India Unbound

Presented by: Swati Sudhakaran

 Part 1 : Our Spring of Hope

 Part 3 : Rebirth of Dream

(1942- 65) (1991-99)

 Part 2 : The Lost Generation (1966- 91)

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The book starts with a brief history of 18th and 19th century of India with the development of the railways in India, which was presumed to push India into the industrial revolution. Britain had laid the foundation for India’s democratic institutions and invested capital into building the country’s infrastructure-most significantly its vast railway system. But Britain had also created a system based on economic disparity and an uneducated population. This had lead to decline in the Indian economy under the British Raj.

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Authors tries to uncover the reasons why India’s economy stagnated after it won its independence in 1947 from the British Raj, which he describes as “the most important event in the making of modern India - for better or for worse.”

‘Spring of Hope’ (1942- 65)

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At that time Jawaharlal Nehru was our Prime Minister, Nehru was supported by some of the best economists from across India. He had set up a 'mixed' kind of economy which was a middle path between democratic rights followed by the Western countries and socialist ideology of the Soviet world. Author clearly mentions that our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s mixed economy, improper economic policies and strong clutch of beaurocracy are the reasons why we failed to create industrial revolution in India. After we got freedom, Nehru and his planners tried to create industrial revolution through the agency of state which failed however we had experienced the agricultural revolution.

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“Lost Generation'(1966–91) refers to the phase which saw fading of the Indian dream.

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The book cites an irony when it states that the 'Garibi Hatao' policies followed by Indira Gandhi were actually working counter-productive and throwing millions of Indian further into poverty rather than alleviating...