The Fiction shortlist boasts of Salman Rushdie’s ‘Victory City’, Vauhini Vara’s ‘This is Salvaged: Stories’, and Devika Rege’s ‘Quarterlife: A Novel’…reports Asian Lite News
Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) has announced the shortlist (English) for the Annual KLF Book Awards for 2024.
This year’s shortlist includes works such as Manoj Mitta’s ‘Caste Pride: Battles for Equality in Hindu India’, Amitav Ghosh’s ‘Smoke and Ashes: A Writer’s Journey through Opium’s Hidden Histories’, Salman Rushdie’s ‘Victory City’, Devika Rege’s ‘Quarterlife: A Novel’, Ranjit Hoskote’s ‘Icelight’, Gurcharan Das’s ‘Another Sort of Freedom’ and former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s ‘Breaking the Mould – Reimagining India’s Economic Future’.
Rashmi Ranjan Parida, founder and director of KLF, said, “Literature is the mirror and the lamp of society — it reflects our realities and illuminates our dreams. We strive to honour those literary works that challenge our perspectives, enrich our experiences, and elevate our understanding of the world and ourselves.”
In the Non-Fiction category, Amitav Ghosh’s ‘Smoke and Ashes: A Writer’s Journey through Opium’s Hidden Histories’, Neerja Chowdhry’s ‘How Prime Ministers Decide’, and Manoj Mitta’s ‘Caste Pride: Battles for Equality in Hindu India’ have been shortlisted.
The Fiction shortlist boasts of Salman Rushdie’s ‘Victory City’, Vauhini Vara’s ‘This is Salvaged: Stories’, and Devika Rege’s ‘Quarterlife: A Novel’.
Books in the Poetry shortlist include Ranjit Hoskote’s ‘Icelight’, Robin S. Ngangom’s ‘My Invented Land: New and Selected Poems’, and Varavara Rao’s ‘A Life in Poetry’.
The Debut shortlist includes Atharva Pandit’s ‘Hurda’, Sohini Chattopadhyay’s ‘The Day I Became a Runner: A Women’s History of India through the Lens of Sport’, and Radhika Iyengar’s ‘Fire on the Ganges: Life Among the Dead in Banaras’.
In the Children category, the shortlisted books include Bijal Vachharajani, Rajiv Eipe’s ‘When Fairyland Lost Its Magic’, Nikhil Gulati, Jonathan Mark Kenoyer’s ‘The People Of The Indus: And the Birth of Civilisation in South Asia’, Ravi Kapoor, and Nicholas Hoffland’s ‘Golden Tiger Mountain’.
The Business shortlist comprises Gurcharan Das’s ‘Another Sort of Freedom’, Akshat Rathi’s ‘Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions’, and Raghuram Rajan, Rohit Lamba’s ‘Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future’.
The Translation shortlist includes Vivek Shanbhag’s ‘Sakina’s Kiss’, translated by Srinath Perur, Imayam’s ‘A Woman Burnt’, translated by GJV Prasad, and Manoj Rupda’s ‘I Named My Sister Silence’ translated by Hansda Sowvendra Shekha.
KLF will be held from February 9 to 11 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
However, in 2015, the Madras High Court dismissed the case against him. In an epilogue, the bench called on the author to start writing again: “Let the author be resurrected to what he is best at. Write.”…writes Sukant Deepak
It is an unusual interaction. You ask the questions, and two kind people who know Tamil translate them for him. He answers in his native tongue, and his replies come back in English. While this delicate ballet takes place, Perumal Murugan never takes his eyes off you. Is he even blinking? It is unnerving. He is perhaps looking inside you.
Long back, he had once asked you, “Isn’t life, but memories?” Maybe he will say something today too that will refuse to leave.
Murugan, who has to his credit twelve novels, six collections of short stories, six anthologies of poetry, and several non-fiction books, with ten of his novels translated into English and is a recipient of the JCB Prize for Literature among several others, starts the conversation with loneliness. He says it is not a bad thing. For him, it has always been extremely important. “How will writing happen if there are too many sounds? Internal isolation magnetizes words. They start coming easy. The mind willingly travels lands far and wide and looks for stories. Melancholy has a strange charm. It is only when alone that you are truly yourself,” he tells IANS on the sidelines of the ongoing Kerala Literature Festival (KLF), Asia’s largest literature festival being held at Kozhikode Beach.
