Fault lines

At the launch of Raghuram Rajan’s Fault Lines, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the book was so absorbing, he’d read the international version of it on a flight from the US to India. In fact, he said, Air India would do well to keep copies of the book on its long-haul flights since, in any case, “most people have seen the movies they show anyway!” Ahluwalia pointed out that the chapter on India, which is not there in the US edition, was a very slim one but well worth reading since, unlike the mid-term appraisal (MTA) by the Planning Commission, it identified three or four action areas and not “700 or more” that the MTA did. And with tongue firmly in cheek, he added, “By the way, I think all 700 suggestions are valid ones.” The book, it appears, was well received by many. Gurcharan Das, who was also on the panel, recalled how he overheard someone in the audience saying the book was so simply written, even Gurcharan Das would be able to understand it. Of course, when the gentleman saw Das, he was quick to say that he meant the book was so simply told it was as if it had been written by someone of Das’ capability.