THE EMPEROR'S MIRROR THE STATE OF RESEARCH IN INDIA

'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.