Pub Date : 2021-08-08DOI: 10.1080/14736489.2021.1958584
Ashutosh Kumar
ABSTRACT The paper reflects on how feudal, caste-ridden and corruption-infested rural India had its first brush with the newly introduced democratic and governmental administrative institutions, culture and practices, much of the latter inherited from the late colonial times. It does it by visiting Shivpalganj, a fictious village in the “Hindi heartland” region, as depicted in the celebrated novel Raag Darbari, published more than five decades ago. Reading the satirical text shows vividly how the institutions were subverted by the local politics that was infested by factionalism, corruption and patronage. It also exposes the misconception that the bureaucratic “system” inherited from the British raj could be “adapted” for very different purpose of facilitating development and welfare than for what it was set up originally. The essay argues that despite significant social, political and economic transitions that have taken place over the last five decades, one finds a great degree of similarity in the way the “system” continues to work in the region which still in many ways represents “most of India.” It looks into the possible explanations for the continuity and change, if any.
{"title":"Politics and government in the “Hindi heartland” India: reading Raag Darbari","authors":"Ashutosh Kumar","doi":"10.1080/14736489.2021.1958584","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2021.1958584","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The paper reflects on how feudal, caste-ridden and corruption-infested rural India had its first brush with the newly introduced democratic and governmental administrative institutions, culture and practices, much of the latter inherited from the late colonial times. It does it by visiting Shivpalganj, a fictious village in the “Hindi heartland” region, as depicted in the celebrated novel Raag Darbari, published more than five decades ago. Reading the satirical text shows vividly how the institutions were subverted by the local politics that was infested by factionalism, corruption and patronage. It also exposes the misconception that the bureaucratic “system” inherited from the British raj could be “adapted” for very different purpose of facilitating development and welfare than for what it was set up originally. The essay argues that despite significant social, political and economic transitions that have taken place over the last five decades, one finds a great degree of similarity in the way the “system” continues to work in the region which still in many ways represents “most of India.” It looks into the possible explanations for the continuity and change, if any.","PeriodicalId":56338,"journal":{"name":"India Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"436 - 450"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43513327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-08DOI: 10.1080/14736489.2021.1958586
Sanjoy Banerjee
The books by Aseema Sinha in 2016 and Adnan Naseemullah in 2017 focus on India’s international and domestic political economy, and Naseemullah examines Pakistan as well. The challenge for the study of contemporary Indian political economy is to explain why the 1991 reforms were successful at all, and to explain the limits to their success. During the early stages of the reforms there was considerable skepticism that they could succeed at all. Within India and internationally, this skepticism was expressed in journalistic commentaries and in academic analysis. The two books under review expose some of the fallacies that lay behind that skepticism. Sinha argues that there was a dynamic process by which Indian firms and business associations, which had feared international competition and markets before, embraced them and built new competitive advantages. The WTO, as it emerged in 1994 from the Doha round, proved to be a remarkably effective international organization which trained government officials and corporate managers in India in the new norms of the global economy. And equipped with this knowledge, India was able to innovate both in industry itself and in the realm of trade negotiation and governance. She shows that Indian firms – the owning and managerial class – did not have fixed interests over the period. And the Indian state also did not have fixed political economic interests. Naseemullah finds the liberalization and globalization processes gave rise to two major management styles. The owning and managerial classes of Indian industry transformed themselves in ways not anticipated by the skeptics. The major debate in the background of these two books is whether a liberal state or developmental state is more effective in economic development. A liberal state is one that may provide certain public goods but remains neutral
{"title":"States, firms, and economic development","authors":"Sanjoy Banerjee","doi":"10.1080/14736489.2021.1958586","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2021.1958586","url":null,"abstract":"The books by Aseema Sinha in 2016 and Adnan Naseemullah in 2017 focus on India’s international and domestic political economy, and Naseemullah examines Pakistan as well. The challenge for the study of contemporary Indian political economy is to explain why the 1991 reforms were successful at all, and to explain the limits to their success. During the early stages of the reforms there was considerable skepticism that they could succeed at all. Within India and internationally, this skepticism was expressed in journalistic commentaries and in academic analysis. The two books under review expose some of the fallacies that lay behind that skepticism. Sinha argues that there was a dynamic process by which Indian firms and business associations, which had feared international competition and markets before, embraced them and built new competitive advantages. The WTO, as it emerged in 1994 from the Doha round, proved to be a remarkably effective international organization which trained government officials and corporate managers in India in the new norms of the global economy. And equipped with this knowledge, India was able to innovate both in industry itself and in the realm of trade negotiation and governance. She shows that Indian firms – the owning and managerial class – did not have fixed interests over the period. And the Indian state also did not have fixed political economic interests. Naseemullah finds the liberalization and globalization processes gave rise to two major management styles. The owning and managerial classes of Indian industry transformed themselves in ways not anticipated by the skeptics. The major debate in the background of these two books is whether a liberal state or developmental state is more effective in economic development. A liberal state is one that may provide certain public goods but remains neutral","PeriodicalId":56338,"journal":{"name":"India Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"468 - 482"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46601450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-08DOI: 10.1080/14736489.2021.1958585
