This is a study of how ethnic diversity is represented in public institutions in India, and of the politics and policy solutions devised to manage ethnic inequalities. With new data on representational patterns in parliament and cabinet, it provides an account of representation that encompasses the diversity of caste, tribe and religion. Emphasising the overlapping nature of social and economic inequalities in India, it seeks to place the issue of material disadvantage at the very heart of the debate on ethnic and cultural inequality.

This is a study of how ethnic diversity is represented in public institutions in India, and how politics manages ethnic inequalities. New data on representational patterns in parliament cover the diversity of caste, tribe and religion. Material disadvantage is central to ethnic and cultural inequality as social and economic inequalities overlap.