Triumphs And Tragedies Of Ninth Delhi

In this insightful book, Jagmohan recounts the moments of triumphs and tragedies which he came across during his long and eventful date with Delhi’s development, from Jawaharlal Nehru’s time till date. His narration and analysis of these moments, in the context of larger forces that have remained embedded in the post-1947 India, bring under sharp focus a number of fundamental questions that need in-depth consideration of national leadership of all hue and colour: • Why did Nehru, despite his grand vision of a beautiful and balanced growth of Delhi, extend only a weak implementational hand, when it came to actualizing that vision on the ground? • How was it that, while most of her senior party leaders of Delhi lambasted the author and his colleagues for launching a drive to implement some of the clearance-redevelopment projects, Ms. Indira Gandhi experienced a sense of ‘thrill and pride’, when the results of that drive surfaced on the ground and enhanced the image of the Republic and its Capital, especially in early 1980s, the years of hosting ASIAD, NAM, CHOGAM? • Why were the few remnants of Gandhian Truth, which were seen in Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s stand regarding Master Plan schemes, butchered by his Home Ministry bureaucratic caucus and the Shah Commission? • How was it that when, in accordance with pre-Emergency decision of the Central Government and unanimous resolution of the Delhi Municipal Corporation, the government owned slums of Turkman Gate were cleared, it was given a communal colour and subjected to the most diabolical campaign of calumny known to contemporary Indian history? • What led Prime-Minister A.B. Vajpayee, a nobility-oriented statesman, to act against his own beliefs and change author’s portfolio of Urban Development? • Why did Mrs. Sonia Gandhi-Shiela Dikshit regime think that its principal plank for winning Delhi State Assembly Elections and Lok Sabha Elections should be a large reward to those who had ravaged, with impunity, the landscape of Delhi in form of thousands of unauthorized colonies? And why could not rival political parties think of any plan other than competitive negativity? • How is it that “We – the People” hardly ask ourselves: In what type of Delhi do we want to live, and what type of legacy do we wish to bequeath to posterity and to our children and grand children? Do we want our city to become junk-yard of unauthorized constructions, mirroring civic and moral chaos? • Was inaction on the part of the Election Commission to check the existence of an unhealthy clientistic relationship between the land-grabber/illegal builder/voters and those seeking their votes justifiable? The author has many other posers which extend to the infected ethos of Indian State, Society and Civilization. Nor does the author limit himself to questions and posers. He points to the way out, outlining a broad strategy of action.

This love letter to the cities of the world—from the airline pilot–author of Skyfaring—is "a journey around both the author's mind and the planet's great cities that leaves us energized, open to new experiences and ready to return more hopefully to our lives" (Alain de Botton, author of The Art of Travel). In his small New England hometown, Mark Vanhoenacker spent his childhood dreaming of elsewhere— of the distant, real cities he found on the illuminated globe in his bedroom, and of one perfect metropolis that existed only in his imagination. These cities were the sources of endless comfort and escape, and of a lasting fascination. Streets unspooled, towers shone, and anonymous crowds bustled in the places where Mark hoped he could someday be anyone—perhaps even himself. Now, as a commercial airline pilot, Mark has spent nearly two decades crossing the skies of our planet and touching down in dozens of the storied cities he imagined as a child. He experiences these destinations during brief stays that he repeats month after month and year after year, giving him an unconventional and uniquely vivid perspective on the places that form our urban world. In this intimate yet expansive work that weaves travelogue with memoir, Mark celebrates the cities he has come to know and to love, through the lens of the hometown his heart has never quite left. As he explores emblematic facets of each city’s identity— the road signs of Los Angeles, the old gates of Jeddah, the snowy streets of Sapporo—he shows us with warmth and fresh eyes the extraordinary places that billions of us call home.

