Ideas for good governance

Madhava Rao is virtually unknown today, but Rahul Sagar's book brings to life this forgotten statesman of the nineteenth century, who took the first steps towards enlightened governance in the country

The Progressive Maharaja: Sir Madhava Rao’s Hints on the Art and Science of Government

Authors: Rahul Sagar

Publisher:  HarperCollins Publishers India

Pages: 472

Price: Rs 580

Few Indians probably know that the first steps in providing enlightened governance in the pre-independence “native” states took place several decades before any such initiative in British India. This took the shape of efforts to groom Sayaji Rao Gaekwad to succeed Malhar Rao, who was deposed as ruler of Baroda in 1875 for gross misgovernment. (Sayaji Rao, when he was chosen to succeed Malhar Rao, was an unlettered 12-year-old from a distant branch of the Gaekwad clan.)

At the centre