In Spite Of The Gods: The Strange Rise Of Modern India

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In Spite Of The Gods: The Strange Rise Of Modern India

3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 · rating details · 1,264 ratings · 159 reviews

India remains a mystery to many Americans, even as it is poised to become the world’s third largest economy within a generation, outstripping Japan. It will surpass China in population by 2032 and will have more English speakers than the United States by 2050. In In Spite of the Gods, Edward Luce, a journalist who covered India for many years, makes brilliant sense of India and its rise to global power. Already a number-one bestseller in India, his book is sure to be acknowledged for years as the definitive introduction to modern India.

In Spite of the Gods illuminates a land of many contradictions. The booming tech sector we read so much about in the West, Luce points out, employs no more than one million of India’s 1.1 billion people. Only 35 million people, in fact, have formal enough jobs to pay taxes, while three-quarters of the country lives in extreme deprivation in India’s 600,000 villages. Yet amid all these extremes exists the world’s largest experiment in representative democracy—and a largely successful one, despite bureaucracies riddled with horrifying corruption.

Luce shows that India is an economic rival to the U.S. in an entirely different sense than China is. There is nothing in India like the manufacturing capacity of China, despite the huge potential labor force. An inept system of public education leaves most Indians illiterate and unskilled. Yet at the other extreme, the middle class produces ten times as many engineering students a year as the United States. Notwithstanding its future as a major competitor in a globalized economy, American. leaders have been encouraging India’s rise, even welcoming it into the nuclear energy club, hoping to balance China’s influence in Asia.

Above all, In Spite of the Gods is an enlightening study of the forces shaping India as it tries to balance the stubborn traditions of the past with an unevenly modernizing present. Deeply informed by scholarship and history, leavened by humor and rich in anecdote, it shows that India has huge opportunities as well as tremendous challenges that make the future “hers to lose.”

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Published (first published January 1st 2007)

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May 10, 2013 Caroline rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Warning - this review contains many spoilers

In Luce’s book, India is a land of a few brilliant high flyers on the one hand, and poverty-stricken masses on the other. The high flyers have brought success to their homeland, but he barely touches up their achievements, instead the book concentrates on the wrongs experienced by the bulk of the population. I found the book quite a hotch-potch of information , but fascinating nonetheless.

Problems with the bulk of the poplulation

*There is fantasticall...more

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Oct 01, 2007 Theresa Mannix rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone interested in India, of course.

Shelves: excellentnon-fiction

My limited view of India was of a country of Bollywood movies, curry, Indian customer service call centers, poverty, hundreds of millions of people, slums and more poverty. This pretty readable book gave me a, well, broader view of India. It's a crazy place--incredible diversity with a democracy that seems to work. Some facts just stuck with me: less than 10% of India's 1.1 billion people work in the formal work force and 80% of them work for the government. The bureaucracy is monumentally corru...more

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Sep 24, 2007 Luvh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well-researched and well-presented. Luce's style is engaging, and he turns a wry joke.
The book comes at a good time as the West has never been more coo-coo for cocoa puffs about India. Most of these warm feelings are about India's relatively recent IT (and overall economic) revolution. To a lesser extent they are also about our resurgent (or maybe just surgent) interest in India's spiritual traditions. Luce disavows both narratives in the preface, and it's the realism of his approach that made t...more

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Feb 01, 2009 Deirdre rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Suppose you threw a dinner party and your guests represented the entire population of the world. You only have 22 seats at your table, so some gusts must share. Because of its dangerous nature, you decide that the US gets one whole seat to itself. India gets almost four of your remaining chairs and China takes up the next four and a half. By contrast, England must share its seat with five other nations.

