Comparative Politics

India
Geographical Setting
• India is the seventh-largest country in the world and the third-
largest country in Asia. It is called a subcontinent because of
its large and distinct land mass. India’s rich geography includes
three diverse topographic zones (the mountainous northern
zone, the basin formed by the Ganges River, and the peninsula
of southern India) and a variety of climates (cold in the
northern mountain range; dry and hot in the arid, northern
plateau; and subtropical in the south). Along with Pakistan and
Bangladesh, India is separated from the rest of Asia by the
Himalayas to the north and the Indian Ocean to the east,
south, and west. Only the northwest frontier is easily passable
and has been used for thousands of years.
Caste System
• Indian society, especially the Hindu population, is divided into
numerous caste groupings. Mainly based on occupation,
castes tend to be closed social groups into which people are
born, marry, and die. Historically, the caste system
compartmentalized and ranked the Hindu population through
rules governing daily life, such as eating, marriage, and prayer.
Caste hierarchy conceptualizes the world as divided into
realms of purity and impurity.
Critical Juncture
• Indian civilization dates to the Indus Valley Civilization of the
third millennium BCE. The subcontinent, comprising present-
day Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, has witnessed the rise
and fall of many civilizations and empires.

The Colonial Legacy (1757–

1947)
• The British began gaining control of the subcontinent in the
late seventeenth century when the East India Company, a
large English trading organization, developed commercial
interests in India.
The Nationalist Movement and
Partition (1885–1947)
• British rulers and traditional rural Indian elites became allies of sorts,
squeezing resources from the peasantry to maintain the bureaucratic
state and support the luxurious lifestyle of the parasitic landlord class.
Three features of the nationalist movement greatly influenced Indian
state building and democracy.
• First, the INC created a broad tent within which political,
ethnic, and religious conflicts could play out.
• Second, Hindu-Muslim tensions, which gave rise to Partition, resulted
in enduring hostilities between the neighboring states of India and
Pakistan.
• Third, the nationalist movement laid the foundations for democracy in
India. Many of the INC’s prominent leaders, like Gandhi and Jawaharlal
Nehru, were educated in England and were committed democrats.
The Nehru Era (1947–1964)
• After independence, India adopted a Westminster model of
British-style parliamentary democracy. The INC transformed
itself from an opposition movement into a political party, the
Congress Party. It was highly successful at first, both because
of its popularity in having led India to independence and
because the Congress government created a nationwide
patronage system that rewarded supporters with posts and
resources
• Jawaharlal Nehru wanted India to play a global role. Together
with other leaders of newly independent countries in Asia and
Africa, he initiated what became known as the nonaligned
bloc, a group of countries seeking autonomy from the two
superpowers.
The Indira Gandhi Era (1966–
1984)
• When Nehru died in 1964, the Congress Party was divided
over the choice of a successor and hastily selected a
compromise candidate, mild-mannered Lal Bahadur Shastri, as
prime minister. When Shastri died in 1966, rivalry among
potential successors broke out. Party elites chose another
compromise candidate, Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi (no
relation to Mohandas Gandhi). They calculated that, as
Nehru’s daughter, she would help the Congress Party garner
sufficient electoral support to remain in power. They also
thought that she would be a weak woman whom they could
manipulate. Their first calculation was correct; the second was
wholly inaccurate. Indian politics became increasingly
turbulent under Indira Gandhi. As her power grew, she
encountered growing opposition.
Coalition Governments (1989
to the Present)
• For the first three decades after independence, many parties
competed for office. However, none came close to rivaling
Congress, particularly in national politics. The Congress Party
led every government from 1947 to 1989, except for one brief
interlude (1977–1980). The decline of the Congress Party
ushered in an era of instability with no clearly dominant party.

• For the first time, a politician who was neither leader of his own
party nor that of the ruling alliance became prime minister.
Although he was not a charismatic figure, Manmohan Singh
initially proved to be a highly capable and popular prime
minister. He is credited with introducing measures to shake the
Indian economy from its torpor and promote rapid economic
growth.
