India: Forty Years of Independence

Indiathe world's largest democracy and the eighth-largest industrial nationis faced with the task of bringing 300 million people (some 40% of its population) out of dire poverty. In a balanced, illuminating report, Tully, chief of the BBC's Delhi bureau, and Masani, current affairs producer for BBC Radio, assess the strengths and weaknesses of a society saddled with a colonial legacy of backwardness, poverty and entrenched corruption. Topics discussed include bloody struggles pitting landlords against landless farmers, the all-pervasive influence of Hinduism, Indira Gandhi's enormous popularity and India's ambivalent attitude toward women, who are variously treated as goddesses, chattels and workers enjoying a status equal to that of men. The authors analyze Rajiv Gandhi's clash with powerful vested interests who profit from the abuses he is trying to correct. This intelligent, punchy, opinionated report offers a corrective to the negative image of India purveyed in the U.S. media. (September)