India's Turn : When?

I remember a chapter in the second year titled 'India's Turn' that presented a rather startling fact - that India's  economic growth had started in the 1980s, well before the reforms initiated in 1990s. The narrative was as follows: Indira Gandhi, chastened by her defeat in 1977, now returned with a more pro-business attitude. This 'attitudinal shift' alone was sufficient to accelerate growth, and was followed by piecemeal reforms in the mid-1980s, following by full-blown reforms in the early 1990s. In this story, the reforms in the 1990s, at best, helped in sustaining the momentum that had already been built.

I have started reading the book 'India's Tryst with Destiny' by Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya. In the book, they state that growth during 1980-1987 was only 4.6% p.a, closer to the 'Hindu rate of growth' of 4% than to the growth rates we are now accustomed to. The 'high' growth rate of the 1980s was seen during the period 1988-1991, well after piecemeal reforms had been initiated and the fiscal deficit had started ballooning.

My problem is that, to make our education more holistic, we should be presented with an academic debate, rather than an academic piece of work. A debate would have enabled us to understand the issue in more depth and then form a perspective on it. At the very least, counter-views should have been suggested for further reading (and not testing).