This week we will cover the post-independence politics of India from 1948 to 2014. It will discuss the various leaders especially the contribution of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi to Indian polity. You will get an idea about how India went about its task of nation building and the various challenges it confronted along the way. The section will also cover the dominance of the Congress party and the factors that led to its downfall in recent times. The debates about linguistic states, affirmative action, secularism and the changing nature of Indian federalism will be discussed. You should be able to appreciate the reasons as to why, even with all its shortcomings, India remains an exemplar of robust democracy unlike most other post-colonial countries.

This section will look at the trajectory of India's economic development. It has changed from a state-led economic development model to the one where through a series of a reforms the economy has become more pro-business and market-friendly. You will be introduced to the basic features of first and second-generation reforms, the transformation of the economy since India liberalized in 1991 and the challenges of poverty and job creation that still needs to be tackled.

As India's influence increases in the international system, understanding its foreign policy and its engagement with the rest of the world is critical for students of international relations. This section is designed as a comprehensive review of some of the key issues related to India's word view and its behaviour towards the external world. Apart from taking stock of contemporary thinking and policies of the country, the major thrust would be on India's relations with its neighbours and great powers, its nuclear weapons policy and the ideological foundations of its foreign policy after independence.

This week you will be introduced to some of the concerns related to women and the politics of gender in contemporary India. The section will also focus on some of the key issues related to feminist struggle over the last three decades. Not only will it touch upon the achievements of these struggles but also deal with issues related to missing women, low sex-ratio of women compared to men in India, violence against women, the demand for representation in legislative bodes and the struggle for the rights of sexual minorities. The theme of gender justice and how it is articulated in various forums will also form an important part of this section.

This week we will discuss one of India's ancient epics - The Ramayana. Here you will not just be introduced to the text but the various Ramayana traditions, which include a wide range of performance traditions, be it in folk theatre, women's Ramayana songs or shadow puppetry. At the core of these traditions is the idea of morality or dharma, which continues to find resonance in contemporary India even though it was written around 500BC. Because there are innumerable interpretations of the Ramayana, often the sacred becomes the source of controversy. But these disagreements often reinforce the relevance of the epic in the daily lives of Indian society.

We will use arts as a lens to look at some of the general transformations in today’s India. The focus in this section will be to negate the modernity/tradition dichotomy and instead argue that traditions in India are constantly changing. These traditions adapt to the prevailing conditions, which present its own complexities. To understand them, specific concepts and tools will be introduced to better explain the realities of contemporary India, which simultaneously remains connected to its ancient past.