Book picks similar to
The Absent State: Insurgency as an Excuse for Misgovernance by Neelesh Misra
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india
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A Princely Impostor? The Kumar Of Bhawal And The Secret History Of Indian Nationalism
Partha Chatterjee - 2002
Partha Chatterjee's retelling of the notoriously famous 'Bhawal Sannyasi Case' - one of India's best known and most historic legal battles - is narrative history of the finest kind. It is an epic story of war within a household which spills out into the social life of colonial Bengal; and beyond, into the administrative and legal fabric of India during the heyday of nationalism; and then beyond that again, into spirituality and philosophy, legend and folklore, theatre and cinema.
Dear Future Historians: Lyrics and Exegesis of Rou Reynolds for the Music of Enter Shikari
Enter Shikari - 2017
They have become one of the most influential British rock bands of their generation, sharing with their fans a belief that music can inspire change. Dear Future Historians features front-man Rou Reynolds own song interpretations and social commentary alongside all of their lyrics to date.
Non Stop India
Mark Tully - 2011
Veteran journalist and bestselling author of No FullStops in India, Mark Tully travels across India to turn thespotlight on the everyday concerns of the common man in areas suchas governance and business, spirituality and ecology. In revealinginterviews with captains of industry and subsistence farmers,politicians and Dalits, spiritual leaders and bandits, he capturesthe voices of the nation even as he celebrates its vibrant historyand incredible potential. About Author: Mark Tully Sir Mark Tully was born in Calcutta, India, in 1935. He was theChief of Bureau, BBC, New Delhi, for twenty-two years, was knightedin the New Years Honours list in 2002 and was awarded the PadmaBhushan in 2005. Today, his distinguished broadcasting careerincludes being the regular presenter of the contemplative BBC Radio4 programme Something Understood. His books include No Full stopsin India, The Heart of India, India in Slow Motion (written withhis partner and colleague Gillian Wright) and Indias UnendingJourney. He lives in New Delhi. Reviews Tully report s on the various Indias behind the headlines- Hindustan Times Through Tullys probing eyes, one discovers the complex workingsof the Indian democracy- Telegraph
India's China War
Neville Maxwell - 1970
Maxwell has written a masterpiece on an event of great historical importance. He has shattered many myths and proved that there are no black and whites but only greys in the world of politics. "
Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations
Nandan Nilekani - 2015
But our country cannot become a global powerhouse unless we resolve the contradictions and bridge the gaps that distort our society. The challenge before us is to enable every one of India’s 1.2 billion citizens to realize their aspirations. According to Nandan Nilekani and Viral Shah, the only way to do this is by using technologyto radically reimagine government itself.Rebooting India identifies a dozen initiatives where a series of citizen-friendly, high-tech public institutions can deliver low-cost solutions to India’s grand challenges. Based on their learnings from building Aadhaar, the world’s largest social identity programme, the initiatives that Nilekani and Shah propose could save the government a minimumof Rs 100,000 crore annually, about 1 per cent of India’s GDP—enough to fund 200 Mangalyaan missions a year.It doesn’t take 10,000 people or even a thousand, say Nilekani and Shah. All it would take is a small, focused team of highly skilled, enterprising individuals, and a supportive prime minister.
Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence
Jaswant Singh - 2009
It has seared the psyche of four plus generations of this subcontinent. Why did this partition take place at all? Who was/is responsible - Jinnah? The Congress party? Or the British? Jaswant Singh attempts to find an answer, his answer, for there can perhaps not be a definitive answer, yet the author searches. Jinnah's political journey began as 'an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity' (Gopal Krishna Gokhale), yet ended with his becoming the 'sole spokesman' of Muslims in India; the creator of Pakistan, The Quaid-e-Azam: How and why did this transformation take place?No Indian or Pakistani politician/Member of Parliament has ventured an analytical, political biography of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, about whom views necessarily get divided as being either Hagiographical or additional demonology. The book attempts an objective evaluation. Jaswant Singh's experience as a minister responsible for the conduct of India's foreign policy, managing the country's defence (concurrently), had been uniformly challenging (Lahore Peace process; betrayed at Kargil; Kandahar; the Agra Peace Summit; the attack on Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and the Indian Parliament; coercive diplomacy of 2002; the peace overtures reinitiated in April 2003).He asks where and when did this questionable thesis of 'Muslims as a separate nation' first originate and lead the Indian sub-continent to? And where did it drag Pakistan to? Why then a Bangladesh? Also what now of Pakistan? Where is it headed? This book is special; it stands apart, for it is authored by a practitioner of policy, an innovator of policies in search of definitive answers. Those burning 'whys' of the last sixty-two years, which bedevil us still. Jaswant Singh believes that for the return of lasting peace in South Asia there is no alternative but to first understand what made it 'abandon' us in the first place. Until we do that, a minimum, a must, we will never be able to persuade peace to return.
Kitnay Aadmi Thay : Completely Useless Bollywood Trivia
Diptakirti Chaudhuri - 2012
Packed with 50 lists and 500+ entries, it is a multiplex of pointless Bollywood gyaan. Separated in eight logicless sections and with out a contents page (or index), it is a book for dipping into and zipping through. Remember your favourite Bollywood film fast, actionpacked, mad, packed with colourful characters and a little bit of everything? Well, they made this book out of it. About the AuthorDiptakirti Chaudhuri has been a salesman for more than twelve years now having sold soaps, soft drinks, oils and newspapers all over India. His obsessive love for movies is a hereditary disease, which was nurtured during his engineering and MBA college days. When not watching or reading about mov ies, he writes about them on his blog, Calcutta Chro mosome (http://diptakirti.blogspot.com) or discusses them on Twitter (@diptakirti).He has published a book for children on the 2011 cricket World Cup. This is his second book.He lives in Gurgaon with his wife, a son and a daughter. None of them shares his obsessive love for the movies. Yet.
The Political Zoo
Michael Savage - 2006
In Savage's funniest, most biting book yet, the nation's fiercest independent thinker invites you to take a riotous tour through The Political Zoo--an outrageous look at today's most prominent politicos and pundits as the reptiles, rats, and birds of prey they most resemble.Animal by animal and cage by cage, Savage brandishes his irreverent wit to keep these beasts in check. Serving as resident biologist and zookeeper, Dr. Savage asks that you watch your step when approaching the widemouth copperhead Ted Turner (also known as Mouthus desouthus), do not feed the ego of stuffed turkey Alec Baldwin (Notalentus anti-americanus), and please keep your children with you at all times around wolf boy Bill Clinton (Fondlem undgropeum)."The world of politics is filled with uncivilized, snarling, rapacious beasts that, like untrained mutts, raise their legs and urinate on everything we hold dear," says Savage. And this sensational book is your guide for navigating the jungle of today's animal-political kingdom.
The Aryan Invasion Theory: The Final Nail in its Coffin
Stephen Knapp - 2012
This book puts together the information that shows:• How and why Max Muller started the theory,• The damage it has done,• Objections to it and lack of evidence for it,• The misleading dates for it,• The Sarasvati River described in the Rig Veda and geographical proof of its existence,• The date of its demise,• The false argument of no horse in Harappa,• The Urban or rural argument,• Deciphering the Indus seals,• How genetics show an east to west movement rather than a migration into India, and more.All of this proves there never was any Aryan Invasion, and that the advanced Vedic Aryan civilization was indigenous to India. (Taken from a chapter in “Advancements of Ancient India’s Vedic Culture”)
Understanding Caste: From Buddha To Ambedkar And Beyond
Gail Omvedt - 2010
Critiquing the sensibility which equates Indian tradition with Hinduism, and Hinduism with Brahmanism which considers the Vedas as the foundational texts of Indian culture and discovers within the Aryan heritage the essence of Indian civilisation it shows how even secular minds remain imprisoned within the Brahmanical vision. It looks at the alternative traditions nurtured within Dalit movements, which have questioned this way of looking at Indian society and history. Written in a lucid and readable style, the author elucidates how Dalit politics and the Dalit vision require going beyond even the term Dalit and how it has contributed to being symbolic of the most oppressed and exploited sections within the graded hierarchies of caste. Alongside the ascendance of Hinduism, the book traces the invasive trends of resistance and revolt in the tenets of Buddhism and radical bhakti, in the anti-patriarchal stands of early feminists, in the pervasive radicalism of the Dalit activists from Phule and Periyar, Ramabai and Tarabai, to Kabir, Tukaram and Ambedkar, even for that matter Buddha himself. This book brings to the reader the failures and triumphs of the many efforts that have aimed to dissolve the oppressive facets of Hinduism and its caste ideology, and continue to organise in newer ways for 'another' possible world where equality and human freedom reign supreme. It also makes visible the logic of Dalit politics and the rise of the Bahujan Samaj Party, as a major alternative to the rise of Hindutva. This important and essential reading will be an invaluable primer on the subject to students of Dalit and caste studies and politics.
