This book offers an overview of the policies that produced India's sorry economic performance over a third of a century. The author's analysis puts into sharp focus the crippling effects of the inward-looking, bureaucratic regime that grew to Kafkaesque dimensions, starting in the early 1950s. It provides a rationale for the economic reforms begun in June 1991 by the new government of Prime Minister Rao. These reforms are set into historical and analytical perspective.