Book review
T.S.R. Subramanian’s book is a anecdotal, combining wit with irony. It incisively pieces together the gradual decay in public administration in post-British India. The growing subservience of the bureaucracy to the political system unravels step by step. A self-serving elite is formed that is preoccupied with its vested interests. The entire administration, its infrastructure and its development programmes become the terrain for serving the personal and political interests of the neta and babu. The voice of the common man in India goes unheard. The poor continue to remain in poverty. The humour and crispness of the narrative barely conceal this underlying theme which is the central focus of the book it is not a memoir; nor gossip chatter. The book starts with the young officer in idyllic field postings in Uttar Pradesh. He gradually learns the ropes before moving into the corridors of the Secretariat in Lucknow, and then Delhi. The transition from the lilting and unhurried pace of rural India to the rough and tumble of central administration is seamlessly developed. The narrative has a comprehensive sweep, including anecdotes and analysis covering agriculture and rural development industrial policy the license Raj and privatization, India’s trade, trade policy and GATT; the Emergency and rule of law; public policy and administrative reforms.

Pages : 359 HardBack

About the author TSR Subramanian’s, Cabinet Secretary for the short-lived United Front (UF) Government.