Currently working on a new set of short stories to be published soon, the author is working on the theme of how pets affect human lives and their affairs. Exploring their connection with men, he adds, “I come from an agricultural family which had lots of goats, cows, and bullocks. In those times, they helped us in their work. Now, with youngsters going abroad for work, pets serve a different purpose for their parents. They depend on them for company now… a one-way dialogue. It is tragic but see, they (animals) are in so many ways more relevant to our lives in present times”
A staunch Marxist, Murugan, despite all the failings of Indian communists politically, continues to stay true to the essence of communism. “Politics is only one aspect of Marxism. It does not matter how relevant they are in terms of vote share. Look at the contribution of the ideology to literature and the arts, how it has been instrumental in making so many of us sensitive towards everything around us.”
The author who hit international headlines post the book ‘One Part Woman’, published in 2010 and translated into English in 2013 faced a lawsuit filed against him by caste-based groups accusing him of hurting their religious sentiments, and he declared on his Facebook page: “Perumal Murugan the writer is dead. As he is no God, he is not going to resurrect himself. He also has no faith in rebirth. An ordinary teacher, he will live as P. Murugan. Leave him alone.”
However, in 2015, the Madras High Court dismissed the case against him. In an epilogue, the bench called on the author to start writing again: “Let the author be resurrected to what he is best at. Write.”
Remembering that time, Murugan says that the judge was not just supporting him but also freedom of expression. “But there is still an invisible fear… of books being banned, of freedom of expression curtailed. Democracy must prevail, under all circumstances.”
For someone who has been translated widely, and published in English by Penguin and HarperCollins India, it is not just about the fact that the translator is proficient in both languages. “He/she needs to understand the intricacies of the village dialects too. The metaphors of the country life can be tough to put in words in another language,” he concludes.
Rama accompanies me, I was reading the farewell, his final departure from the city of Ayodhya. Rama with Sita and Lakshmana marching into the forest – who would not like to be Rama, Sita or Lakshmana…writes Dilip Roy
Like most intellectuals of 19th century Germany, who were influenced and inspired by India’s ancient VEDIC philosophy and epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana among them was composer Richard Wagner the Doyen of German opera and the greatest icon of 19th century Europe was deeply inspired by India’s classical literature and Ramayana was one of them.
Following are the extracts from his diary published in 1865 called the BROWN BOOK: Wagner is constantly reading the Indian epic Ramayana.
Oh, how grand the Rama poem becomes, and ever finer! – Really, merely to secure for oneself the right mood for such a thing must be too able to withdraw from all the vulgarity of the present. That costs total effort, and at the beginning one thinks it won’t work at all: the incomprehensible excesses of the introduction, for example, one feels like yawning and jeering at. But just go on: at last, it dawns on you! What sort of world that is, and how it is built up and executed! ” A work of art to marvel at – against which a modern novel seems like a newspaper article.” I am into the second volume. It is alive, sounding and moving around me. Oh, Rama is divine! How grand, how vast everything becomes for me at having to deal with such people! ” A glorious drama stands there before me, different from all others.”
Rama accompanies me, I was reading the farewell, his final departure from the city of Ayodhya. Rama with Sita and Lakshmana marching into the forest – who would not like to be Rama, Sita or Lakshmana. ” It is almost the finest thing I know Divine land of the Ganges.” At this point everyone gives way to tears, sighs, sobs, weeping howling and wailing – it beats one how the houses stay standing – and I sought the authoress of this misery wondering how she begins to endure such success for her not ardently malicious but merely ambitious undertaking. Then I saw hunch-backed Manthara who had given the counsel, and imagined her gazing down on all the monstrous misery and saying to it will herself coldly: ” Well, it will all pass, and soon at that, then it will be as if it never was, and we shall be the Lords.”
(Translated from the original German) The concept of Ramayana has been used by Wagner in his grand opera The Ring Cycle.
