Dismal.Miserable
and downright depressing.
I’m not
talking about the book Chanakya’s New
Manifesto but about the state of Indian affairs depicted so honestly and transparently
in the same book.
From its
cover and prologue , the book seems to give a one stop solution to solving all
of India’s problems since Independence. The book as the name itself suggests talks
about Chanakya an Indian teacher, philosopher and royal advisor to Chandragupta
Maurya, and responsible behind his rise to power. It presents a detailed
understanding of the problems facing India and how Chanakya’s famous
Arthashastra ,an ancient Indian political treatise on statecraft, economic
policy and military strategy.
The start of
the book is downright depressing. Why? Because the state of Indian affairs is
just that. The author has highlighted
the crisis areas in 4 main areas
Democracy
Governance
Corruption
Building of
an inclusive society
In each of
these sections he presents the difficulties faced by the country and also a 50
plus point representation of Arthashastra if applied to modern times.
Pavan K.
Varma’s Chanakya’s New Manifesto is definitely not a book to skim through on a leisurely
Sunday afternoon . It needs serious reading and understanding to fathom India’s
problems and the solutions that may help India overcome them. The book is more
useful for the men in power to co-relate and apply rather than the common man.
Crises in
each of the above mentioned categories is explained in detail . Its not
something unknown but when explicitly put
together makes a deep impact on the reader’s mind. The author has done a
detailed study on the Arthashastra and applied it to each of the categories.
Some of the
recommendations of the author is to modify the laws that have been set down to
be followed by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He has also recommended setting
up new committees to oversee collaborations between different departmenst of
the administrative system. He has mentioned methods of cutting down on the
corruption level in the country. The points mentioned to create an inclusive
society is quite an eye-opener.
The amount
of understanding and research that the author must have gone through to come up
with a step by step representation of the solutions to Indian problems both law
as well as administrative is commendable.
To
summarize, the book is not for someone who already has a deep understanding of
Indian current affairs and limitations of the Indian system. However it could
help the politicians and law-makers as a guide to setting better laws and
guidelines in ruling the country.
This review is a part of the biggest <a href="http://blog.blogadda.
