Author Archives: Thebookreviewindia

Vaidyanatha Ayyar has written a text book on the mechanics of policymaking in the country obviously for the graduate students of management in the institution where he teaches. He has adopted the format and style of the text-books commonly used in the American universities.

India has been the home for a large number and different types of refugees throughout the past.1 India has dealt with the issues of refugees on a bilateral basis. India’s refugee problem management generally conforms to the international instruments on the subject without, however, giving a formal shape to all practices adopted…

This book attempts an investigation into a major issue confronting contemporary Nigeria, namely, the question of managing its image at both domestic and international levRe-Orderels. In trying to unravel the underlying issue relating to the image of Nigeria the author has undertaken analysis of some of the most sensitive political events…

A quick look at the Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum every year throws up no major surprises—the countries classified as developed economies float up to the top of the rankings and the developing economies settle down at the bottom. What is surprising then is the fact that although…

Dr. Jayantha Kelegama was the first Professor of Economics at the University of Kelaniya which was known at the time as Vidyalankara University. As a distinguished economist, he served his country in numerous ways as an academic, a Central Banker, a policy advisor, a researcher and a writer for over four decades encompassing two conflicting policy regimes, i.e., the pre-1977 closed economy and the post-1977 open economy…

TheAga Khan Rural Support Programme: A Journey Through the Grassroots Development by Shoaib Sultan Khan is a narration of the author’s fifty-four years of experience working in the rural development sector in South Asia. The book is presented in an interesting narrative distinct from academic writings…

WTO could undoubtedly be considered as the most influential among the different multilateral organizations established after the post-World-War period. It was founded with a view to augment the process of globalization through multilateral trade liberalization by removing all the man-made restrictions on trade…

Christianity in India has had a long and rich history of encounter with other faiths. The multicultural and pluralistic tapestry of India made it necessary for the Christian faith to negotiate and cohabit with local idioms, customs and traditions, giving it a special character and rootedness. In this climate of co-living,..

Giambattista Vico claimed that knowledge was always constructed by humans and never discovered in nature. He further argued that the ‘human sciences’ such as history, philosophy and law achieved knowledge and understanding from ‘within’ while ‘natural sciences’ described the external phenomena…

In the public domain, public knowledge of Orissa (now happily renamed Odisha) seldom goes beyond Biju / J.B. / Navin Patnaik, Tata/ POSCO projects, starvation deaths in Kalahandi, and now, the menace of Maoist violence on the Andhra-Orissa border. More polite conversation might veer around Oriya bureaucrats…

The Trauma and the Triumph is the second volume of a collection of writings and documents on the partition of India of 1947 with a special emphasis on Eastern India and on gender. The first volume had come out in 2003 and this second part continues the discussion ‘focusing more fully on both East Bengal and West Bengal…

The present volume is one among a number of publications that have accompanied well-curated exhibitions based on the extensive holdings of the Alkazi Collection of Photography in New Delhi, London and New York.While editor John Falconer’s detailed introduction to James Waterhouse’s life and work in India…

The ten essays reprinted in this volume are intended to summarize the ‘most important information’ (p. ix) uncovered by S.P. Verma’s prolific research of many years on Mughal painting. They were originally published during the period from 1977 to 2003, deal with a mix of subjects including studies of artists, manuscripts and genres…

An acknowledged master of the genre of travel writing, William Dalrymple once again brilliantly manages to hold the reader’s undivided attention with his most recent book, Nine Lives. In a skilfully restrained register, he contextualizes the diverse religious traditions of India and Pakistan within the framework of social changes…

The turtle dove first appeared in an old English folk song that tells longingly of lost love. O yonder doth sit that little turtle dove, He doth sit on yonder high tree, A-making a moan for the loss of his love,
As I will do for thee, my dear,
As I will do for thee…

Today the best of students and the best of parents have shifted their academic allegiance from ‘social/humane’ to ‘professional’ education under the diktat of market imperatives. The professional pragmatics, powered by information, technological and market superhighways, have forever changed the pedagogical contours…

Diplomats, statesmen, journalists, writers, and poets—women have been at the forefront in almost every field in Pakistan. But if that made you think that this is due to the liberal society of Pakistan which perhaps allows equal opportunities to women, then you got it all wrong. On the contrary, the social and political milieu of Pakistan…

While the rest of the country moans about the lack of new playwrights, the one state that seems to happily buck the trend is Maharashtra. The Marathi language seems to have a special affinity with playwrights. At any given time, there are at leastfour or five talented playwrights producing new plays…

Ashish Rajadhyaksha’s Indian Cinema in the Time of Celluloid published by Tulika Books is a major event in interdisciplinary scholarship on cinema and academy oriented independent publishing, both of which have gained considerable foothold in India in the last two decades.

Religious institutions are governed and managed by authorities who are mortal yet professing deep spiritual commitment to the dogmas of their faith. The Catholic Church and its institutions are no exception. As such, they are expected to set high moral standards and are looked up to for guidance on a range…