Modi & His Challenges By: Rajiv Kumar

Modi & His Challenges

• Author : Rajiv Kumar
• Publisher : Bloomsbury India
• ISBN-13 : 9789384898342

About Modi & His Challenges

Narendra Damodar Modi created history by becoming the first non-Congress leader to have secured an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, the key lower house of the Indian parliament. His high decibel election campaign with its aspirational rhetoric backed by his track record in Gujarat, has unleashed unprecedented expectations both within India and abroad. This book (by an author who has closely observed the rise of Modi from close quarters) addresses the tough question whether Modi will deliver on his promises and take India to a higher trajectory of employment generation and economic growth. It does so in three ways. First, by tracking ideologies and ideals that have driven Modi forward in his undoubtedly remarkable journey. Second, by critically examining Modi’s track record in Gujarat to separate myth from reality. Third, by evaluating as rigorously as possible his performance during the first eighteen months as Prime Minister. Thus, the book makes an objective assessment of Modi’s chances to tackle the multiple and formidable challenges that India faces generating 12 million job opportunities per year needed to productively employ its young and impatient population. The book explores the efficacy of Modi’s approach to structural reforms and governance. This is now being questioned especially after Delhi and Bihar election results. Can his approach take India forward towards completing its triple transitions (economic, social and political) that it has audaciously chosen to pursue simultaneously? Will Modi, having moved to Delhi, confine himself to replicating the Gujarat model or will he go beyond the ordinary to fulfil his historic mandate? The book tries to answer this question that has implications far beyond India.

About the Author

Rajiv Kumar, senior fellow at CPR, is an economist and the author of several books on the Indian economy and India's national security. Dr Kumar is also chancellor of the the Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics in Pune and the founding director of Pahle India Foundation, a non-profit research organisation that specialises in policy-oriented research and analysis. Before coming to CPR, he was Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He has also served as Director & Chief Executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and chief economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), as well as in positions with the Asian Development Bank, the Indian Ministry of Industries, and the Ministry of Finance. He presently sits on the boards of several international and national institutions, including the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh, the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and Asia in Jakarta, the State Bank of India, and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. He was a member of the Government of India's National Security Advisory Board between 2006 and 2008. Dr Kumar holds a DPhil in economics from Oxford and a PhD from Lucknow University.

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