POLTICAL ECONOMY AND
DEVELOPMENT
• At independence, India had a poor, largely agricultural
economy. Although a large majority of Indians, especially the
poor, still work and live in the countryside, India has
developed a substantial industrial base, a booming service
sector, and a vibrant middle class.
• During the first three decades following independence, the
Indian economy was mainly state-directed. Though the overall
economic growth during this period was sluggish, India
successfully created an industrial base behind protectionist
walls.
• India has preferred national over foreign investors as agents of
economic growth.
• Both national and regional governments have provided
support to investors in the form of access to land, tax relief,
and transport and other subsidies. The results have included
not only rapid economic growth but also growing inequalities.
STATE AND ECONOMY
After the independence
• During Nehru’s rule, India’s model of development emphasized
the creation of public enterprises and state guidance of private
economic activity. Nehru created a powerful planning
commission that established government investment priorities.
• This government-planned mixed economy enabled India to
create an impressive industrial base but did little to help the
poor.
• Given the predominantly rural character of India, the highly
unequal distribution of agricultural land presented a particularly
significant challenge.
• To summarize, the period between 1950 and 1980 consisted of
state-led economic development that expanded the public
sector, protected the domestic sector from foreign competition
and closely supervised private sector activity.
Economic Liberation
• Political and economic elites became increasingly dissatisfied
with India’s inadequate economic performance compared
with that of other Asian countries.
• They became aware that poverty limited the possibility for
expanding domestic markets. A turning point occurred in the
1980s and accelerated after 1991, when India moved toward
economic liberalization.
• An important reason for this growth is that the Indian
government has supported entrepreneurs, often channeling
public resources toward supporting private profits instead of
investing in education or health.
SOCIETY AND ECONOMY
Inequalities and Social Welfare Policy
• India is deeply stratified by class and income. At the top of the
income pyramid, a small group of Indians have made
incredible fortunes in business and industry.
• India’s lower-middle classes, about half the population, are
mainly self-employed business owners, small farmers, and
urban workers. Finally, India has the largest number of poor
people in the world.
• According to both Indian government and World Bank figures,
about a fifth of Indians are living in poverty.
• The sizable number of poor people encourages many Indian
politicians to adopt populist or socialist electoral platforms
although often in name only.
• The Naxalite revolutionary movement is an important
example. Influenced by Maoist ideals, it organizes the landless
poor to engage in land seizures and attacks on the state and
dominant classes.
• However, overall, India has a poor record of reducing poverty.
Antipoverty programs and land reforms have generally failed
to reduce economic inequality and help the poor.
• India’s population continues to grow at a rapid pace. Before
long it will be the world’s largest country. India’s democratic
government, unlike China’s authoritarian system, has generally
resisted coercive population control policies.
• The Indian census classifies nearly 10 percent of India’s
population as “untouchables”; the official term is scheduled
castes, and the more widely used term is dalits.
India in the Global Economy
• When India’s economy was relatively closed to outside
influences, powerful groups had vested interests in preventing
change.
• India’s economy has globalized since 1991. Tariffs on trade
have come down. India’s exports and imports have grown
rapidly. Laws on foreign investment have also become more
liberal.
• While direct foreign investment is significantly lower in India
than in China, foreign investment into India has continued to
grow over the last two decades. Foreign funds, in the form of
portfolio investments, have also poured into India, buoying
not only the stock markets but also adding volatility.
GOVERNANCE AND POLICY-MAKING
Organization of the State
• The 1950 constitution, adopted soon after India gained
independence, created a democratic republic with a
parliamentary system and a weak, mostly ceremonial,
president.
• India’s political system is federal, and states have substantial
autonomy, power, and responsibilities.
• Unlike the British constitution, which it resembles in many
respects, the Indian constitution is a written document that
has been periodically amended.
• Because the Indian constitution is highly detailed, it leaves less
room for interpretation than many other national
constitutions.
Three features of this
Constitution:
• First, unlike many constitutions, the Indian constitution directs
the government to promote social and economic equality and
justice.
