PORTRAITS OF POWER: Half a Century of Being at Ringside

by N.K. Singh

  1. ISBN: 978-93-5333-775-9
  2. Pages: 472 pages
  3. Date: 1st October 2020

ABOUT THIS BOOK

N.K. Singh has been a formidable civil servant, an empathetic politician, a keen chronicler of India’s socioeconomic history and the quintessential academic that academia never got. His life’s work, as chronicled in this book has indeed been intertwined with the progress India has made. In many such cases, Singh has been not just an active contributor but has also given shape to those many momentous decisions—whether through the use of diplomacy or the rigours of understanding the mechanism of the levers of power or, for that matter, by consensus building.

Portraits of Power is not just an autobiography of a man, who for several decades has played an active role in India’s march towards becoming a formidable economy; it is indeed, on multiple levels, a book that profiles myriad institutions that work in harmony to make things happen. And in everything that N.K. Singh has done, so in this book too, there is both incisive clarity and insightful anecdotal heft.

This book helps readers navigate the vast complexities of India but in a way that is stark and yet elegant.

From personal happenings to national movements, Portraits of Power covers it all.

AUTHOR OF THE BOOK

N.K. Singh is a renowned politician and economist. He is presently the chairman of the Fifteenth Finance Commission of India. Until recently, he was a member of the Rajya Sabha from the state of Bihar. He has been among the country’s top bureaucrats and has handled important portfolios such as secretary to the prime minister, expenditure and revenue secretary and member of the Planning Commission. He was also the principal interlocutor with multilateral institutions during India’s balance of payments crisis.