Institutions are norms that undergird organizations and are reflected in laws and practices. Over time, institutions take root and persist as they are path dependent and thus change resistant. Therefore, it is puzzling when institutions change. One such puzzle has been the enactment of theRight to Information (RTI) Act in India in 2005, which brought about institutional change by transforming the 'information regime'. Why did the government upend the norm of secrecy, which had historically been entrenched within the Indian State? This book uses archival material, internal governmentdocuments, and interviews to understand the why and how of institutional change. It demonstrates that the institutional change resulted from 'ideas' emerging gradually and incrementally, leading to a 'tipping point'.About the IDSA Series: This series interrogates the interplay between globalization, the state, and social forces in the making and un-making of institutions in South Asia. Why do institutions persist and change? Do we need to transcend materialism and dwell in ideas and culture as well tounderstand why institutions perform and fail?The first book in the Institutions and Development in South Asia series, this volume studies the historical institutionalism in the information regime in India by presenting an alternative narrative about the evolution of the RTI Act.

Capturing Institutional Change: The Case of the Right to Information Act in India (Institutions and Development in South Asia)

Politics & Social Sciences

Jha, Himanshu

Mukherjee, Rahul

Jha, Raghbendra

Mitra, Subrata K.

Politics & Government

Oxford University Press

Over the past six decades, indias competitive political process has brought the countrys diverse population into the fabric of a nation and a democratic political system politics in india analyses this achievement, rare among post-colonial states, in the areas of democracy, governance, economic growth, welfare, citizenship, and poverty reduction

Politics In India: Structure, Process And Policy

India's Ministry of Home Affairs, with its striking durability, and ability to adapt to the transition from colonial rule to post-colonial governance, is a remarkable example of institutional resilience. Home's special expertise in governance by stealth - maximum order with the use of minimumforce - was instrumental for the department to acquire a secure niche within the colonial structure. Following the end of colonial rule in 1947, the Home Department, still ensconced in the majestic North Block of Delhi, mutated into the Home Ministry of the Indian Republic. How a colonialinstitution whose key task was to hold Indian nationalism at bay became the architect of the post-colonial state and nation, is one of the main questions to which I respond in this book. Home's multiple roles as the keeper of public order, mentor to public services and the invisible sinews of thestate that holds the noisy democracy and assertive regions together to explain its exalted status in India's governance and politics. My analysis, based on declassified files of the Ministry of Home Affairs, correspondences, biographies and interviews, explores the multiple roles of the Ministry,with its penchant for governance by stealth as my focus.

Governance by Stealth: The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Making of the Indian State

History

Asia

The attitudes of local elites - the hinge between Indian state and rural society - towards protest and participation in development. Illuminates arguments about the nature of the state as well as the development process.

Power, Protest and Participation: Local Elites and Development in India

Social Sciences

Routledge

The Puzzle of India's Governance: Culture, Context and Comparative Theory (Routledge Advances in South Asian Studies)

India no longer gets an easy ride as the world's largest democracy. Spectacular terrorist attacks on its Parliament and places of worship, communal riots of unprecedented ferocity, lingering separatist insurgency and violent caste conflict in impoverished regions have combined to cause a closer appraisal of India's capacity to sustain the rule of law. This book shows how governance is high when people follow the rules of transaction, derived from binding custom, legislation, administrative practices and the constitution. The key question that underpins this analysis is why do some people, sometimes, follow rules and not others? This study responds to this central question by looking at analytical narratives of political order in six Indian regional States, surveys of social and political attitudes and extended interviews with political leaders, administrators and police officers. It shows how, by drawing on the logic of human ingenuity, driven by self interest rather than mechanical adherence to tradition and ideology, these regional elites can design institutions and promote security, welfare and identity which enhance governance.

Reference

Politics in India: Structure, Process and Policy

Providing a comprehensive analysis of the broad spectrum of India’s politics, this undergraduate textbook explains the key features of politics in India in a comparative and accessible narrative, illustrated with relevant maps, life stories, statistics and opinion data. Familiar concepts of comparative politics are used to highlight the policy process, with a focus on anti-poverty measures, liberalisation of the economy, nuclearisation and relations with the United States and Asian neighbours such as Pakistan and China.   The author raises several key questions relevant to Indian politics, including: • Why has India succeeded in making a relatively peaceful transition from colonial rule to a resilient, multi-party democracy in contrast to her neighbours?  • How has the interaction of modern politics and traditional society contributed to the resilience of post-colonial democracy?  • How did India’s economy – moribund for several decades following independence – make a breakthrough into rapid growth, and, can India sustain it?  • And finally, why have collective identity and nationhood emerge as the core issue of India in the 21st century?   Introducing the novice to India, this accessible, genuinely comparative account of India’s political evolution also engages the expert in a deep contemplation of the nature of strategic manoeuvring within India’s domestic and international context. In addition to pedagogical features such as text boxes, a set of further readings is provided as a to guide readers who wish to go beyond the remit of this text.

Examining the politics of social change in India after independence and using the post-colonial state as the backdrop, this book addresses the theoretical issues of transformation in a multicultural and hierarchical society coping with the twin challenges of democratization and development.

Culture and Rationality: The Politics of Social Change in Post-colonial India

Business & Money

Economics

SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd

Power, Protest and Participation: Local Elites and the Politics of Development in India (Routledge Library Editions: Political Protest)

Power, Protest and Participation (Routledge Library Editions: Political Protest)

This book, first published in 1992, examines the attitudes of local elites - the hinge between Indian state and rural society - towards protest and participation in development, illuminating arguments about the nature of the state as well as the development process. It looks at the role of local elites in India both as the representatives of the state and of the rest of rural society, and explains their importance in the country's development. The book deals with the elites' contribution to the credibility of the state and examines the strategies through which they manipulate the allocation of resources and influence the pace and direction of social change. It contrasts the rural elites in two areas, one more economically advanced than the other. The elites in the first area were shown to be capable of combining institutional participation with radical protest, whilst in the other they tended to rely on state channels to achieve reform. The author concludes that despite the different settings, both groups were informed, active and responsive to political conditions. This contrasts with the conventional view that local elites of the dominant castes oppress the lower ones by obstructing reforms, for reasons of self-interest.

The Puzzle of India's Governance: Culture, Context and Comparative Theory

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Books by Mitra, Subrata K.