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What is common between demonetization, Maruti, polio, mobile phones, IITs and Halaal Street? One man’s dream of making a people’s car lead to the birth of Maruti and fuelled many a middle-class Indian’s automobile dreams. The Green Revolution fed millions of Indians but brought water shortage and productivity losses to the very farms that sprung it. The polio eradication programme, which stuttered and stumbled, finally led to the foundations of one of the most efficient public-health systems. These, among many others, constitute the unexpected consequences of economic policies of independent India, resulting in surprises that the country’s policymakers did not foresee. Deftly weaving the story of the policies that shaped the narrative of the nation’s economic history over 70 years, Alam Srinivas explores in ten enlightening and thought-provoking essays those that resulted in unintentional and unintended revolutions or unexpected havoc, complete with the intrigue, scandal and drama that each entailed. A timely narrative that looks back on an economy recovering from many shocks, and paves way for newer perspectives.