I. Rajaraman
ABSTRACT This paper exploits the property of random selection of questions for answering in Parliament to analyze the party-wise share of questions submitted, normalized by seat share, at two major economic policy events during the term of the Sixteenth Lok Sabha (LS16) – demonetization on 8 November 2016, and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on 1 July 2017. Parties are grouped into three: the ruling party (BJP); allied parties in the ruling NDA coalition; and parties in opposition. The paper also charts the change over time in the types of questions asked, and mines the official responses for information not normally available through the usual channels.
{"title":"Parliament, demonetisation and GST","authors":"I. Rajaraman","doi":"10.1080/14736489.2021.1958585","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2021.1958585","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper exploits the property of random selection of questions for answering in Parliament to analyze the party-wise share of questions submitted, normalized by seat share, at two major economic policy events during the term of the Sixteenth Lok Sabha (LS16) – demonetization on 8 November 2016, and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on 1 July 2017. Parties are grouped into three: the ruling party (BJP); allied parties in the ruling NDA coalition; and parties in opposition. The paper also charts the change over time in the types of questions asked, and mines the official responses for information not normally available through the usual channels.","PeriodicalId":56338,"journal":{"name":"India Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"451 - 467"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43016380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-08DOI: 10.1080/14736489.2021.1958581
Irene S. Wu
ABSTRACT Much has been written about India’s soft power – how much it has, its sources and origins, and its deficits and applications. This article aims to place India’s soft power in context of other nations like China and the US, by applying the Soft Power Rubric, a model that harnesses quantitative data on ordinary human interactions – like foreign visitors appearing in local street markets – to understand the relationships among countries. In this examination of India’s soft power, the focus is on the activity of ordinary people, not necessarily actions by the government. The Soft Power Rubric centers around understanding in which foreign countries are people attracted to India and, vice versa, which foreign countries attract Indians to go abroad. The sum of this activity paints a picture of cultural affinity and social interaction unlike any other analysis of soft power.
{"title":"India and the soft power rubric: the relevance of migrants, students, visitors and movies","authors":"Irene S. Wu","doi":"10.1080/14736489.2021.1958581","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2021.1958581","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Much has been written about India’s soft power – how much it has, its sources and origins, and its deficits and applications. This article aims to place India’s soft power in context of other nations like China and the US, by applying the Soft Power Rubric, a model that harnesses quantitative data on ordinary human interactions – like foreign visitors appearing in local street markets – to understand the relationships among countries. In this examination of India’s soft power, the focus is on the activity of ordinary people, not necessarily actions by the government. The Soft Power Rubric centers around understanding in which foreign countries are people attracted to India and, vice versa, which foreign countries attract Indians to go abroad. The sum of this activity paints a picture of cultural affinity and social interaction unlike any other analysis of soft power.","PeriodicalId":56338,"journal":{"name":"India Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"373 - 401"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49343794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-05-27DOI: 10.1080/14736489.2020.1855013
Parikshit Thakur
ABSTRACT A majority of the existing narratives on studying civil society in India are flooded with empirical findings, without much emphasis on theoretical understanding of the subject. Thus, the article tries to provide a historical overview of the development of notion of civil society and its research in “uncivil” Indian tradition from different dominant theoretical angles in the field. After finding their limitations, the study attempts to provide an alternative understanding of emergence of civil society in colonial India. It also aims to explore, how the lineage of traditional inform civic assocciationalism combined with modern institutionalized associational space gave birth to liberal-minded individuals and the conscious public in colonial India. Moreover, the present research further reveals that how civic awareness inculcated among the marginal’s along with the educated Indian middle class and how interactions between the state, society, and religion helped in development of spirit of civility among individuals, awareness among the public and voice of protest among community in “uncivil” colonial India which was unique from its western counterpart both in the process of formation and the forms of manifestations.
