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Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation

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It is not often that an engineer writes a book about his country. It is even rarer if that engineer is from IIT and is also the CEO of a company with over 80,000 employees. So when I first heard about this book, my reaction was the same when I saw an advertisement in which Hema Malini models for a water filter. The question that arose was does she really have to do this? Similarly I asked does Mr.Nilekani really have to do this?

Keeping in mind the author's illustrious background, a forward by Thomas Friedman and the backing of a "stellar team of editors", my expectations from this book went sky high. In order to understand it, enjoy it and do full justice to it, I read this book for no more than an hour each day. If one were to sum up the essence of this book in one word, then it would be "heavy". This book is heavy in weight, in content and full of heavy weights (i.e. experts in different fields).

The gist of the book is that it explores the growth of India from the era of Nehru to Manmohan Singh and beyond. In 1991 economic reforms were introduced in India and with that says Mr. Nilekani "the baton for growth passed from the government to the human spirit of creativity, adventure and enterprise". Beautiful words! The author explains this by exploring different issues. He has put in a lot of effort to study each issue, discuss it with the local experts and then write about it. For a writer it is one thing to understand a complex issue but what requires extraordinary skill is to break it into simple blocks of past, present and future and then write about it in simple words, so that the common man can fully understand it. Thomas Friedman calls Mr.Nilekani "an explainer" and I couldn't agree with him more.

The structure of the book is well defined by organizing these issues into four sections in the book. Richard Carlson in his book ' Don't Sweat The Small Stuff' says that the single greatest discovery by mankind is the fact that you can change the world by changing your attitude. Nothing demonstrates this better than the first section of this book which deals with issues "where attitudes have changed radically and are at the heart of Indian dynamism today". These include family planning, acceptance of English language by masses, IT etc. I especially enjoyed reading the way Mr.Nilekani has explained how IT has brought about a revolution in banking, farming, stock market, elections, railways etc. For example he tells you about ICICI, a small and weak bank initially. It was the first to adopt IT and then the bank was able to efficiently deal with 250,000 transactions a day, with a staff of only five employees! Its common in the west but this is what Malcolm Gladwell calls a 'tipping point'. Another great story was about how the common man started investing in the Indian stock market once the wealth tax was eliminated and IT brought it efficiency. This is a huge attitude change for the common man, from investing in only gold to a vibrant stock market.

The second section deals with "ideas that are still ether" e.g. schools (government versus private) etc. The third section is about ideas where the "biggest arguments" lie e.g. higher education, role of markets, labor laws, universities and jobs. The last section deals with "the forgotten nooks of the policy" i.e. issues like health, energy, environment etc. The first two sections are very enjoyable to read as they deal optimistically with solutions. The last two sections focus on the problems so much that a NRI will feel relieved to be not living in India. The latter half needs some serious editing.

But what holds the book together is the narration and the choice of words. For example to explain the government's change of attitude towards the entrepreneurs he uses the words" from red tape to red carpet" and the change in health problems is expressed with " from hunger to heart disease". Then there is also Mr.Nilekani's skill in making connections between different sectors, to demonstrate change. He tells you that in the 1980s the unemployment was high hence the Bollywood movies featured stories about young, angry men e.g. Deewar, Sholay etc. But now even the common, ordinary young man wants to make a difference in India. Hence we are seeing movies like Rang de basanti and Munna Bhai.

To a NRI like me, reading this book felt like going back home to India and an older sibling telling me, "Hey sis, this is what happened while you were away for over 20 years". As Mr.Nilekani very aptly puts it, "to a NRI India is like a Monet painting, promising from a distance". Thanks Mr.Nilekani, because of this book, now I also see the pixels clearly!

As for the question I raised in the beginning, Mr.Nilekani has done a great service to India by writing this book. With his vision and phenomenal understanding of the issues pertaining to India, I would recommend him for the President's post, in his post-Infosys years. In conclusion, this book is a keeper for NRIs and a must read for students of economics, political science and history.

