An Uncertain Glory : UPDATED NEW Red Paperback – 24 January 2020

"An uncertain Glory" is a seriously argued book advocating Social Intervention in the fields of health, education, nutrition, provision of public services like drinking water, sanitation etc. while pursuing policies of economic growth. The argument is supported by a wealth of data in a Statistical Appendix of about 40 pages.Authors begin with a survey of India's many political and economic achievements and failures. They praise the success of formal democracy and high economic growth while lamenting the poor practice of democracy and slow progress in indicators of human well being which they rightly claim to be inter related.The book studies India's comparative standing vis-à-vis other Asian, African and South American economies over time and establishes convincingly that despite high economic growth, India has fallen behind these countries by not paying sufficient attention to social intervention in the fields listed above.The centrality of education and primacy of health care are further supported by success of some Indian states like Kerala, Tamilnadu and Himachal Pradesh which have achieved high level of indicators of human well being without being at the top of economic growth chart.Authors commend the introduction and success of laws like Right to Informationand NAREGA which have brought about more transparency and accountability in political sphere and raised real wages in rural India respectively.More importantly, India's multi dimensional inequality based on class, caste, gender and even knowledge of English are discussed and their inter relationship brought to fore.Authors justifiably criticize the media for not paying enough attention to real issues facing the country and utilizing their resources for mainly airing the views of affluent classes. This causes severe deficiency in public reasoning and participatory development accentuating the existing inequalities.The greatness of the work lies in its multi dimensional approach, forceful argument and well researched empirical support for the argument. It is more than successful in establishing importance of social intervention as well as a deliberative democracy for achieving greater equality in enjoyment of fruits of growth.

The book is very timely and has touched genuine issues like education, health etc.Definitely education can be of great help in turning the viciouscircle to virtuous circle. But I think authors have missed some importantpoints which I would like to point out.In India, school education is guided by basically three types of boards –CBSE, ICSE and states’ own boards. There is a great deal of lack ofuniformity (covering syllabi, examination pattern, medium ofinstruction etc.) among these leading to several problems.During the era of globalization and privatization, private schools inIndia have took to English medium and we see a mushroom-like growth ofEnglish medium schools from villages and small cities to metros. Thisenglish-medium itself is a barrier to school education especially forfirst generation school learners and first generation english-mediumlearners. The ‘mindless rote learning and repetition – typicallywithout comprehension and endless chanting of multiplication and othertables’ and that ‘private schools in India do not seem to be doingmuch better than government schools’ has ROOTS IN THE MEDIUM OFINSTRUCTION, ‘ENGLISH’ which is hardly children’s mother tongue. Andtherefore, authors finding that ‘children often learn rather little inthese schools’ proves this point; at least I feel so.Therefore, I would suggest two things:1. Uniformity should be brought in syllabi and pattern of examinationat school level.2. The medium of instruction should be vernacular, of course, Englishshould be taught as a subject to meet the global challenges.

All these books from famous economist and authors are really good book content wise, you will enjoy understanding what went wrong with our economic development and great inequality in our society with ever growing GDP and reforms in economic sector.Review about the Physical bookLately all Penguin India published books are of poor quality paper, pale colour , kind of recycled paper, narrow margin with little spacing make it very hard to hold and read. It’s not that people are not willing to pay for good quality book. Penguin India low cost paperback editions are no less than a scam. They understood that lower bottom of pyramid are more than happy to pay anything ~400. So most of their India edition are priced at 300-400 range but pathetic physical quality of the book. Very poor quality and standard, not one you would like to have in your bookself. Penguin india has tried to sell you famous/reknown authors creation with ultralow cost publishing eventually millking Indian average readers. They are printing books on thrash quality paper.

Such depth and precision and eye opening work from the most eminent economists about the harsher realities that India is facing.It sheds light on the problems,the reasons which hinder the economic and social development of India.In a beautiful way describes the various ailments of India.Decreasing Social Indicators,appalling poverty,rising corruption,an Education system in need of overhaul,things like this you will find here..a very informative and interesting read!

New Introduction to this Revised Edition provides a sensible and essential assessment of the state of the nation . Updated Statistical Appendix provides latest data on important parameters. A must read book for every Indian..

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