Ever since China initiated a program of economic reforms in 1978 aimed at the gradual introduction of a market economy, it set its sights on the ‘Four Modernizations’ – modernizations of agriculture, industry, science and technology and defense. The book examines the factors which influenced the reorientation of strategy as well as changes coursing through China, transforming its identity. It provides an insight into the various constituents of China’s power profile, with special focus both on the capabilities it is acquiring as well as the range of critical concerns and challenges it will face in the coming decades. This exercise is of significance to India’s policy planners as wide-ranging social, economic and political changes are sweeping China.
The book examines the implications of the comprehensive transformation China is undergoing and based on it, chalks out a viable Indian policy response towards China. It examines the scope for strategic cooperation between the two countries as well as their strategic dissonance on specific issues. It is clear that a fast modernizing India and China will find several opportunities for cooperation just as they will find several others on which they will compete. The book calls for a balanced China policy and advocates that just as cooperation in areas of mutual interest cannot displace the elements of competition in areas where their interests diverge, competition and rivalry need not, and should not prevent cooperation wherever it is possible in this important relationship.
This volume provides an overview of a range of tools for measuring service delivery and offers valuable lessons on the opportunities and constraints practitioners face in measuring performance. The authors investigate country cases using data from a range of sources in a variety of contexts. Their experiences yield important insights on how to avoid pitfalls, what practices to improve, and how to learn the most from the data at hand. Taken together, those lessons represent an important step in strengthening accountability and governance so as to enhance service delivery. Empirical investigations of the relationship between particular characteristics of the public provisioning of goods and services at the local level and the characteristics of the localities receiving these goods and services may help us understand the impact of policy and learn to design more effective public interventions. Monitoring data are an integral part of the process of learning about the performance of any social program. Many impact evaluations of social programs assume that the interventions occur at specified launch dates and produce equal and constant changes in conditions among eligible beneficiary groups.
The author has presented a systematic exposition of the provisions of the Constitution. He has intended to constitute an objective and faithful commentary on the text of the articles of the Constitution without any pre-conceived notions or encukmbrances, the emphasis is on the original source of each article, how it evolved through the different stages of Constitution-making in the Constituent Assembly and ever since 1950.
It is politico-juridical treatise and seeks to remove many of the misinterpretations and misreadings of the constitutional provisions perpetrated by the colonial hang over of all those called upon to operate this Constitution from generation to generation.
The treatise spread over two compact volumes, is divided into four parts, viz. (1) Introduction and Background, (2) Provisions of the Constitution and a commentary on their evolution, operation and interpretation, (3) Evaluation, Review and Reforms, and (4) Documents, Part one begins with an introductory chapter devoted to making necessary conceptual clarifications with regard to what is Constitution, why it is needed, how it works, what are the types of constitutions etc.
Habits of Highly Effective Countries is an empirical analysis of how India compares with policies associated with success and failure internationally. It illustrates inter alia that the integrity of the legal system is one of the most important factors—perhaps the most important—associated with success.
This book examines the Indian nuclear policy, doctrine, strategy and posture, clarifying the elastic concept of credible minimum deterrence at the center of the country’s approach to nuclear security. This concept, Karnad demonstrates, permits the Indian nuclear forces to be beefed up, size and quality-wise, and to acquire strategic reach and clout, even as the qualifier minimum suggests an overarching concern for moderation and economical use of resources, and strengthens India’s claims to be a responsible nuclear weapon state.
Based on interviews with Indian political leaders, nuclear scientists, and military and civilian nuclear policy planners, it provides unique insights into the workings of India’s nuclear decision-making and deterrence system. Moreover, by juxtaposing the Indian nuclear policy and thinking against the theories of nuclear war and strategic deterrence, nuclear escalation, and nuclear coercion, offers a strong theoretical grounding for the Indian approach to nuclear war and peace, nuclear deterrence and escalation, nonproliferation and disarmament, and to limited war in a nuclearized environment. It refutes the alarmist notions about a nuclear flashpoint in South Asia, etc. which derive from stereotyped analysis of India-Pakistan wars, and examines India’s likely conflict scenarios involving China and, minorly, Pakistan.