PS: This article is my homage to the upcoming Ram Temple in Ayodhya and to the Indian PM Narendra MODI who made it all happen. Jai Hind ((Dilip Roy is a Fellow of Royal Asiatic Society UK and one of the greatest admirer of Richard Wagner )
The World Competitiveness Yearbook of the International Institute for Management Development for 2023, revealed the Kingdom reaching the 17th position globally out of 64 countries as the most competitive in the world, and the third among the G20 countries…writes Mohammed Abdul Mannan
Saudi Arabia, where the Indians arrived as migrant workers during the British times after the discovery of oil and currently accounts for 2.2 million – the largest expatriate community – and contributing in US$13.052 billion in 2021, is in the midst of a massive socio-economic and infrastructural transformation. The Arabian Peninsula’s largest country has achieved a significant economic milestone by surpassing a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of SR4.155 trillion (US$1 trillion) for the first time, ahead of its 2025 target. The economy experienced an impressive growth rate of 8.7 per cent, outperforming all other G20 member-states. The private sector contributed SR1.634 trillion to the GDP, constituting 41 per cent of its total. Non-governmental investments experienced remarkable growth, reaching SR907.5 billion. The private sector workforce witnessed substantial expansion, growing to 9.422 million in 2022, reflecting an impressive growth rate of 16.6 per cent.
In May 2023, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) revealed that the Kingdom was the world’s second-fastest-growing tourism destination. It had been ranked 13th globally, advancing by 12 places since 2019 on its index, as one of the top countries receiving international tourists in 2022. According to its barometer, the Kingdom also advanced 16 places in the international tourism revenue index, achieving 11th place in 2022, compared to 27th place in 2019 globally. The country received about 7.8 million international tourists for all purposes during the Q1 of 2023, representing its highest quarterly performance, up 64 per cent compared to the same period in 2019.
In 2023, there had been 20 per cent more international capacity than in 2018 and it now exceeds domestic capacity. In 2023, SAUDIA represented 41 per cent of capacity, with private budget carrier Flyadeal and hybrid short-haul operator Flynas representing a further 25 per cent of the market. Reflecting robust economic growth, its financial markets reported a remarkable performance by the end of 2022, with the Capital Market Authority witnessing 49 new listings, marking a completion rate of 204 per cent. The stock market’s capitalization as a proportion of the GDP also increased by 91 per cent, exceeding the initial Vision 2030 strategic objective of 77 per cent. The World Competitiveness Yearbook of the International Institute for Management Development for 2023, revealed the Kingdom reaching the 17th position globally out of 64 countries as the most competitive in the world, and the third among the G20 countries.
Investment funds soared to a historic peak of 1,130, marking a 34.68 per cent surge from the 839 funds in the same period last year. An official document projected the government would post a budget deficit of 1.9 per cent of the GDP in 2024, 1.6 per cent of GDP in 2025, and 2.3 per cent of GDP in 2026, with “limited budget deficits” continuing in the medium term. The total expenditure is seen rising to SR1.262 billion in 2023, before slowing down marginally to SR1.251 billion in 2024. For 2024, the government expects total revenues at SR1.172 trillion and total spending of SR1.251 trillion. According to a September 2023 report by American newswire Bloomberg, the Kingdom awarded construction contracts worth US$250 billion since 2016, when it embarked on an ambitious plan to transform the economy. Property and infrastructure projects of US$1.25 trillion value have been announced across the country, according to property consultant Knight Frank.
Assets under the management of the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) – the sovereign wealth fund- have swelled to US$603 billion in 2022, and it hopes to boost its total assets to a whopping SAR4 trillion by 2025, of which 24 per cent will be international. As it rides a new wave of socio-economic growth, the oil-rich Kingdom has become a head-turner. As it pursues an ambitious aviation and tourism agenda, it has launched two new state-owned airlines which are scheduled to start flying from 2024/2025. One of the three airlines in operation, national carrier SAUDIA is weighing options including a debut bond sale to fund new aircraft orders, as it prepares to almost double its fleet by 2030. The Kingdom plans to boost international arrivals to 70 million. A whopping US$100 billion has been dedicated to airports and the air transport sector to handle 330 million passengers and 4.5 million tons of air cargo by 2030. It is working towards 250-plus destinations connectivity from across its 29 airports. The Kingdom’s three carriers are set to face stiff competition from the two new state-owned carriers scheduled to start flying in 2024/2025. NEOM Bay Airport is the first of four airports to be developed under Vision 2030, the massive economic development program launched in 2016 with US$100 billion dedicated to airports and the air transport sector.
