AN ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA FOR INDIA BY SANJAY KAUL

Ashok Alexander remarked, ‘Sanjay has come up with an alternative agenda and it's brilliant. I need not say more than that.

on Apr 11, 2023

April 10, 2023, New Delhi: The South Asia edition of An Alternative Development Agenda for India by Sanjay Kaul was released yesterday at a function held in the capital’s India International Centre. The book, published by Routledge India, was unveiled by Dr Pronab Sen, former Principal Economic Adviser, Planning Commission; Ashok Alexander, Founder-Director, Antara Foundation; Vrinda Swarup, Former Secretary, Education and Food, GoI; Shashank Shekhar Sinha, Publishing Director at Routledge South Asia, Taylor & Francis Group, along with the author.

The evening unfolded with a keynote address by the author which was followed with thought-provoking speeches by the distinguished panel. Applauding the book, Dr Pronab Sen said, ‘When I started reading the book, I was completely enthralled. What sets it apart from the large literature on development in India is that it brings out the diversity of experiences that Sanjay has had. Most of us in the government or academia have been absorbed in the system for so long that our thought processes are almost cast in stone. In this book we get three different perspectives— a) one is from the government particularly the grassroots experience that an IAS officer is compelled to get; b) the second is from corporate life and the managerial approach to problem-solving as opposed to the bureaucratic way problem-solving; c) the third is academic. Frankly, this is a book I would recommend to the layperson as a means of understanding why things haven’t worked in India but even more to the political class in India.’

Ashok Alexander remarked, ‘Sanjay has come up with an alternative agenda and it's brilliant. I need not say more than that. Anyone who touches this book will know that it's not only a labour of love, but the sweep of the book, the number of topics he covers, the data that goes behind it, and always the sense of deep concern that permeates the book is amazing. I’m truly enthralled by it.’

‘What attracted me most about the book was the dedication to late Anita Kaul—whose lifetime was spent teaching us all a people-centric approach in great depth. It is a very readable, relevant, and topical book. What came out for me in the book was its accurate and compassing analysis of what has been happening in the developmental sector (that has been my root in the profession), and the interconnectedness of various issues which Sanjay has brought together that we often tend to look at in silos’, said Vrinda Sarup in her closing speech for the evening.

ABOUT THE BOOK

This book provides a revamped, transformative, and fiscally sustainable developmental agenda for India to radically improve the well-being and livelihoods of its citizens. Grounded in a ‘people first’ approach, this alternative agenda focuses on seven vital development and inter-connected areas, including health, education, food and nutrition, child development, gender, livelihood and jobs, and urbanization. The volume highlights the systemic issues plaguing these sectors and offers pragmatic and implementable solutions to address them. The author takes cognizance of the COVID-19 pandemic and draws attention to the limitations of the current public policies and suggests cost-effective interventions and strategies that focus on the poor. The volume discusses crucial themes of universalizing healthcare, battling malnutrition and food insecurity, ensuring quality schooling, unshackling gendered mindsets, enhancing livelihoods and improving the urban quality of life to spell out a pragmatic and workable development agenda for India.

Accessible and reader-friendly, the book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of development studies, economics, public policy, governance, development policy, public administration, political studies, South Asia studies. It will also be of interest to professionals in the development sector.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

An economist by training, Sanjay Kaul is a development policy analyst, a former IAS officer (1979-2007), and a corporate leader (2008-21). Kaul began his career as a college lecturer in economics and has retained his interest in academics and writing. With over four decades of rich professional experience, Kaul has worked in leadership positions across sectors – development, health, nutrition, education, child development, food and agriculture, and industry, including in the Prime Minister’s office. He serves as chairman of the Government of India Task Force on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). Kaul is a Director at SITARA, an affordable housing finance company, and a Director at DigiGrain, an agri-business venture. Kaul is a trustee of the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust and the World Food Program Trust, India. Kaul works actively with Mobile Creches, on which he served as its Chairperson (2014-17), and is on the Managing Committee of several schools managed by the Delhi Public School Society. Kaul is also an active Member of the CII National Council of Agriculture.

His current areas of interest are public health, school education, food and nutrition, early childhood development, livelihoods, and urban planning.