that has changed historically in response to economic and political forces. The imperial power introduced or exacerbated social contradictions that continue to mark the lives of low castes in modern India.

4. Making India work? 1947–1989

The emergence of India as an independent nation was associated with a new institutional drive, centred on the state, to cultivate hope. Yet the post-independence period also witnessed the successive failure of the state to address the problems of poverty and inequality that became so evident during British Rule. In some respects, successive political regimes have unwittingly exacerbated the scarcities and inequalities that affect many Indians. ‘Making India work? 1947–1989’ considers the first government under Prime Minister Nehru and the radical nature of the Constitution. It then discusses the poor economic climate at the time of Nehru’s death in 1964 and the governments of Indira Gandhi and her son, Rajiv.

2. Colonial India: impoverishment

‘Colonial India: impoverishment’ considers why India is poor and divided. India has been wealthy historically and so the ubiquity of poverty in contemporary India needs to be explained with reference to colonial history rather than imagined as somehow an inevitable feature of the subcontinent. Three phases in the imperial dominance of the English (then British after 1707) in India are identified and the ruinous impact of British imperialism is described. Despite the ‘impoverishment’ of India there were some positive aspects to British rule, particularly in infrastructural and institutional development. The combination of economic and political disempowerment seeded Indian nationalism, with self-rule finally achieved in 1947.

1. Hope

India is the fastest growing major economy in the world with a large and rapidly growing middle class. It has established an identity as a major power in terms of Information Technology and has become a global player in terms of foreign policy. Despite this, however, India has a GDP per capita below that of Sudan. Economic reforms in India have widened social inequalities across the subcontinent. Poverty, inequality, and exclusion in contemporary India are the norm for many ordinary Indians. But there is hope. These hopes are not only economic, but also social and political—people have an awareness of rights and their entitlements as citizens.

5. Rethinking India

The period between 1989 and 1992—roughly the period during which the National Front Government presided over India—was pivotal in the development of the country. Two key shifts were especially important. First, caste reservations became a major political issue and low castes became much more powerful within politics. Second was the rise of Hindu nationalism and the Bharatiya Janata Party. ‘Rethinking India’ also describes economic reforms in the early 1990s and the rising prominence of India on the global stage. The economic reforms have reduced poverty, but not as effectively as might have been expected; they have also exacerbated inequalities between the urban and the rural.

7. Youth

One in ten people in the world are an Indian youth aged under 30. This enormous population is poised to make a major contribution to the future of their country and the world. In India, as elsewhere, the hopes of the nation are projected onto youth. But are the conditions in India conducive to young people fulfilling societal hopes? If not, what can young people do to improve the situation in which they live? A large young adult population can be a ‘demographic dividend’ for a country, but only if the institutional and infrastructural environment is right. ‘Youth’ considers the state of education and healthcare in India today along with employment prospects for the young and youth politics.

6. Social revolution

Social revolution has provided people, elites in particular, with new economic and social aspirations. These have been brought about by a transformation in people’s access to communication technologies through mobile phones and the internet, as well as access to and enthusiasm for education. The educational revolution is in turn linked to a third key shift related to notions of citizenship and the state. ‘Social revolution’ also explains how cultural expression has been encouraged and civil society has increased. However, civil society and social production of hope are limited by three significant weaknesses in India’s political institutional infrastructure related to the law, policing, and the media.