Ratna
[...]

First impressions after reading the book: When you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail - The solution to all problems is IT?

On second thoughts, if you can get past all that IT and IIT stuff, it is actually an exhaustive discourse of the microcosm that was, is and will be INDIA - really the United States of India.

Towards the end, Mr. Nilekani redeems himself when he says "we cannot build systems over a creaky base-we have to first reinvent our state processes to increase our efficiencies rather than merely computerizing what exists" - [...]

IT or for that matter "Technology" by itself, does not fix or solve any problem. You have to first understand what the issues are, create a framework for the solution and use the scare resources to invest in the right technology judiciously. Elsewhere in the book, he does mention this being the reason why most IT projects do not go beyond the pilot phase since the organizational issues were not addressed upfront - in government that is the elephant in the room, especially in India.

I learned a lot about India's regulatory system and its demographics. The double hump demographic dividend was interesting. Will the second dividend from the BIMARU's really come to fruition? I guess time will tell......
Imagining India: The Idea of a Nation Renewed

Author Nanden Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, traces the ideas that shaped India's past and present, and looks forward into its future.

India's socialist ethos is still dominant, rooted in abuses from early British rule, memories of the Great Depression, and greatly exaggerated growth statistics from the Soviet Union's early days. Initially, after gaining independence, entry into industries set aside for the private sector was regulated through a licensing system, and the government controlled pricing of commodities. This spawned massive expansion of a slow-moving bureaucracy, the opportunity for corruption, and eventual change. Until that change occurred, businesses procured multiple licenses to preempt competition, resulting in most industries having just 1-2 competitors, poor quality, and high prices. The 1980s and 1990s brought change out of frustration and a nearly bankrupt government treasury. De-licensing, dismantling price controls in some industries, lowering tariffs, and changed tax policy that no longer sapped profits brought reinvestment, growth, and a 5X multiplication in government revenues (aka Arthur Laffer) in ten years. Annual growth has exceeded 6% since the early 1990s, a record in history exceeded only by China. Nilekani, however, conceded that much more remains to be done - India still ranks below China and Pakistan in ease of doing businesses (especially new start-ups), and he doubts any businessman could be elected to high office.

Nilekani has no doubts that India's Democracy is superior to China's government, and cites China's tumult under Mao and even since as evidence. However, his contention that India's laissez faire approach to birth control will be more effective than China's mandated "one-child" rule is not compelling. India has endured 30 famines between 1770 and 1950 - entire provinces saw a third of their population disappear; 50% of its population is too young to vote. Growth has decreased, mostly due to reduced infant mortality, but still exceeds that in China. Both nations have significant selective births - 925 females vs. 1,000 males in India, and 855 vs. 1,000 in China.

India has the largest number of official languages - 22. The total number of languages used ranges from 150 to 1,500, depending on the definition. The English language, like capitalism, has gone through ups and downs in India. The British first encouraged it as a means of employing locals to replace high-cost British civil servants. This tainted the language with an association to imperialism. Then it was promoted as a means of blocking Hinduism and its caste system. Now outsourcing has made English the entry ticket to a global economy, as well as a unifying factor within India. About 30% are literate in English; overall, about 1/3 the population is illiterate in any language.

IT in India has been opposed by unions - especially in banking. This changed in 1993 when foreign banks and their IT were allowed in. Scandal in India's then manual stock market, voting fraud, delays in irregularities land record-keeping have brought major inroads for IT use.

Education is another source of pride and frustration. Teachers have been guaranteed representation in Legislative Councils, and used that power to limit change. About one-third of children are now enrolled in cheap private schools, and 7,000 public schools are empty in one state. Some innovations have taken place - eg. kiosks dispensing educational videos, private school start-ups aided by packaged courses of study, but these do not include vouchers.

And so "Reimagining India" proceeds from one topic to the next - each benefiting from the insights of a native resident regarded as expert within that topic.

