Indian Economy’s Greatest Crisis: Impact of Coronavirus and the Road Ahead
Arun Kumar
Penguin India
This book highlights the enormity of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on India. It critically examines the government’s efforts to control the disease and mitigate its adverse effects on the Indian economy and society. Making a compelling argument that an economy is not like a rubber ball, which, if dropped on a hard surface, will bounce back to its original position, the author provides incisive reasons to why economic recovery will be slow and not ‘V-shaped’. He, however, cogently suggests that good governance, a robust public health system, and clean and representative politics are key to bringing India’s economy back on track.
Untamed Origins
Sunit Gajbhiye
Vishwakarma publications
‘Untamed Origins’ narrates a mysterious journey of two friends and their efforts to survive as they get caught amidst a ghost-village Vaghan, controlled by mortal Gods. People worshipped the leaders and followed them till the end of the world but a series of unknown and ghastly ghost-murders have caused them to lose faith in people and their gods alike. The two boys are dragged into a tussle they never should have been a part of. Will they survive this twisted escapade? As they struggle to find their way out, they discover a secret deep within themselves, although, is it enough to help them survive this ordeal.
Written on the Wind
Anuradha Kumar-Jain
Rupa publications
Set in pre-Partition Lahore, this is the story of two women, both strong and willing to challenge the limits of the acceptable. Harjeet is married to Gautam. Deeply dissatisfied with her life, she enters into a passionate affair with Haider, a Muslim. It explores their relationship against the backdrop of the growing Hindu-Muslim divide, and the politically turbulent times. Amiya was married at 19 to Ishwar Chand. The narrative follows her troubled marriage, and struggle to become financially independent, her coming of age as a writer, and the unlikely friendship she develops with Gautam. It chronicles the choices she must make, and the secret she must live with.
The Coolie’s Great War
Radhika Singha
Though largely invisible in histories of World War I, over 5,50,000 men in the ranks of the Indian army were non-combatants. From the porters, stevedores and construction workers in the Coolie Corps to those who maintained supply lines and removed the wounded from the battlefield, the author recovers the story of this unacknowledged service. The labour regimes built on the backs of these ‘coolies’ sustained the military infrastructure of empire; their deployment in interregional arenas bent to the demands of global war. Viewed as racially subordinate and subject to ‘non-martial’ caste designations, they fought back using the warring powers’ need for manpower to challenge traditional service hierarchies and wage differentials.