I couldn't have timed finishing this book better than now, with the ongoing tussle on the matter of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in Retail, for economic policy forms a substantial part of Gurcharan Das' 'Unbounding' of India. Even as I write this, the matter is "suspended" or at least put "on hold" by the government and situations similar to this form more or less the plot of the book unleashing the economic reality of the post-independent India. Without ever sounding pedagogical, the book echos the anguish and reasoning of the many growth oriented Indians.
Unlike this note, Gurcharan Das, the author, follows chronologically, the story of India since her democratic birth through the stages of economic incubation, stagnation and turtle movement each representing the eras of socialism, license raj and pre-liberalization respectively. The mood of the book shifts from 'hopeless' to 'hopeful' as it reaches it's destination, the post-liberalization phase, consuming over three decades of history and a third of the book just to describe the struggle undergone by the business power houses including the likes of the tatas, the birlas & the new entrants, the Ambanies and Subhash Chandra - with everything right from entrepreneurs to raw materials being sparse commodities back then - in attaining licenses, setting up industries, expanding them and so on, while opening the harsh realities of a closed economy. However, the number of success stories & growth, multiplies just under a decade of liberalization, accelerating the pace of narration. In fact, the last section reminds one of Thomas Freidman's 'World is Flat' despite it being differently themed and published much later, as for once, India appears to be on the global road map running alongside the rest of the world in terms of economic growth.
As one would agree, India represents the extreme ends of a spectrum, whether it's the urban-rural divide or that of the haves & have nots, educated & illiterate, upper vs lower castes. Gurcharan Das resonates both voices mainly of the rural-urban with authority due to his urban upbringing and exposure to the hinterland early in his career. Das, maintains an easy to understand tone throughout and shares anecdotes being a theory-Y manager himself. It therefore sounds as much a story of the author as it is of his motherland, brilliantly syncing his personal experiences and the historical milestones of the nation.
Given his academic and professional background, I am not amused by the language of economics, business and common sense that he speaks but it is his ability to string together several pieces of political, economic and industrial developments or sometimes even absence of the latter and in connecting them with India's unique cultural, social and philosophical background that appeals to me the most. For instance, he hypothesizes on why Indians in general and those belonging to the higher castes in particular are good in IT, pointing out that because of their philosophical roots are known to understand and internalize abstract concepts. Also, the upper castes had better access to education and were the first to grab opportunities in education. This he argues, also explains why there were no significant achievements in product development, since the upper castes were never into doing or creating anything on their own and that they were always used to getting things done.
While the theme of the book could have easily made it sound quite factual it's his analysis and style of narration that guarantee a steady flow of ideas, some of them borrowed from elite researchers. The book therefore also doubles up as a tablet sort of compilation of research findings of several sociologists on India.
Maneuvering with the language just as the industrialists did during the license raj, the author neatly packages the book in line with what is deemed to be politically correct also ignoring for a large part the irregularities committed by the business classes as if such cases never formed a scope of this book.
In conclusion, as Das declares, it's individuals that create history without ever realizing and he himself creates some by writing this book and making it a single point of reference on India's business environment after her independence.
