Seven Decades of Independent India -Ideas and Reflections

by Vinod Rai, Amitendu Palit

Has democracy in India fulfilled the aspirations of its people? Have institutions delivered? Have public policies succeeded in making substantial differences to living standards? Is the country secure on its external borders? Would the country become an economic powerhouse? And can India be a leading power in the years ahead?
All these and many more questions loom large as India completes seven decades of independence. Major challenges persist on the economic front and in providing adequate and quality healthcare, education, food, sanitation and drinking water. Regulatory preoccupations persist as policymakers continue to search for optimal solutions. The task is made harder by a socio-political environment shaped by various complexities. These include an expanding young workforce, a demanding citizenry, intense social media campaigns and a difficult neighbourhood.
Seven Decades of Independent India, edited by Vinod Rai and Amitendu Palit, reflects on the India of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, by gathering rare and candid insights from some of the most distinguished experts, practitioners and scholars on India. These include D. Subbarao, ex-governor of RBI; Rajiv Kumar, vice-chairman of NITI Aayog; S.Y. Quraishi, former chief election commissioner; Shivshankar Menon, former national security adviser; Ashok Gulati, professor ICRIER and former chairman of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices; Sumit Ganguly, professor of political science, Indiana University; A.K. Shiva Kumar, director, International Centre for Human Development; Poonam Muttreja, executive director, Population Foundation of India; Tan Tai Yong, president and professor (humanities) Yale-NUS College, Singapore; Dipankar Gupta, sociologist and former professor, JNU; Pronab Sen, former chief statistician of India and many others.

Genres: India, Politics, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

Published March 23, 2018

Reviews

[Kaustubh · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the overload of random information we receive over various mediums today probably distorting our judgement about our country in various aspects, this book is a must read to gain clarity and reflect upon India's progress so far. Written by top authorities in their respective fields we get a bird's eye view (macro) about India's past and an opinion on what is important for India's future, if she wishes to lead.

[Rudrashree Makwana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seven decades of Independent India is such a proficient, insightful and worthwhile read. So many people contributed their thoughts and diverse opinions and this is how the book has been written.

Just imagine when an intruder comes in your country and takes away the essence of it. Well, then you have no choice but to start from the scratch. Each contributing author has shared their opinion about internal and external issues and struggles that India faced and establishing the democratic system with strengthening the connection of India with other countries and forming policies and establishing government regulations with tax formation. From providing basic facilities including health, education, work, skills development and agricultural needs to establishing media, civil services, sports, society and facing the critical challenges, they did not give up. Even after facing failures and challenges, they kept trying and re-established India. The book has a little insight about the time when Indira Gandhi declared the political emergency in India. There is a Hindu ideology defining diverse castes. It has covered so many crucial topics that everyone should read this book if they want to gain knowledge about India.

[Kasyap · Rating 4 out of 5]

My current reading list includes books that describe India's path after independence. I think this is a great book for someone like me - multiple topics are covered by eminent people and gives a decent overview. This book describes the 'what is going on now..' and if we would like to know the 'how', would probably need to read books like 'India after Gandhi'. At times, we tend to disagree with the author's view as some of the topics touch our everyday lives (for example, former election commissioner Mr.Quereshi's views that EC is doing everything it can while the current experience doesn't support that) and some times got a little dragged by the narration of a particular author. An excellent read nevertheless - particularly on the topics of health care and tax policy.

[Girish Yadav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though written by some of the excellent and experienced minds India have,only few articles give justice to the title of the book. Obviously,it would have been hard to select areas of last seven decades progress of country as huge and diverse as india.But selected topics sould have been better organised by dividing it into broader areas like political developments,security,international relations,economy than just randomised articles.Also,one of crucial elements of independent India that's it's society and changing dynamics of communalism,regionalism,caste system etc seems to have been neglected.
Expected lot more,but still a good read.

[Saksham Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book which tells about the progress India has made in the last 70 years after independence. It covers almost all the major sectors like industrialization, liberalization of the 90s, foreign policy and many more. I really liked chapters where they compared the progress in different stages and suggested things for growth. While some other chapters were not detailed enough. I would have also liked if could've taken more examples about initiatives taken by the government and their impact on India. Nonetheless, a good read about India's past and gives some directives for the future.

[Amit Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The books really provide alot of insights to Independent India. However indepth are not available. There were a lot of facts beforehand, however it was nice to get every aspect in a consolidated space. Chapters have been written by many of the authors, hence has a varying experience and some repetition. Was nice getting a base into a subject for expanding further.
#librarywala

[Mahek Vikamsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt book doesn’t have anything new that’s not being said about India. All Eminent authors could have really given something which may not be known or written about considering most of them were part of policy makers group at some point in time in their lives.

[kapil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty bland book.