Clearly when you take up that many plates, you should be paid some respect. Yet other than ta...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Mohan Ram rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A comprehensive take on contemporary India, that also attempts the most difficult task of trying to analyse why India is India! Found it eminently readable, very perceptive with its insights and written with a combination of affection and frustration that all of us can relate to. The tone remains optimistic about India's future in the twenty-first century but there is also abundant sprinkling of caution - it is up to India to lose! All Indian bureaucrats and politicos should get a complimentary...more A comprehensive take on contemporary India, that also attempts the most difficult task of trying to analyse why India is India! Found it eminently readable, very perceptive with its insights and written with a combination of affection and frustration that all of us can relate to. The tone remains optimistic about India's future in the twenty-first century but there is also abundant sprinkling of caution - it is up to India to lose! All Indian bureaucrats and politicos should get a complimentary copy ! Here are a few extracts that struck a chord, read on....

"To India's poor the state is like an abusive father whom you can never abandon. It is through you that his (the state's) sins are likely to live on" (On relationship between the government, the poor and why Govt. Jobs are still so coveted among large parts of society)

"In a society that does not often acknowledge the worth and value of individuals, where the visible means of proving one's worth through substantial achievement are open only to a few, corruption is a way of saying you are somebody" (Quoting Pratap Bhanu Mehta from "The Burden of Democracy")

"...if you are rich and important, you rarely pay. If you are poor, you usually pay through the nose. And there is no guarantee that you will even get what you paid for" (Describing how New Delhi operates using an example of his experience in trying to watch a cricket match)

"Coteries encircle the leadership, insulate it from the workers and block channels of communication. They misrepresent all discussions and differences as proof of disloyalty" Quoting a Congressman who had bid for leadership against Sonia Gandhi

"The State has internalised the message of the Bhagvad Gita - only intentions matter and not consequences" {Again quoting Pratap Bhanu Mehta in a discussion about how the Indian state has strict laws and principles embedded in the 1950 constitution for many rights (eg. child education) but in practice nothing really gets implemented (upto forty million children do not attend school)}(less)

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Jun 24, 2012 Arjun rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'll be frank - each part of the book is factual and correct. Yet, it misses the mark as whole. Reading Mr. Luce's biography, I had expected he is a westerner (for want of a better word) who also understands the spirit of what drives India as a nation. After reading his book, I have realized yet again, that living in India with a mindset of a non-Indian makes you a good factual historian but not someone who can put a finger on India's nerve. Most of his book is spent on the corruption and indivi...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Infini rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Spite of the Gods - The Strange Rise of Modern India by Edward Luce has captured my attention ever since I bought the book a couple of days ago. Buy it, read it, memorise it. While I've just reached chapter three, because I've been slowed by making notes, and do intend to write a review next week from broadband blanketed Singapore, I've been enamoured enough to recommend it highly.

Lucidly written [yes I know, but could you resist?] Luce writes possibly the most comprehensive and insightful bo

...more

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Jun 28, 2010 Murugan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Here's my review on this bad book on amazon.

"I am sure at the end of this review most of you will stamp me as fanatic who 's not willing to see the shortfalls of India. However, please consider my observation before making your decision. I was disappointed in this book because it has no point! Am not sure he established why india is successful or if it was inspite of the gods. In my opinion, this was a feeble attempt by a journalist who was not qualified to comment on either one of the topics. M...more

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Sep 04, 2009 Frank Jude rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: especially yogis with an overly romantic view of the "Indian Paradox"

Shelves: cultural-history

Journalist Edward Luce offers a wonderful reportage and analysis of modern India: it's roots in tradition, it's political structures, its corruption, its contradictions. Too often people fall into either condemnation or fawning romanticism regarding India. This book provides a balanced view. It is clear Luce loves India, and loves it enough to hold it's hypocrisy to the light of critical investigation... not to bring it down, but to envision what a more efficient, egalitarian, less tradition-bou...more

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Jun 11, 2008 Pankaj rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A poignant perspective by the editor of the financial times of the enigma that is India. How the country functions and how it grows is as big a mystery as how they get a deity of Lord Ganesha to drink milk. Nonetheless, the book offers some very interesting insight into the strengths and apparent weaknesses holding India. In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India is as much of a testament to India's potential as a referendum on its weaknesses.

