The Idea Of New India: Essays In Defence Of Critical Thought

The Idea Of New India Has Acquired A New Currency. The Dominant Grammar Of Politics Dilutes The Critical Impulse And Deter The Expression Of Alternate Politics. The Interpretive Possibilities Have Been Reduced To Reactive Exchange. Technology Is Presented As A Panacea, Rather Than As A Facilitator. Legitimacy And Normative Dignity For These Ideas Are Acquired By Redefining The Institutions Role And Through Constitutional Amendments. A Major Intellectual Effort Is Required To Restructure The Whole Texture Of Social Life And To Reformulate Public Policy, Governance Systems And Social Relations To Balance The Opposite Claims Of Market *Efficiency And Economic Growth With Social Equity And Justice. These Issues Have Been Critically Discussed By Pramod Kumar In Three Interrelated Essays. The First Essay Examines The Nature, Scope And Limitations Of Democracy; The Second Essay Looks Critically At The States Response And Identifies The Limits Of The Political Interventions; The Third Essay Is An Attempt To Capture The Interplay Of The Politico-Economic Fault Lines With The Social Architecture. It Also Provides Sufficient Inputs For The Reinvention Of The State In Response To The Challenges Posed By The Market And The Need For Genuine Social Justice.