Contemporary India 1947-2009

Course Type	Course Code	No. Of Credits
Discipline Core	NSGA1MDC306	4

Course coordinator and team: Praveen Singh

The course will provide an overview of the major socio-economic and political changes during the first six decades of independent India. Since this is a very vast timespan (especially because of being a participant, apart from an observer), the major themes have been chosen selectively (though not randomly) and not exhaustively. The basic premise of the course is that independent India has witnessed several social transformations, however messy and uneven. But for the sake of clarity, structures of power and economic processes will be treated as the matrix within which major social and political changes have taken place. The course offers a discussion of some of the major ingredients in this process of social transformation. Guha (Makers of Modern India) too describes this history as five revolutions happening simultaneously - the urban revolution, the industrial revolution, the national revolution, the democratic revolution, and the social revolution.

Given the level at which this course will be offered (3rd year of BA), the size and diversity of India, simultaneous ‘revolutions’, and the large number of studies, makes the history of this period both exciting and challenging to be contained in one course. The conscious attempt is to provide a zoomed-out perspective so that a panoramic account of this period is provided. At the same time, the course will provide varied perspectives on these changes so that the students become aware of multiple interpretations of the history of this period.

The course is divided into three phases and the discussions would be on major / critical events for each phase to show the major continuities (including from the pre-independence period) and shifts in the history of this period. The course ends the discussion with 2009 mainly to avoid the very recent developments which may end-up leading to a biased account. Also, it is hoped that a discussion on the history of the previous six decades should equip the students to make better sense of post-2009 developments. The course begins with 1947, but a discussion on several issues also requires us to look at continuities with the colonial, and sometimes pre-colonial, pasts.

The discussion on each of the phases, as mentioned above, would be around the imagination (of individuals, institutions, parties) on any aspect of India, the dynamic institutional matrix through which these imaginations were sought to be implemented, critical events through which one can understand the above two, and the change brought about through these critical events.

The course is divided into four modules – the introductory module will discuss the legacies of colonialism and anti-colonial struggles, and discussions in subsequent three units will focus on the three phases in this short history (as mentioned above).

Objectives of the course are to help:

i. develop an understanding of the transitions and continuities in the history of post-independence India;

ii. understand the complexities of the problems and the challenges of bringing about simultaneous changes in varied aspects of social, political and economic life;

iii. develop an multi/interdisciplinary approach to studying history

The course will be transacted as per the following schedule:

Sl#	Module#	Module Title	Week/s
1.	Module 1	Introduction: The Legacy of colonialism and anti-colonial movement	Two
2.	Module 2	Idealism and Nation building: 1947-66	Three
3.	Module 3	Broken Promises and Rebellions: Communities, Citizens and the State), 1967-84	Four
4.	Module 4	From Gradual Revolution to Tectonic Shifts (1985-2009)	Four

1. Contents (brief note on each unit/module; indicative reading list with core and supplementary readings)

Module 1: Introduction: The Legacy of colonialism and anti-colonial movement

India at independence generated a mixed set of emotions – on the one hand, there was euphoria and excitement for a new beginning, and on the other, doubts about the ability of its leaders to ensure a stable democratic regime. It had become one of the poorest regions of the world (from the high of being one of the centres of globality till about the 18^th C) with only a small group of western-educated elite with very limited experience with governance, and large mass of poor people with limited exposure to ‘popular sovereignty’, minimal infrastructure which was created to help the ‘drain of wealth’. At the same time, what distinguished it from other newly independent countries was the presence of adequate (and varied) number of educated leaders who were exposed to several concepts / projects of modernity; these individuals debated and discussed the future of India at several forums, including the Constituent Assembly. Further, the Indian National Congress that spearheaded the anti-colonial movement and platform for varied ideological leaders, had started internal deliberations on several important questions that determined the future of India after independence. Also, there were other non-Congress political actors and groupings who represented alternate conceptions of India and its future. All in all, the ‘tryst with destiny’ had begun long before the independence. This module will discuss some of the above to provide a historical understanding of the post-independence period.