{"title":"Searching “civility” of the “uncivil”: mapping the theoretical understanding of civil society and its research in India","authors":"Parikshit Thakur","doi":"10.1080/14736489.2020.1855013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2020.1855013","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT A majority of the existing narratives on studying civil society in India are flooded with empirical findings, without much emphasis on theoretical understanding of the subject. Thus, the article tries to provide a historical overview of the development of notion of civil society and its research in “uncivil” Indian tradition from different dominant theoretical angles in the field. After finding their limitations, the study attempts to provide an alternative understanding of emergence of civil society in colonial India. It also aims to explore, how the lineage of traditional inform civic assocciationalism combined with modern institutionalized associational space gave birth to liberal-minded individuals and the conscious public in colonial India. Moreover, the present research further reveals that how civic awareness inculcated among the marginal’s along with the educated Indian middle class and how interactions between the state, society, and religion helped in development of spirit of civility among individuals, awareness among the public and voice of protest among community in “uncivil” colonial India which was unique from its western counterpart both in the process of formation and the forms of manifestations.","PeriodicalId":56338,"journal":{"name":"India Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"260 - 294"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14736489.2020.1855013","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47840695","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-05-27DOI: 10.1080/14736489.2021.1931750
Vinay Kaura
ABSTRACT India and China are two powers in Asia, having common borders but different sense of entitlements and vulnerabilities. China’s global profile has become much stronger than India’s. How India and China deal with each other will determine peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The challenge for New Delhi is to factor its national self-interest and security into dealings with a rising China. India is threatened by Chinese assertiveness, given its outstanding boundary disputes with China, Belt and Road Initiative, uncritical Chinese support for Pakistan and China’s increasing penetration into the Indian Ocean region. However, current Indian stance toward China is characterized by hedging, which has severe limitations dues to many structural constraints. The article argues that India should unhesitatingly increase its strategic engagement with America, Japan and Australia to strengthen the Quadrilateral. Despite some obvious differences, all four maritime democracies share a set of common strategic perceptions, which could deepen their security arrangements to manage China’s growing assertiveness.
{"title":"India’s Quadrilateral conundrum","authors":"Vinay Kaura","doi":"10.1080/14736489.2021.1931750","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2021.1931750","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT India and China are two powers in Asia, having common borders but different sense of entitlements and vulnerabilities. China’s global profile has become much stronger than India’s. How India and China deal with each other will determine peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The challenge for New Delhi is to factor its national self-interest and security into dealings with a rising China. India is threatened by Chinese assertiveness, given its outstanding boundary disputes with China, Belt and Road Initiative, uncritical Chinese support for Pakistan and China’s increasing penetration into the Indian Ocean region. However, current Indian stance toward China is characterized by hedging, which has severe limitations dues to many structural constraints. The article argues that India should unhesitatingly increase its strategic engagement with America, Japan and Australia to strengthen the Quadrilateral. Despite some obvious differences, all four maritime democracies share a set of common strategic perceptions, which could deepen their security arrangements to manage China’s growing assertiveness.","PeriodicalId":56338,"journal":{"name":"India Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"322 - 347"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14736489.2021.1931750","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43223847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-05-27DOI: 10.1080/14736489.2021.1931749
Manasi Pritam
ABSTRACT The idea of American exceptionalism in guiding US national security concerns has often come under scrutiny in the past from security analysts and policy makers alike. The US is not alone in projecting its exceptional values in its foreign policy articulations. Indian foreign policy assertions also stress India’s unique civilizational qualities that make it capable of pursuing a “peaceful” modernity as opposed to the “violent” modernity of the West. The aim of this paper is to analyze how the idea of exceptionalism impacts the national security cultures of the two biggest democracies of the world. What are US and Indian exceptionalism in the context of international relations? How do they translate into the national security cultures of a superpower and a rising power? Is their national security culture driven by fear or hope, trust or mistrust, flexible or rigid strategies? These are some of the issues that this paper seeks to address.
