Book Review: Civil Society : History And Possibilities – Sudipta Kaviraj

Book Review: Civil Society : History And Possibilities

‘Civil society’ is one of the most used-and abused-concepts in current political thinking. In this important collection of essays, the concept is subjected to rigorous analysis by an international team of contributors, all of whom seek to

encourage the historical and comparative understanding of political thought.

The volume is divided into two parts: the first section analyses the meaning of civil society in different theoretical traditions of Western philosophy. In the second section, contributors consider the theoretical and practical contexts in which the notion of civil society has been invoked in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

These essays demonstrate how an influential Western idea like civil society is itself altered and innovatively modified by the specific contexts of intellectual and practical life in the societies of the South.

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Book Review: Deliver Us From Evil by David Baldacci

Book Review: Deliver Us From Evil

‘The heart-racing follow up to The Whole Truth from the international bestselling author . . .’

In South America a wealthy ninety-six year old man reads a book late into the night. Within an hour, he is dead, the secrets of his past starkly revealed. Six months later, in Provence, Shaw -the shadowy operative from from The Whole Truth – witnesses the murder of a mysterious man, his body left lifeless at the bottom of a pool. Shaw barely escapes the incident himself; and with a new partner in tow, begins to realise that there has to be another organization at work that rivals his own in secrecy . . .

Meanwhile, half a world away, journalist Katie James is working on a story of international importance. But shortly after meeting with a potential inside source she is smuggled unconscious onto an aeroplane, headed to an undisclosed destination.

In the days to come, Katie and Shaw will be reunited in a deadly dual of nerve and wits against a surprising, secretive enemy and lead around the world at a breakneck pace. Filled with the breathtaking plot turns and remarkable characters that only David Baldacci can deliver, this is the most explosive thriller of the year.

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Book Review: Gandhi: Naked Ambition by Jad Adams

Book Review: Gandhi: Naked Ambition

The pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India’s independence movement, pioneer of non-violent resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience (satyagraha), honoured in India as ‘father of nation’, Mohandas K. Gandhi has inspired movements for civil rights and political freedom across the world. Jad Adams offers a concise and elegant account of Gandhi’s life: from his birth and upbringing in a small princely state in Gujarat during the high noon of the British Raj, to his assassination at the hands of a Hindu extremist in 1948 only months after the birth of the independent India which he himself he had done so much to bring about. He delineates the principal events of a career that may truly be said to have changed the world: his training as a barrister in late Victorian London; his civil rights work in Boer War-era South Africa; his leadership of the Indian National Congress; his focus on obtaining self-government and control of all Indian government institutions, and the campaigns of non-cooperation and non-violence against British rule in India whereby he sought to achieve that aim (including the famous ‘Salt March’ of March/April 1930); his passionate opposition to partition in 1947 and his fasts-unto-death in a bid to end the bitter and bloody sectarian violence that attended it. Jad Adams’s accessible and thoughtful biography not only traces the outline of an extraordinary life with exemplary clarity, but also examines why Mahatma Gandhi and his teachings are still profoundly relevant today.

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Book Review: The Men Who Killed Gandhi by Manohar Malgonkar

Book Review: The Men Who Killed Gandhi

The Men Who Killed Gandhi, a gripping recreation of India’s partition, independence and Gandhi’s assassination on January 31, 1948, was first published during the Emergency years. “This made it incumbent upon me to omit certain vital facts,” Malgonkar writes in the introduction , “such as, for instance, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar’s secret assurance to Mr L B Bhopatkar, that his client, Mr V D Savarkar, had been implicated as a murder suspect on the flimsiest ground.” The excised portions, along with rare photographs and documents from the National Archives are included in this 11th edition. This book is a reprint of the 1978 original, timed for the 60th anniversary of the event, with some additions in the form of rare photographs and documents unearthed by the publishers and not the author Manohar Malgonkar, now 95 and a virtual recluse. His account of the conspiracy, 30 years after the event, was a landmark effort that cemented his reputation as a historian.

Of the six conspirators, Nathuram Godse, who fired the shot heard around the world, and Narayan Apte, who was by his side, were hanged. The other four were: Digambar Badge, who turned approver; Vishnu Karkare; Gopal Godse, Nathurams younger brother; and Madanlal Pahwa. Malgonkar met them after they had served their life sentences and they spoke to him at

great length. All four provided information they had not revealed before and Malgonkar produced perhaps the most complete account of the plot to assassinate Gandhi.

