A New Idea of India, written by Harsh Madhusudan (’09) and Rajeev Mantri provides a fascinating vision of an India informed by a free-market, secularist liberal vision. Both American-educated authors hold backgrounds in economics and finance, with Harsh receiving a Dartmouth BA and a subsequent MBA along with Rajeev’s Northwestern BS and MBA. Harsh and Rajeev, seeing India emerge from the growing pains of decolonization, find immense benefit reconciling American political foundations with the world’s largest democracy and next great power. Throughout the book they illustrate a wide variety of policy concerns followed by detailed potential solutions that both fit within a liberal, secular model and the realities of the subcontinent’s unique history.
The central premise of their work relies on the idea of India as a “civilization state” — a civilization that did not become a nation with British independence in 1947 as contemporary politicians suggest, but has rather developed a diverse cultural political history over thousands of years. On the back of this premise, they propose a center-right policy path to bring India from “civilization to nation through the agency of the state.” This path is highlighted as “a new idea of India” as opposed to the dogma of the left-wing intelligentsia that has promoted a singular “the idea of India” over the past half century.
Concerning actual policy, the book is split into five chapters, covering the history of India, India as a civilizational state, secularism, capitalism, and bureaucracy, respectively. In the first two chapters, they highlight the uniqueness of Indian civilization, owing to the subcontinent’s Hindu dharmic tradition and intermingling of cultures. In addition, they highlight the failings of India’s post-independence leaders, specifically Jawaharlal Nehru, to establish a free and prosperous Indian state. The following three chapters address the specific policy proscriptions for a post-leftist India. The authors provide a thorough and well-researched critique of positive discrimination, identity politics, and affirmative action in India, arguing that true secularism cannot be achieved until Indians view themselves as individual citizens rather than purely as communalist groups.
Full protection of western-style individual rights is another building block that the authors see as sorely missing in modern India. They follow this argument up with a critique of India’s guiding socialist policies, proposing free-market reforms in the form of privatization. They then highlight the need for an efficient, streamlined welfare system rather than regulations and price controls. Their final chapter devises solutions to the problems of bureaucracy, through streamlining and elimination of government waste. Harsh and Rajeev underscore the need for bureaucratic reforms with state-sponsored strengthening in the fields of finance, diplomacy, defense, as well as the implementation of cooperative federalism.
Despite the wealth of information contained within centuries of Indian history, the authors do a respectable job simplifying the sub-continent’s political economy for a broader audience. The prose throughout is direct yet very readable, and the authors assume no rigid understanding of the Indian social landscape. Occasionally, the authors fail to address some of the pitfalls of the philosophy of Hindu nationalism and the current Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi. Such counteranalysis must be considered given the continued electoral success of Narenda Modi’s government, which the authors frequently praised. While criticisms of Modi’s direction by the authors do exist, they tend to brush aside some important consequences of diminished minority protection in a state like India. The work functions best as a guide for future BJP governments rather than a complement to Modi’s current rule.
As a template for a new Indian political philosophy, their work provides a laudable study of how center-right philosophy can work to India’s advantage. India is poised for unprecedented population, economic, and cultural growth, and a new political foundation that departs from post-colonial tradition is essential for success. Their ideas create an important independent counterweight to philosophies that have dominated developing countries for the past seventy years. Harsh and Rajeev’s research presents important insight for any reader interested in political economy or the future of the world’s next superpower — no matter one’s political affiliation.
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