Tales of the unexpected

摘要

IN 1985, the year Mikhail Gorbachev took over as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, India published its sev enth economic plan. Its preface said plan ning was a "precious gift" from Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, who had been an admirer of Soviet economics. Inevitably, the goals of the document, which included ending poverty by 2000, were missed by a country mile as India slipped towards a crisis that prompted it to open up its economy in 1991.