Book Review Archives - Defence Monitor

10 Mar

‘Gunning for trouble’: Investigating the Bofors scandal, its impact – and inconclusive outcome (Book Review)

New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) The scandal tarnished the image of two popular Prime Ministers (one posthumously), threw light on the unscrupulous world of the global arms trade and its nexus with politics, and forced banking haven Switzerland to change its impenetrable laws to help foreign governments unearth cases of large-scale corruption. And all for a weapon system which had a fair chance of winning the contest on its own, as we learn, and did go on to display its worth soon. The Bofors artillery gun scandal, featuring politicians of all shades and agendas, over-enthusiastic arms manufacturers, shadowy but influential…

13 Dec

‘Nehru’s acceptance of ceasefire in 1949 prevented Indian Army from retaking all of J&K’

New Delhi: There can be no worse example of perfidy than two British Generals -- one commanding the Indian Army and other commanding the Pakistani Army -- conniving in the 'kabaili' (tribal) invasion of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 after the state had acceded to India -- to ensure that four British seismic and acoustic monitoring stations in Gilgit that were recording Soviet efforts to develop a nuclear bomb remained in Whitehall's control after the US had denied Britain the wherewithal to develop its own atomic weapon post World War II. Both General Rob Lockhart, the C-in-C of the Indian Army…

24 Aug

Tributing women officers with ‘The Girls in Green’

New Delhi: Ever since she wrote 'Boots Belts Berets' and 'On the Double', author Tanushree Podder has been asked why she had not written about the women who pass out from OTA (Officers Training Academy).After seeing Captain Tania Shergill leading a contingent in the Republic Day Parade, she decided that it was time to write the book. The result was 'The Girls in Green' (Bloomsbury) that hit the stands recently. "I got down to the research, and the book was ready a year later," Podder tells.Married to an Army officer, this is her fourth book on the Army -- 'Boots Belts…

23 Feb

Balochistan: In the Crosshairs of History

The year began on a subdued note with the assassination of journalist and activist Karima Baloch, one of Balochistan's few, fiery and brilliant women freedom fighters. Her dead body was found in a lake in Toronto, Canada. The death is strongly alleged to be that of the Pakistani deep state. It, however, did not ignite international passions as the farmers' protests in democratic India did, for example. Yet, this was not a one-off assassination. It was part of a broader pattern of continuous death, destruction and dispossession of an entire community by the very state that is meant to protect…

18 Feb

”Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Power” a grim wake-up call for India

New Delhi: With Artificial Intelligence helping "biological materialism sneak in through the back door", the world is witnessing a real clash of civilisations with "the battle between algorithm and being" writes Rajiv Malhotra, one of the most respected venture capitalists of Silicon Valley and a former chairman of the powerful TiE Global, in this seminal deep dive into a phenomenon that is only partially visible, like an iceberg. Lamentably however, most of India's leaders, public intellectuals, media personalities, policy makers, think tanks and authors are "ignoring the dangers" that lie ahead, "living securely in their comfort zones with like-minded peers", Malhotra,…

24 Dec

”For Vajpayee, discrimination on faith was completely no-go”

New Delhi: At a time when inter-faith marriages have come under pressure and Uttar Pradesh has even promulgated an anti-conversion ordinance, a new book contends that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was vehemently opposed to discrimination based on faith and that religious conversions deeply offended his sensibilities - but he accepted them. "Unlike Gandhi, who had detailed exposure of living in a non-Hindu milieu and extensive conversations with Christian theologians, Vajpayee was very much rooted in the larger Hindu traditions. Hence, for him, discrimination based on faith was completely no-go, and the ruler was not to be concerned with the…

15 Dec

‘Recalibrated India-China compact would have multidimensional possibilities’

New Delhi: Nothing intrinsic stands in the way of India and China having friendly relations and should they be able to recalibrate their ties, this new compact would have multidimensional possibilities, including joint patrolling of the Malacca Straits through which 75 per cent of the world's commercial sea traffic passes, says a new book by economist-author and Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy. But for this to happen, there has to be a major change in the mindset in the Indian establishment to build a national consensus on the issue and look beyond photo opportunities and other such nuances, Swamy writes in…

26 Nov

Controversy over ex-Army chief VK Singh’s age re-emerges

New Delhi: In 2012, an unseemly controversy had erupted over the age of the then Indian Army chief, General V.K. Singh, with the Supreme Court having to finally settle the matter by refusing to let him reduce this by a year so that his tenure could continue till May 2013 instead of ending in May 2012. The issue has now re-emerged with an army officer who was charged with furnishing the relevant documents on the issue admitting -- and justifying -- that he had held back information as this "might have further complicated the relationship" between the then army chief, General…

24 Sep

India a Civilisational State re-architecting the Republic’

New Delhi: India is a Civilisational State engaged in a "grand undertaking to re-architect" the Republic. It should make a "clean break" from its "socialistic, feudal past" to maintain the momentum and should stake claim to be a world power, says a new book on the country's journey as it approaches the 75th year of its Independence, even as it calls for course corrections in the areas of governance, bureaucracy, foreign policy and the judiciary. "India is today attempting to achieve economic growth with individual freedom-expanding social change in a grand undertaking to re-architect the republic. This India will be…

12 Sep

Fijian tale: Indentured worker’s family tries to solve a murder mystery

Memories, family histories, forgotten historical events have become matters of research and popular writing. Vaguely remembered events from history such as the devastating plague in Bombay or the detention of Chinese residents in India during the 1962 Sino-Indian war have featured in best-selling books. In recent years, there has been a revival of interest in one of the largest migrations from India that took place during the 19th and early 20th century. Over a million Indians were taken as indentured workers on a five-year bond to work on agricultural plantations on various British territories. Indenture was a period of severe…