In June 1975 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a 'State of Emergency', resulting in a 21-month suspension of democracy. Jaffrelot and Anil explore this black page in India's history, a constitutional dictatorship of unequal impact, with South India largely spared thanks to the resilience of Indian federalism. India's First Dictatorship focuses on Mrs Gandhi and her son, Sanjay, who was largely responsible for the mass sterilisation programmes and deportation of urban slum-dwellers. However, it equally exposes the facilitation of authoritarian rule by Congressmen, Communists, trade unions, businessmen and the urban middle class, as well as the complacency of the judiciary and media. While opposition leaders eventually closed ranks in jail, many of them collaborated with the new regime--including the RSS. Those who resisted the Emergency, in the media or on the streets, were few in number. This episode was an acid test for India's political culture. While a tiny minority of citizens fought for democracy during the Emergency, in large numbers the people bowed to a strong woman, even worshipped her. Equally importantly, Hindu nationalists were endowed with a new legitimacy. The Emergency was not a parenthesis, but a turning point; its legacy is very much alive today.

My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir, the Twelfth Edition of which is now being released, is a land-mark publication. It narrates and analyses not only the tumultuous events of the author’s two terms of Governorship but also of subsequent developments which underline how a tragic blunder of truly historic proportion was committed by the power that be at the Union Government level by not seeing the warning signals hoisted by him. The updated Edition shows how the combined onslaught of subversive, separatists and pro-Pakistan elements was faced, particularly in the wake of Burhan Wani’s death. It also shows how the outrageous perfidies of the genre of Uri terror attack were dealt with by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and how a New Resolve was formulated by him with seven ingredients, viz: (I) Exposure of Pakistan at UN Assembly; (II) Boycott of 19th SAARC Summit; (III) Revisiting Indus Water Treaty and Most Favoured Nation Status; (IV) Surgical Strike; (V) Baring the Ugly Face of Pakistani Bred Terrorism At the Multilateral Forum of BRICS; (VI) Deeper Exposure of Pakistan at HEART of Asia-Afghanistan Conference; (VII) Highlighting the Continued Violations of Human Rights in Balochistan and PoK, and Countering Pakistan’s Diabolical Disinformation Campaign with Regard to Kashmir. Finally, the Edition assesses the promise, performance and potential of the new helmsman. It ends with the hope of emergence of a new pattern which is appeasement-free, terror-free, and in which the noblest strands and sinews of India’s cultural heritage of treating service to man as service to God are regenerated, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, providing an illuminating avenue for reaching the goal of a mighty, enlightened and forward-looking India.

Orissa Society of Americas 27th Annual Convention Souvenir for Convention 1996 held in Washington, D.C. re-published as Golden Jubilee Convention July 4-7, 2019 Atlantic City, New Jersey commemorative edition. Odisha Society of the Americas Golden Jubilee Convention will be held in Atlantic City, New Jersey during July 4-7, 2019. Convention website is http://www.osa2019.org. Odisha Society of the Americas website is http://www.odishasociety.org

In a second edition of their successful Concise History of Modern India, Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf explore India's modern history afresh and update the events of the last decade. These include the takeover of Congress from the seemingly entrenched Hindu nationalist party in 2004, India's huge advances in technology and the country's new role as a major player in world affairs. From the days of the Mughals, through the British Empire, and into Independence, the country has been transformed by its institutional structures. It is these institutions which have helped bring about the social, cultural and economic changes that have taken place over the last half century and paved the way for the modern success story. Despite these advances, poverty, social inequality and religious division still fester. In response to these dilemmas, the book grapples with questions of caste and religious identity, and the nature of the Indian nation.

"Book and man are brilliant, passionate, optimistic and impatient . . . Outstanding." —The Economist The landmark exploration of economic prosperity and how the world can escape from extreme poverty for the world's poorest citizens, from one of the world's most renowned economists Hailed by Time as one of the world's hundred most influential people, Jeffrey D. Sachs is renowned for his work around the globe advising economies in crisis. Now a classic of its genre, The End of Poverty distills more than thirty years of experience to offer a uniquely informed vision of the steps that can transform impoverished countries into prosperous ones. Marrying vivid storytelling with rigorous analysis, Sachs lays out a clear conceptual map of the world economy. Explaining his own work in Bolivia, Russia, India, China, and Africa, he offers an integrated set of solutions to the interwoven economic, political, environmental, and social problems that challenge the world's poorest countries. Ten years after its initial publication, The End of Poverty remains an indispensible and influential work. In this 10th anniversary edition, Sachs presents an extensive new foreword assessing the progress of the past decade, the work that remains to be done, and how each of us can help. He also looks ahead across the next fifteen years to 2030, the United Nations' target date for ending extreme poverty, offering new insights and recommendations.