Suchergebnisse

Civil society is often expected to rise above historical and contemporary socio-economic forces such as the neoliberal economic policy and undertake the transformation of a stratified society to an egalitarian society conducive to democracy. Democracy, Civil Society and Governance is an endeavour to critically examine such expectations. The book focuses on the interplay of democracy, civil society and public policy implementation, and addresses the role of civil society in terms of the changing nature of the economy and the condition of the working class. It highlights the reinforcement of hegemonic value systems by the contemporary mainstream civil society as well as the role of the pro-poor civil society in supporting and mobilizing the disadvantaged for their rights and justice. The book also critically evaluates government policies and their implementation in the domains of education, public health, employment, social upliftment and environment

Theoretically, modern formal education develops not only critical questioning mind and skills but also inculcates universalistic values leading to humane social relationships. For attaining such objective, the education system needs to evolve institutions, curricula, competent committed teachers and pedagogies. Though the architects of the Indian Constitution and the First Education Commission emphasised importance of education for national integration, and egalitarian secular social order, rigorous institutional mechanism, modules and pedagogies have not developed in the last six decades to attain the objective. This has not been on political agenda. Education policy and governance have been lopsided and piecemeal. Colonial educational ethos has continued. Education has spread widely across all social strata with increasing enrolment at all levels; the system segregates and discriminates students from the primary stage. Only miniscule section of society gets good quality education enabling them to occupy higher positions in different sectors. The system has failed in inculcating plural secular egalitarian values. Hegemonic values of dominant strata embedded in hierarchical ethos are reinforced and legitimised.

This article is a study of political economy of Gujarat in the context of the issues pertaining to 'good governance'. The article reviews Gujarat's socio-economic development with respect to key indicators of environment, health, education and welfare programmes. It presents an argument that overall economic growth alone is not the adequate criterion for assessing good governance. Rather, broader issues of human development, reach and depth of welfare programmes and the approach informing the economic policy constitute the core bases for the assessment of a state's claims to good governance. Gujarat, one of the states of the Indian union, is seen as a developed state that has made considerable progress in more recent times in the direction of good governance. This article seeks to critically examine this impression.

Nikita Sud, Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and the State: A Biography of Gujarat, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 249, ₹ 695.