Desai’s introspection in this book is of a deeper significance and for that reason should be of utmost importance to any thinking person within and beyond ideological boundaries. Modi’s India would have to wake up from its euphoric slumber and grapple with the truth that economics is about people and not about growth rates, though the relationship between the two is a complicated one.
The book provides a commentary on the relevance of the growing numbers of free trade agreements among different countries in the global economy, with a special reference to India. FTAs have a lot of significance for India. This is not only when India participates in such arrangements with one or the other trade partners but also without direct participation.
Being a highly experienced journalist who covered the Finance Ministry for close to three decades, AKB has also been able to focus on the key events of each tenure which shape our recollections and perceptions of the tenure. This releases the book from the tyranny of the ‘one-damned-thing-after-another’ school of history.
The book is the outcome of a singularly complicated remit, whose complexities are duly reflected in its structure. The question is, does it fulfil this remit? In my view it does so most satisfactorily. And scholars, activists, and even members of the public who seek a deeper understanding of environmental law will be greatly benefited by the way it seeks to foreground the black-letter legal narrative against larger social, economic, and political issues, particularly through extracts culled from appropriate secondary literature.
In his book, Maan Barua goes beyond the traditional focus on the old and new in modern urban life, introducing a discourse that integrates ecology and the role of non-human life in shaping the political dynamics of urban development. This challenges the fundamental understanding of what constitutes the ‘urban’ and the ‘city’, transforming our understanding of urban ontology.
We tend to disassociate musical performance from social analysis and stratification, concentrating on the excellence of performance. The story of Rajarattinam Pillai is about a musician who was one of the greatest musicians and performers of Carnatic music, and who as a player of the Nagaswaram, consciously faced and addressed the contentious issues and intersections between musical performance, hierarchy and caste.