Future Tense

The gap between the have and the have-nots is a grim Indian reality. The latest book,An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions (Penguin India,Rs 699),by Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen and fellow economist Jean Dreze,grapples with this issue. At the book launch on Monday in Delhi,the duo expressed their “disappointment” over the state of affairs in the country. While Justice Leila Seth,who launched the book,described it as “an agitational one that calls upon the media and us to ensure we do our part,” the speakers expressed their agitation via statistics,economic theory and policy papers.

The duo kept the book to 100 pages,which “can be read in a single train journey,at least on the Indian Railways,” said Dreze,before painting a dismal picture of the Indian economy by comparing it to Bangladesh’s. Sen said,“It is important to recognise what the book is about. It is more about public service for the poor. That is not redistribution in the sense of passing income from the rich to the poor. If we can focus on improving public service,then we can ensure a better rate of growth.”