The collection of scholarly articles by eminent scholars capsulate the welfare and development schemes and their many-handed implementation in the lives of people of cities and towns to construct the urban infrastructure as well as boost up the rich dividends of economy, as felt of the independence. A positive story of the experiments useful for academic community.

Local Government in India provides an insight into the system of urban local governance in India and traces its evolution since independence. Urban governments are the organs for promoting grass root democracy and providing not only civic services for the welfare of the local people but also for carrying out the task of urban development and planning. This book tries to analyze their role and existence in the face of rapid urbanization, population growth and industrialization.

Political parties are central to India political life. Their role in political mobilization, governance, the formulation and implementation of economic and social policy, ethnic conflict, separatist movements, and the working of democracy has long been the focus of analysis. Their centrality arises from the fact that they are the key link between individual and state, and state and society as staed earlier. Political parties provide the crucial connection between social process and policy makers, and influence debates and policies on issues affecting the interests of various social groups in the political system. As more and more people participated in the democratic process, competitive politics and the party system have undergone a major change over the past two decades. The Congress and the ruling BJP led National Democratic Alliance face dissension at all levels extending from differences between the BJP and organizations it is affiliated with, such as the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and between the party and its coalition partners.

Cities and city regions are undergoing rapid transformation. They are prime locations of innovation, while at the same time facing growing problems of spatial fragmentation and social exclusion. By addressing these problems, cities become forerunners for new patterns of governance, which include increasingly private actors. While research on 'global' cities has focused primarily on the world's leading financial and economic centres, comparative research on the changing role of large, complex cities in the developing world is less advanced. But it is here, where public problems are most seriously threatening the cohesion of urban society and where the need for new answers is most urgent. Illustrated by in-depth examinations of four city regions: Shanghai, Mumbai, Johannesburg and São Paulo, this book readdresses this balance. The book revisits the same set of cities from different angles, thereby reflecting urban contradictions, juxtapositions, and disjunctures.

The Politics of Informal Justice

Records publications acquired from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, by the U.S. Library of Congress Offices in New Delhi, India, and Karachi, Pakistan.