Table of Contents

Foreword - T N Ninan
Preface and Acknowledgements - Dwijen Rangnekar
Introduction and Overview: Humanist Economics as Public Reason by PRATAP BHANU MEHTA
I: THE POLITICS OF POVERTY: THE SOCIAL CRISIS OF DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA
Crisis Today: The Dimming of Hope
Politics of Poverty-I: The Deepening Social Crisis
Politics of Poverty-II: A Quiet Burial of Ideology
The Ritual of Remembering Gandhi
Farmers′ Stir-I: Writing on the Nasik Wall
Farmers′ Stir-II: Changes in Inter-Sectoral Price Parity
Will the Rains Fill Our Bowls?
II: DEPENDENCIES′ INDEPENDENCE-THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT TO INDIA′S EXPERIMENT
Economic Co-Operation
North-South Divide: An Economic Analysis
Today′s Controversies-I: Delhi′s Attitude to Aid
Today′s Controversies-II: Fertilizer and Foreign Capital
Trade Prospects
III: ROPE TRICKS-PLANNING INDIA′S DEVELOPMENT
The Annual Indian Rope Trick
Nehruism and the Second Phase
Second Thoughts on Indian Planning
To Earn or Not to Spend The Taxing Question
IV: INDUSTRIALISING INDIA-FOLLIES AND POLICIES
India: The Emerging Industrial Power
Crisis Today-I: Failure to Stem Structural Deterioration
Crisis Today-II: Anti-inflation Follies
Crisis Today-III: IMF Borrowals: Perils of Economic Chaos
Industrial Policy
Conclusion and Afterword - Sanjaya Baru
Index

About the Author

D. K. Rangnekar (1931–84), an economist, author and futurologist, was a student of the Bombay University later proceeding to Cambridge University for his Tripos and then the London School of Economics for his PhD in Economics as a Tata Fellow. Though trained as an economist, he soon moved into journalism with an initial stint at Ceylon Daily News in Colombo and later in 1963 as Resident Editor of The Economic Times. He swiftly took over as the Editor of the paper and steered it till January 1979. He then proceeded to be the Editor of Business Standard till his early demise in 1984. While most of his writings are in these two economic dailies, he did write widely. This includes magazines and journals like Seminar, Economic and Political Weekly, Mainstream and the Illustrated Weekly of India and international magazines, like Time. Separately he also authored a couple of books, such as Poverty and Capital Development in India (Royal Institute of International Affairs), India Britain and ECM and pamphlets, such as Bokaro: A Story of Bungling (self-published, 1963).

In his time he served on a number of government-appointed committees like the National Council for Science and Technology’s Futurology Panel and the Export Strategy Committee (the Tandon Committee), among others. Not bound by doctrinaire ideology or party-politics, his contributions to these committees were known for their critical independence, which in some instances took the form of a ‘Note of Dissent’. His prescient observations can be gauged by the fact that it was in the 1970s and early 1980s that he wrote about India’s need to de-license to create competitiveness and to exploit the opportunities of a knowledge economy hub, in addition to a number of other relevant observations.

His scholarship and leadership on such issues led to wider recognition, including a nomination amongst Time magazines’ 500 global leaders in the late 1970s. His broad spectrum of interests and activities also included films (he actively participated in the National Film Development Corporation) and music (he was an early member of the first Jazz Yatra). Preoccupation and interests like these, among others, led to his unique stamp on the shape and coverage of the two economic dailies he edited where cultural and political issues got adequate space.

Reviews

An easy read on crucial economic and political issues for the first three and a half decades after independence...the volume is for those who are searching for explanations for the paradoxes of our time.
*Frontline, 31 May 2013*

A delight for a researcher who gets in one place all thought processes and critiques on issues that were held sacrosanct for around three decades.... on the whole, the book is likely to appeal more to those who have lived through both the pre and post- reform eras, when we swung from mixed to an open economic system...but when he talks of public poliy, poverty and inequality, it rings a bell even today. In that sense, this book is timely and helps evoke introspection.
*Business Standard*

[The book] gives the reader a rare insight into the man he [Ranganekar] was, with essays by T.N. Ninan, Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Sanjay Baru...Rangnekar’s balanced perspective, long-term vision and discourse on issues that are as alive today as they were then, make the essays in the book a must read.
*Business India*

Neatly edited and indexed, the book succeeds in unravelling the genius of D.N. Ranganekar. It should be read by everyone interested in Indian economy, especially business journalists.
*Business World*

An elaborate study at the country’s economy by dwelling upon issues both at the micro and macro level...a candid attempt to address the cause of the common man.
*The Tribune, 12 January 2014*