What happens to a country when its skilled workers emigrate? The first book to examine the complex economic, social, and political effects of emigration on India, Diaspora, Development, and Democracy provides a conceptual framework for understanding the repercussions of international migration on migrants' home countries. Devesh Kapur finds that migration has influenced India far beyond a simplistic "brain drain"--migration's impact greatly depends on who leaves and why. The book offers new methods and empirical evidence for measuring these traits and shows how data about these characteristics link to specific outcomes. For instance, the positive selection of Indian migrants through education has strengthened India's democracy by creating a political space for previously excluded social groups. Because older Indian elites have an exit option, they are less likely to resist the loss of political power at home. Education and training abroad has played an important role in facilitating the flow of expertise to India, integrating the country into the world economy, positively shaping how India is perceived, and changing traditional conceptions of citizenship. The book highlights a paradox--while international migration is a cause and consequence of globalization, its effects on countries of origin depend largely on factors internal to those countries. A rich portrait of the Indian migrant community, Diaspora, Development, and Democracy explores the complex political and economic consequences of migration for the countries migrants leave behind.

Heir to a diverse array of traditions, the Indian subcontinent boasts customs that are distinguished by a constant juxtaposition of the ancient and the modern. The omnibus culture that has resulted from a rich history reflects an accommodation of ideas from across the globe and over time. This inviting narrative examines the tapestry of major events and beliefs that imbue everyday Indian life with vitality, and it presents the remarkable achievements in writing and the arts that have influenced individuals throughout the world.

As India prepares to take its place in shaping the course of an ‘Asian century’, there are increasing debates about its ‘grand strategy’ and its role in a future world order. This timely and topical book presents a range of historical and contemporary interpretations and case studies on the theme. Drawing upon rich and diverse narratives that have informed India’s strategic discourse, security and foreign policy, it charts a new agenda for strategic thinking on postcolonial India from a non-Western perspective. Comprehensive and insightful, the work will prove indispensable to those in defence and strategic studies, foreign policy, political science, and modern Indian history. It will also interest policy-makers, think-tanks and diplomats.

This book gives readers an in-depth and up-to-date account of India’s external and internal threats in a deteriorating global security environment. It shows that while partnerships with some countries have strengthened, anxieties persist with others such as China and Pakistan. Similarly, India has not been able to cope with the challenges of internal security emerging from violence in Kashmir, insurgency in the north-east, to mention a few. Problems of global terrorism and global warming stare us in the face. Tensions between major powers, threats and counter-threats between major and middle powers, and international hotspots like Georgia and Afghanistan remind us that there is intense competition for strategic space. India as an upcoming power is treading its path carefully and is developing meaningful partnerships with all major powers. China’s reluctance to proceed further in resolving the boundary dispute with India, its reported incursions on the borders and its rapid military modernisation has caused anxiety in India. India is nevertheless upgrading its military capability to meet any Chinese threat. Pakistan’s lack of adequate action in punishing those responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack and its reluctance to destroy the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan has put a question mark on the future of India Pakistan relations. These and various other threats and challenges are discussed in this volume, latest in a unique series with contributions from academics, political commentators and military personnel.

The rise of Asia has been touted to be an extremely significant global phenomenon. The EU has sought convergence on global issues, regional security matters as well as regulatory policy and other economic issues with the countries in the region especially India. A close and consistent approach towards monitoring of EU-India relations is therefore called for particularly in the light of the long and enduring economic partnership and a serious and meaningful bilateral political dialogue. This book analyses the current trends of the EU-India relationship through content analysis. It shall seek to examine the various aspects of the EU-India equation which are giving it an upward thrust and also the factors which are proving to be a drag on the relationship. The most pertinent issues in the partnership that need to be effectively dealt with have been identified through analysis of the portrayal of EU in Indian newspapers i.e. The Economic Times, The Times of India and Dainik Jagran. The insight, outlook and the perception of the Indian elite belonging to the spheres of politics, business, civil society and media have been consolidated and analysed for the purpose of making recommendations for public policy and concrete policy outcomes. An attempt has been made to fathom the nuances of the EU-India engagement and predict the future trajectory of the relations.

"The Imaginary Institution of India is the first major collection of Sudipta Kaviraj's essays and as such, will be received with great curiosity and attention."-Sanjay Subrahmanyam, University of California, Los Angeles --

A handy guide to every religion practised in India In India, the birthplace of some of the world’s major faiths and home to many more, religion is a way of life, existing as much in temples, mosques, churches and wayside shrines as it does in social laws, cultural practices and the political arena. The Religions of India contains, in a single volume, a comprehensive account of every major faith practised in the country today—Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and the Bahai faith. This meticulously researched work traverses a vast range of topics—from Somnatha Temple and Babri Masjid to Tirthankaras and the Akali Movement; from the Shariat and the Eucharist to Shabuoth and nirvana. It places each religion in its historical context, tracing its evolution from its inception to the present. • Incisive profiles of founders and key patrons, deities, saints, mystics and philosophers • Information on and insights into lesser-known and regional forms of worship, as well as important festivals, customs and rituals • Extensively cross-referenced with suggestions for further reading

This volume explores how difference is constructed, manifested, mobilised and obscured in socially uneven societies, particularly those fuelled by neoliberal economic growth in the recent years.The book approaches difference as a double edged concept that allows one to make sense of the tensions that are played out betweencosmopolitan convergence andmulticultural diversity, between expanding middle classes and increasingly disenfranchised poor groups, between the global and the local. The chapters in this volume present a series of empirical explorations of how difference is articulated, desired, levelled, governed and even subverted in the socio-economically uneven landscapes of India and China. They examine how difference emerges out of daily practice, categorisation processes, dividing practices, nation building efforts and identity projects.Through these empirical studies, we see how difference is articulated along a number of axes: differentiations of groups or persons according to hierarchies of superiority/inferiority; the demarcation of difference as something that is potentially disruptive and therefore in need of containment; thecelebration of difference as diversity, and finally, the ways in which difference comes to be internalised in the shaping of individual identities. Another common theme that binds a number of contributions is the exploration of the role of the state in constructing and controlling these differences, and the ways in which these interventions rearrange the social-political landscapes.This book was published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.

When did categories such as a national space and economy acquire self-evident meaning and a global reach? Why do nationalist movements demand a territorial fix between a particular space, economy, culture, and people? Producing India mounts a formidable challenge to the entrenched practice of methodological nationalism that has accorded an exaggerated privilege to the nation-state as a dominant unit of historical and political analysis. Manu Goswami locates the origins and contradictions of Indian nationalism in the convergence of the lived experience of colonial space, the expansive logic of capital, and interstate dynamics. Building on and critically extending subaltern and postcolonial perspectives, her study shows how nineteenth-century conceptions of India as a bounded national space and economy bequeathed an enduring tension between a universalistic political economy of nationhood and a nativist project that continues to haunt the present moment. Elegantly conceived and judiciously argued, Producing India will be invaluable to students of history, political economy, geography, and Asian studies.