For five years, 2009-14, Arun Maira sat in India's cockpit, as a member of the national Planning Commission. From this perch, the panoply of India was visible. These were years of great changes in the country ending with the decimation in the national elections of the Congress party that had ruled India since its Independence and the emergence of a new political configuration in government. The Planning Commission, a hoary old institution, was also set aside, a change in which Maira played an important intellectual role, as explained in An Upstart in Government, his latest book.

Arun Maira has an unusual combination of extensive experience as a hands-on leader of organizations, a consultant to leaders and an author of books on leadership and transformational change. He brings all three disciplines into An Upstart in Government.

The principal challenge for the governance of India is to develop policies and implement change democratically. The country is incredibly diverse. It is passionately committed to democracy. The combination of the two results in contentions and conflicts that retard rapid improvement in its physical and social infrastructure. India must develop processes to convert contention into collaboration and confusion into coordination. Maira explains how this can be done.