The mistake Brazil did was that it never created enough jobs for its young people, thereby making them waste their youthful energy doing nothing productive.
India today is at cross roads having reaped rich dividends in the 20 years of economic reforms, complimented by the boon of Information Technology. This gives us a golden chance to mitigate the environmental impact beforehand and still maintain the growth rate. India has a per capita energy use oil equivalent per capita kgs, which is much lower than the developed world USA and China — This is partially because of the lack of access of electricity to the rural areas and the general low standard of life.
But the positive side is we still have a chance to mould our people to keep the energy use minimum and yet maintain a decent life style, without wasting energy like the developed world do. The author covers seemingly trivial but hugely important for the Human Development Index, the availability of toilets in the country.
A point which India has to improve upon before sending our man to the moon, along with the other parameters like malnourishment and the skewed sex ratio. It also takes a dig at China which faces an acute social problem of grooms finding it difficult to find a girl due to an unbalanced ratio females to males , a pointer to India as well.
Being a man from the Information Technology sector, he stresses the importance and the role played by the sector in the various segments of economy - a funny incident being, a State bank union opposing the computerization of banks on the pretext of people losing jobs. Today the computers have taken banking to the nook and corner of the country boosting employment be it through the public or private banks. Those days the only reason the bank employees allowed computers were for the reason that computers asked for air conditioned rooms, thereby giving them also the comfort of AC.
There can be no better example of technology creating more jobs and better efficiency. Nandan Nilkani has proved that he is not only a beneficiary of the IT boom, but an asset for India in the true sense. He could have well continued his ride in a BMW, reaping more profits for Infosys. But his relinquishment of these in favour of an Ambassador car and an ordinary Government office, is a welcome sign for the all Indian Techies to start a reverse brain drain.
May 03, Ramakrishnan M rated it liked it. Nandan Nilekani certainly needs no introduction. He is an icon in the corporate world - not just in India, but across the globe. I had wanted to read his book for a long time well, right from the time the book was launched, I guess. Naturally, I had a lot of expectations when I finally got started on this. He rightly detected the curiosity which any reader would have, and goes to explain a Nandan Nilekani certainly needs no introduction.
He rightly detected the curiosity which any reader would have, and goes to explain at length his passion around the growth and development of the whole country, and his humble attempt to energize the citizens of this country. As we move ahead, he also explains with great detail how our country has evolved since Independence, how our leaders thought about capitalism and socialism in the early days, and how things stand now.
So far, so good… …so what, as the pessimist may say. Unfortunately, this is where the excitement ended for me. After a point, I found a lot of repetitions in ideas. Somewhere along the line, things get muddled and fuzzy. View 1 comment. Aug 25, Andy Oram rated it it was amazing Shelves: politics. I learned quite a bit from this book, as someone outside India and the Indian community, and thoroughly enjoyed Nilekani's writing.
It's a wide-ranging treatise with many big agendas; it covers education, infrastructure, environmental challenges, government intervention, and the role of historical narrative, among other things. Biggest among its agenda--and the one that I wager will generate the most debate--is Nilekani's own version of what I'd call a modern combination of neoliberalism and neoprogres I learned quite a bit from this book, as someone outside India and the Indian community, and thoroughly enjoyed Nilekani's writing.
Biggest among its agenda--and the one that I wager will generate the most debate--is Nilekani's own version of what I'd call a modern combination of neoliberalism and neoprogressivism that seems to be gaining ground.
The general idea is that governments should take a leading role to promote social progress by creating an infrastructure that allows individuals to form their own destinies good education, good health care, good physical infrastructure, a light-touch form of regulation that ensures quality, and occasional direct welfare payments rather than preserving oases of protection and easily abused subsidies for particular interest groups, notably unions, small businesses, and disadvantaged castes.
The fact that someone could capture the journey of the worlds largest democracy in form of ideas would have been unbelievable had this book not been written.
It is for everyone and anyone who is interested in India, how it became what it is. It makes you think too much to be read in one go. You could take months and years and may be your entire life to read and learn from it and still have something left. It is one of those books that are to be digested. Yes, the author talks about ideas but not The fact that someone could capture the journey of the worlds largest democracy in form of ideas would have been unbelievable had this book not been written.
Yes, the author talks about ideas but not without instances and stories. He talks of problems but not without pinpointing the causes and discussing the solutions. The numbers are woeful at times, but the tone is always hopeful.
Jan 29, Nithin rated it really liked it. Very well portrayed summary of India's growth story. The book simultaneously fills one with optimism about India's potential to become an economic powerhouse and laments the lack of initiative being taken. Exhaustive in covering all the important aspects of the nation from a policy maker's perspective - health, education, political scenario, employment, the environment - the book presents a candid picture of the state of affairs in the country.
It presents the transition of the country from the Very well portrayed summary of India's growth story. It presents the transition of the country from the protectionist regime to the business friendly, open economy it is today. Regressive government policies failed to encourage Indian businesses from becoming globally competitive until very recently.
