This research paper discusses the major internal forces and trends which have characterized the evolution of India's polity and society since independence (1947) and which suggest that India will eventually become a politically integrated, first world nation. The world's most populous democracy, India has maintained its political unity and made substantial strides toward developing its economy and modernizing its traditional social structure despite formidable obstacles. Especially noteworthy is the economic progress India has made in the past two decades to open up its economy and to make it more competitive in world markets, especially in the services sector. India's transition from elitist post-colonial politics to a more inclusive federal and electoral system has, however, been accompanied by considerable instability and the growth of narrow interest-based constituencies and intolerant nationalism. India's flourishing private sector and emerging middle class co-exist with widespread urban and rural poverty, flawed public infrastructure and grossly inadequate social services. Great improvements have been made in agriculture but underemployment and low productivity in rural areas and unemployment in the cities continue to retard development. India has not mustered the political will to implement effective fertility control. India's traditionally hierarchical and rigid social structure has undergone significant change, as the history of the struggles of the lower castes and women for more equitable treatment illustrate, but it remains largely intact, notwithstanding the inroads of modern technology and culture. Modernization itself has produced significant strains of political and social alienation, primarily among the urban dispossessed.
India's Heritage of Diversity and Political Fragmentation
1. The achievement and preservation of national unity through democratic and peaceful means is perhaps the most fundamental ac...