Indian Renaissance, The: India's Rise After a Thousand Years of Decline

by Sanjeev Sanyal

India's recent economic performance has attracted world attention but the country is re-awakening not just as an economy but as a civilization. After a thousand years of the decline, it now has a genuine opportunity to re-establish itself as a major global power.In “The Indian Renaissance”, the author, Sanjeev Sanyal, looks at the processes that led to ten centuries of fossilization and then at the powerful economic and social forces that are now working together to transform India beyond recognition. These range from demographic shifts to rising literacy levels, but the most important revolution has been the opening of mind and the changed attitude towards innovation and risk.This book is about how India found itself at this historic juncture, the obstacles that it still needs to negotiate and the future that it may enjoy. The author tells the story from the perspective of the new generation of Indians who have emerged from this great period of change.Published and distributed worldwide by World Scientific Publishing Co. except India, UK and North America

Genres: History, India, Nonfiction, Economics, Politics, Indian Literature, Anthropology

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Sanjeev Sanyal is an economist, urban theorist and writer. He grew up in Sikkim, Kolkata and Delhi before heading off to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He spent the tumultuous summer of 1993 in South Africa as it transitioned from apartheid, and then extensively travelled through Guatemala as it emerged from civil war. These experiences made him a keen observer of rapidly changing societies, an interest that reflects in many of his varied writings.

Sanjeev spent most of his adult life battling international financial markets, a few years in Mumbai and many in Singapore. One day in 2008, mostly on a whim, he decided to move back to India and travel all over the country with his family. This resulted in his hugely popular second book, Land of the Seven Rivers. Then in 2011, again for no particular reason, he went back to finance and took up a role as the global strategist of one of the world’s largest banks. He also spent the next few years exploring the Indian Ocean rim—Oman, Sri Lanka, Zanzibar, Vietnam, Indonesia, and up and down India’s coastline. These travels resulted in The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History.

Currently Sanjeev lives in New Delhi where he serves as the principal economic adviser to the Indian government.

Reviews

[Ashish Iyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is well written and complex and difficult to understand concepts are explained in a simple way. One cannot help but admire the analysis of the author. From its glorious days in the past to its decline and the reason for the decline has been explained in a logical way. I wish our history books at school was written by such good people. This book needs to be updated. It was a good read.

[Pratik Rath · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read India after Gandhi, and was looking for a sort of "counter book" to it, something that counters Guha's love and adoration for Nehru. This led me to Sanjeev Sanyal, who I must say is a fantastic thinker. A lot of his talks are very enlightening and interesting.

So to begin I should say that the ideas captured in this book are interesting, a vision for where India is going and the importance of liberalization. It's a book that strongly smells of a love for capitalism, although it does a decent job of conveying why this is the right path for India and how to put in checks and balances to ensure holistic growth. The key thesis of the book is the importance of being open to the world and how being closed had led to the decline of several civilizations, including the glorious Indian one.

All this is great, but unfortunately the book is not a very nice read. It's written in a very amateur way with poor editing leading to a lot of typos and unnecessary repetitions. The writing style was also not very engaging, it felt very dreary at times. I found myself skimming through long paragraphs full of data and jargon, and at the same time found a lot of sections unconvincing.

All in all, the book barely added anything to my experience of watching Sanjeev talk about this topic. Nevertheless, given he is such a good thinker, I'm inclined to read some of his more recent books in the hope that his writing has improved.

[Abhishek · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Indian Renaissance is the tale of India's economy. Although Sanjeev Sanyal has written some excellent books on India from a historical and geographical perspective, he is an economist by profession, and his first book shows us that it's his forte as well. After a brief look at how India collapsed from being the country with the largest share of GDP in the world to one of the lowest, he centers most of the book around the liberalization reforms of 1991 as the focal point and the watershed moment in independent India's history, considering it more important than 1947 itself.

While a lot of people are aware of the impact that liberalization has had on the Indian economy not many are aware of the causes which led to it. The author walks us through this phase commonly known as "license raj" and how it stifled productivity, growth and fostered an inward-looking and narrow-minded outlook among the citizens. He also rightly identifies that the socialist policies implemented during the years from '47-'91 might have been a knee-jerk reaction of distrust of the outside world due to centuries of colonization but their seeds were long sowed long ago going back a 1000 years to the time of the first invasions and settlement by Turks and Afghans, followed by Mughals. Eventually the tri-facto of Balance of Payments crisis, the Gulf War and investors pulling out funds forced India to open up the economy. In doing so, India burst free from its shackles, leaving behind a 1000 years of decline to rise again.

