Conservatively, Rs. 15 lakh crore (10 per cent of Rs. 150 lakh crore, our GDP in 2016-17). As for Indian money in tax havens around the world? Around Rs. 65 lakh crores. Truly astounding figures. Black money or kala dhan is a topic that has elicited much debate in recent times. The debate has been mostly marked by mud-slinging and name-calling and the discussions that have ensued often have no basis in fact. While most people have a hazy notion of black money, only a few understand it in its entirety. The issue of tax havens is perhaps even more misunderstood. Most people fail to see the connection between tax havens and black money. Black Money and Tax Havens is the first work that discusses both of these issues in depth and offers a 360-degree view to the reader. In this work, Prof. R. Vaidyanathan provides the reader with a brief overview of black money—its generation, its estimates and how and why it is spirited away to tax havens. He also lays bare the danger that is posed to world financial well-being on account of the lack of political will to tackle them. A unique and timely work that packs in much information in an accessible manner.

    Based on the real-life experiences of street children in Chennai, it tells the story of Velu, a runaway village child. He ends up as a ragpicker in a big city and must face the harsh realities of life on the streets. The story is accompanied by facts and arguments that connect complex issues—ranging from child labor and child rights, to lifestyles, waste and recycling.“A true gem in the Indian publishing landscape . . .”—The White Ravens Catalogue of the World’s Best Children’s Books

    The world, as we know today, is not the same anymore. Blatant threats of war by ‘world leaders’ is the new normal. Gone are the days when mobilizing armies at borders, or aiming missiles at adversaries, was a rare phenomenon.With every nation or their allies possessing nuclear weapons, victory through conventional means is no longer possible, paving way for covert warfare to emerge as the preferred weapon. New Delhi is an easy target and Doshi, the unassailable supremo of the regime, is on the ‘hit list’. The threat assessment being at an all time high, Ajay Kaamte, the director of SPG (Special Protection Group), is tasked with protecting the PM.Intelligence claims that the PM is susceptible to cyanide attacks and situation is grim, to say the least. Will Doshiji survive to serve another term or will he very soon be having his last chai?

    But what went unreported in the media was the nuclear fallout that had lasting impact on the inhabitants of Pokhran, especially Chaitanya.It quickly becomes clear that the conspiracy surrounding this radioactive fallout runs pretty deep in the establishment. Those who have had a hand in covering it up are willing to go to great lengths to ensure that the secrets stay buried.Chaitanya sets on a journey to expose the truth. With Zara by his side, he is sure to bring justice to his people. But when fate snatches Zara away from him, he is consumed by revenge. Undeterred by threats, he embarks on a mission that takes him from the deserts of Pokhran to those of Syria, and into the halls of MIT.A heady page turner, at its very core, Pokhran is an exceptional journey of revenge, courage, love and the unbeatable human spirit.

    Will the unlikely 'detectives' be able to catch the criminal? Or will they unravel something even more sinister? The protagonists grab this exciting opportunity to rise above their mundane existence. They defy the ordinary, Stretch their boundaries, and in the process discover something precious.

    These speeches−by kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers, freedom fighters and political leaders, dictators and writers−have made a mark in world history. These speeches not only give us an insight into the past, but also inspire us with their demands for equality, cries of freedom, a call to arms, rooting for the cause of the individual or the nation.Learn from the inspirational words of King Charles, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Adolf Hitler, Mohandas K. Gandhi, George Washington, Rabindranath Tagore, Anne Besant, Theodore Roosevelt and Subhas Chandra Bose, among many others.

    In this book, Rakesh Bakshi attempts to demystify the director's invisible and omnipotent presence in films. He documents the lives and experiences of some of the finest Hindi film-makers - Ashutosh Gowariker, Mahesh Bhatt, Prakash Jha, Shyam Benegal, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Vishal Bhardwaj, Zoya Akhtar, Santosh Sivan, Subhash Ghai, Farah Khan, Imtiaz Ali, Govind Nihalani. In fascinating interviews, these directors reveal the many and unexpected turns their lives have taken, how and why they came to direct their first films and what influenced the choices they made. About the AuthorFilm scriptwriter, director, actor, author, photographer, swimmer, walker and cyclist, Rakesh Anand Bakshi is the son of the legendary lyricist Anand Bakshi. He is the founder of Bicycle Angels, a non-profit social initiative that helps donate bicycles to the underprivileged as a means of livelihood. He loves reading biographies, self-help books and novels and watching different kinds of cinema and documentaries.

    This derives directly from the view that the real world is fundamentally unstable and unpredictable (i.e., it’s not a matter of having a better forecasting model). The best response to such a world, therefore, is to have a good grasp of what is currently happening and to respond quickly and flexibly to the evolving situation.My worldview derives from many sources ranging from religious philosophy and long-range history, to Chaos Theory and Network Theory–with many of them integrated under a broad CAS framework. Some of the foreign writers and thinkers who have influenced me include Friedrich Hayek, Joseph Schumpeter, Daniel Kahneman, Lee Kuan Yew, Nassim Taleb, Karl Popper, Charles Darwin, Sun Tzu, Vidiadhar Naipaul and Jane Jacobs, to name a few. The Indian influences are even more varied and range from ancient texts such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Kautilya’s Arthashastra, to more modern thinkers such as Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo.