We now have an immense advantage in terms of our superior demographics and skilled, english speaking population that can compete in the world job-market as well as a rising trend of private enterprises showing the way for bottom-up growth. Our challenges lie in poor governance especially visible in low investment in basic healthcare and primary education, inability to control corruption and opacity in land-record keeping and public distribution system.
Time and again, government policies have ended up benefiting special interest groups and have shown a poor track record in emancipating the poor. Vote-bank politics have buoyed economically un-viable measures such as free power and subsidies which have led to free-ridership and environmental degradation. The author has faith in the power of democracy to overthrow underperforming governments time and again and an increase in awareness in recent times that investment in infrastructure and transparency in governance are more important than sops and subsidies.
The author seeks to make a personal contribution to the growth story by universalising the UID Aadhar Card to better identify and reach the target audience for public welfare programmes. Excellent read, has made me much more aware about the ills pervading the society as well as the positive forces shaping the economy and putting it on the world map. Proud to be an Indian. Jai Hind! Apr 28, Nihar rated it liked it. I read this book after reading another masterpiece by Nandan Nilekani "Rebooting India".
Therefore, my expectations were bit high and I found this book to be average in comparison. It is bit outdated as it was published in period. Optimism in Indian economy was on a higher side as the global economic recession had not yet taken place. Nandan doesn't talk about solutions of India's problem here,rather he discusses about India's story of economic growth from independence till period. He talks about education, health, infrastructure, energy, environment etc in details.
He at times suggests some good ideas to problems persisting in India, but has refrained from going into details. A typical IT entrepreneur like ideas are not visible in this book "Rebooting India" is full of that. Like most Indians he is optimistic about our democracy but has not failed to point out problems in our political structure and policies. Nonetheless, this is a good book, but it could have been better. Very thorough analysis of relevant and critical issues faced by India.
I liked few chapters very much for eg, India by its people, Deepening of democracy,Erasing Lines,The forest for the tree. Book shines on few aspects like giving an historical account of issues by accounting British I Very thorough analysis of relevant and critical issues faced by India. Book shines on few aspects like giving an historical account of issues by accounting British India factor and also by providing innovative solutions.
However I also found certain over optimism on part of Market being all benign, financial crisis questions the claim of its efficiency and I also don't agree with his claim of caste annihilation through market and rejection of state policies like NREGA to promote their development. The underlying idea of strengthening the democracy by empowering local government definitely need to be pursued through the ways suggested by Mr.
The book ends on the note of optimism and exhort political class to take tough stands and do away with populism. Overall book is definitely a worth read to understand current challenges faced by India Nandan Nilekani is not a professional writer. He is one of the succesful software business personality.
He is the co founder of Infisys the well known Indian software company. With this background one did not except much literay skills and expectation was a business focused book. Well the book takes you by surprise. It is a well researched and beautifully chronicled book on what went right and what went wrong in India and the way ahead. The narration is intersting and makes for easy reading.
With Nandan Nilekani is not a professional writer. With its diverse culture and religions India is a mini World and what works here is most likely to work for the world as well. It is a triumph of Democracy and consnsus as opposed to unilateralism which always seems to be more effective and invariably collapses at some time or other. With all it faults and slow progress Democracy seems to be the only way forward for India as well as the world.
I would particularly recommend this for non Indians who will get an Objective,genuine and authentic story on India. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A must read for one interested to know what happened in India after Independence regarding Industrial Revolution. What were the problems being faced to set up an industry. The licence Raj. How Tata's and Birla's emerged. And the development of IT industry in late 80's. This is one of the few books i have read and this book has helped me in clearing many GD's.
A must read!!! Jun 20, Caleb rated it did not like it. After several weeks, I'm throwing in the towel. This book was relentless and boring. I've had it on my list to read for 9 years and I'm disappointed that it was so unreadable. Slow, dense, circular, and repetitive. Read Edward Luce's book. Skip this one. Our ability to tackle challenges that lie ahead will determine our fate in coming years. The entrepreneur, the visionary leader, and the author in Nandan Nilekani presents to readers a stream of mind-boggling insight and perspective on India's march ahead in a technology-driven modern world in his book titled Imagining India: Ideas For The New Century.
As the title suggests, the book puts forth author's views on development, implementation, effective execution, and completion of several impending national and industrial projects on various front in our socio-economic sphere. Based o The entrepreneur, the visionary leader, and the author in Nandan Nilekani presents to readers a stream of mind-boggling insight and perspective on India's march ahead in a technology-driven modern world in his book titled Imagining India: Ideas For The New Century.
Based on his understanding of country's economic and political structure, the author has persistently weighed his views on the need for developing a continual mindset for identification of problems hindering growth in various components of our social, economic, and political structure.
The author Nandan Nilekani has put his best foot forward in proposing several innovative, intellectual, politically correct corrective measures to be inculcated in India's social and digital infrastructure.
A striking feature of Nandan Nilekani's take on intricate matters in Imagining India is that it is in complete agreement with the ambitions nurtured and endeavours pursued by several youth contingent of our country.
The author's vision on India as a developing nation and the need for implementation of various corrective procedures in country's social infrastructure take centre-stage in the compilation.
