When India became independent in 1947 after two centuries of colonial rule, it immediately adopted a firmly democratic political system, with multiple parties, freedom of speech, and extensive political rights. Maintaining rapid as well as environmentally sustainable growth remains an important...

Introduction -- Economic history and modern India : redefining the link -- Rural labour and colonialism -- Agricultural labour : lessons from wage data -- Was there an industrial decline in India in the early nineteenth century? -- Labour-intensive industrialization -- Women and...