India in Slow Motion

India in Slow Motion is dedicated 'to all those who are striving for the good of India'. Mark Tully has spent much of his life doing just that and in this book, with his partner, Gillian Wright, he has some stimulating and thought-provoking things to say about India's potential and the obstacles slowing down its progress. He has no doubt that what is holding India back is its system of government, with an administration secretive, bureaucratic, inefficient and corrupt, and unreformed since colonial times. This is a government, says Tully, which does not watch out for the interests of its people but which evades its responsibilities, deprives people of initiative and uses the questions of caste and religion to distract them from its failings. As he meets a wide range of people, we see how these problems affect almost every aspect of life: a farmer burdened by a debt owed to money-lenders because organizing a bank loan is too cumbersome and time-consuming commits suicide; an undercover reporter reveals corruption among high-ranking army officers and politicians; dams lie empty, roads lead nowhere and the government in Delhi fails to understand the grievances of Kashmiris. Unlike the faceless bureaucrats, Mark Tully delights in the world about him and we share his pleasure at Diwali candles, strong tea in a roadside cafe, the bustle of India. The serious and important issues are presented to us in an accessible and personal way and not with total pessimism. Something can be done; there are honest politicians even if it is not easy for them to survive and ordinary people can assert themselves and find small-scale solutions; religious aggression and fatalism do exist but not everywhere, all the time. The problems facing India are great, but Mark Tully shows us what the country might yet achieve. (Kirkus UK)