ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the ethno-national moorings and the struggle for Statehood in modern India in the age of India's reforms. In retrospect, perceptions about Indian federalism can be said to have passed through two phases. One major impact of globalisation on Indian federalism has been a marked increase in class and regional disparities. Leela Fernandes argues that the invention of a hybridised form of globality is produced through the nationalist imagination in liberalising India and has been centrally linked to the production of public images of the urban middle classes. Francine Frankel has done a comprehensive longitudinal study of India's political economy from 1947 to the mid-2000s. Five States, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu, together account for about 75 percent of the total foreign direct investment (FDI) in India since liberalization. Mizoram gradually attained a comparable Statehood through a similar political path. Meghalaya also attained Statehood through a peaceful democratic process.
