Abstract
The objective of this introductory chapter is to theoretically and empirically tackle four interrelated themes that examine the various facets of the contemporary Indian state . Rather than simply assessing the deviations of the Indian state from the generalized abstractions of a developmental state , this chapter shows the actual functioning of the state at multiple levels, often in a disaggregated way. These themes are to identify some of the reasons for the changing role of the state , including first, the shifting contexts such as the reconfigured state –business relationship; second, the mediating role of society in distributive politics, especially in terms of rights-based movements or pressures from below; third, the seemingly contradictory role of the state in undertaking major public social programmes and simultaneously opening up of greater spaces for the market; and fourth, the dynamic relationship between the state and the form of democratic governance under changing political regimes. The chapter discusses some of the reasons for the changing role of the state in favour of markets as well as the introduction of certain social welfare programmes. In practice, the maturing of civil society facilitates the swing towards human capabilities and away from fetishized economic growth . At the same time, the growing power of the capitalist classes in liberalizing India suggests state cutbacks and intensified contestations over resources and thus limits to how much the state can actually redistribute. The chapter shows in various ways and at multiple levels what the contemporary Indian state has been doing and identifies some of the reasons for that mode of intervention, including responding to rights-based movements. Section four discusses how the Indian state can be recast, while the final section introduces the chapters in this volume.
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Notes
- 1.
This is one outcome, which is not recognized well by scholars of the state . The maturity of capitalist classes under state tutelage suggests that state intervention has not been a dismal failure as is often painted to be.
- 2.
A Kuznets type of argument would imply that once the basic material standards have been met non-economic aspects of well-being, such as inequality , could be addressed by the state . But these are mechanistic postulations and ignore the realm of politics. It would be imprudent to expect the state to share growth when capital has been freed to accumulate even more, unless of course capital itself fears its own success because its expanded reproduction is under severe strain.
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D’Costa, A.P., Chakraborty, A. (2019). Changing Contexts, Shifting Roles, and the Recasting of the Role of the Indian State: An Introduction. In: D’Costa, A., Chakraborty, A. (eds) Changing Contexts and Shifting Roles of the Indian State. Dynamics of Asian Development. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6891-2_1
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