One of the most troubling critiques of contemporary democracy is the inability of representative governments to regulate the deluge of money in politics. If it is impossible to conceive of democracies without elections, it is equally impractical to imagine elections without money. Costs of Democracy is an exhaustive, ground-breaking study of money in Indian politics that opens readers’ eyes to the opaque and enigmatic ways in which money flows through the political veins of the world’s largest democracy. Through original, in-depth investigation—drawing from extensive fieldwork on political campaigns, pioneering surveys, and innovative data analysis—the contributors in this volume uncover the institutional and regulatory contexts governing the torrent of money in politics; the sources of political finance; the reasons for such large spending; and how money flows, influences, and interacts with different tiers of government. The book raises uncomfortable questions about whether the flood of money risks washing away electoral democracy itself.

UPSC is considered to be the most prestigious and toughest examination in the country. In order to crack these exams one need to do heavy preparations, thorough practice and clear concepts about each and every subject. “IAS Mains General Studies Paper – 2” the most updated study material incorporated with detailed information and supported by up-to-date facts and figures. The complete coverage on each topic of the syllabus have been divided into 4 Important Units in this book. It gives the complete depiction of Governance, Constitutional, Polity, Social Justice and International Relations. This book facilitates by giving the deep coverage on all topics of the syllabus at one place with the conceptual clarity to fulfil the need and demands of the aspirants, special exam oriented structure has been given according to the UPSC syllabus, discussion of the theoretical concepts with the contemporary examples are given, Solved Papers from Solved Papers [2019-17 and 16] and UPSC Practice Papers that helps in raising up level of preparation. This book acts as a great help in achieving the success for the upcoming exam. TABLE OF CONTENTS Solved Papers 2019-17, Unit -1: Constitutional Framework, Unit -2: Indian Government and Political Dynamics, Unit -3: Governance, Unit -4: International Relations, UPSC Solved Paper 2016, UPSC Practice Papers.

This book is written to get an overall idea of “dynastic politics” in India. It is always kept in mind that a citizen of India should know more about the politicians who are in the Government and form policies, etc. to take the country in the proper direction, at the same time the book should be interesting. Wherever possible, family trees are shown as well as the assets of our politicians. It was natural to start with the Nehru Gandhi family, being one of the largest and long-ruling families at the helm of all affairs. Then State-wise, the families are chosen and the account is presented. Since the volume is huge, this book is in two volumes. States are chosen alphabetically. So, even if the Nehru Gandhi family is in Volume 1, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, etc. are in Volume 2. Early rulers in Indian history used to handover the throne to their sons and then to the next generations for generations to come until some larger event upset the process, mostly conspiracies by persons like very close aides of the king or a revolt. Similar lines were followed even during our democracy passing on the rule to the next generation, which gave rise to dynastic rule. Indian politics has witnessed a large spectrum of politicians from various fields. Initially, it consisted mainly of leaders from the field of law. But now, we find that we have eminent personalities from the sports field, actors, actresses, superstars from the silver screen; the literary field is no exception; we have writers, poets, and so on; economists find a special place in the political arena; politics does not shun even criminals or few dacoits who then turned to politics after their surrender. Businessmen, lings or we can say princes from princely states as Britishers decided to call them are also found here. We have the learned people in politics as well as the illiterate people (angutha chhaap) who learnt to sign only after assuming office on getting elected.