India’ s Social and Economic Transformation: Introduction

Abstract

As India and the world struggle to recover from the massive dislocation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital to locate public policies in the contours of pre-pandemic society and economy. Enduring social inequalities based on caste, class and gender continue to structure the experiences of individuals. Parental preference for sons remains strong, and patriarchal gender norms continue to limit women’s choices in diverse areas of life, including marriage, work participation and participation in public spaces. If declining poverty and rising aspirations show one side of India’s transformation, persistent inequalities based on the place of residence, caste, class and gender frames indicate the other. Data on employment and economic crises during the pandemic tell the reader that agriculture, the sector that had the lowest contribution to poverty decline in the first decade of the 21st century, may well emerge as the saviour of the Indian economy.