Getting India Back on Track ― An Action Agenda for Reform

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 SystemAshok Gulati (Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices)

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

5. Generating EmploymentOmkar Goswami (Corporate and Economic Research Group)

6. Expanding Education and SkillsLaveesh Bhandari (Indicus Analytics)

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

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

9. Managing UrbanizationSomik Lall and Tara Vishwanath (World Bank)

10. Renovating Land ManagementBarun Mitra (Liberty Institute)

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

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

13. Managing the EnvironmentLigia 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 DeficitBibek 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 PolicyC. Raja Mohan (Observer Research Foundation and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Ashley J. Tellis is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace specializing in international security, defense, and Asian strategic issues. As senior adviser to the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, he was intimately involved in negotiating the civil nuclear agreement with India. Previously, he was senior adviser to the ambassador at the U.S. embassy in New Delhi. He also served on the National Security Council staff as special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning and Southwest Asia. Bibek Debroy is a professor at the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi. He has worked in academia, industry chambers, and for the government, including in leadership positions in the Legal Adjustments and Reforms for Globalising the Economy project and the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor. Debroy is the author of several books, papers, and articles. Reece Trevor is a research assistant in the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he previously served as a junior fellow focusing on South Asian security and U.S. grand strategy.