BookMarks #57: India in the Age of Ideas

Title: India in the Age of Ideas

Author: Sanjeev Sanyal

Genre: Non-Fiction, Economics, Compendium

Published: 2018

BookMarks

"India in the Age of Ideas" is a collection of essays, written over a decade on subjects of economics, urban infrastructure and history. The author Mr. Sanjeev Sanyal is currently the Principal Economic Adviser to the Government of India.

The writings offer a fresh perspective to the three subjects, especially in the field of urban planning. Some of the ideas are radically different from the conventional point of view. The author presents a contrarian approach to the philosophy of rigid five-year plans. The author doesn’t believe in meticulous planning but rather being agile and having a quick response to ever-changing dynamics - a case of Complex Adaptive Systems.

New urban developments should be integrated with existing infrastructure. There is no point in fresh buildings far off from the cities. He contrasts the F1 tracks in Singapore against Noida, the university towns in US & UK versus our universities which are inside walled campuses usually far away from urban centers. 

The author presents his ideas about making cities more livable by improving connectivity through walkability and integrating public transport with last mile connectivity. 

There is an interesting contrast of Chandigarh with Gurgaon. One a modern planned city which has become a center for retired bureaucrats. And the other which has grown in a haphazard manner but providing a major boost to the economy. And thus, comes the question, do we build to a meticulous plan or manage a random growth better? The author certainly believes the second is a better option!

The post-independence policies of socialism and centralized five-year plans of Mahalanobis model come in for heavy criticism. Rightly so, if the results are compared to the potential. But never given the perspective of the world just after independence. The balance is not there in the criticism.

History is another interesting subject which is touched upon. Was Ashoka really great? Why are our history books only Delhi focused? Why are many of the major empires of North-east & South India barely mentioned in our text-books? Why do we not talk about our naval successes in South-East Asia? Interesting questions all. Certainly, we need a more representative history rather than rewriting it completely.

A radical suggestion (and an easily implementable one) is having the Independence Day speech from different locations of historic importance every year! But doesn’t every politician aim for giving a speech from the Red Fort?

Because it is a collection of articles, there are passages which are repetitive across the book. Also, the original date of publication of the article should have come at the beginning to give a perspective of the time-frame. This is especially true in our ever-evolving VUCA world, where the past decade has led to huge technological evolution.

While reading the articles, remembered a chart which showed the most populous cities of the world and different times. India had three entries- Pataliputra, Agra, Delhi. Interestingly, none of them are even the largest Indian city now. Cities are living entities. How they are managed will lead to how long they stay as a center of economic & social importance!

Previously on BookMarks: Stories from Tagore