Economic Offences ― A Compendium in Prose and Verse

In the last decade or so, and at a dizzyingly increasing rate, India has come to be recognized as 'a force to reckon with'. If it was 'India Shining' earlier, the present shibboleth is 'India Rising', or some other variant of it. This book is a satirical social commentary on contemporary India, aimed at correcting the view that the country has progressed to a point where it ought to be viewed either with exaggerated admiration or as a threat. The notion that it is a matter of legitimate urgency for India to be recognized, in quick order, as a super-power, as a permanent member of the United Nations' Security Council, and as 'number one' in the international cricket ratings, needs to be dispelled with.

The book employs the literature of one's childhood and evocative line drawings to critically look at an unflattering list of the nation's real or imagined concerns: caste, pseudosecularism, minorityism, poverty, tradition, modernity, postcoloniality, liberalization, corruption, competition, nationalism, and NRI-ism.

S. Subramanian is Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies.