I have argued so far that India's rural sector has acquired substantial power since independence. I also contend that serious constraints limit the further evolution of rural power. Of the two claims, the first is more surprising for a developing country. Typically, the early stages of industrial development are characterized by a powerless rural sector. It is only after industrialization has reduced the countryside to a small proportion of the total population that an empowerment of the rural sector takes place, as is true of the developed countries today. Since a powerful countryside in a developing economy is rare, it calls for an explanation.

Rural empowerment in India has two aspects. Rural representation and voice in the politics above (parliamentary politics, state institutions) has significantly increased and, simultaneously, the politics below (mass political mobilization) is also marked by increasing rural organization. A democratic political system is related to both.

HOW DEMOCRACY MAKES A DIFFERENCE

The changing configuration of political elites

Universal franchise came to the West long after the industrial revolution. Independent India, on the other hand, was born in poverty with universal franchise. In a poor and largely agrarian country, the first politicians were predominantly urban. A substantial number of them were trained in law, the profession that led the national movement. The nation's democratic leadership, however, made a conscious decision to involve the countryside in mainstream politics.