Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are turning out to be one of the stiffest challenges for India's economic policy reforms. Since the announcement of SEZ rules on 10 February 2006, these zones have aroused unprecedented controversy. The emotionally charged debate on SEZs has often produced inflexible positions on either side. The unusually strong public reaction has also forced policymakers to revisit several aspects of the policy in recent months.

Why are SEZs so controversial? Will they really exacerbate income inequality, endanger food security and worsen regional imbalance? Or will they help Indian industry in taking its final leap onto the global arena? Only time will provide the answers. As the first book on India's SEZs, this volume examines different popular perceptions - both good and bad - surrounding these zones. Apart from the international evidence and the Indian story, the book looks closely at critical issues like financial viability, land requirements, extant rules and the political economy of SEZs. Admitting that the last word on the subject is far from being spoken, the book contends that the SEZ saga will be a test of strength for the country's social and political concensus on its economic policies and future reforms. Introduced by eminent economist Bibek Debroy, this book is a must read.

This book is a collection of papers addressing the concerns of a post reform era and the agricultural sector. Within this broad issue, the book addresses the concerns of small marginal farmers. Each article takes a fresh and comprehensive look at various issues regarding agricultural markets and the new economic paradigm.

India has fallen far and fast from the runaway growth rates it enjoyed in the first decade of the twenty-first century. In?order to reverse this trend, New Delhi must seriously reflect on its policy choices across a wide range of issue areas.

"Getting India Back on Track"?broadly coincides with the 2014 Indian elections to spur a public debate about the program that the next government should pursue in order to return the country to a path of high growth. It convenes some of India's most accomplished analysts to recommend policies in every major sector of the Indian economy. Taken together, these seventeen focused and concise memoranda offer policymakers and the general public alike a clear blueprint for India's future.

Praise for "Getting India Back on Track"

"Bibek Debroy and Ashley J. Tellis have brought together an impressive group of experts who provide a clear road map to move India forward in 2014. Anyone invested in the country's success should read this book." --Arun Shourie, former Indian minister of disinvestment, communication, and information technology

"It is rare to find a group of experts as accomplished and diverse as those represented in "Getting India Back on Track." Their work builds a strong foundation for a real dialogue about India's future at a time when a generational change in India's leadership will set the course for decades to come. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace should be complimented for undertaking such a worthwhile project." --Frank Wisner, former U.S. ambassador to India and former under secretary of defense for policy

"Focusing on a range of key issues, "Getting India Back on Track" has captured the scale and complexity as well as the need for resetting India's policies at the national and state levels. This excellent volume will be a very valuable resource to key policy framers and decisionmakers in India's new government." --Naresh Chandra, former cabinet secretary, and former Indian Ambassador to the United States

Contents

Foreword

Ratan N. Tata (Chairman, Tata Trusts)

Introduction Ashley J. Tellis and Reece Trevor (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

1. Maintaining Macroeconomic Stability Ila Patnaik (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy)

2. Dismantling the Welfare State Surjit Bhalla (Oxus Investments)

3. Revamping Agriculture and the Public Distribution System Ashok Gulati (Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices)

4. Revisiting Manufacturing Policy Rajiv Kumar (Centre for Policy Research)

5. Generating Employment Omkar Goswami (Corporate and Economic Research Group)

6. Expanding Education and Skills Laveesh Bhandari (Indicus Analytics)

7. Confronting Health Challenges A. K. Shiva Kumar (National Advisory Council)

8. Accelerating Infrastructure Modernization Rajiv Lall and Ritu Anand (IDFC Limited)

9. Managing Urbanization Somik Lall and Tara Vishwanath (World Bank)

10. Renovating Land Management Barun Mitra (Liberty Institute)

11. Addressing Water Management Tushaar Shah (International Water Management Institute) and Shilp Verma (independent researcher)

12. Reforming Energy Policy and Pricing Sunjoy Joshi (Observer Research Foundation)

13. Managing the Environment Ligia Noronha (Energy and Resources Institute)

14. Strengthening Rule of Law Devesh Kapur (University of Pennsylvania) and Milan Vaishnav (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

