New Subjects and New Governance in India

416 Pages·2012·1.731 MB·English

by  Ranabir Samaddar, Suhit K. Sen

New Subjects and
New Governance in India
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New Subjects and
New Governance in India
Editors
Ranabir Samaddar
Suhit K. Sen
LONDON NEW YORK NEW DELHI
First published 2012 in India
by Routledge
912 Tolstoy House, 15–17 Tolstoy Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi 110 001
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2012 Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage
and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-415-52290-8
Contents
List of Tables and Figures vii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
Ranabir Samaddar and Suhit K. Sen
Section I: A Second Transition? Sources of Legitimacy and
‘Scientifi c’ Governance
1. The Democratic Story of Twin Challenges to
Governance: Identity Needs and Developmental Needs 13
Amit Prakash
2. New Technique of Governance: E-Governance and
India’s Democratic Experience 69
Dipankar Sinha
3. Disasters: Experiences of Development during the
Embankment Years in Bihar 109
Manish K. Jha
4. Between Ecology and Economy: Environmental
Governance in India 154
Sutirtha Bedajna
5. Confl ict and Development: Implications for
Democracy and Governance 211
Sujata Dutta Hazarika
Section II: The Production of Appropriate Subjects
6. The Cultured Subjects 247
Badri Narayan Tiwari
vi (cid:151) New Subjects and New Governance in India
7. A Well-behaved Minority Population 269
Ranabir Samaddar
8. The Educated Subjects 329
Anup Dhar
Bibliography 376
About the Editors 394
Notes on Contributors 395
Index 396
List of Tables and Figures
Tables
1.1 Performance of Political Parties in Constituencies
of Jharkhand in the Lok Sabha Elections, 1991 48
1.2 Performance of Jharkhandi Political Parties in the
Lok Sabha Elections, 1991 50
1.3 Performance of Political Parties in Constituencies of
Jharkhand in the Lok Sabha Elections, 1996 51
1.4 Performance of Jharkhandi Political Parties in the
Lok Sabha Elections, 1996 53
1.5 Performance of Political Parties in Constituencies of
Jharkhand in the Lok Sabha Elections, 1998 54
1.6 Performance of Jharkhandi Political Parties in the
Lok Sabha Elections,1998 56
1.7 Performance of Political Parties in Constituencies of
Jharkhand in the Lok Sabha Elections, 1999 57
1.8 Performance of Jharkhandi Political Parties in the
Lok Sabha Elections, 1999 59
1.9 Performance of Political Parties in Constituencies of
Jharkhand in the Lok Sabha Elections, 2004 61
1.10 Performance of Jharkhandi Political Parties in the
Lok Sabha Elections, 2004 63
1.11 Performance of Political Parties in Constituencies of
Jharkhand in the Lok Sabha Elections, 2009 65
1.12 Performance of Jharkhandi Political Parties in the
Lok Sabha Elections, 2004 67
8.1 Ratio of Private and Public Share in Higher
Education Sub-sectors 348
Figures
2.1 Focal Domains for e-Governance 83
4.1 Irreversibility of Environmental Process and the
Asymmetry of Technological Change 162
viii (cid:151) New Subjects and New Governance in India
4.2 Environmental Kuznet’s Curve 164
4.3 Trade-offs between Inter-generational Effi ciency
and Equity 166
4.4 Organisational Structure of the MoEF, India
(Environment Wing) 186
4.5 Organisational Structure of the MoEF, India
(Environment Wing) 188
8.1 The Education Conundrum 338
Acknowledgements
With two companion volumes on the present history of gov-
ernance in India, Political Transition and Development Imperatives
in India and New Subjects and New Governance in India, the
Calcutta Research Group (CRG) com-pletes almost a decade-long
study of some of the specifi c features of post-colonial demo-
cracy, particularly in India. In the course of these years we have
picked up the themes of autonomy, justice, and governance. Our
work began with an investigation into the role and function of
autonomy in Indian democracy. This was followed by research
on popular perceptions of social justice, law and its limits in
delivering justice, and the ways in which marginalities have
produced demands for justice. Now, in the two volumes, we shift
our focus to the specifi cs of post-colonial governance, the de-
velopmental paradigm of governance, and its interface with
popular claims, rights, and justice. Autonomy, justice, and
governance — these are three of the fundamental areas of
democratic theory and research, which we felt have been
neglected in traditional historico-political studies of democracy.
In this sense, these are different from the usual studies of civil
society, political society, elections, parliament, bureaucracy, and
social capacity for democratic function that crowd the fi eld of
democratic studies. They are also different from studies of indi-
vidualism, liberty, freedom, etc. But hopefully, together these
volumes will throw new light on some of the less discussed
aspects of Indian democracy.
These researches were carried all through in dialogic manner. A
large number of people — scholars and non-scholars — participated
in workshops, dialogues, and meetings held in different parts
of the country. Several institutions collaborated with CRG. Besides
the dialogues and workshops, the research drew inspiration from
the wide-ranging discussions in the Third and Fourth Critical
Studies Conference (Kolkata, 2009, 2011) held respectively on
the themes of ‘Empires States, and Migration’ and ‘Logistics,
Development, and Democracy’, and the symposium on ‘Bio-politics,
Development, and Governance’ (Kolkata, 2010).