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Book Review: Duel by Tariq Ali

Book Review: Duel

Born in Lahore, Tariq Ali’s grandfather was Prime Minister of the Punjab and his uncle was head of Pakistan’s Military Intelligence. While Ali has written extensively about the country, his latest offering The Duel sees him assess the prospects of the contending groups in Pakistan, drawing on extensive first-hand research and personal knowledge of many of the key players involved. With customary verve and acuity, he considers the causes and consequences of Pakistan’s rapid spiral into political chaos and explores a number of controversial topics, including America’s complex relationship with Pakistan and the power each country wields over the other. Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world, it’s the only Islamic state to have nuclear weapons, and its border with Afghanistan extends over 1000 miles. It’s also the likely hide-out of Osama bin Laden. It has been under military dictatorship for 33 of its 50-year existence, yet it is the linchpin in the United States’ war on terror, receiving over $10 billion of American aid since 2001 and purchasing more than $5 billion of US weaponry in 2006 alone.

These days, relations between the two countries are never less than tense. Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf reported that US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage threatened to “bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age” if it did not commit fully to the alliance in the wake of 9/11. Presidential hopeful Barack Obama said he would have no hesitation in bombing Al Qaeda inside the country, “with or without” approval of the Pakistani government. And recent surveys show that more than 70 per cent of Pakistanis fear the United States as a military threat to their country. With increasingly bold attacks by Taliban supporters in the border regions threatening to split the Pakistan army and with the only political alternatives being as corrupt as the regime they seek to replace, the chances of sustained stability in Pakistan look slim.

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Book Review: Civil Society : History And Possibilities – Sudipta Kaviraj

Book Review: Civil Society : History And Possibilities

‘Civil society’ is one of the most used-and abused-concepts in current political thinking. In this important collection of essays, the concept is subjected to rigorous analysis by an international team of contributors, all of whom seek to

encourage the historical and comparative understanding of political thought.

The volume is divided into two parts: the first section analyses the meaning of civil society in different theoretical traditions of Western philosophy. In the second section, contributors consider the theoretical and practical contexts in which the notion of civil society has been invoked in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

These essays demonstrate how an influential Western idea like civil society is itself altered and innovatively modified by the specific contexts of intellectual and practical life in the societies of the South.

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Book Summary: Zero Percentile : Missed IIT Kissed Russia by Neeraj Chhibba

Book Summary: Zero Percentile : Missed IIT Kissed Russia

Zero Percentile is a heady cocktail of the fascinating adventures of Pankaj, a less favoured son of destiny, across two completely different countries, India and Russia.

Neeraj Chhibba was born and raised in India. He studied engineering at Volgograd, Russia, where he spent almost seven and a half years of his life. He is currently employed with a software company in India. His single claim to literary honours is a ‘Highly Commendable’ certificate in Class X in an English Essay Competition organised by the Royal Commonwealth Society and he himself was surprised to be the only one in New Delhi to have received it that year in his category.

He could perhaps have done more but the pressure of succeeding professionally and earning bread made him turn away from writing. This is his first book. And if you like it, he promises, there would be a lot more.

This is really a fun read…..definitely a must have!!

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Book Summary: Joker In The Pack by Ritesh Sharma & Neeraj Pahlajani

Book Summary: Joker In The Pack

This is a story of dreaming the great Indian middle class dream, and of life shaped – accidentally or by design, only God knows – by the great Indian middle class values.

The joyride begins in the lap of two favourite pastimes of the nation – cricket and television – and after some shattered dreams, leads to the hallowed precincts of the venerated IIMs. It is a story of the life at the IIMs, and of life beyond. It is a story of how to play the IIM game successfully and beat the super distillation system refined by the IIMs to separate the chaff from the grain, the also-rans from the super achievers.

The story has bit of raw truth. It is also tongue-in-cheek. It is designed to whet the appetite of those aspiring. It will evoke nostalgia amongst the alumni; it will also anger a few.

Read on… you will either love it, or hate it, but will find it difficult to put down.