I am half way through the book. The book is well-written and very easy to read. It presents great insight into the factors that brought India to where it currently is and what needs to be done to achieve prosperity in coming decades. Though it is not a historical account of India, it presents a nice summary of events since India's independence and presents some intuitive (and interesting) answers to questions such as "how did India manage to survive as a multi-party democracy?". A must read!!

Although "Imagining India" will undoubtedly raise some hackles, this is a very powerful and important book that needs to be taken seriously.

Nilekani presents a decent historical picture of India since Partition and includes an annotated timeline at the back of his book. And he takes a very clear-eyed look at the present, seeing enormous room for improvement.

There is an old saying that the first step to correcting a problem is recognizing that a problem exists. Soberly and succinctly, Nilekani recognizes and addresses India's problems head-on and offers a variety of practical and innovative proposals.

At the same time that India is growing its economy and raising the standard of living for its citizens, there are serious problems with shortages of drinking water, roads, schools, dependable electricity, load-shedding, pollution and environmental degradation. Serious infrastructure reforms are needed. Political corruption, industrialization, lack of uniform sanitation policies, need for universal literacy, environmental degradation, and serious energy problemd are prevalent.

The book is essentially a business plan for improvement. Offering economic, environmental, political, and IT suggestions and solutions on where and how India might cut through the murk to become a world leader in environmental and business reform, Nilekani makes a lot of sense.

Rather than simply pushing IT solutions at the reader as some reviewers have suggested, Nilekani has thoughtfully interviewed many different kinds of specialists and authorities.

Many of the thinkers and practioners referenced in this book are from India; others are from across the globe. Collectively they offer practical and sensible solutions for moving the country ahead.

Nilekani writes: "I have noticed that people outside the country often sound far surer about where we are headed than Indians themselves. In this, India is a bit like a Monet painting--from a distance, the picture seems clear. It presents an image of an increasingly liberal, outward-looking country that is eager for the opportunities that are now within its grasp. But close up, our reality is less straight-forward. many Indians stay cautious about our economic future and fiercely disagree on fundamental policies."[pg 274]

"What our reforms must really envision for growth, and for inclusive growth in particular, is rather a golden mean where power is balanced between our various players and where no one can assume overweening control. A new vision for the state--whether as a provider of services or as a regulator--is a search for the state--whether as a provider of services or as a regulator--is a search for this golden mean, a balance between government, markets and civil society."[pg 336]

New way of doing things that leapfrog the outmoded thinking of "old politicians in a young world," are needed. Wind, solar, water, nuclear and IT solutions are all presented as options.

Nilekani accepts no excuses. He tells his countrymen to stop blaming the British, the Americans, and the West, and get on with cleaning up their own mess.

A brave and bright man has written a brave and intelligent book,

Kim Burdick
Stanton, Delaware

I picked this book with great anticipation and much to my chagrin found that the book appeared to explain how the different policies in India are established and lacked any real touches of the author. I have known the author to be a much more colorful person when talking to clients and employees of Infosys. It appears as though he has delegated much of the writing to his research assistants. The chapter titles are interesting but the content is rather pedagogic.

I think it started out great. The book was full of detailed information regarding India's history. Did take me a lot of time to read since I had to reference to many names that might not be familiar to someone who is not an expert in Indian History.

Conceptualized and authored by Nandan Nilekani, Imagining India is a book that takes its readers on a journey through the ideas that have shaped India so far, and more importantly addresses ideas that can change India as we have always wanted. Imagining India at its core is a book that voices our frustrations, concerns and more importantly the changes we always wished for.Tremendous in scope and proficiently written, Nilekani divides his book into four parts and explains what has led us to where we are today and what ideas we will need to realize our true potential. As you read through the book you will notice that that Mr.Nilekani treads carefully over our current policies because he himself knows that implementing strong reforms in a very diverse country like India - with unfavorable political conditions - is easier said than done.