The world’s largest producer and exporter of oil and the fastest-growing tourism market in the G20 is targeting to handle 330 million passengers and 4.5 million tons of air cargo by 2030. It is working to have 250-plus destinations connectivity from across its 29 airports. By that time, the country will house the world’s largest airport by size, spreading across 776 square kilometres in Jeddah. After being shuttered for the 41st time in history due to the 21st century’s second pandemic, the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah are recording the world’s largest human gatherings. The Kingdom wants to raise the tourism sector’s contribution to the GDP to more than 10 per cent to over US$100 billion to become one of the world’s top five tourism destinations by attracting 100 million annual visitors by 2030. It has pledged to invest up to US$64 billion by 2028 to develop its domestic entertainment sector. Saudi Arabia will see its first underground and driverless Metro of 176 kilometres taking off in 2023/24 to carry 400,000 passengers. The capital city is also developing an integrated 1,900-kilometre bus network with around 3,000 stops and three Bus Rapid transit (BRT) lines as it suffers from chronic traffic jams caused by over nine million road trips a year.
The country is constructing the world’s largest airport by size – spread across 776 square kilometres. Construction is on in Jeddah for a skyscraper expected to become the world’s tallest building, reaching a height of 1,000 metres, taller than the current record-holder, the 828-metre-tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Jeddah Tower will hold a Four Seasons hotel, residences, offices as well as the world’s highest observation deck on a constructed building. The fastest-growing tourism market in the G20 wants to be one of the world’s top five tourism destinations by attracting 100 million annual visits by 2030. It wants to host the World Expo in Riyadh in 2030, and the T20 cricket league. It will host the Asian Cup in 2027. It wants to host the 2034 Asian Games and also the Olympics. Saudi Arabia has started planning to bid to host the football World Cup in 2034 after, abandoning its plans to co-host in 2030 with Egypt and Greece.
It has already won the right to host the 2029 Winter Games. The country is speeding towards becoming a global player in international sports by spending billions of dollars on high-profile deals. Saudi Arabia wants to host 2035 Women’s World Cup for women, and could go head-to-head with an English bid for the tournament. To rejuvenate its domestic football, it has picked up the most sought-after football stars like Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, doling out million-dollar salaries and opulent mansions. According to a report in a British daily, the Kingdom has started planning a bid to host the football World Cup in 2034 after abandoning its plans to co-host it in 2030 with Egypt and Greece. The country had already won the right to host the 2029 Winter Games. The Kingdom got an impressive tourism revenue surplus of US$6.1 billion during the Q1 of 2023, an astounding 225 per cent rise compared with the same quarter of 2022.
If the Kingdom gets the rights to host the Expo 2030, the five-month exhibition will welcome over 120 million visitors to Riyadh and 40 million to the massive site. The mega event will be a “unique opportunity for international visitors to experience its impressive transformation, rich cultural heritage and extraordinary hospitality.” Its US$7 trillion investment is turbocharging its drive to be a prime destination in the 21st century, with six UNESCO World Heritage Sites adoring its landscape as it rains on average six times a year.
Saudi Arabia has remained focused on developing cutting-edge Air Traffic Management facilities. Its Jeddah FIR covers all of the Saudi airspace, with only 56 per cent of the airspace fully utilized and used freely and the rest remaining with the military. Saudi Air Navigation Services (SANS) manages air traffic over two million square kilometres across a wide variety of terrains and environments. The sole Air Navigation Services Provider (ANSP) has the world’s tallest air traffic control tower at King Abdul-Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, since 2017, measuring 446 feet – taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza. Work is underway to deploy the Middle East’s first virtual air traffic control tower at Al Ula International Airport.
