BOOKS OF THE WEEK - SATURDAY, 10TH JULY, 2021

Policymaker’s Journal: 

From New Delhi to Washington, D.C. 

By - Kaushik Basu 

About the book ----------------------------------------------------------------------

The art of political speech is to say things that sound meaningful but are impossible to pin down. You hear such speech from master politicians in not just India but the United States, the United Kingdom, China (if we knew what they were saying) and just about everywhere ...

Irreverent and hilarious, wise and introspective, Kaushik Basu’s journal records the course of his career over seven years, first in India as the chief economic adviser to the Indian Government and after that as the chief economist at the World Bank in Washington. Encounters with expected and unexpected world leaders and influencers—Manmohan Singh, Narendra Modi, Barack Obama, Sheikh Hasina, Deepika Padukone and many, many others—pepper and liven this charming page-turner of a journal.

The Indian years were a period of high inflation, growth challenges (as the global financial crisis arrived in India) and also a remarkable growth recovery story, with India moving past China’s GDP growth rate. There were corruption scandals causing widespread street protests, plenty of late-night decision-making which one knew would rock the stock market the next day and getting to know politicians who were outstanding as statesmen in the midst of all this, as well as many who were not.

The World Bank years ranged from interacting with officials in tiny, remote countries like Samoa, to gigantic nations with considerable heft, such as China. It entailed sitting down with leading researchers to compute and announce global numbers on extreme poverty and rankings on how easy it is to do business in different countries (fully aware that there would be calls from irate finance ministers as soon as these were published), and assisting quarreling nations to communicate amicably and coordinate on policy.

Basu narrates these momentous periods in his diplomatic career with a rare lightheartedness which not only informs by giving the readers a ringside view of Indian bureaucracy, but also makes this book the most compelling and enjoyable book on policymaking to come out of India in years.

About the Author -------------------------------------------------------------------

Kaushik Basu is professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University. He is currently serving as president of the International Economic Association.

A fellow of the Econometric Society, Basu has published widely in the areas of development economics, industrial organization, game theory and political economy. His books include The Republic of Beliefs: A New Approach to Law and Economics.

Early in his career, Basu was a professor at the Delhi School of Economics, where in 1992 he founded the Centre for Development Economics and served as its first executive director.

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BOOKS OF THE WEEK - SATURDAY, 29TH JUNE, 2019

WHO IS BHARAT MATA

On History, Culture and the Idea of India: Writings by and On Jawaharlal Nehru

By - Purushottam Agrawal 

ISBN : 9789386702845   
Price : Rs. 599.00

About the Book : 

An unprecedented and timely collection of writings by and on Jawaharlal Nehru—the man who shaped newly independent India; and the icon whose legacy is the subject of intense and often angry debate today. ‘who is this Bharat Mata, whose victory you wish?’ asked Jawaharlal Nehru leading light of the Indian freedom movement who would become the country first prime ministers a public gathering in 1936. And then he explained: the mountains and rivers, forests and fields were of course dear to everyone, but what counted ultimately were ‘the people of India…spread out all over this vast land. Bharat Mata, mother India, [is] essentially these millions of people and victory to her [is] victory to these people.’ This collection of writings and speeches by and on Nehru shows us the mind—the ideology, born of experience, observation and deep study—behind this democratic and inclusive idea of India. It is a book of particular relevance at a time when ‘nationalism’ and the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ are being used to construct a militant and purely emotional idea of India that exclude millions of residents and citizens. ‘who is Bharat Mata?’ contains selections from Nehru’s classic books— an autobiography, glimpses of world history and the discovery of India; his speeches, essays and letters from the Pre- and post-Independence years; And some of his most revealing interviews. The concluding section of the book comprises reminiscences and assessments of Nehru by his contemporaries them, Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, a run a Asaf Ali, Sheikh Abdullah, ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Ali Sardar Jafri, Martin Luther King Jr and Atal Bihar Vajpayee. In this carefully put-together anthology—which also carries an illuminating introduction emerges as a remarkable man of ideas and action who had an instinctive understanding of India’s civilizational spirit, as also a clear commitment to the scientific temper; and as a leader who, despite the compulsions of politics, remained a true democrat. His legacy continues to be extremely relevant—for, in the words of the editor, an understanding of ‘Nehru’s political and intellectual journey is a pre-condition for India’s survival as a democratic Polity and as a humane, compassionate society’.

About the Author :

Purushottam Agrawal Is an acclaimed author, columnist and academic. His published works, in Hindi, include the novel Nacohus; a collection of essays on culture, Vichar ka Ananta and a classic work on Kabir, Akath Kahani Prem Ki.

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BOOKS OF THE WEEK

OUR MOON HAS BLOOD CLOTS

The Exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits 

By - Rahul Pandita

About the Book :

Rahul Pandita was fourteen years old in 1990 when he was forced to leave his home in Srinagar along with his family, who were Kashmiri Pandits: the Hindu minority within a Muslim- majority Kashmir that was becoming increasingly agitated with the cries of Azadi from India. The heartbreaking story of Kashmir has so far been told through the prism of the brutality of the Indian state, and the pro-independence demands of separatists. But there is another part of the story that has remained unrecorded and buried. Our Moon Has Blood Clots is the unspoken chapter in the story of Kashmir, in which it was purged of the Kashmiri Pandit community in a violent ethnic cleansing backed by Islamist militants. Hundreds of people were tortured and killed, and about 3,50,000 Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave their homes and spend the rest of their lives in exile in their own country. Rahul Pandita has written a deeply personal, powerful and unforgettable story of history, home and loss.

About the Author : 

Rahul Pandita is the author of the bestselling Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement, and the co- author of the critically acclaimed The Absent State. He has extensively reported from war zones, including Iraq and Sri Lanka, and Kashmir and Bastar in India. In 2010, he received the International Red Cross Award for conflict reporting. Rahul was born in the Kashmir valley. At the age of fourteen, in 1990, his family was forced into exile, like thousands of others, by Islamic extremists. He lives in a Delhi suburb, and works as associate editor with Open magazine.

 ISBN No. : 9788184000870                                                            PRICE : Rs. 499.00