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Apr 02, 2013 Ved Prakash rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was not very excited when I picked up this book (title hinted towards religious philosophy in India) but surprisingly this book turned out to be spell-bounding work on contemporary India. Even though Edward Luce has much of his background in financial reporting, he captured the philosophy and details of rising India quite beautifully. Edward Luce knows how India works and how the society moves here. The book is full of interviews with small and big names varying from Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandh...more I was not very excited when I picked up this book (title hinted towards religious philosophy in India) but surprisingly this book turned out to be spell-bounding work on contemporary India. Even though Edward Luce has much of his background in financial reporting, he captured the philosophy and details of rising India quite beautifully. Edward Luce knows how India works and how the society moves here. The book is full of interviews with small and big names varying from Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, Mulayam Singh Yadav to NGO chiefs such as Aruna Roy. Each episode and description is well researched and produced with stats and facts. Luce has touched upon almost every aspect of modern India ranging from 300 million poor to thriving IT Businesses, 40 years of single party government to coalition culture, India intrinsic security problems to its relation with United States and China. Luce discusses at length India’s relationship with Pakistan and enlightens his readers with India’s policy towards Pakistan. Edwards has written a lot about Hindu Nationalism in this book covering Babri Mosque demolition of 1992 and Gujarat riots of 2002 as a major turn of events in Hindu nationalism. He has not about any positive aspect of Hindu nationalism and I don’t mind that because there isn’t any. In many separate discussions, Luce has proved that much of religious talks in India are a result of political ambitions which is very true. The failure of caste politics to improve the conditions of the caste they were representing has been captured nicely by Luce, evident from his interview with Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was more interested in showing his lavishes then discussing the plight of UP population.
The books which only portray problems for readers are often incomplete and that’s why Luce took care to suggest the actions that need to be taken in order to sustain this rapidly changing democratic country. With a clear understanding of India and its society, Luce has made this book the best ever written on modern India.
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Oct 12, 2007 Priya rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very thought provoking analysis of India. While being critical, the Author's love for the country seems to come right through.
The amount of history he covers is vast and sometimes he touches very fleetingly on subjects leaving you hungry for more. There are times when I felt, he generalised issues by stretching them over the entire country. To be fair, he does assert India's multifacetedness many times.
All in all a good read.

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Jul 30, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: current-issues, history

I purchased this book without knowing anything about it, and I was a bit disappointed by the lack of historical perspective in the book. The subtitle seems to suggest that the book will look at present-day India as a consequence of the past, but Mr. Luce has basically provided simply a snapshot of the present. That being said, the book does paint a fairly thorough picture of many aspects of modern India. He explores the current political and social climates at length, and it makes for an interes...more

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Aug 05, 2011 Scott Ray rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Most books on India are very difficult to read. This nation is too diverse to try and get a broad scope on it....normally you have to look at only one small part of it and hope to grasp it then move to something else.

This book though is an exception. The author does an amazing job at looking at how India has risen since independence and at the same time acknowledging all tht is still wrong within the nation. As an outsider that worked in Delhi for numerous years and married into an Indian family...more

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May 13, 2008 Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-and-loved

Mistitled here. It's not the "strange" rise of modern India, just "the rise of modern India." I don't usually dig nonfiction, but this was at once both an entertaining and illuminating look at modern India from an outsider who clearly knows the place well and loves it dearly. He's boiling the ocean, without a doubt, but it's a good primer. Just one person's perspective, but a well-researched, well-reasoned one.

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Jan 17, 2012 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm traveling to India in March and knew next to nothing about India when I started this book. I came away with a much better understanding of the conflicts and dichotomies India grapples with as exponential development continues: Hindus and Muslims, Brahmins and Dalits, rapid urban development and abject rural poverty, democracy and corruption. For the most part, I found Luce informative and engaging. The material could be dry, but I appreciated that he spiced it up with anecdotes and vignettes...more

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Nov 20, 2008 Grania rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fantastic summary of the contradictions of a developing world unbroken democracy, and unbroken civilisation. India is a huge nation of extremes difficult to summarise, and this book makes an excellent attempt at explaining the obvious disparity bewteen the engineering succeses of modern India, and the crushing poverty of the majority.

