Indian Democracy's Mid-Life Crises

Featuring
Ramachandra Guha
Historian and author

Hosted by
Arvind Subramanian
Senior Fellow and Director, Understanding India Initiative
Center for Global Development

The Republic of India is the world's most reckless political experiment. It was born amidst a background of partition, civil war, economic scarcity and territorial fragmentation. The decision to yet promote a democratic political system, and promote linguistic and religious diversity, was an act of faith.

At this Understanding India lecture, Ramachandra Guha will analyse India's birthing crises and explain how they were overcome. He will also focus on the major challenges currently facing the country, which include corruption, religious and ethnic tension, environmental degradation, and social inequality.

Guha is the author of the best-selling history “India After Gandhi,” and numerous other books on politics, environment and cricket. He has been described by the New York Times as “perhaps the best of India’s non-fiction writers.”