‘Economics is the science of the possible made to look like the art of the impossible’ is a definition that would strike a chord with any finance minister of India who, every year, has to perform the great Indian hope trick. Otherwise known as the Budget-a careful balancing act between revenue and expenditure, tax rates and tax sops, growth and equity, reforms and the status quo. Within these constraints, however, there is much that a finance minister can actually accomplish, as P. Chidambaram, one of India’s most accomplished economists and commentators, shows in A View from the Outside, a collection of columns that assesses the promises and performance of the NDA government in the period 2002-04.The columns, originally published in the Indian Express and Financial Express, reflect the views of Chidambaram, finance minister between 1996 and 1998 and again 2004 onwards, on a range of issues that remain important regardless of the government in power. They also provide snapshots of the Indian economy in good times and bad. This collection covers subjects such as agriculture, reforms, budgets, forex reserves, economic growth and tax policies. It also offers perceptive political analyses and some telling comments on social issues. Far more than mere reactions to developments during that period, Chidambaram provides the reader with an extraordinarily clear understanding of the problems underlying the Indian economy-and its politics-and ways of solving them.
Catagory: Non Fiction
non fiction main category
Business Legends
The Golden age of Indian industry, as it now seems in retrospect, lasted from 1951 to “62. and industrialists of the lime were not afraid to think ahead and plan big. Among the entrepreneurs who led this Industrial resurgence, four were particularly outstanding, G.D. Birla, Walchand Hirachand, Kasturbhai Lalbhai and, J.R.D. Tata. Gita Piramal, author of the acclaimed Business Maharajas, sensitively recreates the Lives and Times of these four titans of industry. She draws upon hitherto untapped sources of information to Sketch her profiles, making htis perhaps the closest Look at these legends this fair. Thought provoking and incisive. Business Legends is a compelling Account of ambition and achievement.
Unusual People Do Things Differently
Unusual people are ordinary people who strive hard to do extraordinary things. They are sensitive to nuances, look to provide lateral solutions, dare to think out of the box, and often end up changing the rules of the game.T.G.C. Prasad presents the views and experiences of sixty-five individuals, from well-known names like Mike Lawrie, Azim Premji and Mother Teresa to a chef, a masseuse and a service boy, with whom he has had meaningful interactions and who have inspired him. He includes people from a broad professional spectrum; CEOs, doctors, the director general of police, realtors, an attorney, a chartered accountant, a consultant and a sports coach are among those who make his list. Singling out a dominant factor from each person’s story, he outlines the journeys these people undertook and the behaviours they exhibited, and shows how these link up to the results they achieved.Unusual People Do Things Differently is full of pithy everyday management lessons and offers valuable insights to everyone who aspires to grow, manage and lead.
Jugaad Innovation
‘Jugaad’ is a word often heard in general conversation in India. Whether to find ingenious solutions to problems or turn adversity into opportunity, Indians swear by it. In this seminal book, Navi Radjou, Jaideep Prabhu, and Simone Ahuja challenge the very way a traditional organization thinks and acts. Leading companies such as Facebook, Future Group, GE, Google, PepsiCo, Philips, Renault-Nissan, Siemens, Suzlon, Tata Group and YES BANK, among others, are already practising jugaad to generate original ideas and pioneer growth. In the midst of rising global competition and swelling R&D budgets, Jugaad Innovation presents ways to innovate, be flexible and do more with less. Peppered with examples of innovative entrepreneurs in emerging markets such as Africa, India, China and Brazil, Jugaad Innovation illuminates paths to engender breakthrough growth in a complex and resource-scarce world.
The TCS Story . . . And Beyond
In 2003, Tata Consultancy Services set itself a mission: ‘Top Ten by 2010’. In 2009, a year ahead of schedule, TCS made good on that promise: in fourteen years, the company had transformed itself from the $155 million operation that
S.Ramadorai inherited as CEO in 1996. Today it is one of the world’s largest IT software and services companies with more than 2,40,000 people working in forty-two countries, and annual revenues of over $10 billion.
The TCS story is one of modern India’s great success stories. In this fascinating book, S. Ramadorai, one of the country’s most respected business leaders, recounts the steps to that extraordinary success, and outlines a vision for the future where the quality initiatives he undertook can be applied to a larger national framework.
