Business Government Society

BUSINESS, GOVERNMENT & STUDIES – HANDOUT SUMMARIES

Contents

Pangs of Change        

Banias and Beyond: The Dynamics of Caste and Big Business in Modern India        

Democracy and Secularism in India        

Affirmation without Reservation        

Redesigning Affirmative Action        

From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond: Democracy and Identity in Today’s India        

Ideas of India”, “Rights        

Political Parties in India        

India’s Informal Economy: Facing the Twenty-First Century        

India’s New Entrepreneurial Classes: The High Growth Economy and Why it is Sustainable        

Everybody Loves a Good Drought        

Political Economy of Agrarian distress        

Knowledge@Wharton interview with M. Yunus, Founder of the Grameen Bank.        

Serving the World’s Poor, Profitably        

Traditional Female Moral Exemplars in India        

Pangs of Change

MN Srinivas

Summary by Rithin B

The author speaks about India as a secular miracle of the world but suffering from poor quality of democracy.

Indian democracy is one of the secular miracles of the modern world and is a model for developing countries. Democracy is becoming deeply rooted through Panchayat Raj and Nagarpalika Acts. Though India is emerging as a major power the rate of growth is slow. The leaders do not seem to care about the country’s fortunes but in spite of its leaders India is still showing progress.

Transfer of Power: Decentralization of power to districts, tehsils, villages, cities and towns has made government officials accountable to the people. Though decentralization has brought about speed, efficiency and openness, it has also given rise to conflicts in Panchayat raj system. Rural dominant classes occupy privileged positions and use their power to receive services from other backward classes in the society. Failure to perform such services leads to bloody clashes which lead to translating the constitutional commitment to equality into a reality. The police, law courts, media should support the Dalit demand for equality and make the dominant castes to accept democratic values and practices.