ABSTRACT
It can be recalled that following independence, the goals of the Indian state were similar to those of all modern national states, i.e., to normalise national space and to organise social and economic activities on the national scale. In theoretical terms, modern national states are driven to ‘rationalize, unify and homogenize social relations within their territorial boundaries’ (Lefebvre, cited by Brenner 2004: 42). Such national and nationalist efforts continue in India, most obviously in rhetoric, but also in terms of state action. However, in the realm of economic development, other types of spatial strategies have emerged in parallel, some of which compete with those that continue to be framed against national territory.
