Rogue Elephant
Harnessing the Power of India's Unruly Democracy
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Five years ago, India was an emerging world power being courted by the world's most powerful political and business leaders, an upbeat story of unparalleled economic growth. Since then, it has failed to account for the human capital at the heart of its effort to modernize: more than one billion people clamoring for what has become known as the "Indian Dream"--an education, a career, and an opportunity to pull one's family out of poverty and into prosperity. Today, India is suffering an immense crisis of confidence--crippling political corruption, politicians mired in the status quo, economic inequality, brutal violence against women, and rampant social injustice.
Simon Denyer, former Indian bureau chief for the Washington Post, perceptively captures India at this crucial tilting point in its history--from the Nehru-Gandhi family dynasty that has ruled the country for most of its post-independence years, to flawed heroes such as news anchor Arnab Goswami and anticorruption crusader Arvind Kejwiral, to, most compelling, ordinary people fighting daily against corruption and the system. They, Denyer convincingly shows, are harnessing the force of the world's largest democracy to positive effect, demanding transparency and accountability as never before. The battle between the deep-rooted system of graft and patronage and the forces demanding change will have huge global significance, and Denyer's insight makes Rogue Elephant a vital contribution to the international conversation about India's present and future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this revealing panorama of Indian politics, Denyer, former Washington Post India bureau chief and current China bureau chief, presents a wide-ranging indictment of the country's deep-seated problems: a corrupt, unaccountable, often criminal political class (being charged with violent felonies is no bar to Parliament); a government bent on extracting bribes rather than building infrastructure; a culture of lawlessness that turns a blind eye to rape and child-trafficking; brutal counterinsurgencies; rigid economic policies that stifle growth; terrible schools that produce unemployable graduates; vicious religious strife; and a callous indifference to the misery of the poor. Denyer explores these issues through well-told stories of activists, officials, crusading lawyers, and grandstanding television journalists who are fighting to expose and correct abuses, sometimes at considerable peril. (He includes more jaundiced profiles of political leaders, portraying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the well-intentioned but hapless puppet of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.) The pervasive misrule that Denyer highlights is outrageous, but he balances it with hopeful signs that India's democracy can respond to popular pressure. Avoiding clich d notions of India as either South Asian super-tiger or eternal basketcase, Denyer's sharp-eyed reportage and analysis convey both the size of India's problems and the strength of efforts to remedy them.
