This is a book on science and technology policy ¿making in India during the Indira Gandhi years. It also chronicles facets of Indira Gandhi¿s decision-making in building a massive and diversified superstructure of scientific and technological capability and capacity. The author highlights key decisions, decisions, incidents and players outside the prime minister¿s secretariat (including the author¿s interactions with her) during her second primeministership. It mentions how science and technology policies were made during the second wave of scientific development in India, starting in the late 1960s, which was a result of a fortuitous confluence of personalities, political alignments, and economic and social conditions at a crucial juncture in modern Indian emphasis on indigenous development of science and technology. It was also a time for a systematic and comprehensive look into the ways of making science and technology policies that were cohesive and integrated well with decision-making at all levels of governance ¿centre, state and local.
The mix of personalities, anecdotes, processes, institutions and challenges makes for an interesting intriguing and informative book.