India grows at night – Gurcharan Das – Review

The premise of the entire narrative by Gurcharan Das is explicit in the title of his book – ‘India grows at night’. He is referring to India’s growth story despite the lack of a strong state. The private institutions have found a way to explosive growth ever since India’s liberalization in 1991, a policy change which can be attributed to lack of options rather than a conscious or deliberate choice.

Broadly, GD covers India’s story from Independence till about two decades post liberalization. This means touching upon Nehru’s socialist policies, Indira Gandhi’s insistence on building a command based economy to the two decades of post liberal India which is marked by crony capitalism and corruption. I was wondering what would have been GD’s stand had he chosen to narrate India’s story in 2022 which also marks 8 years of Modi’s central governance.  

The economic success in India has taken it’s own share of time but the most amazing aspect that goes unrecognized is India’s democratic success. How did India with such diversity in demographics manage to stay democratic and yet united nation for over 7 decades. Military rule was not even an imagined thought in India but it’s a norm in Pakistan, Egypt and a range of other nations that are not even 1/5^th of our size. The credit to such a practice will have to go to Nehru’s policies when he clearly placed army under civilian government.

There are certainly disappointments and frustrations that have come up from tall leaders of India ever since the beginning of independence. We can understand socialist policies in the initial phase of a new born India because there was a strong belief to stay away from profit centred market economy since that was British East India companies core motive when they landed in India. But when India’s economy was failing miserably even by the middle of 1950-60 decade, Nehru should have made strong decisions to liberate the markets.

This is the reason why Rajaji drifted away from Congress and created Swatantra Party in 1959 and here is want he had to say,” I want an India where talent and energy can find scope for play without having to cringe and obtain special individual permission from officials and ministers, and where their efforts will be judged by the open market in India and abroad”. There is no need to explain Rajaji’s stand, he was referring to license raj even in the first decade of independence and has advocated for liberal markets, clearly reflecting on thoughts that were ahead of his times. SP party had even rallied on and became a major opposition in 4 states across India but that’s the distance Rajaji could eventually travel. This is one of the shortcomings of a democratic set up, the public have frequently failed the right leadership team in electoral politics.

 If Nehru’s policies proved to be a drag on the economy, then Indira’s is in line to be considered disastrous. Back in 1972-73, Indira Gandhi nationalised the wholesale trade in food grain on the pretext of taming inflation and control the volatility of prices. The policy was such a huge failure that she revoked it by the end of March 1974. This is not her only misadventure, Indira Gandhi declared President’s rule more than 70 times across different states in India and sent elected governments packing. Clearly, neither Nehru nor Indira had considered forging a formidable equation with private entities and enabled them to grow.

Let’s shift our focus on the drag labour laws had on private institutions, the case of Uttam Manohar Nakate Vs Bharat Forge is horrendous to say the least. In 1983, Uttam Nakate employed in Bharat Forge was found sleeping during the working hours and has already been warned multiple times. After five-month-long disciplinary hearings, the company fired him in January 1984. Uttam went to court, which found the company guilty of unfair labour practice forcing Bharat Forge to re-employ him along with a compensation amounting to 50% of his lost wages. The court battle endured and in 2005 the Supreme Court upheld the firm’s decision to fire Uttam Nakate. If socialism was meant to create a fair ground for all parties in the fray then it failed miserably. 

Though India made a forced decision to liberate Indian economy post 1991, it did give wings for private institutions to grow but also led to crony capitalism. There are numerous cases that can be highlighted to elucidate this point but A. Raja’s 2G scandal takes the cake. However, the worrisome aspect lied in the blatant display of his incorrigible behaviour. Does democracy give enormous power to an individual with excessive money and make them feel above law? An honest answer from an Indian would be ‘yes’ but GD makes a point that strong legal system can get the house in order. He refers to how Jeffrey Skilling, former CEO of Enron Corporation who despite access to highly paid and best American lawyers couldn’t escape the 24 year jail term verdict back in 2006.  

It is stated that the crux of American constitution is about ‘liberty’ and for the French it’s about ‘egalite’ which is equality. However, Indian constitution is set upon Dharma and formation leaders believed that the nation building objective was profoundly a moral one. I definitely sense that India's founding fathers envisioned our society to exhibit an elevated state of mind. GD highlights that one of the key functions of democracy is reciprocal altruism and in the case of India it’s added with ordered heterogeneity.

Concluding that till about 2012, India has been a story of private success with public failure. For the public domain to succeed as well, we need someone who is popular to win the game of electoral politics, score high on moral grounds to put an end to crony capitalism and be strong enough to take tough policy decisions.

As I write this review in 2022, do we have a central government with the above attributes? I believe we do!