Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

India has fallen far and fast from the runaway growth rates it enjoyed in the first decade of the twenty-first century. In order to reverse this trend, New Delhi must seriously reflect on its policy choices across a wide range of issue areas.

Getting India Back on Track broadly coincides with the 2014 Indian elections to spur a public debate about the program that the next government should pursue in order to return the country to a path of high growth. It convenes some of India’s most accomplished analysts to recommend policies in every major sector of the Indian economy. Taken together, these seventeen focused and concise memoranda offer policymakers and the general public alike a clear blueprint for India’s future.

Advance Praise

“Congratulations to the authors and Carnegie.”

–Narendra Modi, prime minister of India

“I am going to read every part of this book. It will help us to do our job better. The book is well-timed and the title is apt.”

–Arun Jaitley, Indian minister of finance and defense

“Bibek Debroy and Ashley J. Tellis have brought together an impressive group of experts who provide a clear road map to move India forward in 2014. Anyone invested in the country’s success should read this book.”

–Arun Shourie, formerly India’s minister of disinvestment and minister of communications and information technology

“Focusing on a range of key issues, Getting India Back on Track has captured the scale and complexity of as well as the need for resetting India’s policies at the national and state levels. This excellent volume will be a very valuable resource to key policy framers and decisionmakers in India’s new government.”

–Naresh Chandra, former cabinet secretary and former Indian Ambassador to the United States

“It is rare to find a group of experts as accomplished and diverse as those represented in Getting India Back on Track. Their work builds a strong foundation for a real dialogue about India’s future at a time when a generational change in India’s leadership will set the course for decades to come. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace should be complimented for undertaking such a worthwhile project.”

–Frank Wisner, former U.S. Ambassador to India and former under secretary of defense for Policy

More Reviews

Manifesto For Growth
–BW | BusinessWorld

‘Getting India Back on Track,’ by Bibek Debroy, Ashley Tellis, and Reece Trevor
–Financial Times

Contributors

About the Editors

Bibek Debroy is a professor at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. He has worked in academia, industry chambers, and government, including in leadership positions in the Legal Adjustments and Reforms for Globalizing the Economy project and the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor. Debroy is the author of several books, papers, and articles. He holds degrees from Presidency College in Calcutta, the Delhi School of Economics, and Trinity College in Cambridge.

Ashley J. Tellis is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace specializing in international security, defense, and Asian strategic issues. While on assignment to the U.S. Department of State as senior adviser to the undersecretary of state for political affairs, he was intimately involved in negotiating the civil nuclear agreement with India. Previously, he was commissioned into the Foreign Service and served as senior adviser to the ambassador at the U.S. embassy in New Delhi. He also served on the National Security Council staff as special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning and Southwest Asia.

Reece Trevor is a research assistant in the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he previously served as a junior fellow focusing on South Asian security and U.S. grand strategy. He completed his bachelor’s degree with honors at the University of Chicago.

About the Contributors

Ila Patnaik, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Surjit Bhalla, Oxus Investments

Ashok Gulati, Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices

Rajiv Kumar, Center for Policy Research

Omkar Goswami, Corporate and Economic Research Group

Laveesh Bhandari, Indicus Analytics

A. K. Shiva Kumar, National Advisory Council

Rajiv Lall and Ritu Anand, IDFC Limited

Somik Lall, World Bank

Tara Vishwanath, World Bank

Barun Mitra, Liberty Institute, and Madhumita D. Mitra, Consultant

Tushaar Shah, International Water Management Institute

Shilp Verma, Independent Researcher

Sunjoy Joshi, Observer Research Foundation

Ligia Noronha, Energy and Resources Institute

Devesh Kapur, Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania

Milan Vaishnav, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Ravinder Pal Singh, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

C. Raja Mohan, Observer Research Foundation and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Foreword
Ratan N. Tata

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Completing Unfinished Business: From the Long View to the Short
Ashley J. Tellis

Maintaining Macroeconomic Stability 
Ila Patnaik

Dismantling the Welfare State 
Surjit Bhalla

Revamping Agriculture and the Public Distribution System    
Ashok Gulati

Revisiting Manufacturing Policy    
Rajiv Kumar

Generating Employment    
Omkar Goswami

Expanding Education and Skills
Laveesh Bhandari

Confronting Health Challenges    
A. K. Shiva Kumar

Modernizing Transport Infrastructure 
Rajiv Lall and Ritu Anand

Managing Urbanization
Somik Lall and Tara Vishwanath

Renovating Land Management    
Barun S. Mitra and Madhumita D. Mitra

Addressing Water Management
Tushaar Shah and Shilp Verma

Reforming Energy Policy and Pricing    
Sunjoy Joshi

Managing the Environment
Ligia Noronha

Strengthening Rule of Law 
Devesh Kapur and Milan Vaishnav

Correcting the Administrative Deficit
Bibek Debroy

Building Advanced Defense Technology Capacity
Ravinder Pal Singh

Rejuvenating Foreign Policy    
C. Raja Mohan

Index 

Contributors

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

TV 18’s Think India Foundation

India Back on Track: An Agenda for Reform is a series that is produced as a partnership between the Think India Foundation and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Episode 1: India Back on Track: An Agenda for Reform

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