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Book Summary: May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss by Arnab Ray

Book Summary: May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss by Arnab Ray

The wave of liberalization in the 1990s changed forever the face of India. It bolstered the economy. It raised the stock index. It raised hem lines of skirts even more. It led to the growth of the fashion police. And also the moral police. Numbered items became item numbers. To the twenty-two scheduled languages were added C, Cobol, Java. You were either watching sitcoms or starting dotcoms. News became entertainment. Entertainment became news. Terror struck the country — sometimes in the form of gunmen from across the border and sometimes in the form of Bollywood movies.

To SMS-ize – ‘It wuz da best of tyms, it wuz da wrst of tyms.’

Having been a part of this chaotic revolution in popular culture, blogger Arnab Ray of greatbong.net takes a funny, sarcastic, politically incorrect and totally irreverent look at assorted random stuff including Bollywood C-grade revenge masalas, ribald songs of the people, movie punching, fake educational institutes, stubborn bathroom flushes, unreal reality shows, the benefits of corruption, opulent weddings, brains in toaster ovens, seedy theatres and pompous non-resident Indians.

Nothing here is off-limits and no cow too holy.

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Book Summary: MegaLiving: 30 Days To A Perfect Life by Robin Sharma

Book Summary: MegaLiving: 30 Days To A Perfect Life

We all have the potential for a Perfect Life – to achieve great things and live a life filled with joy, accomplishment and pure bliss. In some of us, this potential is slumbering deep inside, waiting to be tapped and tested. National Bestseller, Megaliving will quickly make things happen in every aspect of your life. With the finest strategies and techniques available to profoundly improve your mind, body and character.

This book contains the revolutionary results of over ten years of research with the leading principles of personal mastery and successful living; and reveal to you the 200 master secrets for making your life a magical dream.

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Johnny Gone Down – Karan Bajaj

Johnny Gone Down – Karan Bajaj

Nikhil Arya has fallen.

Once, he was an Ivy League scholar with a promising future at NASA; now, at forty, he is broke, homeless,and minutes away from blowing his brains out in a diabolical modern-day joust.

It wasnt meant to be this way. An innocent vacation turned into an epic intercontinental journey that saw Nikhil become first a genocidesurvivor, then a Buddhist monk, a drug lord, a homeless accountant, a software mogul and a deadly gamefighter. Now, twenty years later, Nikhil aka Johnny is tired of running. With the Colombian mafia on his trailand his abandoned wife and son ten thousand miles away, he prepares for his final act, aware that he will have lost even if he wins.

Or will he? Is there any greater victory than living a life that knows no limits, a world that has seen no boundaries?

From the bestselling author of Keep Off the Grass comes the once-in-a-lifetime story of an ordinary manfighting an extraordinary destiny. Can he pick up the pieces one last time or will Nikhil, now Johnny, go down for good?

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Fortune At The Bottom Of The Pyramid : Eradicating Poverty Through Profits – C. K. Prahalad

Fortune At The Bottom Of The Pyramid : Eradicating Poverty Through Profits – C. K. Prahalad

The world’s most exciting, fastest-growing new market? It’s where you least expect it: at the bottom of the pyramid. Collectively, the world’s billions of poor people have immense entrepreneurial capabilities and buying power. You can learn how to serve them and help millions of the world’s poorest people escape poverty.It is being done – profitably. Whether you’re a business leader or an anti-poverty activist, business guru Prahalad shows why you can’t afford to ignore “Bottom of the Pyramid” (BOP) markets.In the book and accompanying CD videos, Prahalad presents…

Why what you know about BOP markets is wrongA world of surprises – from spending patterns to distribution and marketingUnlocking the “poverty penalty” The most enduring contributions your company can makeDelivering dignity, empowerment, and choice – not just productsCorporations and BOP entrepreneursProfiting together from an inclusive new capitalism”C. K. Prahalad argues that companies must revolutionize how they do business in developing countries if both sides of that economic equation are to prosper.

