India Is Broken: A People Betrayed, Independence to Today

India is Broken offers a new perspective on India's journey from 1947 to the present, highlighting the failures of successive leaders to address the country's economic problems and the resulting social and democratic breakdowns. The book combines statistical data with creative media to create accessible and people-driven narratives, offering a path forward that may offer hope despite its risks.

Format: Hardback
Length: 528 pages
Publication date: 14 February 2023
Publisher: Stanford University Press

A thought-provoking new perspective on India's journey from its hopeful founding in 1947 to the dramatic economic and democratic breakdowns of today.

When Indian leaders assumed control of their government in 1947, they embraced the ideals of national unity and secular democracy. Over the first half-century of nation-building, they could point to uneven but measurable progress on key goals, and after the mid-1980s, dire poverty declined for a few decades, inspiring declarations of victory.

However, today, a vast majority of Indians live in a state of underemployment, teetering on the edge of despair. Public goods such as health, education, cities, air and water, and the judiciary are in woeful condition. Good jobs will remain scarce as long as this remains the case. The lack of jobs will further undermine democracy, which in turn will further hinder job creation.

India is Broken offers the most compelling account available of this economic catch-22.

Challenging prevailing narratives, Mody argues that successive post-independence leaders, starting with India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, failed to confront India's true economic problems, opting for easy solutions instead. As popular frustration grew, and corruption in politics became pervasive, India's economic growth relied increasingly on unregulated finance and environmentally destructive construction. The rise of a violent Hindutva has buried all prior norms in civic life and public accountability.

Combining statistical data with creative media, such as literature and cinema, to create strong, accessible, and people-driven narratives, this book is a meditation on the interplay between democracy and economic progress, with lessons extending far beyond India. Mody proposes a path forward that is fraught with challenges.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503630055