Essential Readings:

Joya Chatterji (2013), ‘Nationalisms in India: 1857-1947’ in John Breuilly (Ed.), Oxford Handbook on The History of Nationalism, 2013, OUP.
Bipan Chandra et. al (1999), India After Independence [Chap 2: The Colonial Legacy; Chap 3: The National Movement and its Legacy; Chap 4: The Evolution of the Constitution and Main Provisions]
Partha Chatterjee (1993), The Nation and its Fragments: Colonial and Post-Colonial Histories [Chap 1: Whose Imagined Community]
Maya Tudor (2013), ‘The Historical Inheritance of India’s Democracy’ in Kohli and Singh, Routledge Handbook of Indian Politics
Sudipto Kaviraj (2010), The Imaginary Institution of India: Politics and Ideas [Chap 4: Language and the Historical Formation of Identities in India]
David Arnold (2013), ‘Nehruvian Science and Postcolonial India’, Isis, 104(2)

Suggested / Additional Readings:

Ramchandra Guha (2011), Makers of Modern India [excerpts from Chapters 7, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 & 18]
Jivanta Schoettli (2013), ‘Nehru and his Legacy’ in Kohli and Singh (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Indian Politics
Paul Brass (1994), Politics of India Since Independence [Introduction: Continuities and Discontinuities between pre- and post-independent India]
Maria Framke (2014), ‘International events, national policy: The 1930s in India as a formative period for non-alignment’ in Natasa MisKovic et al. (Eds.), The Non-Aligned Movement and the Cold War: Delhi-Bandung-Belgrade.
Taylor Sherman (2022), Nehru’s India: A History in Seven Myths [Chapter 1: The Myth of Nehru the Architect of Independent India]

Module 2: Democracy, Development and Nation-Building: 1947-66

In the post-independence period there was a consensus among the top leaders of the Congress on the trajectories that the new nation-state should be taking. The Nehruvian approach to socialism (more or less reflecting this consensus) rested upon three pillars: secularism and democracy in the political domain; state intervention in the economy; and a policy of non-alignment in the field of diplomacy. These features defined the Indian way and even the country's political identity till at least the late 1970s. To implement the incipient plans and programmes several new institutions were set-up, while there were some continuities from the colonial period. The period 1947-66 may be termed as the phase of idealism and nation-building when calls were made to contribute voluntarily to this project. Politically and socially, this period witnessed the dominance of the social groups that were also in the forefront of the anti-colonial struggle. Scholars have critically analysed the performance of the nation-state on several issues. In this module we will discuss some of these issues as well as some important developments that defined India in the years to come.

Essential Readings:

Bipan Chandra et al. (1999), India After Independence [Chap 8: The Linguistic Reorganisation of the States]
Rudolph and Rudolph (1987), In Pursuit of Lakshmi: The Political Economy of Indian State [Chap 7: Demand Polity and Command Polity; Chap 8: Types of Politics and Economic Performance]
Francine Frankel (2005), India’s Political Economy, 1947-2004: The Gradual Revolution, 2^nd Edition [Chap 3: Growth and Democratic Social Transformation: Multiple Goals of Economic Planning]
B.L. Shankar & Valerian Rodriguez (2014), The Indian Parliament: A Democracy at Work [Chap 1: The making of the Indian Parliament, and Conclusion: The Parliament and Democracy in India]
Kapur and Mehta, Rethinking Public Institutions in India [excerpts from few chapters]
Christophe Jaffrelot, Religion, Caste and Politics in India [Chap 31: The Cardinal Points of Indian Foreign Policy]
Partha Chatterjee (1993), The Nation and its Fragments: Colonial and Post-Colonial Histories (Chap 10: The National State)
Maitrayee Chaudhuri (1999), ‘Gender in the Making of the Indian Nation-State’, Sociological Bulletin, 48(1&2)
G. Aloysius (1997), Nationalism without a Nation in India [Chapter 7: Nationalism without a Nation]
Dipesh Chakrabarty (2005), ‘In the name of politics: Sovereignty, Democracy, and the Multitude in India’, Economic and Political Weekly, 40(30).

Suggested / Additional Readings:

Joya Chatterji (2023), Shadows at Noon: South Asian Twentieth Century [Chapter 2: Citizenship and Nation-Building after Independence: The South Asian Experience]
Daniel Kent-Carrasco (2017), ‘A battle over meanings: Jayaprakash Narayan, Rammanohar Lohia and the trajectories of socialism in early independent India’, Global Intellectual History, 2(3).
Mushirul Hasan (1998), Legacy of a Divided Nation: India’s Muslims Since Independence [Chap 4: India Partitioned: The Face of Freedom; and Chap 5: Secularism: The Post-Colonial Predicament]
Christophe Jaffrelot (2013), ‘Nation Building and Nationalism: South Asia, 1947-90’ in John Breuilly (Ed.), Oxford Handbook on The History of Nationalism, 2013, OUP.
Sunil Khilnani (2012), The Idea of India [Chap 1: Democracy and Chap 3: Cities]
Bipan Chandra et al, India After Independence [chapters 4: The Evolution of the Constitution & Main Provisions, & Chapter 5: The Architecture of the Constitution: Basic Features and Institutions]