The chapters on how India grew from strength to strength in three phases since were the most enjoyable to read especially for someone like me who lived through these times. We get a sense of how everything from private airplanes to cable TV, and nuclear weapons to the advent of the internet took place.

Another major focus of the book is on the great Indian middle class and how they shaped and continue to shape India's progress on various fronts. We get a detailed outlook on how the middle class grew with the help of the tertiary educational institutions, on the myth of primary and secondary institutions not growing rapidly enough, how the IT services sector is powered by this white-collar middle class and exchange of ideas and thoughts on a global scale.

This book came out in 2008, and I can already see a lot of the predictions and assertions the author has made have played out accurately. We learn about the "Asian model of growth" and how countries like Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the latest entrant China have all grown rapidly due to their population demographics hitting a peak over the last 50 years, a lot faster than their European counterparts did during the Renaissance. India is poised to enter this peak in the next 20 years and has the added advantage of already having an educated middle-class and being a global player.

Of course, all is not rosy and we need to be primed to generate the manpower with the necessary skills and resources to steer us through this peak period. This involves changes at the policy level, a responsive and expansive judicial system and most of all to continue being open to new ideas and attitudes. The story of Kolkata's rapid decline from being a center of arts and culture to its current state is elucidated to make us aware of how even the best-equipped places may not always succeed.

Most of all I loved the optimism and confidence the author portrays throughout the book. India is on the cusp of being a world superpower, and it is the energy and dynamism of its working population which will enable us to fulfill our potential.

[Arpit Bansal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well researched book on state of economic affairs of Indian subcontinent in past 1000 years and subsequent shift in economy of the country post liberalization in 1991 along with the road map to becoming an economic superpower. The author tries to establish throughout the book that "To take advantage of the world, one needs the right attitude towards innovation, change and risk-taking" with numerous anecdotes from history of India and the world. It is this attitude that lead to the decline of the most prosperous land on Earth a millennium ago and indeed it is the same attitude that has put India steadfast on the path of becoming the largest economy in the world in years to come.

The book begins by painting the picture of Indian economy before the decline which started after 1000 AD. Being the biggest contributor to the world GDP in that era, the Indian society also gave rise to yoga, algebra, the concept of zero, chess, plastic surgery, metallurgy, Hinduism, Buddhism etc. highlighting the golden period of the stable and developed society. Subsequently, with the onset of closed mindedness and colonization, the economy fell from 29% contributor of world GDP to less 4% at the time of independence despite being the hub for raw materials and fertile land all through this time.

Little did the independence of the country help to boost the economy. With Nehru's Fabian Socialism and Mahalanobis' closed economic model based on a mechanical view of the world, the state worsened to just 3% of the world GDP. With a current account deficit climbing up to 10 billion USD, the country was finally forced to open its doors for the outside world in 1991.

With liberalization setting in, License Raj was abolished and the country witnessed huge increase in new enterprises. Y2K provided a perfect platform to the talents involved in tertiary sector and the sector grew at an unprecedented rate overtaking contributions by primary and secondary sector. Indian software and services industry become popular across the world and attracted huge foreign investment leading to steep increase in salary for the people engaged in the sector.

However, this lead of increasing disparity in the society since other sectors could not catch up on the earnings which necessitated systemic approach to tackle the scenario. The revolution in primary education which started around this time ensured that more people could come out of agriculture and join the industries. With intent towards boost in infrastructure and the country on the path to become the youngest in the world for a period of around 20 years till 2040, the stage is set for India to embark on a journey to rise as an economic superpower .

Towards the end, the book highlights the need of institutional reforms to harness maximum profit from this scenario. With smooth functioning of system of checks and balances at various levels, Indian market will attract more business which will further empower people financially feeding in the customer base for the growing market. As Sanyal puts it, "However, it is an opportunity that India still needs to actualize and its success will depend to a large extent on the choices it makes".

[Sanjeev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a recently selected and appointed civil servant, I must say, it feels as if I was reading the economic survey of the Govt of India while reading this book😁

Critics of the neo-liberal school of thought say that, the people of today have the advantage of hindsight when they retrospectively put the Nehru-Mahalobanis model in the docks.

