* In her new book, Puja Mehra analyses the political and economic policies of a decade that have brought India’s growth rate to its current crisis
* She uses her insights as a trained economist as well as journalist to explain the workings of the governments in power
In the last couple of years, India has been on a shaky growth path, regularly being called “the world’s fastest-growing economy" and losing grip of the title just as often. India has also made headlines for the lack of employment, a worsening crisis in the farm sector, distress in the banking sector and serious strain in the rural sector. Even if the misgivings about the credibility of India’s growth numbers are tuned out, the fault lines in the country’s wavering growth trajectory are hard to ignore.
As the economic discourse in India becomes increasingly riddled with doubts, The Lost Decade: 2008-18, by journalist Puja Mehra, brings in relevant context to understand the gaps in the nation’s growth story. In Mehra’s account, the story of India’s economic underperformance goes back to a decade that spans two different political regimes. At its heart lie arbitrary and myopic decisions inspired by politics rather than sound economics.
Before the global financial meltdown of 2008, the Indian economy was thriving and its GDP growth was cruising at 8.8%, writes Mehra. Even if unequally, this growth impacted the lives of large sections of Indians. But in the decade that followed, Mehra chronicles, this “growth story" unravelled into “growth without a story".
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