Will Modi pass the litmus test of governance? Does his performance match his promises?
In Marching with a Billion, Uday Mahurkar analyses the Modi government’s three years in power against the backdrop of years of policy paralysis and corruption before he came to power, leaving him with a stiff salvaging job. Focusing on key areas of governance like infrastructure, foreign affairs, power, the social sector, finance, digital technology and agriculture, the author showcases the work of the present government and the monumental changes the prime minister has brought about, including digital innovation and the uprooting of middlemen, which has resulted in an unprecedented level of transparency, and a resolute assault on poverty. He also points out some of the shortfalls of Modi’s government, subjecting it to critical evaluation. Will Modi become a great institution builder, a prerequisite to becoming a nation builder? What will be the long-term impact of demonetization on the economy? This book has the answers.
In July 2016, the world’s attention fell upon a café in a leafy Dhaka neighbourhood, as the barbarity of a distant ‘Caliphate’ was visited on this corner of South Asia. Twenty-nine died in the assault on the Holey Bakery, affixing an unbidden nightmare to the image of a supposedly tolerant Muslim nation.
Joseph Allchin dives into this burgeoning Muslim nation’s travails with extremism and politics in this penetrating work. Examining Bangladesh’s recent and not-so-recent past, Allchin explores a recent rise in Islamist politics, as well as violent terrorism. With a compelling blend of history, narrative journalism and political analysis, Allchin demonstrates how Bangladesh’s society and politics are starkly contemporary and relevant to our inter-connected world.
Delving into the local and global differences between political actors, he exposes the continued influence of the country’s independence struggle and global geopolitics on today’s tumultuous body politic. Scrutinizing the careers and dissensions of the country’s political rivals: current prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and her predecessor Khaleda Zia.
This deep-dive investigation examines the multitude of relationships between radical Islam and politics in India’s neighbourhood, laying bare the forces that seek to shape Bangladesh’s present and its destiny.
A classic on the festering issues in the North-east
In this insightful book, Hazarika systematically presents the developments in Assam and the neighbouring regions, from post-Independence onwards to the present day. He sheds light on possible causes and factors behind ethnic clashes, separatist outbreaks and political unrest, that this region has come to be known for. He candidly discusses the issue of migrating refugees from nearby countries to the north-eastern states, which has caused tension between the many ethnicities in these states. With a balanced and clear-eyed view, Hazarika urges the reader to take heed of the urgent situation in the region. Strangers of the Mist is considered a classic on the issues facing the North-east.
Unleashing Nepal tells the story of Nepal’s changing economy, from the time of unification to a remittance economy driven by the labour of Nepal’s diaspora. Acclaimed columnist and business leader Sujeev Shakya examines not only the squandered opportunities of the past but also what Nepali citizens need to do to escape from a feudal history of dependence and powerlessness. Here is a Nepal that could be an Asian Tiger. Here are resourceful village communities who manage their own electricity, aspirational Nepali youth, energetic migrant workers, and driven foreign-aid workers, who can make this dream a reality. Compelling and eminently readable, this updated and enriched version brings the country alive with its acute business understanding, humour and local colour.
From schools of excellence to brilliant improvement in the board examinations and state-of-the-art facilities, government schools in Delhi rock. The implementation of innovative concepts like ‘happiness curriculum’ and ‘entrepreneurship mindset programme’ in Delhi government schools has brought about revolutionary change in the public school education system in the national capital of India.
Manish Sisodia, Delhi’s deputy chief minister and education minister, is the visionary instrumental in ushering in such a transformation. Recounting his experiences and experiments as an education minister, this book offers blow-by-blow account of this amazing success story. Shiksha, a book of hope and possibilities, will inspire everyone who is poised to make a difference in society through education.
From schools of excellence to brilliant improvement in the board examinations and state-of-the-art facilities, government schools in Delhi rock. The implementation of innovative concepts like ‘happiness curriculum’ and ‘entrepreneurship mindset programme’ in Delhi government schools has brought about revolutionary change in the public school education system in the national capital of India.
