'Independent and transparent research is vital for good governance. It can even
safeguard against bad governments, ' writes Dr N. Bhaskara Rao, a pioneer
in social research and countrywide surveys. In this book, backed by over five
decades of experience, he then goes on to show how such research has declined
in India from the golden period of the first few decades after Independence.
He tracks the turns that social and policy research has taken over the last 70
years-slipping from a position of rare professional integrity and credibility to a
worrying low in both role and status. The reasons, he shows-all of them interrelated-
are the preoccupation of recent political regimes with polarization
and populism, the egotism of powerful leaders, majoritarian trends in society
and politics, lack of financial independence or immoderate pursuit of profit
and corporate agendas. If this trend is not reversed, he argues, research could
become irrelevant and even dangerously misleading, thus undermining our wellbeing
as a nation.
Timely, insightful, full of scores of concrete examples and informed by
extraordinary professionalism and commitment to democracy, this is an
essential book for everyone concerned with India and its all-round, inclusive
development.
