Imagining India: A book review
29 August 2009
Title: Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century Author: Nandan Nilekani Publisher: Penguin, New Delhi Pages: 531 in hardbound Price: Rs 699
Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century (published 2008) by Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys Technologies Limited (Bangalore) and one of India’s ‘finest and most dynamic minds’ today, is a wealth of insightful perspectives, analytic discourses, cogent arguments, and delicious commentaries on India’s past, present and future.
The book’s admirable quality lies, among others, in its ability to present fine-grained analyses of various dimensions of development – entrepreneurship, the English language, higher education, democracy, labour reform, infrastructure, globalization, ICT, you name it.
Thomas L. Friedman, author of The World is Flat: The Globalized World in the Twenty- First Century, calls Nilekani “unique” because he is a “great explainer”.
Friedman adds, “In this era of mounting complexity – with more people, systems and products entwined in a bewildering web of global networks – explaining is an enormously valuable skill”.
In ‘Imagining India’ Nilekani once again, with his inimitable facility with facts, sharp analytical skill, and most easeful handling of the English language, proves his ability to examine and explain most lucidly the key factors that have contributed to India’s gradual but sure emergence as a global superpower.
The book’s unique appeal lies in its ability to shift between invigorating perspectives on India’s past, and its present.
While it explains how the monumental ideas and attitudes of the past have shaped its present status, it also points to the country’s emerging strengths such as its “overwhelmingly young population” and information technology that is impacting not only business but also governance (front flap of book).
Another of the book’s appeal lies in the author’s unique ability to present balanced perspectives and arguments and maintain intellectual integrity. A case in point is where he argues that while the big ideas, attitudes and policies of the past have helped to shape India as an emerging superpower, there were also those that kept it “shackled to old, unproductive and fundamentally undemocratic ways”.
Furthermore, there were also certain policies that, “despite good intentions and astonishing idealism, stifled growth and weakened democracy” (front flap of book). ‘Imagining India’ is both critical and visionary.
As a writer Nilekani knows how to move from critical discourse to suggesting ideas and showing the way forward. For example, in the chapter called ‘Institutions of Sand’ in part III, Nilekani alludes to what he calls “our bunkered institutions” and examines higher education in India.
He says, “Our universities are now among the last remaining holdouts of the top-down state, where the government’s word passes down the ranks, and is carried out by its bureaucrats.
This sector may also be the hardest for the government to let go of … But the market economy is nevertheless pushing relentlessly against old systems, urging them towards reform” (p350).
Something readers will like about Nilekani’s style, often punchy and pungent, is his ability to proceed quickly from adopting a critical stance to strategic thinking and action. The vivid description of his perceptions about the present is followed quickly by pointing to the possibilities and options for fixing the problems in questions.
In relation to higher education, he argues that “Reform requires key, controversial steps: we need to move towards a model of light regulation, where we have an independent regulator distanced from government.
The oversight of educational institutions must be transparent, and which allows new institutions to enter easily.
An open system that welcomes private investment both from India and abroad is essential to create institutions with ambitions to be world class” (p. 351).
This will then enable universities to become “important shapers of political opinion” instead of being “weathervanes for our political opinions and debates” (p. 351).
In his lightning-fast and uniquely electrifying style, Nilekani delivers the punch line for his pro-reform stance: “Reforms in higher education cannot be bargained away – they form the bedrock for a vibrant economy, the place from where we can, given the chance, build powerful and sustainable new ideas for our future” (p. 352).
Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century is organized in four parts, each part consisting of chapters focused on particular aspects of development.
The author, an IIT graduate, a member of the National Knowledge Commission and, in the words of Thomas L. Friedman (2006), “one of the most thoughtful and respected captains of the Indian industry” today, is a master craftsman in his use of the English language. This is quickly evident even in the clever crafting of the names of different parts of the book. Part I is called ‘India Re-imagined’, Part II ‘All Aboard’, Part III ‘Fighting Words’, and Part IV ‘Closer Than They Appear’.
Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century is a great book to read, a good intellectual meal for anyone looking for something new and refreshing on change and reform in relation to the irresistible forces of globalization.
By Dorji Thinley
Dean of Academic Affairs
Paro College of Education
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I have just release my new fantasy novel, “Gateway to DreamWorld.” I would love to get a review from you on the book. The book has been listed on Amazon.com and Barnes&Nobles.com Synopsis: On their way home from baseball tryouts, Brad Colby and his two sons are involved in a terrible car accident that leaves six-year-old Pete in a coma. When Pete awakens, the family is crushed to learn that he is paralyzed. Meanwhile, Pete’s eight-year-old brother, Jason, has been having powerful dreams that lead him to a mysterious realm known as DreamWorld. Jason discovers that all of his desires can come true in DreamWorld, but the time is fast approaching when he will have to choose between his two worlds. And when more devastating news strikes at the heart of the Colby family, Jason and Pete set out on a desperate attempt to find the Gateway to DreamWorld and save their family. With time running out on their dangerous path, will Jason and Pete’s fear of the Unknown keep them from reaching the paradise of their dreams? Brenda
read a short title review of the book here
http://diaryst.blogspot.com/2010/08/encounter-with-books.html