15. Correcting the Administrative Deficit Bibek Debroy (Centre for Policy Research)

16. Building Advanced Technology Capacity for Competitive Arms Acquisition Ravinder Pal Singh (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)

17. Rejuvenating Foreign Policy C. Raja Mohan (Observer Research Foundation and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

This book is an outcome of a study on bankruptcy of small businesses in India...The process of conducting the study brought forth revealing facts on the functionality of small businesses, their problems and possible solutions. Small businesses are treated as those productive activities whose stakeholders cannot access the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), post-failure. It presents the central idea which is post-bankruptcy problems faced by the entrepreneur. To this work, insights from other published work on small-scale industries (SSIs) have been studied and added to provide the reader with a holistic view about the small-scale entrepreneur and the problem of bankruptcy.

The India Mosaic Searching for an Identity... is essentially a collection of writings borne out of deliberate thinking to pen down ones thoughts on the 'Idea' of India. The authors/contributors to this volume together represent a varied cross-section of India's intelligentsia. The 'Idea' of India has been interpreted by different people in different ways. Perhaps there is no single 'Idea' of India at all. Whatever be the interpretation (or interpretations) of Idea of India there is an unambiguous sense that there is an attempt to change the Idea of India...Consciously, to any Indian, the Idea of India triggers a lot of thoughts, some overwhelming feelings maybe, but far too many questions. Perhaps for most, there are not any easy answers. There is plenty of food for thought in these papers about what India stands for and about what it should stand for. The world and India are bullish about the Indian economic performance in the next 20 or even 50 years. A recent Goldman Sachs report (""Dreaming with BRICs: The Path to 2050"") is but one instance. The economy is the easy part. But India stands for much more than the overall economic performance alone. There is much in this volume for India's citizens to think about.

The Mahabharata is one of the greatest stories ever told. Though the basic plot is widely known, there is much more to the epic than the dispute between Kouravas and Pandavas that led to the battle in Kurukshetra. It has innumerable sub-plots that accommodate fascinating meanderings and digressions, and it has rarely been translated in full, given its formidable length of 80,000 shlokas or couplets. This magnificent 10-volume unabridged translation of the epic is based on the Critical Edition compiled at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. The final volume ends the instructions of the Anushasana Parva. The horse sacrifice is held, and Dhritarashtra, Gandhari, Kunti, Vidura and Sanjaya leave for the forest. Krishna and Balarama die as the Yadavas fight among themselves. The Pandavas leave on the great journey with the famous companion-Dharma disguised as a dog. Refusing to abandon the dog, Yudhishthira goes to heaven in his physical body and sees all the Kurus and the Pandavas are already there. Every conceivable human emotion figures in the Mahabharata, the reason why the epic continues to hold sway over our imagination. In this lucid, nuanced and confident translation, Bibek Debroy makes the Mahabharata marvellously accessible to contemporary readers.

The Greatest Story Ever Told Dispute over land and kingdom may lie at the heart of this story of war between cousins-the Pandavas and the Kouravas-but the Mahabharata is about conflicts of dharma. These conflicts are immense and various, singular and commonplace. Throughout the epic, characters face them with no clear indications of what is right and what is wrong; there are no absolute answers. Thus every possible human emotion features in the Mahabharata, the reason the epic continues to hold sway over our imagination. In this superb and widely acclaimed translation of the complete Mahabharata, Bibek Debroy takes us on a great journey with incredible ease.

The Greatest Story Ever Told Dispute over land and kingdom may lie at the heart of this story of war between cousins-the Pandavas and the Kouravas-but the Mahabharata is about conflicts of dharma. These conflicts are immense and various, singular and commonplace. Throughout the epic, characters face them with no clear indications of what is right and what is wrong; there are no absolute answers. Thus every possible human emotion features in the Mahabharata, the reason the epic continues to hold sway over our imagination. In this superb and widely acclaimed translation of the complete Mahabharata, Bibek Debroy takes us on a great journey with incredible ease.