Rethinking good governance: Holding to account India's public institutions
Author: Vinod Rai (Padma Bhusan awardee, Ex-IAS, CAG, Head-BCCI, Head-Banks Board Bureau)
Genre: Non-fiction
Stars- 3.5/5
The author's credentials are strong enough to make anyone nervous when trying to review his book. But I will give my two cents.
First things first , the book though not written academically, has more academic purpose than be an object of leisure for any book reader. Hence this limits the audience for the book. My association with civil services examination made me just capable enough to comprehend this book in as much possibility as I could.
The book's strength is the author himself. His long association in the administration gives you an insider's view of the complex Indian state machinary. He has covered almost every important public institution viz. parliament, supreme Court, Election Commission, CBI , et al.
He gives information on the genesis of the institutions, their present state( and here the events mentioned are as latest as they could have been), and what future beholds for them. The book is lucid enough for any ordinary reader to understand but it would not be a cakewalk of course.
His chapters on CAG and BCCI are remarkable in the sense that he has himself been at the helm of these institutions and throws light on how they work , in great detail.
The last chapter on temple administration was slightly less interesting as he had focussed on the historical aspects of the temple too much. Also how much are temple public institutions has always been a matter of debate with Sabrimala case being the recent example.
The book ends with a case study on Adarsh housing society scam of Maharashtra. Here again the author has stretched the chapter going into minute details which as a reader , I did not find of much imporance. But the striking thing about the chapter is that here you could actually feel the aggression which the author expresses at the sorry state of affairs and the rotten state machinary behind everything that's going wrong in this country.
All in all I found this book highly enlightening that has certainly made me more aware as a citizen than I previously was.
Genre: Non-fiction
Stars- 3.5/5
The author's credentials are strong enough to make anyone nervous when trying to review his book. But I will give my two cents.
First things first , the book though not written academically, has more academic purpose than be an object of leisure for any book reader. Hence this limits the audience for the book. My association with civil services examination made me just capable enough to comprehend this book in as much possibility as I could.
The book's strength is the author himself. His long association in the administration gives you an insider's view of the complex Indian state machinary. He has covered almost every important public institution viz. parliament, supreme Court, Election Commission, CBI , et al.
He gives information on the genesis of the institutions, their present state( and here the events mentioned are as latest as they could have been), and what future beholds for them. The book is lucid enough for any ordinary reader to understand but it would not be a cakewalk of course.
His chapters on CAG and BCCI are remarkable in the sense that he has himself been at the helm of these institutions and throws light on how they work , in great detail.
The last chapter on temple administration was slightly less interesting as he had focussed on the historical aspects of the temple too much. Also how much are temple public institutions has always been a matter of debate with Sabrimala case being the recent example.
The book ends with a case study on Adarsh housing society scam of Maharashtra. Here again the author has stretched the chapter going into minute details which as a reader , I did not find of much imporance. But the striking thing about the chapter is that here you could actually feel the aggression which the author expresses at the sorry state of affairs and the rotten state machinary behind everything that's going wrong in this country.
All in all I found this book highly enlightening that has certainly made me more aware as a citizen than I previously was.
Why don't you give the brief summary of the book. It would be helpful & in turn would also increase the views of the blog
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