Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation

  • Nandan Nilekani
Penguin: 2009. 528 pp. $29.95 9781594202049 | ISBN: 978-1-5942-0204-9

Nandan Nilekani's book is a product of the new India. The author, a first-generation, wealthy software entrepreneur, belongs to the iconic trinity of that nation — along with the film star and the cricketer, his words command attention.

On graduating in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay in 1978, Nilekani, unlike many of his classmates, did not emigrate to the United States. In 1981, he and six others pooled US$250 to start Infosys Technologies, an information-technology (IT) consulting and service company; its revenue eventually surpassed $4 billion. Today this company, listed on the US stock exchange and with more than 103,000 employees, has a global footprint.

As Infosys soared, so did the stature of Nilekani. He emerged as one of a new breed of businessmen, blessed by both Lakshmi and Saraswati, the rival Hindu goddesses of wealth and wisdom. He is a role model for young, ambitious Indians. Such is his profile in India that simply emblazoning his face on the cover of the book guaranteed a best-seller.

The various Indian Institutes of Technology, the seedbeds for the technical prowess of Nilekani and his peers, were founded as part of Jawaharlal Nehru's vision. Nehru, India's first prime minister, believed that these state-run institutes, offering quality technical education almost for free, would produce the leaders of tomorrow. As Nilekani points out, “India set off on a path of knowledge-intensive growth that was both unique and unusual for a developing economy”.

The policies of planned development and state-financed education gave less-privileged children access, first to intellectual capital and later to bank loans. Thus, a strong foundation was laid before some of Nehru's economic policies were reversed in the 1990s.

The author's training in engineering is reflected in the modular structure of Imagining India. Nilekani interviews more people than a journalist would and cites as many sources as an academic. The former may see him as a rival in recycling the views of others, and the latter may find him lacking in rigour. But as an IT expert, the author knows a thing or two about 'crowd sourcing' — of information and knowledge.

This book is not the story of Infosys. Nilekani has chosen a broader canvas. He takes in the whole range of the nation's maladies — a frozen mindset, inequity, the halting economic reforms, bumbling bureaucrats, caste-biased sectarian politicians, unethical businessmen, inadequate infrastructure and a crippled higher-education system. His strongest comments are reserved for the failures in the education sector, which lacks competition and quality control and is marked by a proliferation of degree-giving institutions, a shortfall of teachers and a lacklustre administration.

Nilekani laments the sharp polarization of discourse in all of India's spheres — political, economic and social. The mindless 'for or against' clashes that occur trivialize important issues and leave little scope for reasoned debate and policy-making. Such conflicts raise barriers against change and stunt the growth of new ideas. In my view, such polarization and the weakening social cohesion constitute a far greater danger than a temporary dip in the economic growth rate. However, no fault line shakes the author's optimism.

Nilekani is critical of the early quasi-socialist policies of planned development, state-run enterprises and industrial licensing that stifled initiative and kept entrepreneurs and the economic growth rate shackled. But he is not handcuffed to dogma. Nor does he spare private enterprise from criticism. He agrees that it was the legacy of those socialist policies that brought the country certain advantages when it decided to take the path of economic liberalization in the 1990s. His own business has drawn on the pool of talent directly nurtured by the state.

Part of the Nehruvian legacy is the country's competence in science and technology, most of it built up in the public sector. This competence came in handy when the private sector became mature enough to use it in industries such as biotechnology, IT and electronics. The state-run space, atomic energy and other research programmes also nurtured hundreds of ancillary enterprises.

Nilekani pleads for innovation in business and governance. He refers to projects that enable slum children and illiterate farmers to gain access to computers and the Internet, and discusses grass-roots innovations based on the Indian tendency to improvise. He describes the jugaad, a multipurpose 'car' made by rural mechanics who put together whatever parts they can lay their hands on. Regrettably, he does not devote much space to India's strengths in advanced technology development.

Nilekani sees a great future for India, provided it speeds up economic reforms towards more market-led growth in the global arena, and adopts new ways of thinking to counter statism and bureaucracy. He is heartened by the change in people's attitude in favour of entrepreneurship, globalization and the English language. He hails India's billion-strong population, with a median age of 23, as its demographic dividend.

Nilekani notes that “all our major strengths have come together and matured at the same time”. By using the rare opportunity provided by a constellation of domestic and international factors, he believes that India can reach farther and higher. Yet, he warns, such windows of opportunity do not remain open for long.

Hope has been an enduring characteristic of the Indian civilization. At a time when possibility has just encountered feasibility, Imagining India carries a strong message of hope.