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Jun 01, 2010 Gaurav rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: political, economy

Fascinating. The coverage of history, and intertwined with the present. As an Indian, there were things I myself did not know, and Luce left me hungry for more information.

The gratifying feature was that Ed Luce, unlike most other writers, was not wary of presenting his own opinions.

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Oct 11, 2010 Rajesh Kurup rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I would recommend this book to people who are interested in learning more about the current state of India and it's recent rise. Luce, a journalist with the Financial Times who has extensively covered India and South Asia gives a good, broad overview of many topics.
As an Indian-American, I can certainly appreciate the enormous complexity that is India and I think that Luce breaks India down into bite-sized pieces.
His major topics include the intrusion of the state into Indian life and commerce...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Omar rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Edward Luce covers all his grounds when it comes to the economic strengths and weaknesses of the rising India. Yet in that analysis is lost the social and cultural facets of the diverse nation. India's unmatched power and her Achilles heel are her vastly different populations that are deeply rooted in history and tradition. Reading 'In Spite of the Gods" one seems to forget that cultural existence, a fatal mistake when considering the Bharat and its future.

Would recommend as a read to those liv...more

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Aug 25, 2009 Aastha rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is definitely one of the best geopolitical books I've read about India yet. Edward Luce, a correspondent with the Financial Times, has clearly done his research. He is also very evidently familiar with India as a whole. In their attempt to try to understand the mystery that is India, many authors tend to fall into the trap of trying to describe all of India as one big monolith. Luce is very cautious to specify his observations, distinguishing them by geography (urban-rural, north-south, eas...more This is definitely one of the best geopolitical books I've read about India yet. Edward Luce, a correspondent with the Financial Times, has clearly done his research. He is also very evidently familiar with India as a whole. In their attempt to try to understand the mystery that is India, many authors tend to fall into the trap of trying to describe all of India as one big monolith. Luce is very cautious to specify his observations, distinguishing them by geography (urban-rural, north-south, east-west), state, caste, socioeconomic status, religion and gender. The importance of this cannot be understated; every question about India must be answered by "it depends", not "yes" or "no".

India is very dear to my heart, and I admit I can sometimes be in denial about its (many) problems. I've read many books where the attitude of the author has been so generalizing, condescending, and paternalistic, that the criticisms are easy to ignore. With Luce's book, I could not ignore them. There were times when I had to put the book down to compose myself, because he made some very accurate and on-point observations that made me quite depressed.

This doesn't mean that the book was full of harsh disparaging analysis. Luce has been married to an Indian woman for 15 years, and it is obvious that he possesses a love and appreciation for India and its society and culture. It may be the optimistic in me, but it seems like he genuinely cares about the welfare of the country.

Why not 5 stars? I did not always feel like Luce was unbiased. He seems to espouse the Washington Consensus, neoliberal point of view, demonizing, in particular, labor unions and religious nationalism. He is clearly dismissive of the BJP, treating it as the party of "Hindu nationalism", when it is obviously much more than that. Instead, he embraces the Congress and its more secular ideals. This bias is not blatant, but it is noticeable nonetheless, and not entirely appropriate for a journalist.

The second issue I had with the book was more personal. I have noticed a burgeoning civil society in India recently (it was always there in rural areas, but it is now more noticeable as it grows in the cities, among the educated middle class). Women's rights, LGBT rights, HIV/Aids and other deeply politicized issues (such as religious and caste discrimination) are being addressed much more vocally. I would have loved it if Luce mentioned this, though I suppose it does not fall in his area of expertise.

