Overview
This broad, historically grounded study examines the relationship between democratic governance and economic development in postindependence India (1947-1998). Sharma addresses the fundamental paradox of India's political economy: Why have five decades of democratically guided strategies failed to reconcile economic growth with redistribution or to mitigate the condition of extreme poverty in which some 350 to 400 million Indians - more than 40 percent of the population - live?.Synopsis
This broad, historically grounded study examines the relationship between democratic governance and economic development in postindependence India (1947-1998). Sharma addresses the fundamental paradox of India's political economy: Why have five decades of democratically guided strategies failed to reconcile economic growth with redistribution or to mitigate the condition of extreme poverty in which some 350 to 400 million Indians - more than 40 percent of the population - live?.
Booknews
Sharma (politics, U. of San Francisco) inquires into why five decades of democratically guided strategies have failed to reconcile economic growth with redistribution or to mitigate the condition of extreme poverty, which despite all efforts has continued to envelope some 40% of the Indian people since independence. She uses the state-in-society model, draws on her own fieldwork data as well as the voluminous literature, and focuses on rural India. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)