India takes pride in enabling its citizens to cast a vote quinquennially. But Indian democracy, argues Senior Journalist Arvind Bhandari, is distressingly flawed, being based on institutionalized corruption and rule by minority vote. A thematic strand running through this vibrant book, which commences with a comprehensive and thought-provoking introduction, is that India has more failed than succeeded as a newly emerging nation. The author contends that India’s non-performance is ascribable to the country being deprived of across-the–board reforms, which have not been effected because of a short-sighted, pusillanimous political leadership. Areas which cry out for reform include population policy, anti-poverty programmes, political system, electoral system, judicial system, educational system and accountability in public life. Even 57 years after independence, India’s face is pockmarked by poverty, squalor, chaos, congestion, injustice, violence, brutality and, of course, ubiquitous corruption, with the result that not un – often the country sinks to the depths of an uncivilized nation. Despite statistical obsolescence, the arguments and analysis contained in the book retain their validity and relevance. In fact, the book is suffused with political and economic information which could serve as valuable background material for general readers and journalists as well as students and competitioners.
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