Book Summary: "To The Brink and Back: India's 1991 Story" - Jairam Ramesh
In less than a year, India will record the 25th anniversary of the moment it changed gears on economic reforms, launching the country into an unprecedented growth phase. A raft of books will naturally hit the stands over the coming year.
In that sense, Jairam Ramesh, technocrat turned Congress politician, is first off the block; the release of his book, To The Brink And Back: India’s 1991 Story, has formally kicked off the celebrations. Ramesh’s claim to inking the book is the ringside view that he enjoyed while working in the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) for the first 90 days or so of the Narasimha Rao government (before he was unceremoniously ejected and placed in the Planning Commission, the sinecure for those out of favour).
For Jairam Ramesh, the book carries with it a political risk. When he served under Rao, he was a technocrat (inducted along with Rakesh Mohan and Arvind Virmani by Manmohan Singh in the Planning Commission in 1986), but he has since formally joined the Congress—something that might be expected to define the contours of his literary freedom. Rao, one of the most successful Congress prime ministers, is considered a pariah within the party, the glowing tributes to him in the book will not endear Ramesh to a party run like a mom-and-pop store. It would be safe to predict that this book must be triggering a round of palace intrigue within the Gandhis’ inner circle.
Grab your copy by clicking on the below link:
Book publication date: September 2015.
Brief about the Author:
Jairam Ramesh
Jairam Ramesh is a Member of the Parliament of India, representing Andhra Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha. Before his new assignment, he was the Minister Of State (independent charge) in the Ministry Of Environment and Forests in UPA-II.
Jairam Ramesh also served as the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and the Minister of State for Power in the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government. He was also Advisor to the Finance Minister from 1996 to 1998, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission from 1992 to 1994, and Prime Minister in 1991. He has served in the Planning Commission, Ministry of Industry, and other economic departments of the central government.
He was entrusted with numerous special assignments, such as reorganizing India's international trade agencies in 1990 to implement the technology missions during 1987-89, reorganizing the CSIR in 1986, and analyzing energy policy during 1983-85. He was also invited to join the official delegation to the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999. Born on 9 April 1954 at Chikmagalur in Karnataka,
Jairam Ramesh studied public management at Carnegie Mellon University from 1975 to 77 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) technology policy, economics, engineering and management as part of the newly –established inter-disciplinary Technology, Bombay (IIT-B), Mumbai in 1975. In 2001, IIT Bombay presented him with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
During his stint as the Union Minister of Environment & Forests, Jairam Ramesh pioneered the Green India initiative. He has authored several key government reports in diverse areas: energy, technology, capital goods, industrial policy, and telecom. He has been a founding member of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, promoted by the Wharton School, London Business School, and Kellogg School of Management. He is a member of the International Council of the New York-based Asia Society. His column on economics and public policy, 'Kautilya' in The Times of India, is very popular. He is also the author of the book 'Making Sense of Chindia', which describes the forces of globalization and liberalization and assesses international relations in today's world. Shri Jairam Ramesh has also anchored many popular television programs on business and the economy, including Business Breakfast and Crossfire. Under his dynamic leadership, the Ministry of Rural Development is expected to carry forward its pro-poor and pro-people initiatives on the road to inclusive growth and development.
To The Brink and Back:- Book Review
Exordium:
After a decision had been taken to devalue the Indian rupee, Manmohan Singh had written to Narasimha Rao. He was worried that his rupee balance, born out of modest dollar savings, would swell. He informed Rao that the ‘windfall’ gains would be deposited in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. 1991 was India’s Greece moment.
领英推荐
India took the road to liberalisation at least a decade before 1991—many who have studied India’s economic history believe the foundation for this was laid by the sixth Five-Year Plan in 1980. However, the policy action orchestrated by prime minister PV Narasimha Rao and finance minister Manmohan Singh that year was of such enormous import that 1991, in popular memory, remains the watershed year for India’s reforms story. Thus, in July 2016, India would be in the 25th year of those landmark reforms.
The governments after Rao’s have moved on liberalisation, either in absolute or incremental doses. The switch to a market-based economy from a public sector-led one has had its pains and joys. Today, the appetite for reforms is high and the expectations from the present government are sharper than before (though, it must be said, the
latter stands on a much more sounder footing than governments before it and after Rao’s). In this backdrop, former minister and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s new book, To The Brink and Back, has hit the shelves.
Ramesh offers an insightful account of the first 90 days of the Rao government, when he served as a technocrat with the prime minister’s office (PMO) before being shifted to the Planning Commission. Bear in mind, this was a time when India had sunk deep into an economic crisis and stood at the edge of default (the Brink in the book’s title)—forex reserves stood at just two weeks of import cover. Given how little exists in the name of literature on India’s economic history overall and on India changing its economic trajectory, Ramesh’s book is an important read. Sure, it does, in a way, claim for the Congress some sort of fount status for the liberalisation story, but Ramesh stays the course of history as it is—and not as it is perceived—and refrains from instituting 1991 as the year India’s reform story started.
He gives all the scriptures before Rao and Singh their due, informing the reader that before the duo ran the last mile, many had carried the baton forward in short sprints. He writes of the LK Jha-chaired Economic Administration Reforms Commission and the committee on restructuring of PSUs, both set up by the Indira Gandhi government; and of the Vadilal Dagli committee on controls and subsidies that the Morarji Desai government set up.
Nevertheless, he doesn’t hesitate to declare the Budget presented by Singh on July 24, 1991, as the “most historic of all”.
There are portions in the book that also reveal Rao’s complexities almost in stark juxtaposition with his finance minister’s ‘unimpeachable’ personality. But Ramesh is never once uncharitable about the late prime minister’s role in the 1991 story. In fact, though he is a senior member of a party that has nearly purged Rao from its history, Ramesh seeks to restore him to his rightful place in history with his book.
Epilogue:
It faced an unprecedented financial crisis against the backdrop of political uncertainty and crumbling investor confidence. On 21 June 1991, P. V. Narasimha Rao became prime minister and appointed Dr Manmohan Singh as finance minister. In less than thirty - five days, the Rao-Singh duo ushered in momentous changes in economic policy those that transformed the country.
To the Brink and Back is the first account of the weeks of fast-paced change, narrated by an insider a key aide of the prime minister, uniquely positioned both to participate and observe. It carries brisk accounts of the early days of survival - the compulsions and convictions that propelled a paradigm shift in India’s economic policy - and the ups and downs, twists and turns in the saga of fiscal reform. Along with the author’s astute insights, the book holds key documents and notes, placed for the first time in the public domain - the personal papers of Narasimha Rao - private conversations with Manmohan Singh - Parliament proceedings; and the minutes of seminal Congress meetings. Coming as it does on the eve of the silver jubilee of India’s economic liberalization,
Learning:
The book is, therefore, honest in the contextualization of what was indeed a pivotal moment in India’s modern economic history. Add to it uncomplicated writing and the excellent structuring of chapters. And, of course, at the risk of reading like a term paper, Ramesh has liberally used footnotes (actually a very smart trick because it frees up the narrative and keeps the reader glued to the fascinating plot as it unfolds) throughout the book, not to speak of the detailed annexures of some historical documents. To his credit, Ramesh has packed the book very tightly, restricting it to his period in the PMO.
In short, the book is a must-read. Even those who steer clear of non-fiction, especially if it’s related to the economy, should go for it. If nothing else, it will help them understand why both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, despite their posturing, are actually on the same page on economic reforms—a critical consensus that now needs to be operationalized.
To the Brink and Back will appeal not only to political history enthusiasts but also to those who wish to know how countries can be led from the brink to a radically new economic future.