The book begins by making the reader aware of the difficulties of our then freedom/political leaders (after independence) when faced with writing the constitution and implementing new policies. Our then leaders - Nehru, Gandhi - had a insurmountable task of uniting our deeply polarized country. After independence we were, as Nandan Nilekani explains, very skeptical of new foreign investments and privatization. We had always viewed privatization of services as evil and believed capitalism was never going to work for us. Instead of making the best use of our new political and economic freedom after independence, we relied on the government and existing family owned businesses to provide jobs. As a result during the next 20 years after independence, our un-employment rate soared, poverty was everywhere and starvation among the less privileged was a common sight. As you read through, the book patiently lists all the disastrous policies that were implemented during Prime minister Indira Gandhi's reign, as well as applauding the reforms and new regulations that were implemented by former prime ministers - P.V.Narsimha Rao and A.B Vajpayee. He repeatedly stresses how we, as a developing country, can learn from the mistakes of the developed nations and be more prosperous. The author tries to convince how our relatively young workforce can be used for our advantage rather than being viewed as a burden. He makes this statement when stressing about the importance of primary education and how to improve the state of out depraved government schools.

Each chapter in the book addresses a particular issue that we (as a country) have been grappling with for some time, and showcases some of the inventive ideas that are being implemented as pilot projects to overcome these problems. Young entrepreneurs are encouraged , and more importantly are given the much due recognition by letting the reader know the success they have achieved with their new ideas in motion. While discussing an issue, the author brings in an expert asks him what lead us here, what is our current state and what can be done to ameliorate the situation. The book tackles a wide array of issues ranging from eliminating poverty, reducing oil dependence to conserving our forests and precious water resources. All these topics, nonetheless important, are treated with a pragmatic approach comprising of opinions from experts, the author himself and sometimes the lessons we should learn from the mistakes committed by the more developed nations. The reader can easily tell from the tone of the author how vexed and frustrated he is when tackling issues on caste, religion and region, which have ultimately come to the impede progress and further polarize our nation. The author also reminds us how certain promises made by politicians during the election time when implemented later can have unfortunate consequences later - namely the huge deficits the state governments carry now.

Any book having such a huge scope and written by a single author cannot possibly do justice to all the topics it covers, and this one is no exception. The treatment given to certain topics is very promising, and at the same time some topics could have been handled better. I say this because the author when trying to find ideas to overcome a problem feels that a solution that worked for different issue might also work for the current one. At this juncture he himself is not sure and is building his case on the success on issue that was resolved. And sometimes, he places a lot of weight on the work done by various NGO's and other young entrepreneurs. This approach has limitations as work done by NGO's is not very scalable and results widely vary depending on the cause they are working on. Finally the author, who had his humble beginnings in IT, thinks streamlining processes by implementing IT can resolve a lot of things. While this may be true for other countries where there is less bureaucracy, in India there is more to be done than implementing IT across the board. By all means Imagining India is a very important book and its timing couldn't have been better. While its author needs no introduction, this book will definitely stand as one his greatest accomplishments not because of its content , but for the ideas it puts forth, and importantly for the optimistic tone it takes. Read not because you want to imagine a better idea, but because deep inside you earn for it.

For a country of India's proportions with its one billion plus population, a trillion dollar economy and the promise of becoming an economic powerhouse that is just beginning to seem realistic, there is a plethora of books analysing its amazing economy and politics, its tremendous opportunities and potential, and its formidable hurdles and failures.

Imagining India: Ideas for the new century, a book by Nandan Nilekani is almost a blueprint to re-build India as an economic power - a powerhouse that can bring prosperity, empowerment and happiness to its more than a billion citizens.

In software parlance, this book reveals the code to build a new operating system for India - An operating system that is fast, flexible and scalable. It shows a direction in building governance structures, infrastructure and institutions that are growth oriented, inclusive, uplifting for the poor and disadvantaged, and are practical, steeped in the realities of India. In terms of the ground it covers and its sweeping scope, the book diagnoses the problems, analyses alternatives and prescribes the solutions that India need to realise its potential.