Frankly I believe both the schools of thought have merit. It just totally depended on the acumen and foresight and the risk taking ability of the men at the helm of affairs, who macromanaged the INDIAN financial policy at the wake of independence.

The harrowing experience of imperialism did leave an indelible mark on the INDIAN psyche for sure.

All in all it’s a good book for laymanese understanding. Especially because of the comparative picture painted comparing India wth the global powers of today, and also giving the path which India will follow to its greatness.

It drives home the point for sure, something which I’ve heard from many people and firmly believe too-that in the coming decade or two, my country would be a force to reckon with😊

I liked the penultimate chapter especially, ‘How India will Change’

It’s a small and precisely written book. For people of academic, historical and nationalistic tilt, I wud suggest-Go for it😊

[Anand Rai · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was written in 2008. So many things have changed since then so this book needs a second edition. Many people have problem with first chapter and they stop reading after that. A friend of mine who is preparing for UPSC stopped reading after reading the statement that "Aryan Invasion Theory has largely been debunked". And she told me this that she couldn't read it any further. I tried to convince her sending her bunch of science papers and I was able to partially convince her that our History books are not necessarily right but that also was accepted with lot of reluctance. Tells the extent of brainwashing has been done in the name of teaching history and this trash theory has been made part of our history.

[Himanshu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as interesting as his latest work ie the land of seven rivers

Positives:

Talkes about the middle class of India and how it grew and hhow it wil grew

fossilisation of ideas ( Kolkotta being an example )

India's demographic divident and how primary education and blue collar jobs will play an interlinking part in it

Negatives

Quite obsolete and needs a updation ( its of 2008 period)

repetitive at some places

some times come as boring and one has to force through pages in between though in the last 2-3 chapters it catches up and pick up pace.

over all a good reading . My rating would be 3.5/5

[Chirayu Batra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read two books of Sanjeev Sanyal back to back. His books will definitely give you a sense of pride about your country with a very optimistic outlook. This book explains how different factors such as demographics, culture, attitude, innovation, risk-taking capability, service sector growth etc. are contributing to India's growth trajectory. A special emphasis on the power of Indian middle class has been put and explained at length. It is a simple read, will improve understanding of various related factors and provide a big picture of economic growth patterns.
A recommended read.

[Vineet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turned out to be a little too verbose and monotonous.

[Indians Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original review posted here: https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiansRead/...

The book starts with a brief introduction to ancient India, it's Golden Past', and how the economy was back then, after which the author also goes on to explain briefly, why the Indian economy started to fall out after the eleventh century and how it further declined throughout the millennium.

The book largely focuses on the policies adopted by India after it attained Independence, it explores the economic, social, cultural, and political scenario and the steps taken during the pre liberalization period. It also provides a comparison between Indian growth and the growth of other east Asian countries. The author explains how India grew in that period and why it grew in a way that was very different from the typical Asian growth model.

The later parts of the book focus on why India was forced to liberalize its economy in 1991, and the events that took place later on. Gives a detailed account of the policies taken during that period and the growth model adopted by India during the subsequent 15 years.

Lastly, it provides a calculated view of Indian economy of the future based on the path that the country has adopted post liberalization.

Overall, it is a very interesting read and provides good insight on various aspects such as the culture, the economic policies, the judicial and education systems of India before the decline and post independence.

However, the book is published in 2008 so some of the things might seem outdated, but overall, it provides a very good account of the things. If anyone is interested to know how and why Indian economy is the way it is in the recent times, it is a very good read.

[Dhruv Goel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The period focused in this book is after 1990s. Since, Arvind Subramanian has convincingly argued in his own book 'India's Turn' about foundations being laid in 1980s of the impressive economic growth later on, it would have been wise to also cover this decade.

The author has laid down important factors responsible for India's Renaissance that flowered in 1990s. The outlook of the book is positive. The greatest emphasis is given on rise in educational level of previous unskilled workers which is bringing in the type of workers who can be used, in mass, in modern manufacturing companies. The time has come to shed greater reliance on highly skilled workers, as their shortage has lead to payment of highly premium wages which would not be sustainable anymore. So in a way, India would be taking not a forward leap but a lateral cum backward leap, in terms of major sources of national income.

I personally enjoyed Chapters 7 and 8. Former highlighted the importance of second generation reforms which are different than regulatory reforms and pertains to the institutional structure (as per Samuel Bowles - "Institutions are the laws, informal rules, and conventions that give a durable structure to social interactions among the members of a population"). Latter's focus is on urbanization and role of middle class. One point that I really learned from the 8th chapter was how the delay in institutional reforms could have been because of subdued political participation of the middle class.

