Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Development in India

Abstract

India's political development was unique, both in formal preparation and in the qualities of the modernizing elite which was fundamentally alien to Indian society. The sepa ration of alien elite and Indian masses is a historic condition, approaching the quality of a "praetorian society" and setting the context for efforts to create a national development effort. The political system was parliamentary democracy, and by 1957 was representing the effective centers of power in Indian so ciety. Nehru's leadership, the Congress party's policy con sensus, and the dominant role of the bureaucracy throughout the first decade of independence characterized the system. In legislation, response, and recruitment the political system proved flexible, sensitive, and viable, Indian planning con tinued to have a technical bias because of the relative isolation of the bureaucracy, both by social origin and governmental po sition. The administrative machinery of the state is relatively weak in comparison to the problems of stimulating development or using high levels of coercion in change, but strong enough to continue to dominate the decision-making process in the central government. The democratic system of social change has been more effective in India than the bureaucratic system of economic planning. The links between the two portions of the political community have been weak and sometimes hostile, limiting development.