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India Grows at Night: A Liberal Case for a Strong State
Author: Gurcharan Das

Publisher: Allen Lane,
ISBN: 9780670084708
Pages: 320
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Gurcharan Das returns with an extremely provocative, well argued and topical new book!

Indians wryly admit that India grows at night. But that is only half the saying; the full expression is: India grows at night... when the government sleeps, suggesting that the nation may be rising despite the state. Indias is a tale of private success and public failure. Prosperity is, indeed, spreading across the country even as governance failure pervades public life.

But how could a nation become one of the worlds fastest-growing economies when its governed by a weak, ineffective state? And wouldnt it be wonderful if India also grew during the dayin other words, if public policy supported private enterprise?

What India needs, Gurcharan Das says, is a strong liberal state. Such a state would have the authority to take quick, decisive action; it would have the rule of law to ensure those actions are legitimate; and finally, it would be accountable to the people. But achieving this will not be easy, says Das, because India has historically had a weak state and a strong society.