The book is a positive read for those who are not that much immersed in subject of economics. But for those of us who are professional economist, there are not many nuggets of new learning. Still the book does make a nice and a quick read.

[Kaustubh Kirti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sanjeev Sanyal presents a small but powerful description of how the Indian history would be recounted 50 - 60 years down the line. 1947 was the year when the country woke up to freedom however the poverty and malnutrition still plagued the country at large. Hindu rate of growth and the license raj prevented the economy to breathe. The common man had limited options even when it came to cars. This was the time when Rao and Manmohan were forced to open up the economy to meet the balance of payment crisis in 1991. Sanjeev Sanyal has beautifully described the entire situation and what actually led to this condition.

It was not just the policies of Malnobis and Nehru which were to blame but with the vigour they were followed in the country. In pursuit of growth through socialistic measures the country compromised its string of entrepreneurs and little businesses. Private sector was considered as a taboo and what little survived of private houses were only the big houses. There was not enough space for common man to become rich.

1991 changed everything. It was renaissance in true sense. As the book uncovers the same through various facets. In order to elaborate the changes the author has described the changes phase wise till 2008. Sudden jump phase, moderate and the growth phase. The phase concept is good. However what is even more interesting is how would the author comment after 8 years in 2016 when we have seen the ill effects of globalisation and today's capitalism is under a litmus test today !!!! Good read. While readin I could relate to many of the social problems mentioned and dealt with in detail. TO some extent this book is like NIlekani's Imagining India.

THe book takes you through 1991 to 2008 and then asks you what next? 1991 told us that globalisation can work however the seeds and fruits would only help us as long as we responsible bear it and utlise it for common good.

[Jayant Shilanjan Mundhra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book with impeccable and masterfully curated content, which simply fails at the end of editing. The content truly forces one to think beyond the contours of one's existing views on aspects of economics, public policy and as well as urban design and planning.

The book is basically a collection of a host of editorial and opinion posts written by Sanjeev Sanyal over time. And, it does a fantastic job at leaving an impression on the reader, given the content is simply too insightful to not be admired and loved.

What spoils the book is the reading experience- basically the abrupt sequence in which the chapters have been structured. It simply doesn't make a good case for the reader to sit and read for prolonged hours without losing interest. that is so because as soon as the reader finds a chapter interesting enough, the next chapter would surely be something absolutely different.

Thus, this is a book that I would recommend to one and all with the warning that one should read the book as per one's own interests, going back to the content table after every few chapters and deciding which chapter to take up next. As long as one is up for doing that, one would definitely get a ginormous lot of knowledge and insights to take away.

No qualms about that at all. Period.

Happy reading.

Signing off,
Shilanjan
_/\_

[Abhinav Agarwal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful enough. But... Misleading title, dry and unengaging prose.

If a country is indeed seen as rising after a thousand years of decline, and if you put so in the title of your book, it stands to reason you are expected to devote some amount of reasoning and logic to that line. This book does not. Why the decline happened is only fleetingly touched upon, and without much conviction. The book's stronger sections are towards the latter part, especially when talking about the country's broken education system and its archaic and dysfunctional justice system. The book's heart is in the right place, but it needed more meat on its bones, and a more vigorous heart, so to say, to elevate it from the ranks of the me-too to a must-read.

Full review on my blog (http://blog.abhinavagarwal.net/2013/0...)

[Sylvester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being not familiar at all with Indian history, this book was quite a good read. Sanyal outlined the fall and rise of India and how socialist control accelerated the decline of India, it wasn't until the early 90s that India began to see improvement in standard of living and economic growth.

It is a good book to stock up examples of how capitalism is the only way to eliminate poverty and achieve prosperity, but the writing was inadequate and disengaging.

[Nidish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting off from a cleverly highlighted bird's eye historical review, the book builds up a very well woven story: everything good about India has come from a free market. I should confess that the book convinced me, at least for a couple of weeks after reading it.
The book is extremely well written and too nearly no effort to turn the pages. ighly recommended.

[PRAMIT RASTOGI · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fresh perspective!!!

A good book to make sense of the rise, fall and now the current rise of India. Sanjeev Sanyal's writing is thorough, yet easy to read. Look forward to reading his other books.