The author's work promote and endorse new, refreshing innovative objectives with purposeful focus and dedication to tackle strategic deficiency identified at operational levels in various business development sectors. The thought-provoking work emphasizes the need for a determined effort from India's administrative authorities and governing bodies to resurrect and revive country's failing image of a fiercely competitive world competitor, and to aid its empowerment by overcoming infrastructural woes along with other social, political, and economic hurdles.
True to the totalitarian outlook adopted by developed nations during their period of struggle, revival, and subsequent emergence as world's major superpowers, the author proposes a more conservative approach for achieving country's objectives without foregoing the fundamental ideologies of totalitarianism.
In other words, the work focuses on providing intuitive totalitarian perspective of a mild form to champion the cause of making India a digital superpower and help it dive deep into the ocean of substantial economic growth.
Nilekani has put into good effect his vast experience on professional front as head of one of India's leading IT companies -Infosys, to propound the necessity of devising collective futuristic goals for India, and the role of Information Technology in accelerating implementation process of the devised goals. It helps that one of Digital India's most influential and prolific IT professional embarks on a journey of carving out new initiatives to tackle challenges and questions the technically savvy modern world is posing to India, through an informative and knowledgeable page compilation.
The wide, ever-expanding element of vulnerability observed in India's socio-economic condition is exposed to a fresh set of revival strategies and propositions from the author. The revered Infoscion leaves no stone unturned in unraveling the inputs provided by various professionals from the software industry and by other technology heads in our country, further reiterating a reader's sufficing exposure to surfeit progressive measures with the read and the need for embracing a definitive motion to promote this work in unison.
The core motif in Mr. Nilekani's writing is the emphasis laid on team work, man management and strong work ethics which constitute the defining elements in an organization's or nation's quest for sustained growth and progress.
The book openly embraces broader perspective on establishing reliable interconnectivity within the geographical bounds of a country encompassing interlinked communication and road transport infrastructure development conglomerate firms. The systematic approach adopted by the author in penning formidable challenges knocking the door in India's socio-economic setup serve the bibliophiles well with every page flip.
The author's preference and liking for gathering information in a systematic and well organized manner in addition to skillful choice of words lend the work the desired finishing touch.
The absorbing read accounts for an interesting reading experience with the four-pronged volume arousing every bookworm's curiosity by unveiling the matter on hand in four parts which describe India's transformation since acquiring independence, beginning with the initial phase of stagnant growth observed in country's economy to the industrial revolution that facilitated deployment of several key technologies and techniques in the manufacturing sector to speed up the production of basic essentials.
Amidst the mention of these progressive occurrences, the book elaborates India's bold step toward liberalization of economy that allowed inflow and outflow of capital to and from foreign markets with considerable success following the dynamic leadership of the then finance minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh. The book, in leaps and bounds elucidate the advent of information technology and the subsequent rapid growth observed in India's private sector.
Nandan Nilekani, in his writing venture brings to light the viewpoints and benefits from his several immersed interactions with dignitaries from various industries, economists and reformers, and government officials occupying several important positions in ministry of finance and technology. The most fascinating aspect of Nandan Nilekani's writing is his ability to jot down the matter on hand and follow it up with an insightful dissemination of information through a broader outlook.
The author's keenness to paint a larger picture on India's potential for growth is evident from the manner in which he obliges all sections of the economic and political hierarchy with instinctive flair and collective wisdom. The ability to differentiate between distinguished socio-economic-business model of developed and developing nations besides pinpointing common ground in their infrastructure to establish a firm correlation with the definitive, purposeful patterns which frame our country's socio-economic- business model, and proffer feasible solutions to mitigate defects in its hierarchy seem to adhere instinctively with author's persona.
The four-pronged compilation poses several sincere questions to its reader regarding globalization, the need to touch upon various subjects concerned with economic ideologies to arrive at solutions which are guarded by longevity and feasibility. Further, the social challenges and economic hurdles encountered by entrepreneurs in India by virtue of corrupt practices by government representatives and officials in charge of administrative units, and the role of Information Technology in curbing corruption through digitization of government and consumer services get the desired degree of author's attention.
The business icon invariably has established his viewpoint based on the influence of Eastern political ideologies on mindset of people living in India and in other countries. As the author dives deep into the Malthusian way of governance and administration that the Chinese contingent adopted following the formation of Marxist regime in European countries, a wave of rational wisdom reins over author's reasoning on the matter.
He precisely presents world's opinion of India and its citizens through eyes of million citizens to strike a chord with their views about our country. The result is a country that, while managing incredible economic growth, has also begun to fully inhabit its role on the world political stage. In this far-ranging look at the central ideas that have shaped this young nation, Infosys cofounder Nilekani offers an original interpretation of the country's past, present, and future.
He traces the efforts of the country's past and present leaders as they work to develop new frameworks that suit India's specific characteristics and challenges. He charts the ideas that are crucial to India's current infrastructure revolution and quest for universal literacy, urbanization, and unification; maps the ideological battlegrounds of caste, higher education, and labor reform; and argues that only a safety net of ideas--from social security to public health to the environment--can transcend political agendas and safeguard India's economic future.
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