Growth and income distribution in India : policy and performance since independence

After thirty-five years of planning, India's aim of achieving rapid growth with social justice remains an elusive goal. In this wide ranging and critical evaluation of India's eco nomic performance and policies since inde pendence, Prof Sundrum not only outlines the reasons for this failure but suggests concrete and practical alternatives for the future.

The first part of the book describes the country's economic growth and performance from 1950 to date. The author covers a whole range of variables including national income, demographic factors, the distribution of in come, and the persistence of poverty. This exercise is conducted in both a macro and a holistic framework, with comparative data be ing provided where appropriate.

In the second half of his book, Prof Sundrum analyses, among others, the relation ship between planning and market mecha nisms, the role of the administration, and the country's policies regarding production, dis tribution and the mobilisation of resources. The concluding chapter contains a succinct discussion of the various considerations that go into the policy-making process and the changes that are needed to make the country's economic policies more effective.

Among the distingushing features of this book are the distinction the author draws between the growth of national income and the process of development; his novel inter pretations of statistical data; his new approach to the understanding of poverty; and, above all, his alternative formulations of fiscal and monetary policies and his suggestions for improving the techniques of planning.