000 02995cam a2200325 i 4500
001 18193896
005 20190420020021.0
008 140619s2015 enka b 001 0 eng
010 _a 2014012538
020 _a9781138802179
040 _aDLC
_beng
_cDLC
_erda
042 _apcc
043 _aa-ii---
050 0 0 _aKNS2119.A312005
_bS53 2015
100 1 _aSharma, Prashant
_928980
245 1 0 _aDemocracy and transparency in the Indian state
_bthe making of the right to Information Act
260 _aLondon
_bRouledge Publisher
_c2015
490 0 _aRoutledge/Edinburgh South Asian studies series
504 _aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505 0 _aPrologue -- Democratic Deepening and the Right to Information -- The Dominant Narrative -- Digging Up the Grassroots -- Opening Up the Government -- The Foreign Hand -- How Deep is My Democracy?
520 _a"The enactment of the national Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2005 has been produced, consumed and celebrated as an important event of democratic deepening in India both in terms of the process that led to its enactment (arising from a grassroots movement) and its outcome (fundamentally altering the citizen-state relationship). This book proposes that the explanatory factors underlying this event may be more complex than imagined thus far.The book discusses how the leadership of the grassroots movement was embedded within the ruling elite and possessed the necessary resources as well as unparalleled access to spaces of power for the movement to be successful. It shows how the democratisation of the higher bureaucracy along with the launch of the economic liberalisation project meant that the urban, educated, high-caste, upper-middle-class elite that provided critical support to the demand for an RTI Act was no longer vested in the state and had moved to the private sector. It goes on to investigate the Indian RTI Act within the global explosion of freedom of information laws over the last two decades, and shows how international pressures had a direct and causal impact both on its content and the timing of its enactment.Taking the production of the RTI Act as a lens, the book argues that while there is much to celebrate in the consolidation of procedural democracy in India over the last six decades, existing social and political structures may limit the extent and forms of democratic deepening occurring in the near future. It will be of interest to those working in the fields of South Asian Law, Asian Politics and Civil Society"--
651 0 _aIndia
_xPolitics and government
_y1977-
_928981
906 _a7
_bcbc
_corignew
_d1
_eecip
_f20
_gy-gencatlg
999 _c191396
_d191396