Professor Chetakar Jha’s Indian Government and Politics: A Political Commentary

The Indian Government and Politics stands out as a classic work on the Indian politics in the sense that it does not only analyse the working of the body politic but also offers practicable alternatives and suggestions within the framework of the constitution, law and politics. Through published way back in 1960, the book was ahead of its time even then as it went beyond the prevalent trends in the legal and administrative studies of the period. It initiated an innovative approach in political science by incorporating behavioural dimensions like cultural mores, ideological currents, political parties and elections besides of course giving an incisive analysis of legal-constitutional discourse. These rarely engaged the attention of the political science fraternity those days. The book is written in suggestive mode and aims to generate an intelligent and informed debate on the working of the political institutions both formal and informal. It also throws light on political processes and the interface between the civil society and the state and cautions against the smothering of liberal spirit and values by new fads and fancies in social sciences in the name of psuedo-politics of communitarianism and identity. The author’s commitment to liberal ideas and institutions, which are in short-supply today, consistently runs throughout the book.