[Tarun Tiwary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant. For a newbie like me the explanation of socio-economic factors leading to certain fate of a city or Nation as a whole really amazed me and created further interest into the subject. Analysis are lucid and interesting. No disappointment at all.

[Ashok · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent analysis of India`s past and future based on clear socio economics

[Vikash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sanjeev Sanyal’s appreciation of Indian economic history its rise, decline and reemergence make for a good read.

[Gv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, easy to read & has a positive tone to it. Topics addressed are a bit too wide for such a short book to do justice.

[SUBRATA DATTA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last thing first.

The Indian Renaissance needs an upgrade. And by none other than Sanjeev Sanyal himself.

Of Sanjeev-babu's four most popular books, The Indian Renaissance is the earliest one, having been written in 2008.

Apparently inspired by Angus Maddison's The World Economy: Historical Statistics, Sanjeev-babu's book is more economics than history.

Maddison has shown, with the help of historical data, that at the beginning of the Common Era, India was the wealthiest nation on earth, with 33% share of world's GDP.

Sanjeev-babu investigates how, in two millennia, we have reached where we have. In his delectable prose, how a people, "who were capable of inventing algebra and calculus in the fourth century, were unwilling to learn the relatively simple technology of maintaining horses in the 13th century. Once it had been a culture that celebrated its merchant fleets but later forbade crossing the seas." (p. 23)

Sanjeev-babu has identified two years in a whole century that mark the transition from the old to the new - 1947 and 1991.

In his telling, the (forced) liberalization of the economy has changed the course of a civilization, and that will become clearer as the decades progress.

When Sanjeev-babu wrote this book in 2008, liberalization was just about fifteen years old. The country was being ruled by an honest and erudite but clearly incapable gentleman heading a tottering government.

Sixteen years since, another gentleman - strong, decisive, and driven - heading a very stable government, is completing a decade in office.

It is nobody's case that everything about Manmohan Singh regime was bad and everything about Narendra Modi's is good.

No.

But, the comparison of two decadal terms of two different ideas of India yields instructive insights. Not just about the governments, but, more importantly, about us - 1.4 billion of us.

As I type this on my android phone, there is a visible euphoria about the Surya Tilak on Ram Lalla's forehead this Ram Navami day.

Whatever you make of it, this was unthinkable when Sanjeev-babu was writing this book.

Ram Lalla's pran prathishta or the abrogation of Article 370 or the abolition of Triple Talaq may be the most visible, media-savvy changes of the last decade.

But there have been changes that may not have made screaming headlines, but which will have far-reaching consequences.

Massive investment in infrastructure development. Serious upgradation of defence capabilities. Standing up to neighbourhood bullies and crackpots, successful holding of the G20 summit being just a glimpse of the country's growing international clout. Direct transfer of government benefits bypassing the intermediaries. Digitization of the data of the Public Distribution System (PDS) beneficiaries. Inclusion of even the marginal population in the financial architecture. Upgrading sporting infrastructure leading to improved international performance - and not just cricket (even preparing for holding the Olympics in Ahmedabad in 2036).

And, this is a story I would wait for Sanjeev-babu to focus his incisive analytical ability on.

As he concludes: " The real change in today's India is that there is a significant proportion of population, the middle class, that feels confident and capable enough. The demographic shift and the primary education revolution will make it possible for more people to participate in the process in the near future." (p. 236)

And, it's a story that few people can tell as charmingly as Sanjeev Sanyal does.

[Sukrit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a scholarly work. Rather, it is what one might call a "gentleman's book", i.e. the musings of a person of social rank based in large part on their personal experience and views, substantiated somewhat with some citations. This does not necessarily discredit the book or its thesis; the thesis is novel and interesting, and resonates with my experience and understanding as well. However, it does mean that the conclusions of the book have to be taken with a big grain of salt, because they have not been substantively proven.

The book is strongest at the beginning. At the start, the author is precise about their claims, and backs them up with some decent literature references. They convincingly demonstrate that Indian civilization has been in decline for ~ a millennium, and show that many of the "conventional" explanations for this decline do not work -- particularly the exogenous explanations (though even here they lean too heavily on statistically insignificant variations in ancient GDP estimates -- I don't think they understand the error bars on the Maddison project estimates!). The quality of the evidence deteriorates throughout the manuscript. In the last half, it is mostly news article references, which is one step above hearsay. Even there, there are a few real whoppers, like footnotes for statistics which state that the author was not able to find the source of the statistics, i.e. they functionally have no basis. The last couple of chapters lack even this rudimentary evidence, and are based mostly on "vibes" and "what everyone knows".

