Our Hindu Rashtra: What It Is. How We Got Here


Aakar Patel - 2020
    What led to this swing? Is it possible to trace the path to this point? Is there a way back to the just, secular, inclusive vision of our Constitution-makers?This country has long been an outlier in its South Asian neighbourhood, with its inclusive Constitution and functioning democracy. The growth of Hindutva, in some sense, brings India in line with the other polities here. In Our Hindu Rashtra, writer and activist Aakar Patel peels back layer after layer of cause and effect through independent India’s history to understand how Hindutva came to gain such a hold on the country. He examines what it means for India that its laws and judiciary have been permeated by prejudice and bigotry, what the breach of fundamental rights portends in these circumstances, and what the all-round institutional collapse signifies for the future of Indians.Most importantly, Patel asks and answers that most important of questions: what possibilities exist for a return? Thought-provoking and pulling no punches, this book is an essential read for anyone who wishes to understand the nature of politics in India and, indeed, South Asia.

When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics


Milan Vaishnav - 2017
    For instance, how can free and fair democratic processes exist alongside rampant criminality? Why do political parties recruit candidates with reputations for wrongdoing? Why are one-third of state and national legislators elected—and often re-elected—in spite of criminal charges pending against them? In this eye-opening study, political scientist Milan Vaishnav mines a rich array of sources, including fieldwork on political campaigns and interviews with candidates, party workers, and voters, large surveys, and an original database on politicians’ backgrounds to offer the first comprehensive study of an issue that has implications for the study of democracy both within and beyond India’s borders.

Pakistan: Courting the Abyss


Tilak Devasher - 2016
    He also dwells at length on the Pakistan movement, where the seeds of many current problems were sown the opportunistic use of religion being the most lethal of these. With data-driven precision, Devasher takes apart the flawed prescriptions and responses of successive governments, especially during military rule, to the many critical challenges the country has encountered over the years. These, as much as the particular trajectory of its creation and growth, he contends, have brought Pakistan to an abyss where it risks multi-organ failure unless things change dramatically in the near future.

2019: How Modi Won India


Rajdeep Sardesai - 2019
    To some, the numbers of Modi's victory came as something of a surprise; for others, the BJP's triumph was a vindication of their belief in the government and its policies. Irrespective of one's political standpoint, one thing was beyond dispute: this was a landmark verdict, one that deserved to be reported and analysed with intelligence - and without bias. Rajdeep Sardesai's new book, 2019: How Modi Won India, does just that. What was it that gave Modi an edge over the opposition for the second time in five years? How was the BJP able to trounce its rivals in states that were once Congress bastions? What was the core issue in the election: a development agenda or national pride? As he relives the excitement of the many twists and turns that took place over the last five years, culminating in the 2019 election results, Rajdeep helps the reader make sense of the contours and characteristics of a rapidly changing India, its politics and its newsmakers. If the 2014 elections changed India, 2019 may well have defined what 'new India' is likely to be all about. 2019: How Modi Won India takes a look at that fascinating story, which is still developing.

Army and Nation


Steven I. Wilkinson - 2014
    They also saw the structure of the army, with its recruitment on the basis of caste and religion, as incompatible with their hopes for a new secular nation.India has successfully preserved its democracy, however, unlike many other colonial states that inherited imperial "divide and rule" armies, and unlike its neighbor Pakistan, which inherited part of the same Indian army in 1947. As Steven I. Wilkinson shows, the puzzle of how this happened is even more surprising when we realize that the Indian Army has kept, and even expanded, many of its traditional "martial class" units, despite promising at independence to gradually phase them out.Army and Nation draws on uniquely comprehensive data to explore how and why India has succeeded in keeping the military out of politics, when so many other countries have failed. It uncovers the command and control strategies, the careful ethnic balancing, and the political, foreign policy, and strategic decisions that have made the army safe for Indian democracy. Wilkinson goes further to ask whether, in a rapidly changing society, these structures will survive the current national conflicts over caste and regional representation in New Delhi, as well as India's external and strategic challenges.

Fortune's Soldier


Alex Rutherford - 2018
    On board, he meets the spirited and mercurial Robert Clive, determined – at whatever cost – to make a fortune in a land of opportunity.Over the years that follow, their friendship sees many twists and turns as Clive’s restless hunger for wealth and power takes him from being a clerk to a commander in the Company’s forces, masterminding plans to snuff out rival French interests in Hindustan and eventually leading the company forces to victory at Plassey, the prelude to nearly two centuries of foreign rule in Hindustan.Brilliantly crafted, and bringing to life the momentous events that shook India in the mid-eighteenth century, Fortune’s Soldier is an epic tale of a fascinating era by a master storyteller.

The Willy Lynch Letter: How To Make African-American Slaves For A 1000 Years


Willie Lynch - 2014
    Lynch was a British slave owner in the West Indies. He was invited to the colony of Virginia in 1712 to teach his methods to slave owners. He argues that he can ensure that slaves remain slaves for a 1000 years by way of dividing rule, using, age, gender, skin shade and geography, as strategy that appears to have worked with great success.

Kargil: Untold Stories from the War


Rachna Bisht Rawat - 2019
    Interviewing war survivors and martyrs' families, Rachna Bisht Rawat tells stories of extraordinary human courage, of not just men in uniform but also those who loved them the most. With its gritty stories of incomparable bravery, Kargil is a tribute to the 527 young braves who gave up their lives for us-and the many who were ready to do it too.

