INDIA UNBOUND: FROM INDEPENDENCE TO THE GLOBAL INFORMATION AGE

By Gurcharan Das

In India Unbound, the author, Gurcharan Das offers a ringside view of the economic and social transformation of India from independence to the new millennium. It is an account of the country's rise from poverty to prosperity.

The author begins his story from just before India gained its independence in 1947. He talks about Nehru's ''mixed economy'' (aimed at combining the best of socialism and capitalism) which he argues achieved democracy but ignored entrepreneurship and competition, resulting in an absence of industrial development (crucial to India's economic growth). The author says, though Nehru infected us with his idealism, he also reinforced our prejudice against businessmen and profit. Thus, we never learned about the virtues of entrepreneurship and competition. He continues through to the economic reforms of 1991 under Prime Minister Narsimha Rao who he labels a "reluctant liberalizer". Along the way, he talks at length about Indira Gandhi's License Raj, the Bombay Plan which showed Indian capitalists' willingness to accept "important limitations on the freedom of private enterprise" as well as the Green Revolution.

The author, in his account of events, includes almost everything that had an impact on India's post independence socio-economic history. At every chance, he sets the personal story of his family and ancestors in the larger context of history creating a detailed picture of Indian life. And that first hand account is what, I think, really brings the issues discussed to 'life'.

Nevertheless, the author remains optimistic that the future will be one of competition and decentralization, "thanks to our intellectual capital and the opportunities opened by technology and globalization." India, he writes, "will never have speed, but it will always have stamina."

Some interesting bits:
1. The account of battle between Alexander the Great and Raja Puru (Porus, in Greek) of Punjab...

2. Bazaar Power - Here, the author basically described his years in India as a marketing executive with a whole lot of management principles thrown in. He began his career at the Indian subsidiary of Vicks and rose to become head of its Indian company, Richardson Hindustan, in 1981, and eventually, a CEO at Proctor & Gamble. Soon after the economic reforms of the early 1990s, however, he left the company to become a journalist and writer. He is currently a venture capitalist and a consultant to industry and government.

3. A Million Reformers - The author discusses some general observations about the changing India from stray street encounters over the past five years. He gives a very interesting account of his encounters with fourteen-year-old Raju, who worked in a village cafe in Chennai and wanted to become another Bill Gates; twenty-year-old Sushila, who worked in a leather factory in Pondicherry and rattled off "Florsheim, Hogarth, Marks and Spencers", the names of her customers on being asked. She clearly knew the secret of success in the global economy- care for the customer.

All in all, very informative (the book was a pool of information), and a wholesome account of events. Though the account is in no chronological order, but in a way the in-depth analysis and real life connections drawn help in understanding it better.

India Unbound, Gurcharan Das writes, is "about the past, the present, and a certain vision of the future."