LAUSR

smooth implementation of SEZ policy, due to a conflict between the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance. Nandini Nayak, in a rich ethnography of the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), focuses on the letters sent to the state and civil society organizations by a collective of indigenous people as ‘tools of contention’ against local power structures. These rich and sharp analyses highlight the developments pertaining to each theme, while also succinctly augmenting the argument regarding the nature and trajectory of transformation of India’s political economy, as laid out by the editors in the introduction. The book stands out because of the varied and multi-disciplinary approach it takes to tackle the story from different angles, thereby reaching a perfect recipe to ‘nail the proverbial pudding’ – to quote the editors.