Shaping India’s Future: Essays in Memory of Abid Hussain

This volume seeks to honour the lifelong passion and commitment of Abid Hussain—a distinguished civil servant, a diplomat, and a concerned citizen of India who contributed to the public sphere in a wide range of areas—for a better India. It includes nine essays covering contemporary issues in economic policy, governance, and society that will shape India’s future over the coming decades. Among the key messages of the essays are that India needs a developmental State that thoughtfully intervenes in the market and economic policies guided by the imperative of generating good jobs. These policies need to be set within the context of Union-State relations underpinned by an appropriate mix of cooperative and competitive federalism and a political order where India’s liberal democracy strives to relieve individuals from the burden of compulsory identities and stresses individual rights. This volume also consists of seven tributes to Abid Hussain by eminent scholars and policymakers.