The State Capacity Initiative at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) invites you to a virtual book discussion on: Identity Economy: Nation and Nationalism in Post-liberalisation India by Ravinder Kaur
About the Discussion:
How and when did India transform into a lucrative emerging market in the twenty-first century?
Ravinder Kaur explores this question focusing on her new book ‘Brand New Nation’. The book delves into the long history of India’s capitalist transition into an enclosure of global investment flows. Far from being a counter-force against free-market globalization, the book argues, twenty-first-century Indian hyper-nationalism is deeply entwined with the promise of capitalist growth. India itself has become a business enterprise, one that desires to be the “factory of the world”: its lifeblood the dreamworlds of “India growth story” and the majoritarian quest of recovering a mythical Hindu golden past.
Ravinder’s presentation will be followed by a discussion by panelists Swagato Sarkar and Ajay Gudavarthy.
About the State Capacity Initiative at CPR
The State Capacity Initiative at the Centre for Policy Research is an interdisciplinary research and practice programme focused on addressing the challenges of the 21st-century Indian state. The purpose of this initiative is to place the critical challenges of building state capacity at the heart of the field of policy research in India, where it has always belonged but remains surprisingly marginalised. We therefore start with first principles and ground ourselves in existing realities to deepen and expand the understanding of the challenges and possibilities of building state capacity in a democratic and federal India. Our programme of work focuses on the changing roles of the Indian state: institutional design, implementation and administrative capacity; the challenges of regulatory and fiscal capacity; and the complex and changing relations between society, politics and state capacity in India.