Tipu Sultan - The Tyrant of Mysore
Sandeep Balakrishna - 2013
History writing, especially about the medieval Muslim rule has been fraught with political correctness, controversy, and in several cases, downright falsification. This has occurred mostly with official state patronage. As a result, any attempts to correct this course has been virulently opposed with the result that most urban-educated Indians have now internalized a politically correct version of Indian history. The history of Tipu Sultan too, stands as a glaring instance of this distorted historical narrative. Indeed, we have seen, read, and heard about a lot of people claiming to be freedom fighters and receiving pensions from the Government. Several of these worthies would not have been born before Independence yet they succeed in such blatant manipulations. There are instances of portraying certain rulers and chieftains as true heroes who fought against the British Empire. One such ruler happens to be Tipu Sultan. Tipu Sultan is widely known as the Tiger of Mysore. Indeed, the image of Tipu battling a tiger barehanded crosses the mind whenever his name is mentioned. But is this the truth? Was Tipu Sultan truly the warrior as he has been portrayed? What exactly is his record of fighting the British? Was he really a freedom fighter as is widely claimed? Sandeep Balakrishna in this well-researched book, explores both the myths and the truth surrounding Tipu Sultan. A must-read for those who wish to learn the true story of Tipu Sultan.
A Fistful of Rice: My Unexpected Quest to End Poverty Through Profitability
Vikram Akula - 2010
While microfinance - small loans to impoverished individuals - initially attracted attention in the press, it didn't achieve the scale, scope, and profitability necessary to substantially combat poverty. All that changed with Vikram Akula's creation of SKS Microfinance.In this highly personal narrative, A Fistful of Rice, Akula reveals how he pieced together the best of both philanthropy and (to his surprise) capitalism to help millions of India's poor transition from paupers to customers to business owners.As thoughtful as Barack Obama's personal journey in Dreams from My Father, as harrowing as Paul Farmer's battle against infectious disease in Mountains Beyond Mountains, and as gripping as Greg Mortensen's fight for education in Three Cups of Tea, Akula's story shows how traditional business principles can be brought to bear on global problems in new ways.A Fistful of Rice offers not only inspiration but also lessons for anyone seeking to transform tenacity, creativity, and innovation into potent tools for fighting even the most seemingly intractable human burdens.
The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity
Amartya Sen - 2005
The Argumentative Indian is "a bracing sweep through aspects of Indian history and culture, and a tempered analysis of the highly charged disputes surrounding these subjects--the nature of Hindu traditions, Indian identity, the country's huge social and economic disparities, and its current place in the world" (Sunil Khilnani, Financial Times, U.K.).
Speedpost: Letters to My Children about Living, Loving, Caring and Coping with the World
Shobhaa Dé - 1999
Series of letters that address a wide range of concerns. Compassionate, loving, witty, and as always, provocative. By a leading best-selling novelist. South Asia Books carries several of De's novels.