3 Review(s)

India in the World: Trials of the Republic is a compilation of KantiBajpai's widely read monthly column in The Times of India. Thecolumns deal with four key areas of national life – foreign policy,social policy, politics, and the idea of India. They span the last fouryears of the UPA government of Manmohan Singh and the first 30months of the BJP-led NDA government under Narendra Modi.Bajpai is a committed liberal. Not surprisingly, his writings areoften indignant and hard-hitting. His aim is to shake the middleclass out of its complacency and its unwillingness to admit thatIndia is in a precarious condition, politically, economically, andsocially.Bajpai does not let us forget that India is one of the poorestcountries on earth (about one-third of the world’s poor are Indians)and that as a rising power it has failed to deliver security, welfare,and democracy to its people. Indeed, as he tries to show, in severalrespects India’s immediate neighbours – and other poorercountries in various parts of Asia and Africa – are faring better.Kanti Bajpai tells us bluntly where India stands and insists wecannot simply blame our political leaders and officials. As citizens,we have a responsibility to see the trials of the Republic for whatthey are and to think more earnestly about what we can do to builda better society.A must-read for anyone who is invested in the future of India