B-) I finally finished this demon of a book, a hard copy for a change...
And it has been a fascinating read. Though because this time I decided to integrate it with CAT studies, I had to keep pausing for 'exact' meaning of words in dictionaries, and synonyms and so on... but nevertheless, it has helped hugely in understanding political and economic policies up to this point that have been brought into force by the various ministers of the country...
The book travails through the times when India was under the Imperial rule, and the effect the laws and regulations enforced by the regime have had in shaping India as we see it now. Nilekani repeatedly points out the unique place that India is situated in, in terms of taking advantage economically. The workforce and the population explosion that was once touted as destructive, Nilekani points out that this young population is all set to begin its career and gives this young democracy a real chance to become a true world leader.
He touches upon policies that deepened caste divisions in India, and what keeps it still rampant in a supposedly developed India. The best part is that Nilekani, not being affiliated to any political party or adhering to any strict party ideology has equally abashed and accredited both Congress and BJP, as and when deemed essential. He has praised the good policies and has been apathetic while bashing the wrong ones, for instance pointing out the unconstitutional nasbandi and abortion drives under Sanjay Gandhi when Indira Gandhi was the PM.
Nilekani has pointed out the immediate problems that we face, and has been very candid about admitting that some of the politicians are far far behind the times that we are living in, and are not open to new ideas, besides playing on the emotions of the people esp during the elections, which is why we get all the wrong people at the right posts!
Nilekani who has been invited by Manmohan Singh for implementation of the extremely ambitious UID project also explains how some of the problems of taxes and reaching out of the masses can be solved effectively through this... and just today TOI reports that the project has been renamed Aadhaar and has been assigned a symbol of a sun with a fingerprint in the middle. The details of this project have been very meticulously put up in articles I came across, which is why I think you should read them here, rather than me writing them again... part 1 and part 2.
Nilekani has his job cut out, and the deadline for this project has been set at Feb next year, but as he himself says we're bad at keeping deadlines, so what remains to be seen is if Nilekani can change it...
All in all, the book is an excellent read for anybody who's interested in polity... :)
