Recommended by: Rasananda Panda

Summary: A former top bureaucrat reveals how India manages its money, and the political landmines he navigated to protect public interest

For over three decades, Subhash Chandra Garg was at the heart of India’s bureaucratic battlefield – crafting policies, managing crises and manoeuvring through the power struggles that define governance. From the villages of Rajasthan where land disputes could spark violent protests, to the corridors of power in Delhi where economic decisions could make or break the nation, Garg’s career as a civil servant was anything but ordinary.

As Finance Secretary of India, he played a pivotal role in reshaping India’s economic policies, battling entrenched interests and pulling states back from financial ruin. He confronted corruption head-on, took on international financial institutions and steered high-stakes negotiations that impacted millions.

Unflinching and deeply revealing, No, Minister is more than a memoir – it is a front-row seat to the raw, often brutal realities of navigating the world of Indian bureaucracy. Power, politics and policy collide in this gripping account of a career spent at the helm of India’s economic and administrative landscape.

Contents:

PART A: ADMINISTRATION IN RAJASTHAN
1. Fixing Land Unsettlement and Other Chaos
2 . A Collector Complains Against His SDO!
3 . Dysfunctional Rural Benefits Delivery
4 . ' Why Do We Need Interviews to Recruit Teachers? '
5 . Making the White Elephant Dance
6 . ' Sell Off Before It Is Too Late '
7 . ' You Are Working Well but It Does Not Suit Us '
8. Challenges of Transfers and Short Tenures
9 . Personnel Battles in Agriculture Development
10. Getting Waylaid by the Wheels of Corruption
11. In the Den of Union Leaders
12. Conducting Board Exams Without Teachers
13. A University Student's Tragic Suicide
14. Rajasthan Begins Its Journey on the Renewable Energy Path
PART B: BUDGET AND FINANCE IN RAJASTHAN
15. In and Out of Helming Finance in Rajasthan
16. State - Level Finance and Budgets
17. Bhamashah Got Stalled Just Before Elections
18. Two Budgets in Six Months
19. ' I Don't Want to See Him in the Cabinet Today '
PART C: AT THE WORLD BANK AND THE CENTRE
20. ' You Must Be a Dummy Candidate '
21. Resetting India's Relationship with the World Bank and IMF
22. Dabhol Power Plant For $ 1 and Other Matters
23. Pulling States Out of the Debt Trap
24. A ' Smiling Assassin '
25. Detour to Implementing Agriculture Programmes
26. ' Officers Do What They Are Told to Do '
27. Serving Global Development at the World Bank Group
30. ' Stay Away from the PM KISAN Scheme '
29. ' You Are Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal for Me '
28. Bringing Indus Waters Arbitration Back from the Brink
31. ' Has the Government Approved Your Dissent Note? '
32. ' You Are Not in Tune with the Government's Thinking '