Drawing on a wealth of case studies, his compelling new book offers an intriguing blueprint for how to fight poverty with profitability.”Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect,Microsoft”The Bottom of the Pyramid belongs at the top of the reading list for business people, academics, and experts pursuing the elusive goal of sustainable growth in the developing world. C. K. Prahalad writes with n common insight about consumer needs in poor societies and opportunities for the private sector to serve important public purposes while enhancing its own bottom line. If you are looking for fresh thinking about merging markets, your search is ended. This is the book for you.”Madeleine K. Alright, Former U.S. Secretary of State”Prahalad challenges readers to re-evaluate their pre-conceived notions about the commercial opportunities in serving the relatively poor nations of the world. The Bottom of the Pyramid highlights the way to commercial success and societal improvement–but only if the developed world reconceives the way it delivers products and services to the developingworld.” Christopher Rodigues, CEO, Visa International”An important and insightful work showing persuasively how the private sector can be put at the center of development, not just as a rhetorica lflourish but as a real engine of jobs and services for the poor.

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The New Age Of Innovation: Driving Cocreated Value Through Global Networks – C.K. Prahalad

The New Age Of Innovation: Driving Cocreated Value Through Global Networks – C.K. Prahalad

From the greatest minds in business today comes a groundbreaking new blueprint for executing the next stage of customer-created value. C.K. Prahalad, the world’s premier business thinker, and IT scholar M.S. Krishnan unveil the critical missing link in connecting strategy to execution–building organizational capabilities that allow companies to achieve and sustain continuous change and innovation.

The New Age of Innovation reveals that the key to creating value and the future growth of every business depends on accessing a global network of resources to co-create unique experiences with customers, one at a time. To achieve this, CEOs, executives, and managers at every level must transform their business processes, technical systems, and supply chain management, implementing key social and technological infrastructure requirements to create an ongoing innovation advantage.

In this landmark work, Prahalad and Krishnan explain how to accomplish this shift–one where IT and the management architecture form the corporation’s fundamental foundation. This book provides strategies for

• Redesigning systems to co-create value with customers and connect all parts of a firm to this process
• Measuring individual behavior through smart analytics
• Ceaselessly improving the flexibility and efficiency in all customer-facing and back-end processes
• Treating all involved individuals–customers, employees, investors, suppliers–as unique
• Working across cultures and time-zones in a seamless global network
• Building teams that are capable of providing high-quality, low-cost solutions rapidly
• To successfully compete on the battlefields of 21st-century business, companies must reinvent their processes and culture in order to sustain innovative solutions. The New Age of Innovation is a complete program for achieving this transformation to meet the needs of the end consumer of the future.

The new global standard for innovation and corporate growth

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Family Wisdom – Robin Sharma

Family Wisdom – Robin Sharma

Learn how to liberate the natural leadership potential of your child while creating a richer, more rewarding life for yourself in the process. Unlock the best talents and highest abilities of your child. Deepen the relationships between you and those you love. Inspire your children to be strong of character and wise of mind.

Teach your kids how to dream big dreams and find true success. Bring balance back into your life and live with greater simplicity, joy and peace. Get back to what is most important in life and enjoy its gifts.

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Who Will Cry When You Die? – Robin Sharma

Who Will Cry When You Die? – Robin Sharma

This really is a wonderful book. It will make you realise how precious each day is in our life and how grateful we should be for all that we receive during the day.

Do you feel that life is slipping by so fast that you might never get the chance to live with the meaning, happiness and joy you know you deserve?

If so, then this very special book by leadership guru Robin S. Sharma, the author whose The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari series has transformed the lives of thousands, will be the guiding light that leads you to a brilliant new way of living. In this easy-to-read yet wisdom-rich manual, Robin S. Sharma offers 101 simple solutions to lifes most complex problems, ranging from a little-known method for beating stress and worry to a powerful way to enjoy the journey while you create a legacy that lasts

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The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success – Deepak Chopra

The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success – Deepak Chopra

BASED ON NATURAL laws which govern all of creation, this book shatters the myth that success is the result of hard work, exacting plans, or driving ambition.

In The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, Deepak Chopra offers a life-altering perspective on the attainment of success: Once we understand our true nature and learn to live in harmony with natural law, a sense of well-being, good health, fulfilling relationships, energy and enthusiasm for life, and material abundance will spring forth easily and effortlessly.

Filled with timeless wisdom and practical steps you can apply right away, this is a book you will want to read and refer to again and again.

