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This is the first of a four-volume survey and explorations in political science conducted by the Indian Council of Social Science Research. While this volume undertakes a review of literature on the Indian state written during the period 2003-2009, it goes beyond the confines of this period to explore links, continuities, and trends observed in research on the Indian state right since the fifties. Its aim is primarily to understand the whole range of work in this area by focusing on four key themes-the social character of the Indian state; political economy; social policy; and law and rights. The contributors, in the course of their analyses of these themes, also capture the trajectory of the evolution of various perspectives and theoretical frameworks that have significantly informed the writings on this subject-institutionalism and neo-institutionalism in the fifties and sixties; pluralism and state pluralism as well as Marxism in the seventies; and cultural studies, discourse analysis as well as critical studies that emerged at the beginning of the new millennium. The volume not only provides summary evaluation of the state of the art and valuable bibliographic guide but also highlights research trends and possible lines of future enquiry.