Finally, though this is obviously not Luce's fault, this book is already a bit outdated. India is changing at an astronomical pace, and even a 2-year old book seems irrelevant. The global meltdown has caused many of the call centers (that Luce mentions as the new India's strength) to shut down, or move elsewhere. The Congress won an overwhelming majority in India's recent elections, and India has battled some large HIV/AIDS demons recently (e.g.: the Delhi High Court repealed Section 377 of the Penal Code, decriminalizing same-sex intercourse). I would love to see an updated version of In Spite of the Gods.(less)

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Feb 16, 2009 kareem rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

my cousin from delhi gave me this, and i read it while traveling in india.

it's a great overview of where india is and is poised to go in the 21st century. luce explains india's dynasty politics (nehru/gandhi) and religious context to help the reader understand how india's bureaucracy, system of government, conflict with pakistan, treatment of muslims, relationship with china and the US, and current economic drivers will play a role in india becoming the next great superpower.

his conclusion is t...more

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Aug 25, 2009 getAbstract rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Eye-opening account of modern India

getAbstract recommends this excellent, well-written work of reportage on India. Edward Luce provides a colorful, striking picture of the country and its unconventional path to development. Within the past several years, numerous books have been published about so-called “Chindia,” the phenomenon of the economic emergence of the two most populous nations on earth. Luce makes it very clear that categorizing India with any other place, including the ever-intriguin...more

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Jul 20, 2010 Alice rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, asia

I enjoyed this book and learned a lot about how Indian government functions. The author is British, but married to an Indian and lived there many years. He does a good job of comparing and contrasting the Indian way of seeing the world with the typical "western" way. But, he's an economist - and some of his suggestions for how India should move in the future seem very backward to me. For example, he says small farmers need to sell the land so that it can be consolidated into big farms with heavy...more

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Jan 09, 2009 Arati rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An excellent account of social/political development in modern India (basically since the time I left India for the US).

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Mar 15, 2011 Hemanshu Das rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: needs to know about India

Shelves: love-dem-nd-alwz-kep-dem, non-fiction

My lone train journey was made so so interesting.... Being an Indian, the book stated facts and perceptions that Indians have a thorough understanding in. But to see these feelings being penned down by a foreign author both excited and astonished me... Edward's understanding of India is critical, but he does cut the administrative some slack. His thorough understanding of how d IAS system works in India is reflected in the book.
Being a Nehru admirer, I do find him a little critical of Nehru but...more

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May 05, 2011 Joan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As someone who thought of India as a forbidden caste that should I try to learn about it, I might end up overwhelmed and in over my head, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that India was just as messed up as I think of the US! And comparing it to China, I thought India seemed to be a much more like-minded place to live than there, maybe because they're a democracy. But it does have a lot of problems, like the caste system, pollution, and the fact that it's hard to get a decent education if...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arts-and-historical

In Spite of the Gods illuminates a land of many contradictions. The booming tech sector we read so much about in the West, Luce points out, employs no more than one million of India’s 1.1 billion people. Only 35 million people, in fact, have formal enough jobs to pay taxes, while three-quarters of the country lives in extreme deprivation in India’s 600,000 villages. Yet amid all these extremes exists the world’s largest experiment in representative democracy—and a largely successful one, despite...more

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Oct 12, 2012 John rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Luce provides a comprehensive journey through the social, political, and religious challenges and contradictions that are both plague and charm to the worlds biggest democracy. His grasp of the nuances and undertones of all of these cross sectional tensions is unparalleled. This is a highly equipping book for any Western business leader seeking a crash course in this vibrant land. His final chapter on India's reform agenda should be required reading for politicians and regulators.

All that said,...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Aliya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is a candid and all-encompassing account of India by a seasoned journalist. In a strangely interesting way, Edward Luce shows a remarkably local understanding of the Indian psyche that is usually lost on most westerners, yet retains his factual and incisive western prism while viewing the country. It is, therefore, a compelling read that covers the entire gamut of factors influencing modern India. It is of special interest to the Pakistani reader since many of India’s ills also plague...more This book is a candid and all-encompassing account of India by a seasoned journalist. In a strangely interesting way, Edward Luce shows a remarkably local understanding of the Indian psyche that is usually lost on most westerners, yet retains his factual and incisive western prism while viewing the country. It is, therefore, a compelling read that covers the entire gamut of factors influencing modern India. It is of special interest to the Pakistani reader since many of India’s ills also plague us and their study of medicine provides a worthwhile read.

