A scholar among bureaucrats

Once in the late 1950s, the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was to address the students of Delhi School of Economics.

On such formal occasions, the head of the Delhi School, V K R V Rao, expected students to wear silver-grey, buttoned- up coats with the institution's crest.

On the appointed day, the students found one of their compatriots looking rather uncomfortable in the formal outfit. There was something conspicuous about this uncomfortable looking student. His identity was revealed when he stooped a little while climbing stairs—and a pistol fell out of his pocket.

Ashis Bose, a student at the function, later asked Nehru if he could address about 100 students at Gwyer Hall, a Delhi University hostel. "No luck, young man," said the prime minister much to the disappointment of Bose who was to become one of the country's pioneer demographers. His memoirs are suffused with admiration for Nehru.

Bose is less charitable about Nehru's successors. At many places, the memoir shows the demographer's discomfiture with the establishment. It is a candid admission from a scholar who was consulted frequently by governments.

There is an account of how he was unknowingly roped in to write for Surya. The magazine was run by a coterie, which was virtually running the country during the Emergency. Bose felt he unwittingly played into the hands of a draconian regime by writing the piece.

Somewhat unfairly though, for Bose criticised the Emergency on several occasions. He cited historical data to lampoon the forced sterilization programmes. As head of the Population Research Centre at Delhi's Institute of Economic Growth, Bose sent field workers to parts of India. They generated with data that showed how ineffective Sanjay Gandhi's forced sterilization programme was.

According to one report, one woman whose husband was forcibly taken away for sterilization tried to kill the doctor. Insights such as these make this memoir a riveting read.

Shefali Kukreti is a civil servant

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