Gurpreet Mahajan (2013), ‘Reservations’ in Kohli and Singh (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Indian Politics

Module 3: Broken Promises and rebellion: Communities, Citizens and the State, 1967-84

The contradictions of the socio-political developments and top-down planned economic development, and the failures of the state in decreasing inequalities had generated new dynamics. This module will discuss the changing dynamics of state-society relations through contestations, negotiations and struggles between old and new caste/class/religious groups. This phase saw both – the deepening of democracy (and the rise of middle and lower caste politics) and centralizing tendencies (leading to the Emergency). It also saw the introduction of populist politics (garibi hatao, nationalization) as well the beginning of communal politics especially after the exhaustion of the former strategies. We also see a shift in the Centre-State relations with the Federal government meddling with several state subject (e.g., Forest Conservation Act, Wildlife Protection Act). The module will discuss rise of the groups (middle class rural groups, partly due to the success of the Green Revolution) that challenged the Congress in subsequent years / decades. Adverse environmental effects of industrialization (e.g. Bhopal gas tragedy) and urbanization (urban squalor and pollution of rivers), and other development projects like dams and mining were also starkly visible, and was met with ‘new social movements’.

Essential Readings:

Partha Chatterjee (1993), The Nation and its Fragments: Colonial and Post-Colonial Histories (Chap 11: Communities and the Nation)
A.G. Nilsen (2007), ‘On New Social Movements and ‘The Reinvention of India’’, Forum for Development Studies, 34(2).
Rajni Kothari (1984), ‘Party and State in Our Times: The Rise of Non-Party Political Formations’, EPW, 19(5), 216-24.
Atul Kohli (1994), ‘Centralization and Powerlessness: India’s Democracy in a comparative perspective’ in Midgal, Shue and Kohli (Eds.), State Power and Social Forces: Domination and Transformation in the Third World
Christophe Jaffrelot (1988), India’s Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Caste in North India (Chapters 10: Janta Dal and the Rise to Power of the Low Castes; & Chap 11: Renewal of Dalit Politics)
Francine Frankel, India’s Political Economy, 1947-2004: The Gradual Revolution [Chap 4: Contradictions of Rapid Industrialization and Gradual Agrarian Reforms; Chap 5: Failure of Implementation]
Sudipto Kaviraj (2010), The Imaginary Institution of India: Politics and Ideas [Chap 6: A state of contradictions: The post-colonial state in India]
Sukhomoy Chakravarty (1990), ‘Development Strategies for Growth with Equity: The South Asian Experience’, Asian Development Review, 8(1).
M.S.S. Pandian (2007), Brahmin and Non-Brahmin: Genealogies of the Tamil Political Present [Chapter 6: The Brahmin as a Trope: The Self-Respect Movement]
Bipan Chandra (2003), In the name of Democracy: JP Movement and the Emergency [Chapter 10]

Suggested / Additional Readings:

Veena Das (1997), Critical Events: An Anthropological Perspective on Contemporary India [Chap 5: Time, Self and Community: Features of the Sikh Militant Discourse; and Chap 6: Suffering, Legitimacy and Healing: The Bhopal Case]
Paul Brass (1994), The Politics of India Since Independence [Chap 8: Politics, Economic Development and Social Change]
Gail Omvedt (1993), Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India [Introduction]
Surinder Jodhka (2015), ‘Ascriptive Hierarchies: Caste and its reproduction in Contemporary India’, Current Sociology
Christophe Jaffrelot & L Tillin (2017), ‘Populism in India’ in Kaltwasser et. al (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Populism.
Arupjyoti Saikia (2023), The Quest for Modern Assam: A History 1947-2000 [Chapter 12: Waves of Popular Protests]

Module IV: From Gradual Revolution to Tectonic Shifts (1985-2009)

This unit will discuss several major shifts in Indian politics, society and economy – transition to neoliberal economic policies, deepening of the caste and religious politics, coalition politics (rise of caste and regional, and Hindutva parties), rise of environmental challenges and movements, the nuclear tests and muscle-flexing by India. This phase in India’s history also witnessed an attempt to partly correct the inequalities created through neoliberal policies through the introduction of legislations influence by a rights-based approach (RTI, RTF, RTW, RTE). We also see a shift in foreign policy – from being a neutral player and a leader of the Third World in geopolitics to assertion for finding a more equal position among the crème de la crème. Observers believe that India in the 21st C reached a new status in the world, that of an emerging power, and was looking for more partners in Asia and in the West where the US is the first choice of the Indian middle class.