(There is only one problem: the book demands a lot from politicians and law-makers. Their dismal record in achieving results for the people they represent makes it unlikely they will fulfill these expectations.)

Back to the book, it helps that the author is a business visionary who, as co-founder of Infosys Technologies helped establish the immensely successful software outsourcing industry in India. (Infosys is one of the largest software services companies in India).

But it helps more that he had had his brief brush with license-permit raj and experienced the labyrinthine corridors of Indian bureaucracy, as he spent the 1980s establishing his fledgling company. It is said that the software industry in India succeeded not because of but in spite of the government.

This book not only gains from Nilekani's perspective as a successful co-chairman of Infosys in the 2000s but also from his earlier experiences as a struggling entrepreneur fighting western (customer) perceptions of India's delivery capabilities on one hand and bureaucratic hurdles on the other.

He goes as far back as his childhood when as the son of a factory manager in the 1960s, the public sector occupied the `commanding heights of the economy', businessmen were seen as thugs, and were not encouraged to grow, rather had to `apply' for licences to grow. Thankfully, a number of structures that constrained Indian entrepreneurs are now removed but this country has to go much further in its reform agenda to translate the tremendous potential that it has discovered in the past 5 to 8 years into sustainable growth. Economically. India seems to have found the confidence to meet its `tryst with destiny' after a few missed decades but the game can still go either way. As a saying goes, `India has potential and it will always have potential'. The risk of failure is ever-present. Not unless we heed to Nilekani.

Nilekani has divided this book in four parts:

1. Ideas that have arrived

First, the author has discussed several factors that have combined together at this point in time to give India a unique advantage. These factors lead to much of today's optimism. He discusses `demographic dividend' - a young population with an average age of 25 years which is now perceived as `human capital' that will propel growth, not a burden.

Popular responses to entrepreneurship and capitalism have transformed from rejection and suspicion to acceptance and open arms.

The author traced the rise of English during colonial rule, its fall after independence, the current Phoenix-like rise and its role in India's recent achievements.

As an IT leader, the author could not but cover the role of IT in achieving the stunning results of market reforms and modernization brought about in stock and commodity markets by NSE, NSDL, NCDEX and banks. There is a deep analysis of globalization and deepening of democracy with detailed history, trends and how these two factors have led to India's change in mood over the past few years.

2. Issues that Indians are currently engaged with

While ideas that have arrived as discussed above have made India a restless country, its young population is trying to break free of limitations:

An education system that was designed to further the interests of its colonial masters and has never since reformed;
cities that never received the consideration they deserved and are now crumbling; roads, electricity and other infrastructure that cannot support its users' ambitions; and
fragmented; and disconnected markets where trucks often take more time waiting to pay octroi on each state's border than travelling.
Indians are lurching towards solutions to these essential issues, often led by the private sector.

3. India's deepest challenges

This is where it gets messy, as the author says. He highlighted issues such as:

Slowness, lack of consensus and battles between left and right on reforms;
populist policies;
reforms in labour regulations and entrenched interests of unions; and
heavily politicised and dumb universities that only offer a few thousand quality seats and leave bulk of its talented pool of young human capital to a sub-standard higher education system that has no relevance to jobs and markets or if they can afford it, forces them to join private colleges or to go abroad.

4. Solutions and innovations

This part of the book makes it a work of superlative order. The author blends a compelling understanding of India's economic, political, cultural and social issues to suggest solutions that can help it move forward. He asserts that use of IT, or electronification as he refers to it, is not an elitist solution. Rather, it can act as the most empowering tool in the hands of the most marginalized people. He cites several examples of reforms brought to poor and rural households and areas with the help of IT. Single citizen ID card, distribution channels, land records, and national information utilities to bring in e-governance can be a transformational force.

