Remapping India
New States and Their Political Origins
Published on 18. October 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-1-84904-229-1 (ISBN)
Description
There is a widespread consensus today that the constitutional flexibility to alter state boundaries has bolstered the stability of India's democracy. Yet debates persist about whether the creation of more states is desirable. Political parties, regional movements and local activists continue to demand new states in different parts of the country as part of their attempts to reshape political and economic arenas. Remapping India looks at the most recent episode of state creation in 2000, when the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand came into being in some of the poorest, yet resource-rich, regions of Hindi-speaking north and central India. Their creation represented a new turn in the history of the country's territorial organisation. This book explains the politics that lay behind this episode of 'post-linguistic' state reorganisation and what it means for the future design of India's federal system.
Reviews / Votes
'Tillin's book is a reminder of how the lower and middle castes have increasingly shaped Indian politics, and of how important the states and state elections have become within the union.' * Financial Times * 'Remapping India is an insightful, timely and much-needed exploration of the creation of new states in India, which also contributes to the study of state - society relations in contemporary India.' * International Affairs * 'A beautifully presented, well written and admirably researched book.' * Professor Robin Jeffrey, author of India's Newspaper Revolution and co-author of The Great Indian Phone Book * 'An elegantly written and insightful study of an aspect of Indian political development that has hitherto received surprisingly little attention from scholars - the creation of new states in what is the world's most populous federal union. The doubling of the number of states within the Republic of India, from fourteen in 1956, following linguistic reorganisation, to twenty-eight in 2000, almost seemed to happen by stealth, in dribs and drabs. However, on three occasions - in 1972, 1987 and 2000 - clutches of three states were created. Remapping India focuses on the last instance to explore the politics.' * James Chiryankandath, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London * 'This fascinating book offers not only comparative examinations of three new states of the Indian Union - Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh - but also an explanation of the making of the three largest Indian states which have not been carved out on the basis of linguistic criteria. Louise Tillin painstakingly shows that they have almost been the unintended consequences of the dynamics of a multilevel federal structure in the context of the erosion of the Congress domination, the rise of the lower castes and the surge of Hindu nationalism in the 1990s. An important book for all students of Indian politics.' * Christophe Jaffrelot, Research Director at CNRS and author of Religion, Caste and Politics in India *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 138 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84904-229-1 (9781849042291)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Louise Tillin is a Lecturer in Politics at the India Institute, King's College London. She has previously been a research fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge and taught at SOAS, LSE, Sussex and the Open University. Before this she worked as a South Asia analyst in BBC News.