• Second, the Indian constitution, like the U.S. constitution,
provides for freedom of religion and defines India as a secular
state.
• Third, the constitution allows for the temporary suspension of
many democratic rights under emergency conditions.
• Further, the constitution specifies that, if state governments
are unable to function in a stable manner, the national
government is authorized to declare President’s Rule, which
involves suspending the elected state government and
administering the state’s affairs from Delhi.
• In India’s federal system, the central government controls
most essential government functions, such as defense, foreign
policy, taxation, public expenditures, and economic planning.
State governments formally control agriculture, education,
and law and order.
• The Lok Sabha, or House of the People, is the lower chamber
of parliament; the Rajya Sabha is the upper house. (India’s
parliament will be described in Section 4.) Following elections
to the Lok Sabha, the leader of the political party with the
most seats becomes the prime minister. Effective power is
concentrated in the prime minister’s office.
The Executive
The Prime Minister
• The prime minister directs India’s Council of Ministers, and is
therefore in charge of all government ministries. As such, the
prime minister is ultimately responsible for all the daily
activities of the central government. The prime minister has the
power to appoint individuals to various government offices,
establish policy on significant issues, and direct the civil service.
The Cabinet
• The prime minister chooses the cabinet, mostly from among the
governing party’s senior members of parliament. Being named
to the cabinet is among the most soughtafter prizes in Indian
politics. The main criteria guiding a prime minister’s choice are
seniority, competence, and personal loyalty.
The Bureaucracy
• The prime minister and cabinet ministers supervise the
bureaucracy in close collaboration with senior civil servants.
Each senior minister oversees a sprawling department staffed
by some highly competent, overworked, senior civil servants
and many not-so-competent, underworked, lowly bureaucrats.
• The Indian Administrative Service (IAS), an elite corps of top
bureaucrats, constitutes a critically important but relatively
thin layer at the top of India’s bureaucracy. Recruitment occurs
through a highly competitive examination.
The Judiciary
• An independent judiciary is another component of India’s
state system. The major judicial authority is the Supreme
Court, comprising a chief justice and seventeen other judges.
The president appoints judges on the advice of the prime
minister
• The main political role of the Supreme Court is to ensure that
legislation conforms to the constitution. Thus, like the U.S.
Supreme Court, it can strike down legislation that it judges to
be in violation of the constitution.
• Like other Indian political institutions, the judiciary has
suffered from institutional decay.
Subnational Government
• The structure of India’s twenty-nine state governments
parallels that of the national government. Each state has a
government, headed by a chief minister who leads the party
with most seats in the lower house of the state legislature.
• Each state also has a governor appointed by the national
president.
• There is an ongoing power struggle between state and central
governments. States often demand more resources from the
central government, and have also demanded greater power
and recognition of the state’s distinctive cultural and linguistic
identities.
• The panchayats are locally elected councils at the local,
district, and state levels.
Policy-Making Process
• The government in New Delhi formulates major policies. Senior civil
servants play an important role identifying problems, collecting and
synthesizing data, and presenting political leaders with alternative
solutions.
• The real policy drama in India occurs when major bills are debated in
parliament and when laws are implemented.
• The new course was formulated by a handful of senior ministers and
bureaucrats. To reach the decision, however, a complex set of political
activities took place.
• . Opposition parties highlighted the harm that the reform might inflict.
These pressures modified the policy that the government eventually
adopted.
• After policies have been adopted, their implementation is far from
assured.
• Implementation required the cooperation of many bureaucrats—whose
power would be reduced from the change— and who consequently
tried to sabotage the newly simplified procedures.
Representation and
Participation
The Legislature
• The Indian parliament is bicameral, consisting of the more
powerful Lok Sabha, the lower house, and the weaker upper
house, the Rajya Sabha. Lok Sabha elections are of vital
importance.
• First, the outcome determines which party coalition will
control the government. Second, although members of
parliament cannot shape policies, they enjoy considerable
status, access to resources, and influence over allocation of
government funds.
• Elections to the Lok Sabha are held at least every five years.
