Reflection 3

“The Current State of Democracy in India” by Rohit De

Dulles Hall, 10/4/19 (Campus)

This presentation delved deeper into the status and development of Indian government and democracy. Recently, due to the rise of the BJP and Modi’s leadership, India has been making headlines. Personally I lacked any profound understanding of the matter, so this talk helped put into perspective the various components that led to India’s current state.

India is a major player in world and Asian politics, and understanding its development is important to international affairs as well as seeing parallels with how other governments may similarly develop.

Primarily, I gained academically from this event as it expanded my knowledge and depth of understanding of a nation with a rich and long history. It also made me more aware of differences in democracy and how India itself has a very complex and shifting governmental system which is a bit of an anomaly amongst Asian nations.

This event touched on a few things I learned in a history course this year. There was mentions of Hindu nationalism and rising of powers such as the INC. I was learning about colonial-ruled India and how the rise to independence was made difficult by internal differences, and today I learned that even with more recent government, India has ethnocentric contention still.

I feel I’d need to do a but more reading before having any expound-able questions on the topic. Regarding government, I always like to question the nature and intent of those in powerful so I’d always be open to asking about the speaker’s general feel of the extent of corruption in the system