Among the highlights of my year in 2023 were these books and reports to each of which I was privileged to contribute a chapter.
The Great Indian Manthan – State, Statecraft and the Republic published by the Samruddha Bharat Foundation and Penguin India brought together perspectives from eminent politicians, bureaucrats and jurists on the foundational institutions which underpin and protect our democracy. These included former Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Parliament, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on the Cabinet, Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the National Advisory Council, Sitaram Yechury Secretary General of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on coalitions, Former Governor and Cabinet Minister Margaret Alva on Governors, former Supreme Court Justice Madan Lokur on the judiciary, Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa on the Election Commission, India’s first Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah on that institution, former senior bureaucrat and Secretary Planning Commission Naresh Chandra Saxena on the bureaucracy, former Kerala Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac on federalism, as well as my own essay on An Agenda for Policy Reform for Civil Society in India.
The essays together with the prologue and epilogue by editors Pushparaj Deshpande and Gurdeep Singh Sappal, remind us of the vision of democracy that India’s founders envisaged, the institutional checks and balances that uphold democracy in a diverse, pluralistic nation state like India, the erosion of these bulwarks and the pathways to their renewal.
As daily news headlines remind us, from Parliamentary dysfunction and overreach by Governors to the throttling of civil society, these are issues of immense contemporary relevance not just the high school civics lessons to which you wish you had paid more attention. I’m deeply honoured to have been included among the contributors and grateful that civil society and its significance was a topic the volume chose to highlight. With momentous elections on the horizon, the book provides a timely reminder of all that is at stake.
Buy the book: Rethinking India Series Vol. 10: Battle for the State: INDIA vs. New India https://amzn.eu/d/2qMShDH
Read reviews, excerpts and perspectives from the book:
Excerpt from Sonia Gandhi’s essay: https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/national-advisory-council-was-no-power-centre-advocated-peoples-rights-sonia-gandhi/articleshow/105482528.cms
Excerpt of Hamid Ansari’s essay: https://scroll.in/article/1059468/parliament-must-be-reformed-to-make-it-relevant-to-the-youth-former-vp-hamid-ansari-in-a-new-book
By Margaret Alva: https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/the-damage-that-bjp-s-constitutional-hitmen-are-causing-india-2842100
Excerpt of Ashok Lavasa’s essay: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/former-election-commissioner-ashok-lavasa-on-electoral-bonds-democracy-paid-for-in-darkness-9025492/
On Malikarjun Kharge’s essay: https://www.news18.com/opinion/opinion-how-mallikarjun-kharge-targets-narendra-modi-in-a-new-book-8715384.html
The Hindu Frontline review: https://frontline.thehindu.com/books/reclaiming-constitutional-democracy-book-review-the-great-indian-manthan-edited-by-pushparaj-deshpande-gurdeep-singh-sappal/article67597519.ece
The India Today review: https://www.indiatoday.in/opinion/story/opinion-piece-manthan-over-upa-years-sonia-gandhi-mallikarjun-kharge-congress-try-to-set-the-record-straight-2476952-2023-12-17
The Deccan Herald review: https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/the-great-indian-manthan-2794474
The Moneycontrol review: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/lifestyle/book-review-rethinking-india-great-indian-manthan-11813831.html
Dear Development Practitioner – Advice for the Next Generation published by Routledge, has a fascinating premise. Editors Simon Milligan and Lee Wilson invited 30 practitioners across global development institutions from INGOs to national governments and multilateral bodies to write letters to our younger selves reflecting on what we have learned over our careers from which those younger selves (and young people starting their careers in these fields today) might benefit. The range of individuals, life trajectories and experiences, and the deeply personal recollections and reflections make for gripping reading. I was struck, in particular, by the optimism of most of the contributors despite the intractable issues and daunting contexts in which they have worked. Many contributors, especially women, were the first in their communities or countries to venture into development or politics and their accounts are both moving and uplifting.
Preview the book: https://books.google.co.in/books?id=0J3XEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
I co-authored with Biraj Patnaik an essay for A New Era of Giving – Reflections on Philanthropy for Social Justice, a compilation of essays and interviews with philanthropists and civil society professionals by the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM). Biraj and I mapped the trajectory of philanthropy in India from independence 75 years ago to its contemporary avatar.
The pledges we took as a nation when we made our ‘tryst with destiny’ have, we wrote, gone largely unredeemed. We trace the evolution of Indian philanthropy from the early years of freedom which saw big philanthropy focus on ‘nation-building’ in the form of creating the great institutions of education, science, arts and culture, to the dream decades when judiciary, state and civil society came together, albeit often uncomfortably, to establish basic rights for all citizens from education to food, work, and information among others.
With economic liberalisation vast new fortunes have been garnered that have steered philanthropy toward more techno-managerial modes with the focus on measuring returns on investment leading to an emphasis on short-term, easy to measure service delivery approaches rather than the proven models established by community-led, rights based movements. As political constraints have grown, philanthropy in India, we observe, has further narrowed its vision to domains and strategies deemed to be politically ‘safe’, reducing its role to becoming a handmaiden of an increasingly authoritarian state.
Download the book: https://www.isdm.org.in/new-era-giving
My last piece of writing in 2023 was Promises and Reality, a review of the state of civil society in India over the past 4 years (2019-2023), the second term of the NDA government, for a report by the Wada Na Todo Abhiyan.
This period saw the abrogation of Article 370, the constitutional provision that afforded the state of Jammu and Kashmir special status, the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act that discriminated against refugees who are Muslim and potentially threatened the rights of many Indian Muslims, the weaponisation of draconian laws against journalists, activists, students, especially members of minority communities and civil society organisations, and curtailment of academic and media freedom – offline and online.
It also witnessed the abject failure of the Indian state in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic which exposed the inadequacies of our healthcare, education and social protection systems among others. Despite the heroic actions of civil society organisations to both highlight and fill these gaps, the sector confronted further constraints in the form of amendments to the legislative frameworks by which it is governed.
These not only limited access to resources, foreign and domestic, but has a ‘chilling effect’ rendering many domains of civil society work, especially those focused on ensuring rights and accountability, nigh impossible. These obstacles are exacerbated by the hollowing out of the institutions entrusted with protecting our democracy, including those covered by The Great Indian Manthan.
In addition the period saw the erosion of the credibility of all forms of data that discomfit the government and the discrediting or demonisation of the institutions that are charged with collecting and disseminating the data on which all policy decision-making depends.
The success of grassroots movements – led by women against the CAA and by farmers against new agriculture laws, and the heroic resistance by some journalists, activists, and academics – provided a few bright spots amidst the pervasive gloom. These also provided reasons for hope in, and a roadmap towards, the possibility of change.
Download the report: https://www.wadanatodo.net/_files/ugd/7bfee1_bb4dcea234914a58891ad582a77ce8f5.pdf
With national elections scheduled in the first half of 2024, there is a growing need to chronicle the multi-faceted threats to India’s democratic freedoms as well as the actions of those who seek to defend them, against daunting odds. As journalist Ravish Kumar expressed it, “Not all battles are fought for victory. Some are fought simply to tell the world that someone was there on the battlefield.“
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