Economic policies since Independence
S. L. Rao
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The book will last as an excellent review of the political influences on India's economy and policies since Independence
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INDIA'S POLITICAL ECONOMY— The Gradual Revolution,1947-2004: Francine R. Frankel; Oxford University Press, YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001. RS. 750.
Francine R. Frankel is an India scholar of very long standing. Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and founding Director of the University of Pennsylvania's Centre for the Advanced Study of India, she also founded a counterpart Centre in Delhi. The first edition of the present book was published in 1978. There is a clear difference between the chapters from the first edition and the three chapters added to recount post-1978 events. The add-ons are more perfunctory and miss the mastery of the details of social, political and economic contexts and issues as well as of the personalities that are a feature of the first edition.
It is a monumental work and must be a compulsory reference for anyone wanting to understand the political influences behind the economic policies of India since Independence.
With 819 pages it may be greedy to ask for more but one misses a close analysis of the military, security and foreign policy issues that led to a considerable revision in India's policies in a uni-polar and globalising world.
Critique
Since these issues also influenced economic policies and outcomes, their detailed coverage would have been useful. For example, she devotes scant attention to the Narasimha Rao Government, the first non-Nehru family Prime Minister in a Congress Government (not counting Shastri); the Vajpayee Government, the first to be led by the BJP and to have lasted six years; the continuity in reform policies despite disparate coalitions; the ability of India to withstand the economic sanctions imposed after the nuclear tests by the new NDA Government; and the subsequent closeness that developed with the U.S. especially after the war on terrorism after 9/11.
There could have been more attention paid to the India-Pakistan relationship and its economic effects on both countries. Energy security has major implications for the economy and influences the whole spectrum of national policies but has not been touched.
Similarly more attention could have been given to the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) attempt to raise India's posture in the world with the nuclear explosions, significant defence expenditures and overtures to countries with which the Congress had maintained hostile or cold postures.
Readers might have been more beholden to the author if she had (as was her first instinct) brought out an equally comprehensive second volume instead of the 308 pages she has added to the first edition.
Contexts
The chapters in the first edition have exhaustive analyses that explain the political, social and historical contexts of the economic policies of the Nehru years. In her detailed discussion of the Indira Gandhi years, she draws attention to the hitherto hidden influence of the Communist Party of India (CPI) on Indira Gandhi (till Sanjay reduced it significantly). Without saying so, she draws attention to Indira Gandhi's "ignorance" of economics leading to the "direct" interventions in the economy instead of "indirect" ones to build the physical and social infrastructures and the institutions for people's participation to improve the accountability of the administration. There could have been a more comprehensive discussion of the political influences that sabotaged the well-meaning and desirable reform initiatives by Rajiv Gandhi.
Challenges
One notices throughout the book that Frankel is careful not to offend. For example, she says: "It is not clear whether Ms. Gandhi deliberately gave free rein to Sanjay...." and then recounts in detail the many interferences by him in the governments at the Centre and the states (especially Delhi) that could not have occurred without her knowledge and concurrence.
Her description of the events leading to the Emergency is well researched and convincing. However, despite her description of Indira Gandhi's fears of the breakdown of law and order and national unity, her argument (agreeing with P.N. Dhar) that the Emergency was therefore not an attempt to perpetuate her power and her family's dynastic rule, is not convincing. In fairness this lack of conviction is caused by the description in the book of her many acts and statements over the period.
The last chapter on the challenge of Hindu nationalism discusses the primary internal political challenge of communal harmony that India must tackle if democracy is to lead to poverty elimination and development for the very poor.
But the book could have devoted more attention to the development of caste-oriented politics and the consequent fracturing of political parties and the entrenchment of the economic policies of government giveaways.
Excellent history
The book is an excellent history of the Indian political economy. It is short on alternative policies, though that may not have been the purpose of the book.
For example, it seems clear that the BJP will always be constrained by coalitions and will be compelled if it wants to be in power to follow relatively secular centre of the road policies.
Economic growth is the aim of national parties, not the regional ones that appear to hold the political balance. Growth (not handouts) could reduce poverty speedily. Increasing urbanistion might help reduce caste and communal divisions.
In a book that covers as wide a canvas as Frankel's does it is easy to criticise, find omissions or inadequate coverage.
The surprising thing is that in a book that covers so many contentious issues of recent history, there is little to disagree with. That is a virtue of the book though it is also its weakness that she desists from expressing her opinions on many controversies.
This is a book that will last as an excellent review of the political influences on India's economy and policies since Independence.
One looks forward to her next work, hopefully a detailed study of the post-Indira Gandhi years.
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