India Is Broken : A People Betrayed, Independence to Today / Ashoka Mody.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mody, Ashoka, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (524 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, [2023]

Summary:

A provocative new account of how India moved relentlessly from its hope-filled founding in 1947 to the dramatic economic and democratic breakdowns of today. When Indian leaders first took control of their government in 1947, they proclaimed the ideals of national unity and secular democracy. Through the first half century of nation-building, leaders could point to uneven but measurable progress on key goals, and after the mid-1980s, dire poverty declined for a few decades, inspiring declarations of victory. But today, a vast majority of Indians live in a state of underemployment and are one crisis away from despair. Public goods—health, education, cities, air and water, and the judiciary—are in woeful condition. And good jobs will remain scarce as long as that is the case. The lack of jobs will further undermine democracy, which will further undermine job creation. India is Broken provides the most persuasive account available of this economic catch-22. Challenging prevailing narratives, Mody contends that successive post-independence leaders, starting with its first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, failed to confront India's true economic problems, seeking easy solutions instead. As a popular frustration grew, and corruption in politics became pervasive, India's economic growth relied increasingly on unregulated finance and environmentally destructive construction. The rise of a violent Hindutva has buried all prior norms in civic life and public accountability. Combining statistical data with creative media, such as literature and cinema, to create strong, accessible, people-driven narratives, this book is a meditation on the interplay between democracy and economic progress, with lessons extending far beyond India. Mody proposes a path forward that is fraught with its own peril, but which nevertheless offers something resembling hope.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Then and Now, an Introduction

Part I: Fake Socialism, 1947–1964

2. An Uncertain Beginning

3. The Path Not Taken

4. Nehru’s Dangerous Gamble

5. Nehru Doubles His Bet

6. Tagore’s Unheard Song

7. Mr. Nehru’s Tragedy, Democracy’s First Betrayal

Part II: Violence, 1964–1984

8. Shastri Makes a Brave Transition

9. A Savior for India’s Ferment

10. India Has an Empress

11. Anger Meets Repression

12. An Autocratic Gamble Fails

13. Democracy Betrays Again, Deindustrialization Begins

14. When the Violence Came Home

Part III: The Promise, 1985–2004

15. A Pilot Flies into Political Headwinds

16. Rajiv Unleashes the Gale Force of Hindu Nationalism

17. An All-Too-Brief Moment of Sanity

18. The Promise Has a Dark Underbelly

19. No, India Does Not Shine

Part IV: Hubris, 2005 to the Present

20. As the Two Indias Drift Apart, Democracy Creaks

21. Modi Pushes the Economy off the Edge

22. Modi Breaks India’s Fractured Democracy

23. COV ID-19 Bares the Moral Decay

Epilogue: A Feasible Idealism

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781503634220

1503634221

OCLC:

1329430982