the country the three important ones are the mainstreaming of marginalized social groups the communications revolution and increasing urbanization the biggest success of indian democracy has been empowerment of castes and communities that existed outside the social pale the spread of adult franchise a series of affirmative steps like reservations a slew of welfare measures and the growth of market forces are changing the feudal nature of social and economic relations the rise of castebased parties the land battles at singur even the spread of naxalism are all signs that those at the bottom are demanding to be heardincreasing connectivity has only strengthened the process of empowerment mobile phone connections have already zoomed beyond 600 million and are expected to cross 1 billion by 2015 while television penetration according to industry estimates will cross the 60 mark by 2020 it means people in every corner of the country are rapidly getting connected and acquiring independent means of accessing information it also means that voters can no longer be fooled by mere rhetoric and empty promises they want delivery and are acquiring the means to monitor itthe third factor urbanization has the potential to take politics beyond caste to include class more than one third of the population is likely to be living in cities and towns by 2020 and their concerns and issues will be shaped by their urban environment and the growing disparity between the rich and the poor between those who live in gated communities and drive shiny big cars and those who live in slums without basic civic amenities and have to make do with shoddy public transporta transforming india means a changing polity those who keep pace with the times will emerge as the powerhouses while others will fall behind the visible process of fragmentation into subgroups subregions and subcultures gives regional forces an advantage over national parties which have to work with a larger canvas regional satraps like nitish or mayawati or naveen patnaik or even narendra modi and yeddyurappa who despite belonging to the bjp are really regional chieftains are better connected to the grassroots they also have the flexibility to knit together an electorally successful social alliance specific to their state without having to worry about the bigger national picture the bjp was compelled by local karnataka considerations to allow scamhit yeddyurappa to continue as chief minister even as it fought a highpitched battle over corruption at the centre with the congressnitishs victory underlines the continuing relevance of the satraps the congress in its glory days was an umbrella party of strong regional leaders its decay began when indira gandhi started cutting them down one by one till the party stood decimated in numerically important states such as up and bihar today regional chieftains have created their own political units while the modis and yeddyurappas survive in a national party like the bjp only because they have been given almost complete autonomy yet as nitish understood and as mayawati seems to be realizing