This makes it necessary to keep two things in mind. One is to break up the flow of the documentation process into different periods, not only to bring out the differences between one milieu and another very sharply, but also to highlight the evolution of the institution in terms of its own philosophy and outlook. This approach also brings out the contribution of the institution to the nation during different periods of time, as also the challenges it faced during each of these periods. The other approach is to distance the documentation process sufficiently from the period covered so that the authors can adopt a proper historical perspective.

It is precisely in this spirit that the history of India's apex bank, the Reserve Bank of India, has been documented. Three volumes covering the periods from 1935 to 1981 have been released as of now, with Volume 1 spanning the period between 1935-1951, Volume 2 the period between 1951-1967 and Volume 3, which was released recently by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, covering the period between 1967-1981. The first volume focuses on the early years of the RBI against the backdrop of a newly emerging economy in the years immediately following independence. This is a period characterized by incredibly low levels of government borrowings, an issue which became a major bone of contention subsequently, often playing havoc with monetary policy. The second volume brings out the evolution of the bank into the role of economic and public policy formulator in a regime of planned economic development.

The third volume, at which we are taking a look here, deals with a watershed period that saw the epoch making nationalization of banks. Quoting from the book itself, "The nationalization of 14 banks in 1969 was the defining economic event of not just the 1960s, but the next three decades. Its reverberations have still not died down. It remains, without doubt, the single most important economic decision taken by any government since 1947. Not even the reforms of 1991 are comparable in their consequences.

The Analyst Magazine, Reserve Bank of India, RBI, Documentation Process, Monetary Policy, Economic Cevelopment, Emerging Economies, Public Borrowing Programs, Banking Industry, Social Banking, Trade Unions, Cash Reserve Ratio, CRR.