To capture the imagination of the average Western reader, the book skilfully begins with mystic India and tales of westerners who discovered bliss while living in ashrams. India successfully portrayed itself to the West as an enchanting land far away not too long ago. This was further testified by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s observations upon arriving in Harvard in the late 1980s. Weaving together religion and economics, Luce exhibits his prowess by leading his reader almost imperceptibly to acknowledge the various socio-cultural ills that (ironically) plague India due to its religious traditions. Modern India shows a juxtaposition of extreme poverty with extreme religiosity. Surprising and baffling the intended audience, the writer raises this question to westerners who claim to have found a solution to deal with materialism in India. By elucidating the social crisis caused by the caste system that sanctions apathy, resignation and even aggression to perpetuate economic inequalities on the basis of religion, Luce tries to dissect the problem himself. He rightly contends that this remains the single biggest obstacle to an equitable (western style) growth model in India.

Akin to Pakistan, dynastic politics pervaded India in the first five decades of its independence, which is hardly surprising. Nehru’s vision of complete economic independence styled on a socialistic model, whereby all foreign goods were discouraged, guided India to swaraj or ‘self-rule’. He unsuccessfully attempted land reform. In a farsighted move, Nehru focused on developing the techno-managerial talent in India through the now famous Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Management since 1951. He received much flak for ignoring the dismal state of primary schooling in favour of tertiary education. Nehru’s move eventually paid phenomenal dividends in the form of export earnings from the sale of products and services related to information technology.

Luce also talks of the 1960s when India survived on aid from the US and could not feed its poor. Possibly spurred by the swaraj psyche, India became self-sufficient in food during the 1970s and now stands as an exporter of food. In 1991, India had to swallow the bitter ‘IMF pill’, which shattered the swadeshi or ‘self-reliance’ dreams of Nehru. India’s intellectual talent groomed through Nehru’s stress on world-class higher education came to its rescue. This was coupled with a stroke of luck tinged with an ironic display of patriotism exhibited by Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of Rajiv Gandhi. The Indian politician, notwithstanding his tendency to be corrupt, retains a deep loyalty to India. Perhaps this is also explained by the deeply embedded swaraj mindset, which was Nehru’s greatest gift to India. In a truly patriotic and democratic gesture, Sonia Gandhi prevailed upon her Congress Party to appoint Manmohan Singh as prime minister after the 2004 general elections. The latter, an able economist, led an ailing Indian economy to almost athletic strength. This historic step helped India to move away from incompetent and inexperienced dynastic rule towards professional leadership and has perhaps been the single most important factor in the rise of modern India. The author attributes many personal and political reasons behind this move.

The book is peppered with Luce’s incisive analysis of the main driving forces in India. He covers the Indian bureaucratic tradition, an almost untouched colonial legacy and devotes an entire chapter to the Dalits or ‘untouchables’. This seems befitting given the gigantic impact of this issue on every facet of Indian life. He explains how the caste identity is manipulated, used and abused and, ironically, how it is inescapable even after conversion to egalitarian religions like Islam and Christianity. Luce then gives deserving attention to the rising tide of Hindu nationalism, which precipitated the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) rise to power. The deeply intolerant, Hindu-centric agenda of the BJP has dealt a fatal blow to Nehru’s vision of a secular and tolerant India. In a country that might not care for global jihad, religious extremism and self-righteousness is equally pernicious, if not more, given the sheer number of minorities living in India.

The catchiest title of a chapter in the book is perhaps ‘Many crescents — South Asian Muslims’, which covers Kashmir and Pakistan. It merits the inclusion of all, given that an analysis of Muslims in India cannot be divorced from the events of partition and the creation of Pakistan. Though Luce has outlined many factors leading to partition, there is a subtle pro-Indian slant in his analysis, which may be described as naïve or showing a deliberate bias.

Lastly, Luce pays attention to India’s position in the world vis-à-vis China and the US. He covers the fast changing socio-economic landscape of India and ends with the numerous challenges that stand in the way of India and its quest to become a global power. Covering a vast canvas, the writer has come up with an interesting work that deserves attention.(less)

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