Secession of the Successful - by Sanjaya Baru (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Why are so many of our fellow citizens disentangling from the political and economic future of India to invest in the destiny of other nations? Are Non-Resident Indians turning irreversibly into Non-Returning Indians? Is enhancing soft power a fair trade off for losing priceless human capital? And, perhaps most pertinently, is India becoming, after Russia and China, the constricting land of intolerance and authoritarianism from which the elites flee in droves, seeking greener and more liberal pastures--not to forget tax havens.

Marshalling his magisterial scholarship into highly readable prose, Sanjaya Baru raises all these questions and more in Secession of the Successful: The Flight Out of New India, which more than being a tome is a wakeup call we had better heed.

Review Quotes

Secession of the Successful: Flight out of New India is Sanjaya Baru's enthralling examination of the Passage from India of its affluential elite: the families who not only bestride our corridors of power but command, in many ways, our nation's coffers. While it is tempting to dress up this inexorable emigration of talent and wealth as "Indian nationals exploring the global workplace" and an "ever increasing and expanding diaspora" that bolsters our soft power, Baru argues that this phenomenon demands serious introspection on the very nature of the Indian state, which is fuelling influential India's 'desire to escape not just from the clutches of the taxman but from the tentacles of an intrusive and arbitrary State and its "regulatory and surveillance" Raj.' As our millionaires and billionaires pay 'their way out of the country', their paths to developed nations paved with golden visas, the spectres of 'wealth drain' and 'brain drain' loom ever larger upon India.-- "Dr. Shashi Tharoor, author and Member of Parliament"

In this scholarly book Sanjaya Baru recounts the history of the four phases of the Indian emigration over the last two centuries and their impact on India and the world. A must-read for every Indian policy maker to make India much more worthy of stay for every Indian with globally valued education and competence.-- "N.R. Narayana Murthy, founder, Infosys"

India's diaspora is in the midst of profound change and Sanjaya Baru has captured it with all its frustrating, messy contradictions. Uplifting sometimes, discouraging at other times, this highly readable, deftly written book avoids clichés and platitudes at all times. Pick it up.-- "Gurcharan Das, author and public intellectual"

Sanjaya Baru's Secession of the Successful is a pioneering reflection on the political and economic consequences of the unprecedented Indian outmigration of the present time. How Indians engage with the world and their homeland will be a defining factor of the history of the 21st century. Baru looks at Indian migration from several perspectives and in the end has given us an engaging guide to the intensifying geopolitical contest of human talent.-- "Nitin Pai, founder, Takshashila Institution"

About the Author

Sanjaya Baru has been editor of The Financial Express and Business Standard, and the editorial-page editor of the Times of India and the Indian Express.

He was media adviser to former prime minister Manmohan Singh and the director for geo-economics and strategy, International Institute of Strategic Studies, London.

He has taught at the University of Hyderabad; the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore; and the Indian School of Public Policy, New Delhi.

His books include The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh, StrategicConsequences of India's Economic Performance, 1991: How P.V. Narasimha Rao Made History and India's Power Elite: Class, Caste and A Cultural Revolution.