India's economic policy: preparing for the twenty-first century

Nearly fifty years after independence, India remains a very poor country. It ranks near the bottom in terms of per capita income, and is similarly placed in the Human Development Index which measures social well-being. Economic growth has been less than half that of China or even other countries in Asia. And governments, at the Centre as well as in the states, are close to insolvency. The reason for our spectacular underachievement lies in the continuation of policies which had a certain validity as a response to the colonial experience, but which have long outlived their usefulness. The global economic scene has changed dramatically since they were formulated, and we must respond to the new realities.

Bimal Jalan, the well known economist, this lucid and well-argued book, makes a case for governments doing what they alone can best do, and less of what they cannot do effectively. India, he says, is now in a position to capitalise on the strong industrial and technological base built over the years. Contrary to the popular view, many of the global changes in technology, trade and investments in the last decade have been particularly favourable to India. With the requisite changes in direction, India has the opportunity to accomplish in the next twenty years what it could not in the past fifty years: eliminate poverty, create jobs and deliver much-needed social services to its people.