Ashwini Deshpande

Until sometime back caste was viewed as a kind of odd subject, something which primarily concerned scholars interested in the traditional social order of Indian society, social anthropologists and sociologists. Economists who engaged with the processes of planning…


Reviewed by: Surinder S. Jodhka
Narayan Lakshman

The book under review is a vital addition to the scholarly writings on Indian political economy, though sadly it engages with the familiar puzzle regarding why and how poverty persists among various social groups of India even after more than six decades of India’s freedom…


Reviewed by: Mujibur Rehman
Rana Behal

Rethinking Work: Global, Historical and Sociological Perspectives, is a collection of essays which explores the theme of work as a separate conceptual category that exists apart from labour. In doing so the contributing authors provide a perspective on the factors that define the contours of the meaning of work and the reality of its experi-ence…


Reviewed by: Gayatri Sahgal
Kokila Rangachari. Consulting Editor, Kishore Singh

This is a glossy coffee table book commemorating 60 year of diplomatic relations between France and India brought out under the aegis of FICCI, with messages from the presidents of both the republics, and a foreword by the president of FICCI. However, the introduction…


Reviewed by: N. Kamala
Iqbal Narain, K.C. Pande, and Mohan Lal Sharma

This book, as noted in its preface, is ‘an Evaluation Report on the Elections and Voting Behaviour Studies conducted in India since the first general elections’ commissioned by the Indian Council of Social Science Research. It surveys and codifies this wide ranging, vast and dis­parate literature and includes the results of a survey of scholars concerning…


Reviewed by: Richard Sisson
Brian Landers

For most of the twentieth century, two countries dominated the scene: the United States and Russia (till 1991 as the erstwhile Soviet Union). Students of mod-ern history, political science and international relations, and indeed people more generally…


Reviewed by: Neha Kohli