There is a comprehensive discussion of solutions relating to health, aged care and social security, but the focus is on declining environment and an emerging energy crisis.

The author's solutions are balanced to avoid the ills of ultra-capitalism that may lead to rising inequity and rebellions as well as bureaucratic solutions to allocating resources that have proved a failure. He has utilized the insights from the problems that the developed world encountered in its growth phase to find solutions that can help India avoid duplicating those issues in its own quest for growth.

What is missing - Political, social and human perspectives
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This book is an excellent resource to gain a perspective of India's economic and business history, its today's realities, its opportunities and issues. However, political, social and human aspects are equally important and this book does not adequately delve into those aspects.

The founding fathers of Indian democratic republic had the courage and foresight to design the nation's fundamental processes on the principles of parliamentary democracy, universal adult suffrage, socialism and secularism. They were also acutely aware of India's crushing poverty, inequality and social injustice. They were not ignorant of the massive development effort that was required.

During that magic period between August 1947 and January 1950 when they wrote the blueprint of India's modern future based on the loftiest ideas they could find, they wrote the laws to grant us fundamental rights, listed duties and committed themselves to ambitious directive principles of state policy. Nothing could be more courageous and liberal than to accept secularism after conceding Pakistan.

Over time, many of their institutions, principles and policies have got corrupted, twisted and manipulated. Policies that were put in place with good intentions are now footballs in electoral grounds. Democracy has degenerated into vote-bank politics, equality is limited to reservations in government jobs. The political structure has become dysfunctional and fragmented especially at state and city levels. Caste is still alive and thriving. Muslims have been victims of violence, often brought on by hate-driven individuals who have the power of the state. And they are waiting for justice for years after 1992 Ayodhya, 1993 Bombay and 2002 Gujarat. Corruption at every level from billion-dollar mining contracts to traffic fines is a daily affair.

Are these social and political issues irrelevant in a growth, development and opportunity context? I disagree. I believe that high standards of morality, quality consciousness, work ethic, motivation and integrity is deeply shaped by the environment one lives in. An average citizen or worker will eventually display values and ethics that their leaders and role models do. Highly educated intellectuals such as Nilekani and Infosys team may buck the trend. But unless the lofty principles of justice, fairness and equal opportunity are applied, the majority of citizens in the mainstream economy will subscribe to mediocre standards typified by a chalta hai attitude, malleable ethics and short-term gains.

It is important that social and political issues are identified and their solutions discussed and implemented, just as this book has covered economic issues so brilliantly.

Nilekani's design for a new future will not work unless it includes these aspects. We hope to read a more comprehensive analysis in the next edition of this book. More importantly, we hope that by the time of next edition, many of the issues he highlighted would have ceased to be problems and we would be implementing solutions rather than grappling with conflicts.

Conclusion
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This book provides the knowledge and insights that you need to understand the key opportunities, issues, challenges and solutions for India in development and growth especially from its growth and development perspective. A highly recommended book for anyone interested in the India story.

Nandan Nilekani's thoroughly researched book is a must read for people who wish to understand the intricacies of India's progress, setbacks, issues and possible solutions. This is a sweeping attempt to uncover India's demographics, infrastructure, technology, labor reforms, education, energy and health care in a single book and Mr. Nilekani has not disappointed. He has thoroughly researched them and presented to the reader in unexaggerated terms.

Mr. Nilekani's own background as a middle class Indian turned progressive, global technocrat is clearly visible in his analysis and views. This book is also a good read for people who wish to understand the debates among the Indian policy makers and the trade-off's and the compromises they make. The appendix at the end of the book with a timeline of key events in India's recent past will serve as a handy reference. Some of the blunt comments about Indira Gandhi's tenure as PM is particularly interesting as Mr. Nilekani is currently working in tandem with the Nehru-Gandhi family and in the congress' govt. as head of UIDAI

-Ajay K. Hari