Manish Sisodia, Delhi’s deputy chief minister and education minister, is the visionary instrumental in ushering in such a transformation. Recounting his experiences and experiments as an education minister, this book offers blow-by-blow account of this amazing success story. Shiksha, a book of hope and possibilities, will inspire everyone who is poised to make a difference in society through education.
India’s foremost environmentalist, Sunita Narain, gives a personal account of her battles as part of the country’s green movement. While outlining the enormous environmental challenges that India faces today, Narain talks about how corporate lobbies and political interests often scuttle their effective resolution. She recounts some widely reported controversies triggered by research undertaken by her along with her team at the Centre for Science and Environment, such as a report on pesticides in colas, and a study on air pollution in Delhi, and includes a ringside view of global climate change negotiations. Conflicts of Interest also includes an ‘environmental manifesto’, a blueprint for the direction India must take if it is to deal with the exigencies of climate change and environmental degradation.
There is a new ‘great game’ being played in the Buddhist Himalayas between India, China and Tibet, which makes for a crucial third player. Together, they are leveraging their influence with the Buddhist communities to create strategic dominance, with varying degrees of success.
China’s ‘Buddhist diplomacy’ has focused on Nepal and Bhutan, and the Indian Himalayan regions of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, which have sizeable Buddhist populations and are vulnerable to this influence. The crisis in Doklam brought into focus what will be one of the most difficult issues to unfold in the Himalayas in future: India’s insufficient ability to deal with China only through the prism of military power.
If Xi Jinping, who is known to be working towards a resolution of the Tibet question, succeeds, and the Dalai Lama does indeed return to Tibet, how will it impact Indian interests in the Buddhist Himalayas? If the Tibet issue remains unresolved, how will India and China deal with and leverage the sectarian strife that is likely to intensify in a post-Dalai Lama world?
The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas includes several unknown insights into the India-China, India-Tibet and China-Tibet relationships. It reads like a geopolitical thriller, taking the reader through the intricacies of reincarnation politics, competing spheres of sacred influence, and monastic and sectarian allegiances that will keep the Himalayas on edge for years to come.
They are first cousins twice over, but have had widely divergent political trajectories. One, an abrasive, fire-breathing demagogue, was seen as his uncle’s political heir whose behavioural traits he cultivated. The other, an introvert, is at his best when plotting strategies on the drawing board rather than the rough-and-tumble of street-corner politics that his party is known for in India’s financial capital.
Starting out as brothers-in-arms, they had a bitter falling out over inheriting the party mantle. The younger cousin branched out on his own, hijacked the populist, ethno-centric plank of his parent party, putting his cousin-turned-political foe on the defensive. A series of miscalculations later, the boot seems to be on the other foot. The elder cousin has managed to keep his flock together and cemented his position as his late father Bal Thackeray’s political heir, while the other, one of the most popular crowd-pullers in Maharashtra, is itching for an electoral comeback.
The Cousins Thackeray evaluates the political careers of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray. It also examines questions about identity politics, and the social, cultural and economic matrix that catalysed the formation of the Shiv Sena and the MNS from it. Above all, it is a look at what makes the Thackeray cousins so integral to the politics of India, Maharashtra and Mumbai.
What do Naxal terrorists have in common with Somali pirates? What man-made event triggers more refugees than all wars put together? How do terrorist movements end? And how can you help?
Everyman’s War is a collection of insightful essays that describe our participatory role in securing ourselves and our progeny. Defence, internal security and terrorism are important yet closely guarded issues. Even as outrage over safety of women and rising terror take centrestage, there continues to be limited access to information on the subjects of national defence and security, especially in language that a layman can understand. Raghu Raman, an expert on security and terrorism, presents issues of defence, strategy and national security in an engaging narrative, with historical and contemporary examples. He recalibrates the great ‘India rising’ story with its real and present dangers and the role of a regular citizen in this everyman’s war.
