INDIA AND THE AGE OF CRISIS: THE LOCAL POLITICS OF GLOBAL ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL FRAGILITY

Much of the discussion of India in the public sphere has focused on economic policy settings and restructuring, annual growth rates, trade relations and the nation’s status as an economic and political actor within the international system. This collection considers other dimensions of socio-economic transformation in India and its profound impact on society and nature. While economic and ecological fragility are now very apparently problems of a ‘global’ scale they are nevertheless grounded and experienced at the local scale where vulnerable and marginal people located in the urban periphery and in rural areas confront these ‘crises’ most acutely. The studies in this collection encompass many of the most important social and political concerns of India in this age of crisis, namely, the politics of water resources and land acquisition and use; the interaction between food security, markets, and institutions...