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Sunday, August 17, 2025
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Book Scene

Focus on services an excuse for incompetence. Manufacturing is key, says Jaishankar

The foreign minister was speaking at the launch of former NITI Aayog chief Amitabh Kant’s book Made in India.

Cheetah is India’s new conservation icon after tiger. It can save grasslands

The Story of India’s Cheetahs suggests that the animal's revival will be a long-drawn out process, spanning several decades at least.

Belchi wasn’t just Indira Gandhi’s moment. A legal landmark for Dalits too, new book says

Manoj Mitta’s ‘Caste Pride: Battles for Equality in Hindu India’ documents the fight against the caste system and the pushback against it.

Activist ancestors, sexism in politics — KK Shailaja’s book traces her journey to communism

Brinda Karat called it a ‘book that will fly off the shelves’. And if the crowd at the book launch is any indication, she’s right.

Book on Sri Lankan cricket captures British history to 1996 World Cup. Only 13 attend the talk

Nicholas Brookes' An Island's Eleven talks about Ranatunga, Mendis, commonalities with West Indies cricket, and Percy Abeysekera. But school cricket culture was the highlight.

Non-Dalits can go through life not knowing Ambedkar’s work, jolt needed: Author Ashok Gopal

Ashok Gopal’s ‘Part Apart’, launched in Delhi on 14 April, takes Ambedkar’s life story and juxtaposes it with his writings, speeches – in English and Marathi – and all that he read.

‘Government must be open to ideas’—Former IAS officer’s book has lessons for new India

Sanjay Kaul launched his book ‘An Alternative Development Agenda’ at New Delhi’s India International Centre. And his target group was the country's political class.

Why has India’s steel frame turned laid back? Vinod Rai’s book talks modernising civil services

The book launch had a panel comprising decorated members from politics and civil services. And Jaishankar turned the 'specialists versus generalists' debate on its head.

Citizenship took a back seat to the Partition, ‘Indianess’ was never fully defined

Book launch of ‘Where the Madness Lies: Citizen Accounts of Identity and Nationalism’ by Kishalaya Bhattacharjee sparked conversations on citizenship, marginalisation, caste.

Ladakh, Zanskar, Spiti are not ‘Little Tibet’. The region’s history is far more complicated

Ladakh is misunderstood. Its history is as old as 7th century Indus valley.

On Camera

Postcards from Hyderabad—stories Europeans told about the city

For all their colonial underpinnings, postcards from Hyderabad also inadvertently preserve a trace of local memory: a glimpse of a street, a face, a forgotten name.

Navigating Trump’s tariffs is no child’s play. Indian toymakers are losing out on orders, enquiries

Indian toymakers are now exploring new markets, but they want govt to negotiate a trade deal with US soon, introduce incentives and subsidies to make the industry more competitive.

What is Project Sudarshan Chakra, announced by Modi from ramparts of Red Fort

The project is meant to be a ‘protective shield that will keep expanding’, the PM said. It is on the lines of the ‘Golden Dome’ announced by Trump, it is learnt.

War of IAF, PAF doctrines: As Pakistan obsesses over numbers, India embraces risk, wins

Now that both IAF and PAF have made formal claims of having shot down the other’s aircraft in the 87-hour war in May, we can ask a larger question: do such numbers really matter?