How We Lead: Canada in a Century of Change


Joe Clark - 2013
    In the world that is taking shape, the unique combination of Canada's success at home as a diverse society and its reputation internationally as a sympathetic and respected partner consititute national assets that are at least as valuable as its natural resource wealth. As the world becomes more competitive and complex, and the chances of deadly conflict grow, the example and the initiative of Canada can become more important than they have ever been. That depends on its people: assets have no value if Canadians don't recognize or use them, or worse, if they waste them. A more effective Canada is not only a benefit to itself, but to its friends and neighbours. And in this compelling examination of what it as a nation has been, what it has become and what it can yet be to the world, Joe Clark takes the reader beyond formal foreign policy and looks at the contributions and leadership offered by Canada's most successful individuals and organizations who are already putting these uniquely Canadian assets to work internationally.

Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up


Rana Ayyub - 2016
    Posing as Maithili Tyagi, a filmmaker from the American Film Institute Conservatory, Rana met bureaucrats and top cops in Gujarat who held pivotal positions in the state between 2001 and 2010. The transcripts of the sting operation reveal the complicity of the state and its officials in crimes against humanity. With sensational disclosures about cases that run parallel to Narendra Modi and Amit Shah’s ascent to power and their journey from Gujarat to New Delhi, the book tells you the hushed truth of the state in the words of those who developed amnesia while speaking before commissions of enquiry, but held nothing back in the secretly taped videos which form the basis of this remarkable read.

India's Bismarck-Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel


Balraj Krishna
    This book examines the extraordinary contribution of Sardar Patel,from his unflinching support to Gandhi's satyagrahas and the Indian freedom struggle,to his farsighted and courageous approach in a strong,integrated India

Political Mysteries


K.R. Malkani - 2016
    in Economics & Politics, Bombay University (D.G. National College. Hyderabad, Sindh; Fergusson College, Pune and School of Economics & Sociology, Bombay).Joined RSS in 1941. Lecturer, D.G. National College: 1945-47; sub-editor. Hindustan Times: 1948: Editor, The Motherland daily: 1971-75; MISA detenu: June 1975-March 1977.Nieman Fellow, Harvard University: 1961-62; General Secretary, Editors Guild of India: 1978-79; Member, Press delegation of China: 1978; Vice-Chairman, Deendayal Research Institute, Delhi: 1983-91; Vice-President, BJP: 1991-94; Member, Rajya Sabha: 1994-2000; Lt-Governor of Pondicherry: 2002-03.Death: Pondicherry. October 27,2003.Publications: The Midnight Knock (1977), The RSS Story (1980), The Sindh Story (1984), Ayodhya and Hindu-Muslim Relations (1993), India First (2002).

RED-HANDED: 20 Criminal Cases That Shook India


Souvik Bhadra - 2014
    As the nation watched on in horror, the police uncovered the body parts of fifteen more children in the same location. These grisly killings were found to have been the handiwork of Surinder Koli, a serial killer who lived in a house nearby.In Red-Handed: 20 Criminal Cases That Shook India, lawyers Souvik Bhadra and Pingal Khan narrate the stories behind some of the most sensational criminal cases to have caught the attention of the country in the last few decades. From the murder of Nitish Katara in a case of ‘honour killing’ to the shooting of Jessica Lal; from the Harshad Mehta scam to the Best Bakery arson of 2002; and, from the horrifying ‘tandoor’ case, in which Naina Sahni was killed and then cremated, to the trial and conviction of Sanjay Dutt under TADA, Red-Handed examines the motives behind these crimes even as it aims to lay bare the inner workings of the Indian judicial system. Additionally, the authors illuminate the crucial role that the media has come to play in judicial matters—it shapes public opinion, and often even investigates cases and delivers justice, much before the judges do.

The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation


Granville Austin - 1999
    It discusses how and why the members of the Assembly wrote their constitution as they did. This new edition of Austin's classic work has a preface that brings it up to date with contemporary developments in constitutional law.

History of the World: From the Late Nineteenth to the Early Twenty-First Century


Arjun Dev - 2009
    Published in 2009, this book has been written by two renowned Indian historians. They trace back the history of the world, and focus on incidents that have impacted millions of lives.History Of The World throws light on World War I and II. It showcases why and how these wars took place. Starting off with WW I, this historic account goes all the way upto the terrorist attacks on 11th September 2001. Without being American or European centric, the authors have explained many major watershed events. The Civil Rights Movement in America to put an end to discrimination against African Americans has been meticulously covered. It shows how the non-white population struggled to end racial segregation and fight for their right to vote.The book also speaks of the numerous nationalist movements that spread across Asia and Africa during the 1950s and 1960s. Anti-imperialist ideas played a major role in bringing about an end to colonization, and freeing many countries. Another interesting topic covered in History Of The World is the birth of the United Nations in 1945. Furthermore, the book also discusses the Cold War between the Soviet Union and United States of America. Arjun Dev and Indira Arjun Dev have developed an interlink between all the events and forces, which helps in understanding the progress of world history.This book is designed for undergraduate students of history and international relations. However, anyone keen on knowing more about events that have altered the world, should definitely be reading History Of The World.