A Chequered Brilliance

A Chequered Brilliance PDF Author: Jairam Ramesh
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
ISBN: 935305740X
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 901

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Book Description
This is a compelling biography of one of India's most controversial and consequential public figures. V.K. Krishna Menon continues to command our attention not just because he was Jawaharlal Nehru's confidant and soulmate but also for many of his own political and literary accomplishments. A relentless crusader for Indian independence in the UK in the 1930s and 1940s, he was a global star at the United Nations in the 1950s before he was forced to resign as defence minister in the wake of the India-China war of 1962. Meticulously researched and based entirely on new archival material, this book reveals Krishna Menon in all his capabilities and contradictions. It is also a rich history of the tumultuous times in which he lived and which he did so much to shape.

A Chequered Brilliance

A Chequered Brilliance PDF Author: Jairam Ramesh
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
ISBN: 935305740X
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 901

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is a compelling biography of one of India's most controversial and consequential public figures. V.K. Krishna Menon continues to command our attention not just because he was Jawaharlal Nehru's confidant and soulmate but also for many of his own political and literary accomplishments. A relentless crusader for Indian independence in the UK in the 1930s and 1940s, he was a global star at the United Nations in the 1950s before he was forced to resign as defence minister in the wake of the India-China war of 1962. Meticulously researched and based entirely on new archival material, this book reveals Krishna Menon in all his capabilities and contradictions. It is also a rich history of the tumultuous times in which he lived and which he did so much to shape.

Intertwined Lives

Intertwined Lives PDF Author: Jairam Ramesh
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9386797275
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 491

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Book Description
This is the first definitive biography of arguably India’s most influential and powerful civil servant: P.N. Haksar, Indira Gandhi’s alter ego during her period of glory. Educated in the sciences and trained in law, Haksar was a diplomat by profession and a communist-turned-democratic socialist by conviction. He had known Indira Gandhi from their student days in London in the late-1930s, even though family links predated this friendship. They kept in touch, and in May 1967, she plucked him out of his diplomatic career and appointed him secretary in the prime minister’s Secretariat. This is when he emerged as her ideological beacon and moral compass, playing a pivotal role in her much-heralded achievements including the nationalization of banks, abolition of privy purses and princely privileges, the Indo-Soviet Treaty, the creation of Bangladesh, rapprochement with Sheikh Abdullah, the Simla and New Delhi Agreements with Pakistan, the emergence of the country as an agricultural, space and nuclear power and, later, the integration of Sikkim with India. This power and influence notwithstanding, Haksar chose to walk away from Indira Gandhi in January 1973. She, however, persuaded him to soon return, first as her special envoy and later as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission where he left his distinctive imprint. Exiting government once and for all in May 1977, he then continued to be associated with a number of academic institutions and became the patron for various national causes like protecting India’s secular traditions, propagating of a scientific temper, strengthening the public sector and deepening technological self-reliance. Successive prime ministers sought his counsel and in May 1987, he initiated the reconstruction of India’s relations with China. He remained an unrepentant Marxist and one of India’s most respected elder statesman and leading public figures till his death in November 1998. Drawing on Haksar’s extensive archives of official papers, memos, notes and letters, Jairam Ramesh presents a compelling chronicle of the life and times of a truly remarkable personality who decisively shaped the nation’s political and economic history in the 1960s and 1970s that continues to have relevance for today’s India as well. Written in Ramesh’s inimitable style, this work of formidable scholarship brings to life a man who is fast becoming a victim of collective amnesia.

VP Menon

VP Menon PDF Author: Narayani Basu
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9386797690
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 675

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Book Description
With his initial plans for an independent India in tatters, the desperate viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, turned to his seniormost Indian civil servant, Vappala Pangunni Menon—or VP—giving him a single night to devise an alternative, coherent and workable plan for independence. Menon met his stringent deadline, presenting the Menon Plan, which would change the map of the world forever. Menon was unarguably the architect of the modern Indian state. Yet startlingly little is known about this bureaucrat, patriot and visionary. In this definitive biography, Menon’s great-granddaughter, Narayani Basu, rectifies this travesty. She takes us through the highs and lows of his career, from his determination to give women the right to vote; to his strategy, at once ruthless and subtle, to get the princely states to accede to India; to his decision to join forces with the Swatantra Party; to his final relegation to relative obscurity. Equally, the book candidly explores the man behind the public figure— his unconventional personal life and his private conflicts, which made him channel his energy into public service. Drawing from documents—scattered, unread and unresearched until now—and with unprecedented access to Menon’s papers and his taped off-the-record and explosively frank interviews—this remarkable biography of VP Menon not only covers the life and times of a man unjustly consigned to the footnotes of history but also changes our perception of how India, as we know it, came into being.

