1 The Early Years of Republic
2 The Kothari Saga (1965–85)
3 Making of National Policy on Education, 1986
4 Education Secretary Has No Time for Education
5 Tale of a Committee (Ramamurti Committee)
6 The Mikado and the Shogun (P.V. Narasimha Rao and Arjun Singh)
7 Revision of National Policy on Education, 1986
8 Revision of Programme of Action, 1986
9 The Present Is a Foreign Country (Global Trends)
10 Winds of Change Begin to Blow (Stints of Madhavrao Scindia and S.R. Bommai)
11 The Old Order Changeth, Yielding Place to the New (Murli Manohar Joshi’s Tenure)
12 The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away (Judicial Policymaking)
13 Restoration: The Shogun Reigns Again (Second Stint of Arjun Singh)
14 From Equity to Preferential Equity
15 Reform Impulses in a Bipolar Government
16 The Blitzkrieg That Turned into a Stalemate (Kapil Sibal’s Tenure)
17 The Last Flicker (Pallam Raju’s Stint)
18 The Show Goes On

This book comprehensively chronicles the history of the education policymaking in India from 1947 to 2016 with a focus on the developments after 1964 when the Kothari Commission was constituted. The book is informed by the rare insights acquired by the author while making policy at the state, national, and international levels of governance. Another distinguishing feature of this book lies in the attention it pays to the process and politics of policymaking and the larger setting—or, to use jargon, the political and policy environment— in which policies were made at different points of time. The author brings out a crucial analysis of the Indian educational system against the backdrop of national and global political, economic, and educational developments. Two other distinguishing features of the book are the systematic treatment of the regulation of education and the role of judiciary in the making and implementation of education policies.