This revised and updated new edition of the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India concentrates on India as it emerged after the economic reforms and the new economic policy of the 1980s and 1990s and as it develops in the twenty-first century. It presents new developments and advancements in the research literature and includes discussions of the major political change in India since the Hindu nationalist party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.

This Handbook contains chapters by the field’s foremost scholars dealing with fundamental issues in India’s current cultural and social transformation. This new edition also contains six new chapters on topics not covered by the first edition, such as changes caused by the Hindu majoritarian political ideology, the Hinduization process in the northeast of India and contemporary Dalit and Adivasi literatures. Following an introduction by the editor, the book is divided into five parts:

Part I: Foundation

Part II: India and the world

Part III: Society, class, caste and gender

Part IV: Religion and diversity

Part V: Cultural change and innovations

Exploring the cultural changes and innovations relating a number of contexts in contemporary India, this Handbook is essential reading for students and scholars interested in Indian and South Asian culture, politics and society.