    This book provides an account of the life of LTTE chief Prabhakaran, who led an armed struggle against the Sri Lankan state to create Eelam, a separate nation for the Sri Lankan Tamils.The book begins from Prabhakaran’s childhood days in the aftermath of India’s and Sri Lanka’s independence from Britain. The Sri Lankan Tamils were following Gandhi’s non-violent methods to fight for their rights as citizens of Sri Lanka. Prabhakaran, an ardent fan of Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose, felt that non-violence would not work against a Sinhala dominated government and began experimenting with violent acts against the Government to send a message. His initial success became the nucleus for the formation of LTTE, which became the quintessential guerrilla organization fighting the State.The book details various incidents of Prabhakaran’s life including terror attacks, assassination of politicians, heads of States and militant leaders; India’s role in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict; Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka; the Eelam wars, negotiations, betrayals and elections; through to his killing in May 2009.

    Krishnamurti, or just U.G., was a speaker and philosopher, often known as an "anti-guru" or as "the man who refused to be a guru." This book is a compilation of discussions between U.G. Krishnamurthi and various questioners in India, Switzerland, Australia, the Netherlands, and the U.K. According to U.G., "The religious states of bliss and ecstasy can never be experienced, can never be grasped, contained, much less given expression to you, by man. That beaten track will lead you nowhere. There is no oasis situated yonder; you are stuck in a mirage."

    While the kingdoms fight each other, Alexander’s forces gather for the assault, their leader lured by tales of supernatural weapons and the elixir of immortality. Only one man can save the subcontinent from domination by the Greeks: the young Chandragupta Maurya, trained under the aegis of the ‘dark brahmin’, Chanakya.When an ancient seal is found, sharing the secrets of the brahmastra, the redoubtable weapon of the Mahabharat, it is up to Rudra, young commander of the Mauryan Nava Yuva Sena and lifelong friend and confidante of Chandragupta, to decode it. Along with his fellow commandos, and with the able guidance of his guru, Rudra embarks on a quest that takes him from the snowy peaks of the Himalayas to the seas of Rameshwaram, hunting the clues that will lead him to the brahmastra. On the way, he meets the Chiranjivis, ancient beings tasked with divine duties, and learns the secrets behind his own birth and his mysterious powers.But Rudra must be careful, for not all enemies were dispersed with the death of the mighty Alexander. Treachery lurks in the home, and when Rudra is framed for the attempted murder of his sovereign, he must pull every trick at his disposal to reveal the enemy, and save his kingdom from plunging, once more, into bloodshed and chaos.A historical, mythological adventure story, The Indus Challenge is sure to appeal to readers interested in the storied past of India and the legends woven into its soil.

    But Dharavi is much more than cold a statistic. What makes it special are the extraordinary people who live there, many of whom have defied fate and an unhelpful State to prosper through a mix of backbreaking work, some luck and a great deal of ingenuity. It is these men and women whom journalist Kalpana Sharma brings to life through a series of spellbinding stories. While recounting their tales, she also traces the history of Dharavi from the days when it was one of the six great koliwadas or fishing villages to the present times when it, along with other slums, is home to almost half of Mumbai.

    From picking the best prison ward, befriending the people who can get him mobile phone access and upgraded food, and training for his upcoming marathon in the tiny prison yard, Chetan soon learns to work the prison system. In the process he makes unlikely friends, and discovers what India’s underbelly really looks like. A true story, The Bad Boys of Bokaro Jail, is thought provoking, amusing and touching. It will show you the Indian prison as you have never seen it before.

    When the cremation rites are complete, Ronojoy is handed a letter from his mother that is not so much a farewell as a confession. As before, it is left to him to decide whether to share the disturbing contents with his brother, whom he has always sought to protect.Thus, begins another tumultuous cycle in the lives of the two brothers who already carry deep scars from their childhood; their fragile minds ever at risk of succumbing to the dark.Written in spare, stark prose, Dark Circles deftly weaves past and present, offering tantalizing glimpses of bottled truths buried deep in the recesses of repressed memory; brilliantly exposing the dark undercurrents that swirl under the seemingly placid lives of families.

    If ‘they’ were to say I was friends with him, how would I deny it? I had very few friends in school, but who would believe that?You can alter your future, but how do you change your past?--19 September 2008, the Batla House encounter. That one day changed the life of a young man from Inderwan Bairam in Bihar’s Gopalganj district. An over-protected childhood in the village, an ambitious migration to Delhi as a young boy for better education, an undisciplined and shiftless adolescence – all of this history is flattened out into one tiny slice of Neyaz Farooquee’s identity: Muslim. From Jamia Nagar. Who lived practically next door to the Terrorists who had been killed in the encounter. A Potential Terrorist himself? How, after all, does a man prove that he is (and not merely pretending to be) a Normal Human Being?Sardonic and wise, Farooquee scrapes out the unvarnished truth about identity and stereotypes, about life in a ghetto, and the small and big disappointments that make up an ordinary life.A necessary book for our troubled times.