The lack of strong evidence does not mean this is a bad book. The thesis is novel, and worth considering (I confess I came to it independently myself, and read this book to see how it held up to detailed analysis). I just wish the evidentiary tests were substantive so it could move from proposition to theory.

The author should be commended for making some firm quantitative predictions for how
India would be by 2020. This provides a partial test of their theory. The author has a middling record -- for example the Indian literacy rate has improved, but it is 78% not >90%, as they had predicted. Still, they are to be commended for actually putting up falsifiable predictions.

[Namita S · Rating 4 out of 5]

As important is the year 1947 in the Indian history, equally important, or perhaps more, is the year 1991. While the first one is for the obvious reason that India gained independence from Britain, 1991 marks India’s decision to liberalize its economy. Sanyal argues that the year 1947 represents a clean break from the past, but year 1991 is more like a turning point, the beginning of a process that goes on to this day.

This book largely deals with India’s economic resurgence, and to place the above argument in context, Sanyal takes a brief look at India’s long and proud ‘golden age’ dating prior to eleventh century, the times when India was the world’s economic superpower, but soon collapsed from being the country with the largest share of world GDP to one of the lowest. He centers the most of the book on the liberalization reforms of 1991, and though the impacts of it on the economy are widely known, not many are aware of the causes which led to those reforms. Of various aspects detailed elaborately, one is the “Asian Growth Model” that gives us the much needed optimism and confidence that India is certainly poised to be a superpower and reap its demographic dividends with its energetic and dynamic working population now hitting the peak.

[John Doe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has very unique view of history, but I am afraid a lot of it is plain over-simplification. It is as if someone is reading a liberal version of Marxist Grand Theory of history.

The author has pinpointed the reason for decline of India to one thing--the inward looking culture. Though this thesis sounds plausible, but there are many things that I feel are missing in it. For example how did the author pinpoint 11th century to be the year in which India started looking inwards? What are the causes of such worldview? Are the causes somehow the reason for decline or is the general inward perspective that caused decline?

This is not to say that the author is wrong, this is merely to say that his thesis is not backed by enough rigorous analysis as one expects from a scholar of Sanjeev Sanyal's level.

But nevertheless, I have to admit that there is a high level of novelty in this thesis and the chapters are very well written and extremely well analysed.

[Unnikrishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many things about this book that seems outdated like the projections of growth in India's savings to GDP ratio and the growth of the middle class. But the deeper arguments seem valid, both of the real potential of India to rise as an economic power but also the impediments to this including a backward justice system and associated land and labor laws, which more than a decade after the book was written (and Sanyal being a govt economic advisor) still keeps Indian entrepreneur power being completely realized. The cautionary tale of Kolkata serves as a warning to us to keep our spirits tempered till all hurdles for India's growth are removed because the stack of cards could come crumbling down at any time if we don't strengthen the fundamentals.

[Varun D · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives a very good introduction to Indian socio-economic situations throughout its history. The author gives an interdiction to the rich, ancient heritage of our country and analyzes its downfall. Later, he coherently presents the evolution of Indian society since independence through the times of Nehruvian socialism, 1991 liberalization and the 21st century. The chapters on Indian middle class are fascinating.

[Vishal Sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I am a big fan of Sanjeel Sanyal and mostly feel fascinates over his way of writing, this book isn't a found good enough on taste.

A few chapters have been felt dragging.

Overall still recommend a one time read as an overall recommendation.

One conclusion that I found is and what Sanjeev has most prominently highlights is "reforms".

Any country who has worked on reforms has reaped the benefits in the long run.

[Saisudha Acharya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a slow read and this is partly because it is a dense read. There are a lot of interesting statistics and data couched in context. This is Sanyal's strong suit. It is being able to weave a convincing narrative with a lot of data and information that leaves the reader feeling like they ate a wholesome meal. I learnt a lot from it that I think is going to influence how I teach my history and civics lessons.

[Ashish Mundawane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book which starts from the mentions of Harappa civilization and India's clout in world economy. Author elaborates on the waning of India in all perspective because of inclusiveness and no technological innovations. Having written this book on 2008, his further predictions seems to have gone wrong.

Book gives a good idea on what needs to read further to build up on exiting knowledge.