Continuing from yesterday’s lament about what’s wrong, a clue can be found in reading this 1993 paper from American Political Science Review by Mancur Olson entitled “Dictatorship, Democracy and Development.”

The paper was recommended to me by Atanu. In his preamble, he explained: “A decent understanding of political economy is a good idea for someone who wants to understand the nature of society and more so if one wants to participate politically in it. [Olson’s paper] is not easy reading. It is harder to read than say “Tipping Point”. But it is much shorter and you have to do the thinking yourself but when you do, you internalise the concepts very well.”

India can have a different future, provided enough of us are capable of thinking about what got us into the dismal situation we are in, and are then willing to rise and do something about it.