Superpower?

September 13, 2010
Bahl, founder and managing director of India's largest TV news network, compares the superpower prospects of India and China in this meticulously researched but unevenly written study. Contrasting their foreign and domestic policies, cultures, and geographies, Bahl measures their potential for economic growth. Though China doubles its economy every eight years and "spends $1 billion every day to develop world class infrastructure," India has its own advantages: it is the world's largest democracy, 350 million of its people speak English, half its population is under 25, and it boasts a "robust judicial system." Furthermore, India impressed the world with its resilience to the global economic crisis, rebounding with modest inflation, while China experienced deflation and a huge debt. But Bahl warns that India's dithering government could obstruct its potential, lamenting its failure to improve India's crumbling infrastructure while China's "democratic dictatorship" could stymie growth by discouraging innovation. Though the book offers valuable insights into the motivations of the world's two most populous countries, it could have been more tightly edited to eliminate repetition, clichés, and some awkward—occasionally bombastic—phrasing ("India's macroeconomics was beginning to allure").

November 1, 2010
While his books title is posed as a question, Bahl, who credits himself with helping to bring such American media brands as CNBC, CNN, MTV, and Forbes into India, is clearly arguing Indias case as a superpower counterpart to its non-identical twin, China. Bahl openly admires Chinas white-hot pace of development and its seemingly unlimited financial reserves, but he points to Indias resilient democratic institutions, its relatively young population (median age: 25.3), and its fiscal prudence in resisting the economic forces that ultimately devastated so many of the worlds economies in September 2008. Bahls cheerleading for India can wear thin, and he does not address such mitigating issues as Indias conflict with Pakistan and the possible environmental damage of a more developed India. Still, his book will clear up a lot of misperceptions about the nature of his countrys socioeconomic path.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)