Integrated Programme in Management

AY : 2014-15 BATCH : 2012-17

TERM : VIII
TITLE OF THE COURSE: INDIAN POLITICS
CREDITS: 4

Name of the Faculty member

Faculty Block -NA Room No.
Email: Telephone Number
COURSE DESCRIPTION
India- a culturally, socially, economically diverse country started her tryst with destiny with
emphatic adherence to the principles and practices of democracy. Despite many hindrances, the
Indian democracy has shown its maturity, robustness and carved a niche for itself in terms of
universal adult franchise, inclusiveness, secularism and ensuring space for dissent, the
marginalized sections and the minorities. The study of Indian Politics has been strengthened with
the significant contributions from the analysis of interface of State and society.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
The course will explore the enduring debates in Indian politics. The course will deal with the more
structural question of how the system of institutions of the modern Indian state was formed, and
how these institutions have actually been functioning over the years.
The course will examine the roots of the governability crisis from different theoretical and
methodological perspectives: Specifically, how and why, in this season of democratic awakenings,
has the developing world's most successful experiment in democratic nation building been unable
or able to diffuse the challenges to its authority and legitimacy, or to honor its commitments to civil
liberties and socioeconomic justice? Can India's political institutions successfully negotiate this
period of painful transition by finding new solutions to the problems of governability? Can they
promote redistributive development within the framework of a secular, consensual and democratic
polity?
Course Requirements - Students are encouraged to stay updated on the various contemporary
discourses on politics and governance by referring to leading newspapers, journals and
magazines and the other readings which will be suggested in class.

PEDAGOGY/TEACHING METHOD:
This course will consist of interactive lectures intertwined with specific case studies, class room
debates .

EVALUATION

Weightage

Mid term Examination

Class participation
End Semester Examination

Total

40%
10%
50%

100%

SCHEDULE OF SESSIONS
Module I The setting: Institutions

Background and Philosophy

Context

Module Objective
This module has been designed to provide students with key insights on the construction and the
vision of Indian polity and its institutional setting.

Sessions and Objective

4-5 Sessions
Module

II

Political Process

Module Objective
This module will dwell upon debates in the political process

Sessions and Objective

4-5 Sessions

Module

III

Ideological Contestation

Module Objective
This module will lay emphasis on the immediate challenges confronting Indian polity and its
ideological contestation.

Sessions and Objective

5-6 Sessions

Module

IV Politics & Policy : The interface

Module Objective
To understand a countrys policy formation, one needs to understand its institutional structures and
processes.

Sessions and Objective

5-6 Sessions

Additional Reading
Jayal, Neeraja Gopal and Mehta, Pratap Bhanu, The Oxford Companion to the Politics of India,
Oxford University Press, New Delhi
Kaviraj, Sudipta, The Trajectories of Indian State, Politics and Ideas, Permanent Black,
Brass, Paul R, 1999, The politics in India since independence, New Delhi, Foundation book
Chatterjee Partha (Ed), 2004, State and Politics in India, OUP, New Delhi
Kaviraj, Sudipta (1999) Politics in India, Oxford University Press
Kohli Atul (Ed), 2001, The success of India's democracy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
Kohli Atul, 1991, India's democracy: An analysis of changing state-society relations, New Delhi,
Orient Longman References
Rudolph and Rudolph, 2008, Explaining Indian democracy: A Fifty year perspective 1950-2006,
Vol IIII, OUP, New Delhi.
Pratap Bhanu Mehta (2009), India's judiciary: The promise of uncertainty, Oxford university press,
New Delhi
W. H. Morris Jones (1964), Government and Politics of India, London
Guha, Ramchandra,(2007) India after Gandhi, Harper Collins, New York, .
Sen, Amartya,(2005) The Argumentative Indian, Writings on Indian History, Culture and identity,
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, .
The Hindustan Times, 30 September, 2014 'The making of a new India'
** Few other readings will be suggested in the class.
COURSE TEACHER: SUJIT KUMAR PRUSETH, PhD
Mobile: 09868766705
email: prusethsujit@gmail.com

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