'India 2030' charts an optimistic decade ahead for nation (Book Review)

New Delhi, Jan 29 As the new decade begins, India stands at the crossroads of several simultaneous disruptions, writes Gautam Chikermane, an author who tracks the world of money, power and faith, in "India 2030 - The Rise of a Rajasic Nation", a compendium of 20 scholarly essays by thought leaders from diverse fields ranging from politics, economics and foreign policy to health care and energy who predict what the current decade has in store.

"From two aggressive neighbours –- authoritarian China and Islamist Pakistan –- that refuse to embrace peace, to new formations and alignments such as the Quad of the US, Japan, Australia and India to counter Beijing, the 2020s will shape a new regional order. Jobs and prosperity cannot come without the accompanying reforms; the recent labour and farm laws are a positive-disruptive start. The new education policy, again, will disrupt the sector, making it more flexible, student-focused and in tune with India's twenty-first century aspirations. The disruption in defence procurement will make weaponry more effective. It is not merely the Union government that will drive reforms; the state governments will add their bits," Chikermane writes in the Preface of the book, which has been published by Penguin.

He expands on this in the opening essay, "Forces: Consolidation of a Rajasic India";

( With inputs from IANS )