ing bureaucrats. These complicated and inefficient policies turned away potential foreign investors and, therefore, hurt the Indian economy.As part of the reform plan, Rao implemented revolutionary changes. According to the Asian Survey by Nalini Kant Jha, Rao limited the equity participation to 40% and removed the provision for the necessity of local control of industry. India also turned into favoring export-led growth; therefore, it removed restrictions on foreign trade and significantly reduced customs duties and tariffs on imports. Advancement Towards LiberalismEver since the legitimacy of its government, India has remained the largest democracy in the international environment. It is a democracy with numerous political parties and strong coalition governments. As a result of the policy reforms in 1991, India has moved into a new era, an era of liberalization. Firstly, India’s democracy is much different than the government of any other third world nation in existence today. Much of public policy is actually influenced by the public. Political parties and public activists play a major role in the creation and sustenance of governmental political and economic policies. According to Amartya Sen in his work entitled, India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity, “The democratic framework of the Indian polity permits this exercise (of public influence) in ways that are not open in many other developing economies.” As a result, the major political actors in India’s international relations have been and remain the constituents of the democratic state.Secondly, India’s new economic policy of freer trade is leading the country to better relations with western nations, such as the United States. The Indo-U.S. relations prior to this new liberal era have been quite sour. This tension existed due to the nonalignment policy of India during the Cold War Era and the swadeshi temperament of the Indian Parliamen...