Nehru and Krishna Menon

Nehru and Krishna Menon PDF Author: V. R. Krishna Iyer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Chiefly political and social views.

A Life in Diplomacy

A Life in Diplomacy PDF Author: Maharajakrishna Rasgotra
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 9385890956
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
An insider's account of the personalities and policies that shaped Indian diplomacy Former foreign secretary, Maharajakrishna Rasgotra joined India's external affairs ministry when Jawaharlal Nehru, Girija Shankar Bajpai, Sardar Patel were—with a mix of pragmatism and hope—creating the foreign policy of the newly independent nation. This was taking place as the Cold War slid into the subcontinent and complex relationships with India's neighbours—China, Pakistan and Nepal—were taking shape. Looking back on those crucial years with a discerning eye for the interplay of personalities—Nehru, Krishna Menon, or S. Radhakrishnan, for instance—Rasgotra assesses their influence on events and their impact on the evolution of Indian diplomacy. For over three decades Rasgotra's assignments took him to Nepal, Britain and France, among other countries, as well as twice to the United States. His account of Nixon and Kissinger, and the mix of truculence and persuasion in their dealings with Mrs Gandhi in the run up to the 1971 Bangladesh war, sheds new light on the events of that time. His tenure as foreign secretary covered a period of great change and A Life in Diplomacy provides a ringside view of the beginnings of ethnic violence in Sri Lanka, the last years of the Cold War, the negotiations on the formation of SAARC, Mrs Gandhi's assassination and the Bhopal gas disaster. This is a compelling, authoritative account of a personal and professional journey; a reflective look at the leaders, events and forces that formed relations between India and the world over fifty years.

The Absent Dialogue

The Absent Dialogue PDF Author: Anit Mukherjee
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190905905
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
In The Absent Dialogue, Anit Mukherjee examines the relations between politicians, bureaucrats, and the military in India and argues that the pattern of civil-military relations in India hampers the effectiveness of the Indian military. Informed by more than a hundred and fifty interviews with high ranking officials, as well as archival material, this book sheds new light on both India's political and military history, as well as democratic civilian control and military effectiveness more generally.

The Hunt for K

The Hunt for K PDF Author: Ramesh Menon
Publisher: Orient Blackswan
ISBN: 9780863113116
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description


War and Peace in Modern India

War and Peace in Modern India PDF Author: S. Raghavan
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230277519
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
A study of Indian foreign policy under Jawaharlal Nehru, concentrating on the fundamental questions of war and peace. Looks at Nehru's handling of the disputes over the fate of Junagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir in 1947-48; the refugee crisis in East and West Bengal in 1950; the Kashmir crisis in 1951; and the boundary dispute with China 1949-62.

India and Asian Geopolitics

India and Asian Geopolitics PDF Author: Shivshankar Menon
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815737246
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
A clear-eyed look at modern India's role in Asia's and the broader world One of India's most distinguished foreign policy thinkers addresses the many questions facing India as it seeks to find its way in the increasingly complex world of Asian geopolitics. A former Indian foreign secretary and national security adviser, Shivshankar Menon traces India's approach to the shifting regional landscape since its independence in 1947. From its leading role in the “nonaligned” movement during the cold war to its current status as a perceived counterweight to China, India often has been an after-thought for global leaders—until they realize how much they needed it. Examining India's own policy choices throughout its history, Menon focuses in particular on India's responses to the rise of China, as well as other regional powers. Menon also looks to the future and analyzes how India's policies are likely to evolve in response to current and new challenges. As India grows economically and gains new stature across the globe, both its domestic preoccupations and international choices become more significant. India itself will become more affected by what happens in the world around it. Menon makes a powerful geopolitical case for an India increasingly and positively engaged in Asia and the broader world in pursuit of a pluralistic, open, and inclusive world order.

Between Two Fires

Between Two Fires PDF Author: Iqbal Singh
Publisher: Orient Blackswan
ISBN: 9788125015857
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
Iqbal Singh Gives Us An Insightful Study Of India S Foreign Policy, During The Years Prime Minister Nehru Looked After The Foreign Office Portfolio As Well, Begining From 1947 To Bandung Conference And After. The Author Draws Exhaustively From Nehru S Own Writings, His Letters And Other Literature To Analyse And Critique The Thinking Of India S First Prime Minister Who Tried To Evolve A Meaningful Foreign Policy, Amidst A Belligerent Neighbour, The Machinations Of The Western Powers And A Uno Not Too Favourably Inclined Towards India.