Unshackling India

As India enters its seventyfifth year of independence conventional policy is unlikely to combat the breadth of its economic challenges. Across a range of areashuman capital technology agriculture finance trade public service delivery and morenew ideas must now be on the table. The COVID19 pandemic has not only cost India many lives and livelihoods it has also exposed major structural weaknesses in the economy. A huge farm and jobs crisis rising and massive inequalities tepid investment growth and chronic banking sector challenges have plagued the economy exacerbated by the COVID19 pandemic. It has also exposed the limitations of the Indian state which tries to control too muchand ends up stifling the economy and the inherent energies of its young population. Climate change is no longer a distant threat while disruptive technology has huge implications for Indias demographic dividend. In addition the dangerous lurch towards majoritarianism will cast its shadow on Indias pursuit of prosperity for all. Unshackling India examines the question Can India use the next twentyfive years when it will reach the hundredth year of independence to restructure not only its economy but rejuvenate its democratic energy and unshackle its potentialto become a genuinely developed economy by 2047 The book argues that India can foster a prosperous and inclusive economy if it sets its mind to it acknowledges the hard truths and lays out the clear choices and new ideas India must adopt towards that end.