Professor Challenges Conventional Wisdom on India

Newswise — Waquar Ahmed, visiting assistant professor of geography at Mount Holyoke, coedited the new book India's New Economic Policy: A Critical Analysis with Amitabh Kundu and Richard Peet. The book challenges the conventional wisdom that the New Economic Policy introduced in India in 1991 led to rapid economic growth in the country. On the contrary, Ahmed argues, the economy was growing under the socialist policy of the 1980s. Now Indians must contend with the problems of an elite few growing wealthier while the vast majority face hardships such as unemployment and poverty. Ahmed says there are lessons in this book for anyone who is interested in economic development, not only in India but in the U.S. and elsewhere.