Discuss the role of state in Indian society?

In modern industrial cum capitalist societies, power is centralised in the institution of state and dispersed among its citizens. In the opinion of Max Weber, the state as a rural community that successfully claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory. Thus, the state is one of the important agencies of social control whose functions are carried by means of law backed but ultimately, by physical force.

A state is characterised by few elements i.e. populations territory, government and sovereignty. It also requires international recognition. The state grows out of a particular historical process in response to the issue of legitimation of power and integration of power arrangements. To mention an orderly system of social relations, people have to be subjected to some degree of discipline. The discipline is an ordered society or state needn't always come from an external agency like the police, army or judiciary. It may come as a result of voluntary acceptance of the norms and values of the society or the constitution of the state by the people themselves.