Sunday, March 13, 2016

Fab50 - 50 books on contemporary India

“Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.” 

― Gustave Flaubert

I came up with a list of ten great books on contemporary India some months back.  I prepared an even more comprehensive list of 50 books on Contemporary India. I hope that civil service aspirants find the list useful and also that every book lover finds the list interesting.Happy reading and happy living :)

Note : Most of the one-line descriptions are taken from the blurbs for the respective books onAMAZON'S website.

1.An uncertain glory – Amartya Sen & Jean Dreze

The book presents a powerful analysis not only of India's deprivations and inequalities, but also of the restraints on addressing them - and of the possibility of change through democratic practice.

2.In Spite of the Gods - The Strange rise of Modern India - Edward Luce

Cutting through the miasma that still clouds thinking about India, this book takes the measure of a society that is struggling to come to grips with modernity. Drawing on historical research, existing literature and his own unparalleled access as the New Delhi-based, South Asia correspondent of the FT , the author comes up with a winner.

3.The Idea of India - Sunil Khilnani 

This long essay makes an eloquent and persuasive argument for Nehru's idea of nationhood in India. At a time when the relevance of Nehru's vision is under scrutiny, this book assumes a special significance.

4. Burden of Democracy - Pratap Bhanu Mehta

The book is an elongated essay explaining the probable chaos of Indian democracy. In the book, the author discusses about the plight of Indian democracy even after sixty years of its birth. 

5. Battles half won - Ashutosh Varshney 

This lively collection of essays by Ashutosh Varshney analyses the deepening of Indian democracy since 1947 and the challenges this has created. It examines concerns ranging from federalism and Hindu nationalism to caste conflict and civil society, the north-south economic divide and politics of economic reforms.

6. India's tryst with destiny - Arvind Panagariya and Jagdish Bhagwati 

In this definitive book on economic reforms in India since Independence, Bhagwati and Panagariya decisively demolish myths which critics use as weapons to wound and maim the reforms. Their basic premise: Only growth can provide sufficient revenues to lift the masses out of poverty.

7. The turn of the tortoise - T N Ninan 

This wide-ranging book is an attempt to understand, through data and analyses, where India stands today, why it has emerged the way it has, and what the next ten years might bring. For anyone interested in India and its future, this is essential and enlightening reading.

8. Rebooting India - Nandan Nilekani and Viral Shah

Rebooting India identifies a dozen initiatives where a series of citizen-friendly, high-tech innovations can deliver low-cost solutions to India’s grand challenges.

9. A better India , A better world - N R Narayana Murthy

At a time when India is battling huge problems of its own and is struggling to break free from the shackles of poor governance, A Better India comes as a book telling us the simple things that need to be done right. Written by N. R. Narayana Murthy, this book offers some simple solutions to seemingly complex problems.

10. Imagining India - Nandan Nilekani

The author charts ideas that are pivotal to India s future growth, and stresses that new ideas for social security, environment, public health, etc. are required to secure India s future.

11. India -from midnight to the millennium - Shashi Tharoor

"Few books in recent years, if any, offer such a comprehensive overview of what ails India, its politicians and its people; and few writers, apart from Nirad Chaudhury and V. S. Naipaul, benefit so obviously from the perspective Tharoor offers, that of an Indian with a profound empathy for his native culture, combined with the insight made possible by following India's progress from afar." 

--New York Times

12. India unbound - Gurcharan Das

India Unbound is the riveting story of a nation’s rise from poverty to prosperity and the clash of ideas that occurred along the way. Gurcharan Das examines the highs and lows of independent India through the prism of history, his own experiences and those of numerous others he has met.

13.Everybody loves a good drought - P.Sainath

Often reduced to statistics, the misery of the 300 odd million who live below the poverty line in India, is often overlooked. These stories show how they manage, what sustains them and efforts made to help. The book pays attention to poor districts, and the issues it raises are universal in their relevance.

14. Looking away - Harsh Mander

Exhaustive in its scope, impassioned in its arguments and rigorous in its scholarship, Looking Away is a sobering checklist of all the things we must collectively get right if India is to become the country that was promised, in equal measure, to all its citizens.