The main tasks of the Lok Sabha are to elect the prime
minister (that is, the leader of the winning party coalition),
pass legislation, and debate government actions.
• Most members of the Rajya Sabha are elected indirectly by
state legislatures. The Rajya Sabha is much weaker than the
Lok Sabha because its assent is not required for the passage of
spending measures that the Lok Sabha approves.
• Although the Lok Sabha can make and unmake governments
(by voting to bring them down), it does not play a significant
role in policy-making.
Political Parties and Parties
System
The Congress Party
• Following independence, with Nehru at its helm, Congress was
the unquestioned ruling party of India.
• the Congress Party tilted right of center, championing
economic efficiency, business interests, and limited
government spending on health, education, and welfare.
The Janata Party and Janata Dal
• The Janata Party was created in 1977, when several small
parties formed an alliance to oppose Indira Gandhi’s
Emergency.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
• The rise of the BJP, which began as the small and marginal Jan
Sangh to become one of the two major national parties and
the ruling party between 1999 and 2004, and again in 2014, is
among the most important developments in Indian politics in
recent decades.
• . The BJP is a right-leaning, Hindu-nationalist party, the first
major Indian party to seek support based on religious identity.
The Communist Party of India (CPM)
• The CPM is a disciplined party, with party cadres and a
hierarchical authority structure. Within the national
parliament, CPM members often strongly criticize government
policies that are likely to hurt the poor.
The Aam Admi Party ( Common Man Party)
• The Aam Aadmi Party (translation: Common Man Party;
abbreviated as AAP) was created by Arvind Kejriwal, a former
bureaucrat and political activist who demanded a crackdown
on corruption and the passage of a Right to Information Act,
which enables any citizen to request information from a public
authority and requires a response to that request within thirty
days.
Election
• Elections in India are a colossal event. Nearly 500 million
people are eligible to vote, and close to 300 million cast
ballots—a turnout rate far higher than in the United States.
• Given India’s low literacy rates, pictures of party symbols are
critical.
• A pillar of Indian democracy is the fact that elections are open,
competitive, and honest.
Political Culture, Citizenship,
and Identity
Several aspects of Indian political culture are noteworthy. This
are :
• First, the political/public and private spheres are not sharply
differentiated.
• Second, the Indian elite is extremely factionalized. Personal
ambition prevents leaders from pursuing collective goals, such
as forming cohesive parties, running stable governments, or
giving priority to national development.
• Third, regions are highly differentiated by language and
culture, villages are poorly connected with each other, and
communities are stratified by caste system.
THE FOUR THEMES OF INDIA
India in a Globalized World of States
• India is well positioned, by its large size, growing wealth,
democratic legitimacy, and geographic location, to play a
powerful role in world affairs. Yet for this to occur, it is
necessary for India to nurture peaceful relations with its
powerful neighbors, Pakistan and China.
Governing the Economy
In the years following independence, Indian policy-makers first
sought to achieve economic self-sufficiency through state-led
industrialization to satisfy the needs of India’s large internal
market. Among the daunting challenges facing Indian leaders is
how to sustain growth while sponsoring measures to reduce
poverty and economic inequalities.
The Democratic Idea
• In recent decades, India has become more democratic in
some ways but less democratic in others. A larger number of
people, with more diverse identities, are participating in
politics.
The Politics of Collective Identity
• Democracy is supposed to provide a level playing field in
which diverse interests and identities seek to resolve their
differences. India demonstrates that an incredibly large and
diverse country can generally process conflicts peacefully and
democratically.
Implications for Comparative Politics
• India’s fascinating profile can deepen our understanding of
comparative politics. First, it represents an exceptional case of
a poor yet vibrant democracy. Despite widespread poverty
and illiteracy, most Indians value their citizenship rights and
exercise them vigorously.
• Although the Indian state has remained cohesive and stable at
the national level, political violence has occurred in a variety
of states and regions.
• Third, with well over a billion people of diverse cultural,
religious, and linguistic identities, Indian democracy is an
excellent arena for analyzing various theories and dilemmas of
comparative politics.
End