State Autonomy and Public Policy in India

Reeta Tremblay’s selection of the three historically significant areas of agricultural policy, Industrialisation and economy, to examine issues of state autonomy is highly relevant and most revealing. The apparently diverse state actions of attempted collective farming, the erection of the Bokaro Steel Pant and devaluation of the rupee, when set against the background of national and international powerplay make history an entirely new and fascinating study. India’s position in the world, its emphasis on taking stands independent of big power pressures, and its insistence on agricultural self-sufficiency within a democratic set-up-all this, when seen in the transition period between Nehru and Indira Gandhi, is wonderfully related in eminently readable form.