Bøger af Madhav Godbole

'India is clearly divided into two worlds-the much touted "shining India"signifying the glossy, superficial, highly westernized sections of society with theirextravagant lifestyles, and the "left-behind India" or Bharat, which consists of thepoor, deprived, malnourished, under-fed, neglected and marginalized sections ofsociety, residing largely in rural areas and in slums and hutments in urban areas.There is an ever widening gap between these two Indias.'In this concise yet wide-ranging book, Madhav Godbole delves into what he considers the root of India's socio-political problems: the lack of good governance, which, he asserts, has never been a focus of governments in our country.Godbole traces the rise and fall of politics and policy in independent India from the time of Jawaharlal Nehru's prime ministership to present day through a careful exploration of several issues-from defining the concept of good governance as understood universally, to identifying the highly problematic areas of governance that need urgent action and emphasizing how changes in polices can make a marked difference to governance in our country.

The first time since Independence, India is at a crossroads of secular and Hindu Rashtra (nation) ideologies. The Constitution of India is ambivalent about secularism, pandering to the demands of both the majority and minority communities. The founding fathers could not even agree on calling the Constitution 'secular'. The word 'secular' became a part of the Preamble only during the 'Emergency'. There is no consensus yet on its definition. In the process, secularism, though declared by the Supreme Court as a part of the 'basic structure' of the Constitution, has lost all credibility. Godbole's thoughtful and comprehensive agenda for strengthening secularism includes setting up a constitutional commission on secularism, the separation of religion from politics, defining the words 'secular' and 'minorities', doing away with the freedom to propagate religion, an amendment of Article 48 by deleting the provision prohibiting cow slaughter and increasing the role and responsibilities of the central government. The implementation of this will require national consensus, statesmanship, maturity and far-sightedness. Secularism should be a must-read for the youth of this country, political parties, legislators, professionals, academia, media, social thinkers and opinion-makers. For, no other issue will decide the future of India as decisively.