Sanjaya Baru is an economist and political strategist who was Media Advisor and Chief Spokesperson for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh between 2004 and 2008. He has been Associate Editor of the Economic Times and the Times of India, Editor of Business Standard and has held the post of Director of Geo Economics and Strategy at the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
His forthcoming new book is, Secession of the Successful: The Flight Out of New India. This is a timely, pathbreaking and objective discussion on how the recent migration of members of the Indian elite is acquiring epidemic proportions and an analysis of whether this represents a brain bank, as claimed by some, or a brain drain which deprives India of much needed intellectual capital; Baru also examines the role of the country’s elite higher education system in preparing future migrants. Furthermore, with a generation abroad, how does this impact the Indian elite’s stakes in what happens at home; its relations with countries of high Indian elite migration; and how significant is the influence of the diaspora—now the world’s largest–on events in India?
Sanjaya Baru is the author of several highly acclaimed books including Strategic Consequences of India’s Economic Performance; The Accidental Prime Minister; 1991: How PV Narasimha Rao Made History; India’s Power Elite and is editor of the volume The Importance of Shinzo Abe.