Politics and Public Policies: Politics of Human Development in Uttar Pradesh, India

In India, public policies for human development are politically contested for many reasons like diverse political interests, commitment to specific social bases by political regimes etc. They have rendered human development policies and programmes ploys for political bargaining and clientelism to secure vote banks. There is ongoing implicit bargaining between the political regimes in power and their social bases. This is reflected in the public policies related to human development as well. This argument is illustrated by taking the case of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. This paper attempts to illustrate the basis and priorities on which public policies are formulated. [ISEC Working Paper No. 287].