The Rise of Goliath: Twelve Disruptions That Changed India

What can best illustrate India's journey in the last seven decades? Disruptions. Almost every decade of India's history since Independence has been marked by major disruptions. India became independent through an act of disruption-Partition-that killed millions in communal violence and turned many more into refugees. The turn towards a model of state-led economic development delivered as big a shock to the economy as did the food crisis or the spike in crude oil price. If the Emergency in 1975 shook the foundations of India's democracy, the unprecedented balance-of-payments crisis of 1990 turned India towards a path of economic reforms. Just as the reservation of jobs for backward castes changed the idiom of India's politics, the movement for building a temple for Ram drove India closer to becoming a majoritarian state. No less disruptive have been the telecom revolution, the banking crisis, demonetization and the launch of the goods and services tax. How did these disruptions impact India? How did they influence the rise of this Goliath? This is the story of twelve disruptions that changed India. The book also provides a peek into the kind of disruptions India could face in the coming years.