Contemporary India: The Basics

Rekha Datta is Professor of Political Science at Monmouth University in New Jersey, USA. She is a Fulbright U.S. Scholar, the recipient of a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award in Teaching and Research.

Contemporary India: The Basics provides readers with a clear and accessible guide through the richness, diversity and complexity of twenty-first century India. It explores the reality of the country's cultural diversity which creates both harmony and tension. Covering issues the country faces both domestically and on the global stage, this book analyzes the political, social, cultural and economic landscape of India and investigates how the future might look for India. The book addresses key questions such as:

• How has India risen to be a major economic power?
• What role does sectarianism play in the world's largest democracy?
• How do caste and gender affect the structure of Indian society?
• What is the domestic and international impact of Bollywood?

Featuring maps, discussion questions and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal introduction to India for those who are new to the study of this most fascinating and complex of countries.

Contemporary India: The Basics provides readers with a clear and accessible guide through the richness, diversity and complexity of 21st Century India. Covering issues the country faces both domestically and on the global stage, this book explores how the future might look for India.

1. Introduction

2. Discovering India

3. India's "Argumentative" Culture

4. "A Million Mutinies": State-Society Relations in India

5. India's Economy "Unbound": From State Control to Liberalization

6. "Mother of a Hundred Sons" No More: The Changing Status of Women

7. Is India Still an "Emerging Power"? An Overview of Foreign Relations

8. Toward a "Better World"? Impact of India's Soft Power