{"title":"Examining exceptionalism in national security cultures: a comparative study of the United States and India","authors":"Manasi Pritam","doi":"10.1080/14736489.2021.1931749","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2021.1931749","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The idea of American exceptionalism in guiding US national security concerns has often come under scrutiny in the past from security analysts and policy makers alike. The US is not alone in projecting its exceptional values in its foreign policy articulations. Indian foreign policy assertions also stress India’s unique civilizational qualities that make it capable of pursuing a “peaceful” modernity as opposed to the “violent” modernity of the West. The aim of this paper is to analyze how the idea of exceptionalism impacts the national security cultures of the two biggest democracies of the world. What are US and Indian exceptionalism in the context of international relations? How do they translate into the national security cultures of a superpower and a rising power? Is their national security culture driven by fear or hope, trust or mistrust, flexible or rigid strategies? These are some of the issues that this paper seeks to address.","PeriodicalId":56338,"journal":{"name":"India Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"295 - 321"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14736489.2021.1931749","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43835833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-05-27DOI: 10.1080/14736489.2021.1931751
A. Phadnis, Bhaskara P. Manibabu
ABSTRACT Earlier studies have advanced a number of arguments to explain why legislators disrupt legislative business. This study carries out a confirmatory analysis of the arguments by analyzing 93 speeches delivered by Indian legislators on the subject of disruption. Using Applied Thematic Analysis we identified themes that are salient in the legislator speeches. We find highest salience given to the role of the Speaker, with members emphasizing on the need for the Speaker to show impartiality in the performance of duties. Another highly salient theme was the relationship between legislative parties and legislators, which featured concerns over rising dominance of legislative party leaders. Other themes such as adequacy and enforcement of legislative rules, the competitive interplay between ruling and opposition parties, influence of media and paucity of legislative opportunities received moderate attention. Low salience was given to arguments that explain disruption to be a consequence of democratization of the legislature or marginalization of certain social groups. These insights contribute to the extant literature by highlighting perspectives on disruption from the standpoint of “insiders” of the legislature.
{"title":"Disruptions in the legislature: an insider’s view from legislators in India","authors":"A. Phadnis, Bhaskara P. Manibabu","doi":"10.1080/14736489.2021.1931751","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2021.1931751","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Earlier studies have advanced a number of arguments to explain why legislators disrupt legislative business. This study carries out a confirmatory analysis of the arguments by analyzing 93 speeches delivered by Indian legislators on the subject of disruption. Using Applied Thematic Analysis we identified themes that are salient in the legislator speeches. We find highest salience given to the role of the Speaker, with members emphasizing on the need for the Speaker to show impartiality in the performance of duties. Another highly salient theme was the relationship between legislative parties and legislators, which featured concerns over rising dominance of legislative party leaders. Other themes such as adequacy and enforcement of legislative rules, the competitive interplay between ruling and opposition parties, influence of media and paucity of legislative opportunities received moderate attention. Low salience was given to arguments that explain disruption to be a consequence of democratization of the legislature or marginalization of certain social groups. These insights contribute to the extant literature by highlighting perspectives on disruption from the standpoint of “insiders” of the legislature.","PeriodicalId":56338,"journal":{"name":"India Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"348 - 371"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14736489.2021.1931751","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46652174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-05-27DOI: 10.1080/14736489.2021.1875698
Prateek Joshi
ABSTRACT Despite deepening economic ties between India and China, the unresolved border dispute, Sino-Pak strategic ties and India’s openness to engage with the US-led regional security structures continue to affect the bilateral relationship. The inception of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in 2015 generated strong protests from New Delhi citing violation of its territorial sovereignty and culminated in India’s refusal to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The statements emerging from the Indian foreign office and policymakers expressed concerns about the opacity of Chinese projects, debt trap, and the sovereignty risks to smaller nations’ economies in case of their inability to repay Chinese loans. While these factors objectively sum up India’s stance on the BRI, they simultaneously speak of India’s response to the BRI on a strategic level. The article argues that India’s approach to the BRI should be examined from its Moralpolitik-driven ethical deconstruction of the project, through which it attempts to legitimize its response strategy in balance of power terms.