Chasing the Dragon: Will India Catch Up with China? addresses one of the most relevant questions of contemporary times—whether Asia’s two giant economies will reclaim their historical position in the international political economy and in India’s case, critically examines its prospects for overcoming its disparity with its northern neighbour. Using empirical data compiled from diverse sources, it evaluates the legacies of the two professedly socialist yet very different systems in terms of human development and economic infrastructure. This book offers an extensive survey of the first decades after reforms in India and China, along with the economic changes in the post-reforms period as a whole, and the nature of the lead opened up by China. The authors evaluate the prospects of India catching up with China, and indicate how this might be accomplished. Rich in analysis and debate, this book will be invaluable to students of international business, economics, international relations, the media, business houses, policy makers, and ministries of finance and external affairs.
The 2008 Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation deal was, perhaps, the most controversial foreign policy initiative of the Manmohan Singh era. When first proposed in 2005, it triggered intense public debate and discussion about its pros and cons, with writings by three stalwarts of the country’s nuclear establishment – the former chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission, Dr. P.K. Iyengar, the ex-director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Dr. A.N. Prasad, and former chairman, of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan, and Bharat Karnad, proving decisive in mobilizing the public opinion largely against it. The case made on technical-scientific, foreign policy, economic, and national security grounds by the authors was at once persuasive and prophetic in that many of the negative outcomes they had foreseen have since come to pass. This book is a compilation of their writings and a rich reference source for any analysis of the nuclear deal.
Laws relating to water in India have diverse origins, including ancient local customs and the British Common Law. The in-depth chapters in this compendium, written by luminaries from various fields, pertain to issues on water and proceed to a discussion of the legal questions that arise. This volume thus straddles two domains, viz., (i) water-resource policy, management, conservation, conflict-resolution, etc., and (ii) water law. The book also briefly raises and explores the case for a constitutional declaration on water and an overarching national water law.
The book is an invaluable resource for policy-makers, planners and administrators concerned with water at the Central, State and local levels; students, academics and practitioners in the domains of water as well as law; and social scientists, NGOs and activists concerned with the various issues discussed in the book. It should be useful as a main or supplementary textbook in universities and research or management institutions where any aspect of water (engineering, ecological, legal, social, economic, management or other) is a subject of study.
Most experts agree that India’s Supreme Court and lower courts’ pro-active behaviour on social rights can be traced back to the immediate post-Emergency era. Post-Emergency, judges have become ‘embedded negotiators’. Their judgments have carefully avoided conflict with the political wings while being mindful of their role as safe keepers of the rights of citizens. While the Court has sometimes been charged with judicial overreach, this book attempts to understand why certain choices were made by the Supreme Court judges and the circumstances in which they were made. Qualitative analysis of the constitutional and legal framework, landmark rulings, and dissenting opinion, along with a multivariate analysis of civil liberties and social rights cases are used. This book evaluates the judgments on preventive detention, anti-terror, health, and education cases and shows how judges seek legitimacy for their decisions.
Most experts agree that India’s Supreme Court and lower courts’ pro-active behaviour on social rights can be traced back to the immediate post-Emergency era. Post-Emergency, judges have become ‘embedded negotiators’. Their judgments have carefully avoided conflict with the political wings while being mindful of their role as safe keepers of the rights of citizens. While the Court has sometimes been charged with judicial overreach, this book attempts to understand why certain choices were made by the Supreme Court judges and the circumstances in which they were made. Qualitative analysis of the constitutional and legal framework, landmark rulings, and dissenting opinion, along with a multivariate analysis of civil liberties and social rights cases are used. This book evaluates the judgments on preventive detention, anti-terror, health, and education cases and shows how judges seek legitimacy for their decisions.