15. The country of first boys - Amartya Sen

In this collection, Sen examines justice, identity, deprivation, inequalities, gender politics, education, the media and the importance of getting your priorities right. These are accessible yet pioneering essays that hold the kernel of many of his seminal works

16. To the brink and back - India's 1991 story - Jairam Ramesh

An insightful and brisk account of the events surrounding the 1991 economic reforms programme coming to light for the first time on the silver jubilee of India’s economic liberalization.

17. The Emergency - Coomi Kapoor

This eyewitness account of the Emergency vividly recreates the drama, the horror, as well as the heroism of a few, during those nineteen months, 40 years ago, when democracy was derailed.

18. Building a world-class civil service in 21st century India by S.K.Das

 Using a comparative approach, S.K. Das identifies a range of initiatives that will serve to transform the civil service into a world-class organization, compatible with strategic, economic, and technological requirements of the twenty-first century

19 . India - a portrait - Patrick French

In this intimate biography of 1.2 billion people, Patrick French travels all over the country talking to everyone from political leaders to mafia dons, from chained quarry workers to self-made billionaireENTREPRENEURS, to tell the story of post-independence India as never before. 

20. The age of Kali - Indian travels and encounters - William Dalrymple

 This book shows readers the apparent forces that are driving India today. In this book, the author expresses his fears that India as a nation is falling into a cycle of volatile temperament, strife and corruption.

21. No full stops in India - Mark Tully

No Full Stops In India is a collection of ten essays, based on the chronicles of the author's life in India. It presents a panoramic view of India. The book attempts to critically analyze the complicated deep-rooted ancient Indian civilization and its underlying principles. 

22. India becoming - Akash Kapur 

India has changed dramatically in recent years, but what does all this change mean for the lives of ordinary Indians? In this gripping and often moving book, Akash Kapur follows a handful of men and women in the villages and small towns of South India as they confront the ups and downs of life in a nation in transition.

23. Broken republic - Arundhati Roy

Broken Republic by Arundhati Roy talks about India and the large multinational companies that are taking over the lands of India's poor. Mining, Maoism, poverty, cruelty and whether India is truly advancing in development are also discussed in detail in the book.

24. The algebra of infinite justice - Arundhati Roy

First published in 2001, this book brings together all of Arundhati Roy's political writings so far. It covers a wide range of topics from the Pokhran tests to Gujarat Riots.

25. Patriots and Partisans - Ramachandra Guha

In this wide-ranging collection of essays, Ramachandra Guha defends the liberal centre against the dogmas of left and right, and does so with style, depth, and polemical verve. Among the subjects on which he turns a critical eye are Hindutva, the Communist left and the dynasty-obsessed Congress party

26. India grows at night - Gurcharan Das

The book is the author's plea for a strong state so that India grows in the day as well. This book is a follow-up to "India unbound"

27. Our moon has blood clots- Rahul Pandita

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.

28. Curfewed night - Basharat Peer

A brutally honest and hard-hitting account of life in Kashmir in the times of separatist movement through the eyes of a youngster who lived through the tumultous years.

29. Hello,Bastar - Rahul Pandita

An important book which serves as a good primer to the Maoist movement in India

30 . Restart - Mihir Sharma

In Restart, Mihir S. Sharma shows what can and must change in India's policies, its administration and even its attitudes. The answers he provides are not obvious. Nor are they all comforting or conventional. Yet they could unleash the creativity of a billion hopeful Indians.

31. Accidental India - Shankar Ayyar

Shankkar Aiyar examines Indias ascent through the paradigm of seven game changers: the economic liberalization of 1991, the Green Revolution of the sixties, the nationalization of banks in 1969, Operation Flood in the seventies, the mid-day meal scheme of 1982, the software revolution of the nineties, and the passing of the Right to Information Act in 2005. 

32.India - The Emerging Giant - Arvind Panagiriya

Mr. Panagariya's book is the capstone of a career, a sustained work of scholarship. It demands a lot of its readers, and amply repays theINVESTMENT. The author's father told him: Take your time, but write a definite book on India. The son did not disappoint. - Economist

33. Modi's world - C.Rajamohan

Modi's World tells the story of Modi's unexpected success on the foreign policy front and its potential consequences for India's place in the world. It offers insights into his inheritance from the UPA government, his own foreign policy conception and diplomatic execution.

