The Country Of First Boys And Other Essays by Amartya Sen Oxford University Press; Price:Rs.550; Pages: 276 This collection of essays written at various points by erudite economics Nobel laureate Dr. Amartya Sen, stimulates thought and reflection while being easy to read because of the conversational style and ironic humour, that distinguishes India’s arguably most-loved writer on the dismal science that’s economics. The selection of 13 seminal essays spanning almost 15 years, cover a wide range of subjects. Essays intriguingly titled ‘India through its Calendars’ (“The study of calendars and their history, usage and social associations can provide a fruitful understanding of important aspects of a country and its cultures”) to ‘On Nalanda University’ which details the multinational proposal to revive the world’s oldest university (estb.500 BCE), and the author’s role as its first chancellor and his premature resignation in February 2015 prompted by the election of the BJP-NDA government at the Centre. Stringing these diverse essays together is what Sen describes as a non-sectarian concern about the development of India in terms of “equity and justice, in different areas of human life — social, political, economic, cultural and intellectual”. The book’s title refers to a critique of our current education system, its deficiencies in coverage and quality, as well as its privileging of the few. Its massive disparity and gender imbalance manifests itself in the “huge mess” that is Indian education. Meanwhile, Western corporates snapping up the best “first boys” — successful products of India’s premier colleges and institutions — believe that India’s education system is a spectacular success. Countering this, the author addresses the country’s class rather than mass education system which neglects the primary education of a huge number of children to focus on first boys who are quick to emigrate given the first opportunity. The aggregative penalty of vast education disparity is that compared to Asian peers like China, South Korea, Taiwan or Thailand, India lags behind with a sparsely educated labour force. Lack of education and stark illiteracy affects employment, legal rights enforcement, political disenfranchisement and health of citizens, argues Sen. Sen’s primary academic studies in welfare economics and social choice theory have often highlighted the economic fallout of famine, hunger and poverty and addressed issues of economic and social justice. Essays titled ‘Hunger: Old Torments and New Blunders’ and ‘Poverty, War and Peace’, included in this compendium reiterate his humane concerns about “hardened inequalities in Indian society” and the urgent need to overcome the multiple injustices suffered by the huge majority of free India’s citizens. A recurring theme in these essays is the author’s sense of an expansive syncretic India, grounded in the wisdom of its cultural traditions which are being over-shadowed by narrow-mindedness and intolerance, communal animosity, a spillover from days of the Partition to contemporary times. Advocating democratic dialogue, the author takes on the media in an essay titled ‘Why Media is Important for Economic Development’ for bias and inaccuracy. Acknowledging that press freedom — “along with other democratic freedoms” — has helped…