The Kingdom has seen 13 commercial airlines take off in its history. The Kingdom recorded the highest-ever passenger numbers – 103 million – in 2019. That year, total international flights number reached 159,795 and domestic flights stood at 225,721. The country also got its first aircraft leasing company. Two new airlines are due to start flying in 2024/2025. It is working towards enabling its airports to handle 330 million passengers by 2030, a decade before the Middle East airports, with Saudi Arabia in the lead, handling 1.1 billion passengers. From having its first airport in Dhahran in the 1940s, Saudi Arabia now boasts 29 airports. Jeddah’s King Abdul-Aziz International Airport tops in connectivity and destinations served – 55 airlines and 109 cities. Next comes Riyadh (38 airlines, 80 cities), Dammam (32 airlines and 48 cities) and Madinah (15 airlines and 28 cities).
Red Sea International Airport will start international operations in 2023/24, with five mini terminals. A new airport in Jeddah, billed to emerge as the world’s biggest facility, will handle up to 185 million passengers by 2050. After being called a ‘Forbidden Kingdom’ for being one of the 10 toughest countries to obtain visit visas, Saudi Arabia is going all out to warmly welcome the world, including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) visitors. The Kingdom has introduced one-year, fee-based e-visas for tourism, events, visiting relatives or Umrah, and a free four-day stop-over visa for passengers booked on its flag carrier, Saudia, and budget airline, Flynas. Its goal is to attract 100 million tourists a year by 2030. The government has plans to spend US$1 trillion over the decade to turn the Kingdom into a mass-market tourist destination. The hotel segment alone has been projected to generate US$2.5 billion in revenues in 2023 as life comes back to normal following the years run of the 21st century’s second pandemic. Saudi Arabia’s growth and prosperity in the coming time will for sure make the world astonished. It is right now like a camel on wings.
Again, the book is a journal allowing all the multiple possibilities in its reading. From the attack on Rushdie to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the writer, with his words and artwork, continues making notes, stressing the need to mark memories and to keep believing…reports Asian Lite News
He calls it a happy accident. Author Amitava Kumar had already finished work on ‘The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal’, but had not stopped drawing or keeping a journal.
One day, his colleague at Vassar College in the US asked him to visit his class on creativity. The colleague had given his students two journals joined together with a thick rubber band: one was blue and it was meant for writing down one’s thoughts, while the other, which was yellow, was for writing other people’s words.
“He gave me the same bound journals as a gift too. I immediately told the class that I had found the title I would give to the sequel,” says Kumar, whose latest ‘The Yellow Book: A Traveller’s Diary’, published by HarperCollins India recently hit the stands.
In his latest, the author allows the reader to see how a writer observes the world.
There are entries — the death of the legendary writer and journalist Joan Didion, the rituals he wants his students on a study tour to follow in London, like taking a picture of the first coffee, going for a run…artist Krishen Khanna’s painting on Gandhi’s death…notes from his visit to his hometown (Motihari) in India.
Again, the book is a journal.. allowing all the multiple possibilities in its reading. From the attack on Rushdie to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the writer, with his words and artwork, continues making notes, stressing the need to mark memories and to keep believing.
He says the practice of keeping a journal has been hugely important for his work and that he uses his old ones as material all the time.
“I always like to quote a friend who has written that if journalism is the first rough draft of history, then perhaps a journal is the first rough draft of literature,” Kumar says.
Like many writers, Kumar has always stressed the need to write every day. He however stresses the need to walk meditatively for ten minutes each day, imagining that with every step they take they are planting lotuses with their feet.
“I learned this from a lecture given by the Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh. It is a way of cultivating mindfulness. It is also a way of exercising and freeing the mind to come up with new ideas,” he says.
The author feels that to travel is to leave behind what is familiar or comforting or stale, taking one out of himself and forcing him to encounter the world.
“It doesn’t mean that you abandon your interiority or your private thoughts: it’s just that you see yourself against a new background,” he adds.
But for a writer like him, who undertook the journey from Bihar to the US and has also written on the immigrant experience — does the immigrant ever stop travelling, even after he has lived in his new country for a long time? The author feels that everything, even what is new, can often quickly become a habit or a part of a routine.
