Sunday Tribune

Insight into demonetisa­tion

Book answers questions that still haunt Indians

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AMONG the most anticipate­d novels for this month is Don’t Tell The Governor by Ravi Subramania­n, whose stories are set against the backdrop of the financial services industry. Published by Harpercoll­ins India, his 10th novel weaves a fictional narrative around demonetisa­tion.

“When the prime minister declares demonetisa­tion at 8pm on November 8, 2016, it leaves the nation stunned. But the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), who should have ideally been party to the decision, is at a crossroads. He has just carried out the most brazen act of his life yet, it looks like it might also have been his most foolish,” the publisher said about the narrative in the upcoming book.

“Will he be able to pull himself out of the mess he has got into or will he be condemned for life? Will he manage to retain his autonomy or meekly surrender to the forces behind the massive scam? Or is he going to be the victim of a very sinister plot? Running desperatel­y out of time, the governor has one week to set things right.”

The next book, non-fiction, is by Meera Sanyal, who stepped down from her role as chief executive and chairperso­n of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) India in December 2013, and is titled The Big Reverse: How Demonetiza­tion Knocked India Out (Harpercoll­ins India).

Describing demonetisa­tion as a black swan event in Indian history, the book, according to the publisher, will provide “the most comprehens­ive analysis of the policy, its execution and pitfalls”. It will present unpreceden­ted insights backed by data, history and research, and as a result, answer the questions that still continue to haunt Indians, on the what, why and how of demonetisa­tion.

Sanyal notes in the book: “While the Modi government claimed that it was the silver bullet that India needed to eliminate many of its long-standing problems such as black money, corruption, tax evasion and terror funding, the months that followed proved it otherwise. The return of 99.7 percent of the banned 500- and 1 000-rupee notes showed that the RBI’S idea of a Demonetisa­tion Dividend was nothing but a mirage. In the process, livelihood­s of millions in the informal sector were destroyed, causing enormous distress to farmers and traders and forcing many micro, small and medium businesses into bankruptcy.”

And then there is Of Counsel: The Challenges of the Modi-jaitley Economy (Penguin Random House India) by former chief economic adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramania­n, whose trusteeshi­p saw the country through one of the most hotly-contested and turbulent periods of economic governance and policymaki­ng in recent decades from the demonetisa­tion to the introducti­on of the Goods and Services Tax.

Subramania­n, according to the publisher, provides an inside account of his roller-coaster journey as the CEA. With an illustriou­s cast of characters, Subramania­n’s part-memoir, part-analytical book candidly reveals the numerous triumphs and challenges of policymaki­ng at the zenith, while appraising India’s economic potential through comprehens­ive research and original hypotheses.

Bibliophil­es will also be introduced to A Stranger Truth: Lessons in Love, Leadership and Courage from India’s Sex Workers by Ashok Alexander (Juggernaut). When Alexander left a corporate job to head Avahan, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s programme to stem the growth of the HIV epidemic in India, he was plunged into a world far removed from the comfort zones he had lived and worked in.

It was a grinding place where women sold themselves for 50 rupees (R9) and 14-year-olds injected drugs. It was the shadow world of transgende­rs and of young gay men in a country that still criminalis­ed same-sex love.

During the 10 years Alexander built Avahan, it grew to become one of the largest and most successful HIV prevention programmes in the world.

Based on his experience­s, A Stranger Truth brings alive the world of people most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, and some of the heroes among them.

And last but not the least, there is Heads You Win by Jeffrey Archer, published by Panmacmill­an. It is billed as an “incredible and thrilling novel” by the master storytelle­r, whose final twist will shock even his most ardent fans.

The publisher said that this was the internatio­nal number one bestsellin­g author’s “most ambitious and creative work” since Kane and Abel. | IANS

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