Swarnava Sayan Bhadra

The Experiment That Is India - II Swarnava Sayan Bhadra

This book, "The experiment that is India - II," has fifteen essays. These are not necessarily interlinked, but as it is rightly said in Social Sciences, no one issue operates in vacuum. Thus, we can understand the meteoric rise of multidisciplinary; and interdisciplinary studies, since it is of particular importance in today's day and age. The objective of selecting these particular essays is to provide a concise yet comprehensive understanding of various issues plaguing the Indian society. Extensive research and literature reference has been carried out in each essay. The language used is lucid, simple, and occasionally academic to have everlasting impact on the readers. The author has also tried to add a personal touch to the writing process wherever possible. "The experiment that is India" Series, will try to look into this behemoth democracy of 1.32 billion people (latest figures). Although, there has been considerable economic growth the fruits of development are yet to reach the people. Only a handful of individuals still control almost the entire swathes of resources, even though Article 38 and 39 of the Indian constitution prescribe against hoarding and accumulation of resources. This is non-justiciable since it is included in Part IV of the Constitution of India, the Directive Principles of State Policy, and would require enabling legislation to see any meaningful impact on the ground. However, such legislations are yet to see the light of day. Reasons could be attributed to vested interests of policy makers, influence that these individuals hold on various corridors of power, or might be the sheer lack of political will. Furthermore, most often than not the political class has operated in cahoots with such individuals to further oppress the peoples. This has led to a structure being created which has the least concern for the common citizen. The essays would try to shed some light on such issues. It would also bring to the forefront the paradoxes existing therein, like, smartphones with internet, but no electricity (nearly 240 million Indians still do not have electricity); houses, but no toilets (open defecation); the audacity of a loan defaulter with outstanding loan of close to Rs. 90 billion (Rs. 9000 crore) comfortably living in the serene suburbs close to London, and the numerous farmers committing suicide because of the inability to repay, or borrow paltry sums. The author also understands many worrisome ground realities like, how comfortable rural middle class families may fall into the vicious cycle of poverty just with the occurrence of a single medical episode in the family. Since, private medical care is atrociously expensive and although medical insurance is an option, most often than not the individual and the family has to inevitably foot a huge portion of the bills. And the government medical infrastructure is in shambles. With such understandings and research this book will try to provide the readers with an unique, and authentic understanding of the contemporaneous societal issues in India.