140093 UE Economic reform in postcolonial India (2017W)

The economic reforms initiated in 1991 are considered to be a watershed moment in post-colonial India’s economic history, as they had a far-reaching impact on the growth trajectory of India. The economy was transformed from a state-driven, centralised one to a largely liberalised and open market economy.
The reforms exposed India to the international market forces and brought it back to the stage of consistent economic growth. The ramifications are felt in many sectors—industry and economy, banking, agriculture, social and cultural. There was a marked difference between the pre-reform and the post-reform eras.
This course aims to understand and evaluate the change in various sectors. It is an attempt to help students understand the emergence of contemporary India with its vast diversity, myriad opportunities and challenges it faces on its quest to become one of the economic powers in the 21st century.
The course consists of two parts: the first focuses on the general historical background of issues and theoretical approaches; the second part exposes the students to select topics in more detail. A multi-disciplinary approach meant for students from different backgrounds will be followed. Understanding the nuances of this transformation helps the student to (1) have a structured and a foundational knowledge on the issues from a multi-disciplinary perspective, (2) examine and understand the transformation and change as explained in various disciplines, especially social sciences, (3) develop critical analytical skills to understand the complex processes and challenges of change in an important region of the world, (4) evaluate the institutional setup for a country with extreme diversity and whether the model could be emulated by other developing states, (5) Evaluate the effects of neo-liberal policies and their role in the overall globalisation process and the political economy, and (6) Apply the acquired core skills to other research/focussed interest areas in general.
Topical Outline:
1. Introduction and course content discussion
2. India and the World—Understanding the historical setting
3. Approaches to change: overview of theories on modernisation and change
4. A brief history of economic reforms: Institutional setting and sectoral reforms
5. From a single party to multi-party coalitions: An overview of political history (rise of regional parties, right-wing nationalism, new identities and nationalism and its impact on democracy)
6. Development challenges: Universal health care (health indicators, medical advances, generic drugs, medical tourism.)
7. Development challenges: Agriculture and Land reforms-from subsistence to surplus? (traditional occupation to market based farming; green revolution, farmers issues and the agrarian economy, artisans and traditional forms of lifestyle, transformation and globalization)
8. Development challenges: Poverty, Inequality and HDI-Long road to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? (Human development indicators like HDI, Gini coefficient, urbanisation, infrastructure.)
9. Technological revolution: lessons for the global south? (IT enabled services (ITES), Space exploration, pharmaceuticals)
10. Culture and Soft Power diplomacy: Spreading wings far and wide (cultural exploration, Films and Music, traditional medicine, Indian diaspora, Indian MNCs abroad, etc.)
11. Critical evaluation of the Economic reforms of 1991. Impact on various areas: Opportunities and challenges
12. Overview, Research theme(s) and discussion
Method:
The students will be supplied with research papers/articles as reading material in advance and they are expected to read before coming to the lecture. (at least two papers/articles per class). The teacher plans to use power point presentation and audio-visuals as necessary.