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Book Summary: Mission India : A Vision For Indian Youth by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Book Summary: Mission India : A Vision For Indian Youth by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Each and every Indian can make a difference, especially the nation’s youth’

Mission India is a road map for the youth of today who will shape the India of tomorrow. The mission is to transform India into a developed nation and one of the world’s top five economic powers by the year 2020. Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Y.S. Rajan examine India’s strengths and weaknesses to show how this goal is not an unrealistic one.

This inspirational book introduces children to the unknown success stories of India and discusses the country’s problems at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It looks at different aspects of national life, and clearly explains the achievements and challenges in each of these areas. It also discusses the ways in which today’s youth can make a difference to the country.

Based on the central tenets of the runaway best-seller, India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium, this book seeks to inspire readers with the crucial sense of purpose which is essential for developing a strong and prosperous nation.

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Book Summary: Indomitable Spirit by A.P.J. Abdul kalam

Book Summary: Indomitable Spirit

“What would you like to be remembered for? You have to evolve yourself and shape your life. You should write it on a page. That page maybe a very important page in the book of human history. And you will be remembered for creating that one page in the history of the nation – whether that page is the page of invention, the page of innovation or the page of discovery or the page of fighting injustice…”

Simple words spoken directly from the heart, revealing President Kalam’s deep concern for vital issues. Reflecting upon a wide range of themes of abiding human, national and global concerns, Dr Kalam’s inspiring, almost magical words engage and captivate the reader’s mind and heart.

Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, the eleventh President of India, has indeed captured the imagination of the people of India, like no other President ever before. Reaching out to the people of the country, especially the children, he has endeared himself with his simple style and imaginative thinking. His ‘Vision 2020′ – a dream for Developed India, has become a rallying point for people across all segments, and today we are all inspired with the glimmer of a better tomorrow. His own life reflects a dream-like rise, from the shores of Rameswaram to the hallowed Rashtrapati Bhawan, his journey is a story of indomitable spirit conquering all odds and emerging victorious.

Indomitable Spirit brings together the values, thoughts and ideals of President Kalam. Interspersed with interesting anecdotes and observations, Indomitable Spirit represents the quintessential A P J Abdul Kalam – the man, the scientist, the teacher and the President.

Autobiographical, inspirational, philosophical and yet pragmatic and realistic – Indomitable Spirit is a unique blend of all these and more, which fires the reader’s imagination and inspires with the thought that “anything is possible.” As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will.”

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Book Summary: Ignited Minds: Unleashing The Power Within India by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Book Summary: Ignited Minds: Unleashing The Power Within India

When A.P.J. Abdul Kalam wrote “India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium” with Y.S. Rajan in 1998, little did they expect the magnitude of the response they would get. The idea that India could actually be a developed nation in a short time rather than remain condemned to a subsistence diet of marginal improvements and promises struck a chord among readers. The book continues to be a bestseller.
“Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India” goes the logical next step and examines why, given all our skills, resources and talents, we, so obviously capable of being the best, settle so often for the worst. What is it that we as a nation are missing? For at the heart of “Ignited Minds” is an irresistible premise: the people of a nation have the power, by dint of hard work, to realize their dream of a truly good life.
Kalam offers no formulaic prescription in “Ignited Minds,” Instead, he takes up different issues and themes that struck him on his pilgrimage around the country as he met thousands of school children, teachers, scientists and saints and seers in the course of two years: the necessity for a patriotism that transcends religion and politics; for role models who point out the path to take; and for confidence in ourselves and in our strengths.
Who was he to write on so large a theme, he wondered as he started writing this book. But at the end, Kalam’s humility notwithstanding, this may well prove to be the book that motivates us to get back on the winning track and unleash the energy within a nation that hasn’t allowed itself full rein.

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Book Summary: The Family And The Nation by Acharya Mahapragya

Book Summary: The Family And The Nation

As we talk of rising economic prosperity and a strong and confident nation, this book gently reminds us of the values that make for a truly sustainable society, at the heart of which is the family.

For it is not economic growth or military strength alone that make a society strong. Sustainable success comes from values, and these can sustain a society, and a nation, even in times of hardship. The book attempts to express an ideal by which society may prosper, and speaks of how spirituality can help create a noble nation and a better world.

aIt provides a valuable counterpoint to the modern-day emphasis on consumerism and the philosophy of more is better, highlighting the sanctity of the natural world and its great power to evoke human creativity and love.

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