Readings

Suhas Palshikar (2013), ‘Regional and Caste Parties’ in Kohli & Singh (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Indian Politics
Mushirul Hasan (1998), Legacy of a Divided Nation: India’s Muslims Since Independence [Chap 8: Empowering Difference: Political Action, Sectarian Violence and Retreat of Secularism]
Owen M Lynch (2001), ‘Untouchables in India’s Civil Uncivil Democracy. A Review Article’, Ethnos, 66(2).
Gopal Guru and Meena Kandasamy (2017), A Dalit History
A.G. Nilsen (2014), ‘India’s Turn to Rights-Based Legislation (2004–2014): A Critical Review of the Literature’, Social Change, 48(4)
Daniel Münster and Christian Strümpell (2014), ‘The anthropology of neoliberal India: An introduction’, Contributions to Indian Sociology, 48(1)
Sudipta Kaviraj (2010), The Trajectories of the Indian State: Politics and Ideas [Chap 8: The politics of liberalization in India]
R. Nagaraj (2013), ‘India’s Economic Development’ in Kohli & Singh (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Indian Politics
Ismail and Kamat (2018), ‘NGOs, Social Movements & Neoliberal State: Incorporation, Reinvention, Critique’, Critical Sociology, 44(4-5).
Kanti Bajpai (2009), ‘The BJP and the Bomb’ in Scott D. Sagan (Ed.), Inside Nuclear South Asia.
Sumit Ganguly and M.S. Pardesi (2009), ‘Explaining Sixty Years of India’s Foreign Policy’, India Review, 8(1).
Sukhdeo Thorat (2010), ‘Caste System and Patterns of Discrimination in Rural Markets’ in Thorat and Newman (Eds.), Blocked by Caste: Economic Discrimination in Modern India.
Sanjib Baruah (2020), In the Name of a Nation: India and its North-East [Chapter 2: Partition’s Long Shadow: Nation and Citizenship in Assam]

Suggested / Additional Readings:

Anjaria and Rao (2014), ‘Talking back to the state: Citizens’ engagement after the neoliberal reforms in India’, Social Anthropology, 22(4).
Christophe Jaffrelot (2010), Religion, Caste and Politics in India [Chap 36: The India-US rapprochement: state-driven or middle-class driven?]
Nivedita Menon and Aditya Nigam (2007), Power and Contestation: India Since 1989 [Chapters 6: When was the Nation; & Chap 7: India in the World]
Paramjit Singh (2023), ‘The Economic Consequences of Authoritarian Neoliberalism in India’, World Review of Political Economy, 14(2).
Hugo Gorringe (2008), ‘The Caste of the Nation: Untouchability and citizenship in India’, Contributions to Indian Sociology, 42(1).
Itty Abraham, ‘Contra-Proliferation: Interpreting the meaning of India’s Nuclear Tests in 1974 and 1998’ in Scott D. Sagan (Ed.), Inside Nuclear South Asia.

Audio-Visual Material / Resources

Some audio-visual material (see below a representative list) will also be used in the course

Naya Daur (Movie-Hindi)
Manthan (Movie-Hindi)
Aakrosh (Movie-Hindi)
Jaane Bhi Do Yaron (Movie-Hindi)
Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (Movie-Hindi)
Welcome to Sajjanpur (Movie-Hindi)
Peepli Live (Movie-Hindi)
Panchayat (OTT Series-Hindi)
Karnan (Movie-Tamil)
Pariyerum Perumal (Movie-Tamil)
Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi (Movie-Hindi)

Assessment structure (modes and frequency of assessments)

- Mid-term examination (30%): end of 4-5 weeks
- Oral History Project (20%): submission at the end of 8 weeks
  - Students shall be encouraged to take-up a topic based on an event (like partition, emergency, riots) or issue related to the history of this period, and conduct a research project largely based on oral history.