Contemporary India: The Basics

Fully updated and expanded throughout, this second edition of Contemporary India: The Basics provides readers with a clear and accessible guide through the richness, diversity, and complexity of modern-day India.

This essential second edition highlights the changes that contemporary India has undergone over the last five years or so, including the following:
• An analysis of the 2024 general elections, the resulting coalition government, and the charismatic rise of Prime Minister Modi, whose leadership has reshaped the political party system and consolidated his influence.
• A discussion of India’s debates on secularism and the nation’s search for a modern identity amid tensions between state power and democratic ideals.
• Insights into India’s growing global influence, its strained ties with Pakistan over the Kashmir region, and the impact of international conflicts on relations with Canada and the United States.
• An examination of India’s rise as the world’s fourth-largest economy, the challenges of rural development, and the effects of globalization.
• Reflections on the sustainability of India’s growth, the impact of the global pandemic, and the consequences of the climate crisis.

Featuring maps, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal, fully updated, contemporary introduction to one of the most fascinating, culturally diverse, and complex countries in the world.

Rekha Datta, PhD, holds the Freed Endowed Chair in Social Sciences and is Professor of Political Science at Monmouth University, USA. Formerly, she served as Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for academic affairs and was the Founding Director of the Institute for Global Understanding at Monmouth University. Datta has authored and edited several books and professional journal articles and more than a dozen book chapters in edited volumes. She was awarded a United States Senior Fulbright Scholar award for research and teaching in 2017–18.