India’s historical and social origins of democracy differ sharply from the West. With its unique political culture, especially that which prevailed in post-independence era, paving the way for a type of democracy that vastly differs from those propounded by Western theorists and practiced in other Western countries. How democracy works for India is ample proof that it is indeed difficult to compare or match it with canonical cases forwarded by Western thinkers as proof or examples of democracy. It is important to emphasize here what is unique to Indian democracy – a democracy with multiple layers of nationality constituting both a pan-Indian nationalism and assertive regional nationalism within the same citizenry. The present volume on Diversity, Democracy and Development aims to highlight such salient features of Indian democracy. The volume contains contributions from renowned scholars of India and the West and will be useful for both students and teachers and scholars of sociology, political science and history. It is a compilation of articles on contemporary issues broadly related to different countries, including those of Asia, Europe and South America. Thus, the present volume will indeed serve as a valuable source of knowledge for aspiring scholars who would like to gain both a historical perspective about the origin and evolution of democracy in Asia and Europe and the current geopolitics, especially with nation-state boundaries becoming more fluid in this age of Internet-driven instant communication technology and social networking. CONTENTS 1 Diversity, Democracy and Development / B.K. Nagla 2 Development, Diversity and Democracy: A Retrospect / Ravi Prakash Pandey 3 Cultural Pluralism, Social Cohesion and Development in the Context of India Today / Anand Kumar 4 Development as Equity: Towards Creating a Sustainable Future in a Globalizing World / R. Indira 5 Sustainable Development, Universalism and Social Justice / Celi Scalon and André Salata 6 Some Thoughts on Tribes and their Development in India / Vinay Kumar Srivastava 7 Demonetization and the Political Humour in India / Paramjit S. Judge 8 Transforming the Ominous into Happiness: How Antinuclear Drive was Tamed in the Postwar Japan? / Daishiro Nomiya 9 Mineral-Based Industrial Development in Post-Reform India: The Case of Odisha / Rajkishor Meher 10 Reproduction of the Urban Social Structure in the Russian Society: Scrutinizing the Megacity of Saint-Petersburg / Mikhail V. Sinyutin 11 The Academe and International Nongovernmental Organizations: Social Bridges in Urban Societies / Jayanathan Govender 12 The Patel Agitation for Reservation: Quest for Socioeconomic Mobility and Identity Assertion / Jasmine Y. Damle