Sachin
Sachin Tendulkar made an immediate impact on the cricket world at the tender age of 16 in 1989. For the next 24 years he went from strength to strength and even in his teens was recognized as one of the world’s greatest batsmen. By the end of his career in 2013 he had cemented his place as one of cricket’s all-time greats.
This best-selling biography was first released in 2002, followed by the second and third editions in 2010 and 2012. The Collector’s Edition marks the master’s 50th birthday, a decade since his retirement.
Prolific author Gulu Ezekiel pens a compelling account of Sachin the man and the legend. He tracks him from his childhood and follows him on his meteoric rise to international stardom. With meticulous attention to detail, Ezekiel reconstructs the crucial matches and events that have marked Tendulkar’s glittering career.
‘An eminently readable life story of India’s most loved sportsperson’–JT Jacob, The Hindu
The Pregnancy Handbook For Indian Moms
The ultimate pregnancy book from one of India’s top gynaecologists
You’ve decided to have a baby—and for the next nine months your questions won’t stop. One of India’s top gynaecologists and obstetricians—and a country specialist in managing high-risk pregnancies—has written the ultimate pregnancy book that covers every issue, answers all your questions and tells you exactly what to expect.
• How to prepare your body for pregnancy
• A trimester-wise account of what happens to your body, and what symptoms to look out for
• All the tests for each trimester
• What to eat and how to exercise
• Falling ill during pregnancy
• Dealing with high-risk pregnancies—including first-time older mothers
• Labour and childbirth
• What you should be asking your doctor
Writing in a tone that is warm, humorous, clear and no-fuss, Dr Salvi will lay all your anxieties and every question to rest. So you can put your feet up and enjoy those nine months!
www.drcorp.org
Zen Garden
For the immensely popular column ‘Zen Garden’, which he published in Forbes India for over three years, bestselling business author Subroto Bagchi spoke to some very interesting people. Many, though not all, of the visitors to ‘Zen Garden’ were, like Subroto himself, high-performance entrepreneurs. But the one thing that was common to every guest was that they were pathmakers-rather than choosing the well-trodden path, they had charted new ones that others could tread on.This book features the very best conversations from ‘Zen Garden’, including those with the Dalai Lama, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Nandan Nilekani, Aamir Khan, Dr Devi Shetty, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Ekta Kapoor, social entrepreneur Harish Hande, Sanjeev Bikhchandani of Naukri.com, Deep Kalra of MakeMyTrip.com, Café Coffee Day’s V.G. Siddhartha, Vikram Bakshi (the man who brought McDonald’s to India) and India’s top winemaker, Rajeev Samant. In their own words, these game changers reveal what it was that made them think differently, what gave them the courage to step off the beaten track, and how they sustained their vision in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Zen Garden is a book that every young Indian should read.
Born Again on the Mountain
‘I realised that I had to do something in my life so that people would stop looking at me with pity’
National level volleyball player Arunima Sinha had a promising future ahead of her. Then one day she was shoved from a moving train by thieves as she attempted to fight them off. The horrific accident cost the twenty-four-year-old her left leg and sporting career, but it never deterred her. Two years later she had retrained as a mountaineer and become the first female amputee to reach Mount Everest. This is her unforgettable story of hope, courage and resilience.
The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories
21 riveting stories from the battlefield about how India’s highest military honour was won
The Brave takes you to the hearts and minds of India’s bravest soldiers, all of whom won the Param Vir Chakra, India’s greatest military honour. With access to the Army, families and comrades-in-arms of the soldiers, Rachna Bisht Rawat paints the most vivid portrait of these men and their extraordinary deeds.
How hard is it to fight at 20,000 feet in sub-zero temperatures? Why did Captain Vikram Batra say ‘Yeh dil maange more’? How do wives and girlfriends of soldiers who don’t return cope? What happens when the enemy is someone that you have trained? How did the Charlie Company push back the marauding Chinese? How did a villager from Uttar Pradesh become a specialist in destroying tanks?
Both gripping and inspiring, The Brave is the ultimate book on the Param Vir Chakra.