Harish Damodaran’s book ‘India’s New Capitalists: Caste, Business and Industry in a Modern Nation-State’ has once again made everyone sit up and notice. This isn’t the first time Damodaran has won accolades. Being a journalist for the past 16 year, he is also well-known as a specialist in agri-business and commodities coverage. His insights and contributions have benefited in macroeconomic issues. Damodaran is also a recipient of the World Food Day Award-2000 from the UN Food & Agricultural Organization and the Indian Association for the Advancement of Science, which was given to acknowledge his work as a farm reporter.
Coming back to Damodaran’s latest offering, the book is written in a simple style, blending analytical rigor with a journalistic flair. It talks about how business in India was considered to be the job of only the Bania community which fell under the Vaishya order of the traditional Hindu ‘chaturvarna’. However, since early 20th century, significant changes started taking place. The social base of our country gradually widened and soon entrepreneurship was no longer exclusive to a few castes alone. It now includes a wide spectrum of communities. But such a pattern of inclusive capitalism is restricted to only the southern and western states of our country, for we are yet to see a Dalit industrialist of note.