`This book... should generate great interest among a large consituency of the students of democratic theory, public policy and institutional arrangements′ - Subrata K Mitra, Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics

Concentrating on the increase in Indian assertions of identity and their political mobilization, and the economic reforms of 1991, this book looks at the actors in the governance process, and at policies and programmes of poverty reduction. It covers the politics of identity, the impact of the nation state by globalization and political identity, the role of ′identities′ versus ′interests′ in the course of development, the upsurge of caste-based identity; and the limitations of the Dalit movement.