{"title":"Conceptualizing India’s response to the belt and road initiative: from norms to balancing strategies","authors":"Prateek Joshi","doi":"10.1080/14736489.2021.1875698","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2021.1875698","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Despite deepening economic ties between India and China, the unresolved border dispute, Sino-Pak strategic ties and India’s openness to engage with the US-led regional security structures continue to affect the bilateral relationship. The inception of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in 2015 generated strong protests from New Delhi citing violation of its territorial sovereignty and culminated in India’s refusal to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The statements emerging from the Indian foreign office and policymakers expressed concerns about the opacity of Chinese projects, debt trap, and the sovereignty risks to smaller nations’ economies in case of their inability to repay Chinese loans. While these factors objectively sum up India’s stance on the BRI, they simultaneously speak of India’s response to the BRI on a strategic level. The article argues that India’s approach to the BRI should be examined from its Moralpolitik-driven ethical deconstruction of the project, through which it attempts to legitimize its response strategy in balance of power terms.","PeriodicalId":56338,"journal":{"name":"India Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"247 - 259"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14736489.2021.1875698","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46768809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-03-15DOI: 10.1080/14736489.2021.1895566
A. Saxena
ABSTRACT The spread of the novel coronavirus that took over the world by a storm has caused a serious rupture in the social and economic order. As the Indian state is confronted by several challenges, the exodus of migrant labor appears as a gruesome spectacle. The already precarious lives of migrant labor owing to their employment in the informal economy has been amplified manifold with the outbreak of the pandemic. The eclipsed response of the state to acknowledge their misery has further exacerbated the problem. Since the state is entrusted with the responsibility of providing social security to the labor in the informal economy- a component that is also deemed necessary to be fulfilled by those the state seeks to govern, the pandemic has rendered the question of state’s legitimacy to be probed further. Defined as the capacity and the right to rule, the legitimacy of the state is analyzed from the perspective of the effective provision of social security schemes as well as the expedition/suspension of labor rights. While the state may possess the capacity to provide for social security, and it certainly does as is evident from its boisterous declarations of fiscal stimulus’ for labor welfare, it is argued that the state’s blatant lack of willingness to translate its promises into concrete action puts the “right to rule” aspect under scrutiny and its legitimacy under jeopardy.
{"title":"(Re)visiting the legitimacy of the state: COVID-19 and the migrant labor in India","authors":"A. Saxena","doi":"10.1080/14736489.2021.1895566","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2021.1895566","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The spread of the novel coronavirus that took over the world by a storm has caused a serious rupture in the social and economic order. As the Indian state is confronted by several challenges, the exodus of migrant labor appears as a gruesome spectacle. The already precarious lives of migrant labor owing to their employment in the informal economy has been amplified manifold with the outbreak of the pandemic. The eclipsed response of the state to acknowledge their misery has further exacerbated the problem. Since the state is entrusted with the responsibility of providing social security to the labor in the informal economy- a component that is also deemed necessary to be fulfilled by those the state seeks to govern, the pandemic has rendered the question of state’s legitimacy to be probed further. Defined as the capacity and the right to rule, the legitimacy of the state is analyzed from the perspective of the effective provision of social security schemes as well as the expedition/suspension of labor rights. While the state may possess the capacity to provide for social security, and it certainly does as is evident from its boisterous declarations of fiscal stimulus’ for labor welfare, it is argued that the state’s blatant lack of willingness to translate its promises into concrete action puts the “right to rule” aspect under scrutiny and its legitimacy under jeopardy.","PeriodicalId":56338,"journal":{"name":"India Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"194 - 212"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14736489.2021.1895566","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46975133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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