ITEC as an instrument of diplomacy

When was the last time you got hold of a book that talks of a specific Indian policy? No, [don’t mean the memoirs mostly IAS officers write about their term in offices with dollops of personal life thrown in. I mean a good hard look at any Indian government policy spanning several decades.

- SUBHOMOY BHATTACHARJEE

It will be almost impossible to find one. You can be sure, for instance, coming out of the Trump term, a furious avalanche of books will plaster the United States bookshops soon. Hardly any book will be written about the comparable period of Indian policy. This is true of not only this era, but books on Indian government policies hardly ever get written, except for foreign policy where there has been a plethora of well-written books, including by the current External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Yet as the Indian economy gathers critical mass in the world, it would be unrealistic to say Indian public policy does not merit such a deep-down study. In the circumstances, the role falls on observers from outside the government. ITEC at 60: India’s International Development Partnerships is one of those. Shimreisa Chahongnao, Maria Elizabeth Joseph and Swati Sinha of Ananta Aspen Centre have made a brave attempt to understand a vital piece of Indian policy— Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation. The book examines how India, despite domestic constraints, has tried to offer assistance to a large band of nations in the so-called Global South since 1964. It was and continues to be a global university system developed by India but without any bells and whistles.