Updated 20 Apr 2009: NR Narayana Murthy has published a book as well. He talks about giving access to inexpensive English education and computers to everyone. Exactly Sir. 

Updated 10 Apr 2009: Imagining India links to this review on their site. Thanks Imagining India.

Managed to read the recent book Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani – one of India’s top entrepreneurs.  Judging from the title of the book, i had imagined that the book would be some kind of a glorified story of Infosys. What can i say, i was completely wrong.

Nilekani has produced a 485 page magnum opus covering the key ideas that have shaped independent India in the spheres of politics, science, education, food, poverty, power, water, economics..  Interspersed in this sweeping discourse are some futuristic but practical ideas, that could take India to the next level [If only our politicians read this].

Within just the first 100 pages, Nilekani’s in depth research as well as the sheer breadth of the topics shines through. I could not help admiring the amount of work that must have gone in to write this book. Even those, that have been following post-1947 India closely, will benefit from reading this book, thanks to the extensive research done by Nilekani.

Nilekani’s  ability to put ideas in perspective is worth appreciating. For example, in the chapter titled “The Phoenix Tongue”, he explains how English became the key language in Southern India, thanks to Tamilnadu’s vociferous opposition to Hindi imposition and the embracing of the English language by the South Indians.  [I am also of the view, that if not for the anti-Hindi agitations, the whole of India would have abandoned English completely foreclosing the rise of the Indian IT/BPO industries which are now the engines of the Indian economy. By the same token, the Hindi belt states, by abandoning English, could not participate in the IT/BPO industries and prosper.  I hope the Hindi/Tamil and other local language chauvinists take note of Nilekani's points].

On a related note, he points out in the chapter titled “The Awakened Country”,   that the Green Revolution, the White Revolution and the IT Revolution, have all passed by the BIMARU states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) [my view - Thanks to ignoring English].

He rails against the subsidy economy – giving subsidies for power, food, oil etc. Given his IT background, he advocates a smart card based system where the Government can give the benefits directly to the deserving citizens instead of subsidies which are indirect and almost never reach the intended recipients in full. Brilliant idea. [During my stint in America, i admired their use of Food Stamps, using which poor citizens could shop in regular grocery stores like everyone else. Why couldn't we do that in India - where Public Distribution System stores distribute rice, wheat, sugar, cooking oil etc at an enormous cost to the taxpayers with corrupt employees siphoning off the goods into the black market leaving the recipients with rotten stuff. The entire cost of maintaining the PDS can be given away as direct benefits].

His criticism/appreciation of both the UPA and the NDA governments is quite balanced. The telecom policy introduced by NDA govt which gave rise to India’s mobile revolution gets the praise it deserves and so does Manmohan Singh’s, P. Chidambaram’s (UPA) economic policies.

Overall, i found myself nodding my head for many of his well-researched view points on eGovernance, Power issues, Green issues, Education issues, Water issues etc. Nilekani analyzes the mistakes India has made and at the same time presents potential solutions which are quite practical instead of some pie-in-the sky idealist dreams.

I totally loved Nilekani’s statement that is at the very end:

This is why I believe that the only way to push changes through and safeguard our economic future is to create a safety net of ideas. It is imperative to ensure that our ideas transcend political agendas and are endorsed and demanded by a large number of people. if we can do this, we will insure our future against instability, slow growth and inequality.

My prediction is that Nandan Nilekani is entering politics. I hope for India’s sake he does enter politics. He certainly gets my vote.