34. A free man - Aman Sethi

In this landmark work of reportage, Aman Sethi sets out to understand the life of Mohammad Ashraf, a daily-wage worker in Delhi's Bara Tooti Chowk.Deeply insightful and compulsively readable, it is a humane, intimate and compelling account of an individual and a group of people who are most often explained away in a statistic.

35. Ash in the belly - India's unfinished struggle against hunger - Harsh Mander

Ash in the Belly is a penetrating account of men, women and children living with hunger, illuminated by their courage in trying to cope and survive. It is simultaneously an investigation into the political economy of hunger, whereby one in every two children is malnourished, despite the creation of wealth and economic growth. 

36. An economist in the real world - the art of policymaking in India - Kaushik Basu

In this book, Basu describes the art of economic policymaking, viewed through the lens of his two and a half years as CEA.

37. Interrogating caste - Dipankar Gupta

A brilliant analysis of how the caste system works and thrives in the Indian milieu.

38. Getting India back on track - Ashley Tellis,Bibek Debroy and Reece Trevor

Getting India Back On Track: An Action Agenda For Reform is a collection of essays written by leading Indian policymakers and analysts, who have come together to find solutions to some crucial questions.

39. Behind the beautiful forevers by Katherine Boo

This book is a documentary of the writer’s experiences in a Mumbai slum called Annawadi between November 2007 and March 2011.It is a compelling depiction of real-life people living in an impverished Mumbai slum.

40. The insider's view : Memoirs of a public servant - Javid Chowdhury

In this illuminating memoir Javid Chowdhury shares his varied experiences over four decades in the IAS: the years in training, when he imbibed the service’s ethos and values, his initiation into the rural universe as the District Development Officer and the District Magistrate and further on, to his handling of the infamous Bank Securities and Jain Hawala scams as Director of Enforcement and Union Revenue Secretary

41. 10 judgements that changed India - Zia Mody

10 Judgements That Changed India is a collection of 10 judgments passed by the Supreme Court, that was critical in transforming the democracy of India. It describes the way these judgments redefined the life of Indians

42. Chanakya's new manifesto to resolve the crisis within India - Pavan K.Varma

The author analyzes the multiple challenges facing the country today and proposes clear and unambiguous solutions to them.

43. The state of the nation - Fali.S.Nariman

 In this timely volume, the author highlights crucial issues that the legislature, the executive, judiciary, the bar and the common people have to deal with virtually on a day-to-day basis. His main focus is on corruption at various levels and in ‘hallowed' institutions, including the judiciary.

44. Not just an accountant - Vinod Rai

A blow-by-blow, explosive, yet thoughtful account that sheds new light on the scams that shook India - 2G, coalgate, civil aviation, the conduct of the XIX commonwealth games and hydrocarbon contracts.

45. An undocumented wonder : The Great Indian Election by S.Y.Quraishi

 Along with highly informative and exciting inside stories of Indian elections, the author shares his experiences and knowledge from the time when he served as the Chief Election Commissioner of India.

46. Transforming India : Challenges to the world's largest democracy -Sumantra Bose

A lucidly written book that traces the trajectory of India’s transformation as a democracy through the seven decades after Independence.

47. India at turning point : The road to good governance by T.S.R.Subramanian

While being anecdotal, he has been prescriptive as well, recognizing the failures of a political, bureaucratic and social system straining to find the balance between the numerous contradictions of India. In this highly readable book he, like me, remains optimistic. There is hope. --Shiv Nadar, Founder and Chairman, HCL and Shiv Nadar Foundation

48. Churning the earth : The making of global India by Aseem Shrivatsava and Ashish Kothari

The world stands so dazzled by India's meteoric economic rise that we hesitate to acknowledge its consequences to the people and the environment. In Churning the Earth, Aseem Shrivastava and Ashish Kothari engage in a timely enquiry of this impressive growth story. They present incontrovertible evidence on how the nature of this recent growth has been predatory and question its sustainability.

49. Good Governance : Never on India's radar - Madhav Godbole

In this concise yet wide-ranging book, Madhav Godbole delves into what he considers the root of India's socio-political problems, the lack of good governance which, he asserts, has never been a focus of governments in our country.

50. Durable disorder - Understanding the politics of North-east India -Sanjib Baruah

This book explores the political meaning and significance of prolonged low-intensity conflicts in Northeast India. 

Posted by poovannan  at 11:47 AM