Price of the Modi Years

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Price of the Modi Years
Price of the Modi Years book cover.png
Book cover
AuthorAakar Patel
PublisherWestland Books
Publication date
2021
Pages496
ISBN9391234224

Price of the Modi Years is a book authored by Aakar Patel, published by Westland Publications Limited (Westland Books) in the year 2021.[1][2][3] The book details the history of India since 2014 when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister.[4]

Cover[]

The cover art of the book includes 16 charts of India's performance measured by international indices. There is a downward trend in all but one of the indices looked at by the author, including those for democracy, human development index, individual rights, rule of law, press freedom, women’s safety, prosperity, civil liberties, corruption and social cohesion.The only upward trend in those indices is seen in the Doing Business Index of the World Bank. Notably, since 2021, World Bank has abandoned this index as "fatally flawed".[5] The cover has been praised as "clever" by Pakistani journalist Jawed Naqvi.[6]

Content[]

After "Make in India" program was launched by Modi, the share of manufacturing in the Indian GDP has reduced from 16% to 13%. Employment in the manufacturing sector have reduced to half after 2016, from 5.1 crore to 2.7 crore. The author has claimed that the former economic adviser Arvind Panagariya said that 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat is muddled'.The author also claims that its biggest achievement being more expensive goods for the Indian consumers and protection from external competition for industrialists.[7]

The author said that India will pay the price of Modi years, primarily on its economy and society and that India is no longer on a path to become next China or a developed nation. According to Patel, under Modi government the economic trajectory will lead to the continuation of mass poverty, and mass unemployment will become the norm. Patel stated that the majority of national resources and wealth will be controlled by a few, the way it has been happening in past few years.[7] along with Indian society remaining divided with the minorities forced to ghettoise. Patel believes that Indians will be focussed on the religion, religious differences, and violence will be accepted. When it comes to the use of force, Patel thinks that it has been devolved from the state with encouragement by Hindutva and that the mob rule by Hindutva will continue in the foreseeable future.[7]

The book examines the potential human and economic price that India will be paying for the decisions made in the seven years spent under the BJP government since 2014.[7]

Discussing the labour force participation, the author quotes government data. He points that the participation in USA is 60%, China 70% while it was only 40% in India, even lower than Pakistan and for the first time lowest in South Asia. India lost a fifth of its workforce that the author credits to the 'staggering incompetence' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[7]

Reception[]

Writing for The Economic Times, Swaminathan Aiyar noted how the book was backed by "considerable research", and thus had "more credibility than other rhetorical denunciations of BJP rule", and that the book did a good job in "exposing the crash in India’s international stature". However, he also commented that the book "mixes actuality with amnesia", that the author cherry-picked the beginning and end dates while comparing indices, and that he may also have left out some indices showing India in a better light, that the author ignores soaring achievements in renewable energy and startups, and that the data on production of automobiles shows more of a blip than a stagnation.[8]

Business Standard called the book "a laborious compendium" and a "useful guide" to Modi's track record.[1]

Journalist Jawed Naqvi in his review for Dawn called the book an "exceptional work" in exposing the performance of the Modi administration. The book "is an archival work with detailed notes and cross-referenced accounts of the prime minister’s shortcomings against core challenges." He called the book a "survey of PM Modi’s resounding incompetence and undiscussed failures on key fronts, juxtaposed with a divisive and potentially doomed project called Hindu rashtra."[6]

Khaled Ahmed, in his book review for Newsweek Pakistan wrote that the book "has emerged as the most comprehensive and reliable account of the time Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spent in power. Written by Aakar Patel, a syndicated columnist who has edited both English and Gujarati newspapers, it details the history of India since 2014."[4]

Author[]

Aakar Patel is a journalist and columnist.[9] He has been the chair of Amnesty International India.[10] He is the author of Our Hindu Rashtra, an account of majoritarianism in India.[11][4]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Chakravarty, Praveen (4 December 2021). "Price of the Modi Years: A useful guide to Modi govt's track record". Business Standard India. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  2. ^ Ramani, Priya. "Is Uttar Pradesh The Indian State With The Shortest Memory?". BloombergQuint. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  3. ^ Mukherjee, Mitali. "What Is the Price of the Modi Years: In Conversation with Aakar Patel". The Wire. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Ahmed, Khaled (20 December 2021). "A Portrait of Narendra Modi". newsweekpakistan.com. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  5. ^ "World Bank Group to Discontinue Doing Business Report". World Bank. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  6. ^ a b Naqvi, Jawed (28 December 2021). "Ledger book of Modi's tenure". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e Salam, Ziya Us (31 December 2021). "Aakar Patel: 'Modi shrank India's workforce by a fifth'". Frontline. Retrieved 22 December 2021. Modi shrank India’s workforce by a fifth, an act of staggering incompetence for which he has not received due credit.
  8. ^ Aiyar, Swaminathan S Anklesaria (11 January 2022). "View: A new book on the Modi years mixes actuality with amnesia". The Economic Times. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Journalist and writer Aakar Patel joins as new head of Amnesty International India". The Economic Times. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  10. ^ "Columnist Aakar Patel to head Amnesty International India". The News Minute. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  11. ^ "Underscoring the Perils of Majoritarianism". Economic and Political Weekly. 56 (37): 7–8. 5 June 2015.

External links[]

  • Aakar, Patel (2021). Price of the Modi Years. Westland. ISBN 9391234224.
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