“Let’s say you have gone to a new city, you step out of your hotel room each day to go to the same cafe, and after a while, you recognise the waiter and he recognises you, and maybe you start thinking of yourself as a regular. In a narrow sense, you stop being a traveller. It is the same with an immigrant, the sense of having a home and a bed that is yours even though you have left the home where you grew up. I should add that I draw to pay attention. To break out of routine, pay attention, and see with new eyes.”
For someone who wrote ‘A Time Outside This Time’, a novel about fake news, memory, and how truth gives over to fiction, news should never be consumed passively.
“It was never right to do it and it is especially dangerous to do so now,” concludes Kumar, currently working on the last of the trilogy of drawing books: ‘The Green Book: A Citizen’s Report’.
The set of drawings in his next paper is primarily focused on the environment and climate change and will be published by HarperCollins India at the end of this year.
Wagner’s colossal creations such as The Ring Cycle, Tristan and Isolde, Lohengrin and Parsifal were models of formal daring, mythmaking, erotic freedom and mysticism…writes Dilip Roy
Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and now Wagnerism a 19th-century icon has gone on to achieve a phenomenal cult status in the 21st century.
WAGNERISM: “Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music” is written by an American music scholar Alex Ross and was published in 2021. Ross sudied music at Harvard and writes regularly for The New Yorker magazine, is also a Pulitzer Prize Nominee. This 769 page book reads like an encyclopedia although an encyclopedia on Wagner was published in the bicentenary year 2013 with contributions by various Wagnerian pundits but this book written on an epic scale, superceeds all the previous books written on Wagner.
Ross cleverly disects everry aspects of Wagner’s work his involvment in Art, Politics, Music and Philosophy and clarifies some of the myths associated with Wagner that he was the most antisemite person but according to Ross he was most liberal of all the artists of the time as a matter of fact Bayreuth’s first conductor was Jewish. Today Wagner is recognized as the most widely influential figure in the history of music today he is the most popular icon the world over including Southeast Asia except India where Western classical music did not make a great deal of impact except the works of Beethoven and Mozart but that too in a Parsee comunity who took European classical music seriously and the product was Mehli Mehta and his now world famous son Zubin Mehta is also a Wagerian. However, Satyajit Ray in his adult life became serious admirer of Western classical music thanks to his Parsee doctor friend who had a wide collection of Western classical music and Ray would be invited regularly at his residence.
Wagner’s colossal creations such as The Ring Cycle, Tristan and Isolde, Lohengrin and Parsifal were models of formal daring, mythmaking, erotic freedom and mysticism. In Wagnerism Ross restores the the magnificent confusion of what it means to be a Wagnerian and his amirers included artists, intellectuals, philosophers and Nobel Laureates. Wagner’s many sided legacy will remain for a long time to come in my parsonal opinion forever. Wagner will be remembered as the Shakespear of music.
(A Fellow of Royal Asiatic Society Dilip Roy is a Wagner Aficionado)
Asian Lite profiles Dr Abhinav Pandya, the author of new book Terror Financing in Kashmir which exposes the complex web of terror financing in Kashmir
Dr. Abhinav Pandya is a distinguished policy analyst with a robust background in counterterrorism, Indian foreign policy, and Afghanistan-Pakistan geopolitics. He holds a Doctoral degree from the Jindal School of International Affairs (OP Jindal Global University) and is a graduate of Cornell University in public affairs, with a bachelor’s degree from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.
As the founder, Director, and CEO of Usanas Foundation, a prominent India-based security and foreign policy think tank, Dr. Pandya has been at the forefront of shaping discourse on international security. In his capacity as CEO, he curated two impactful international security and foreign policy conferences titled Maharana Pratap Annual Geopolitics Dialogue in 2022 and 2023.
Dr. Pandya’s influence extends globally, as evidenced by his extensive contributions to esteemed publications such as the National Interest (USA), Vivekananda International Foundation, Observer Research Foundation, Haaretz (Israel), and many others. His insightful articles have also found space in peer-reviewed journals like Perspectives on Terrorism, CLAWS Journal, and Strategic Analysis.
A prolific author, Dr. Pandya has penned the authoritative work “Radicalization in India: An Exploration” (Pentagon, 2019), offering a comprehensive examination of extremist undercurrents in the Indian Islamic landscape. The book delves into specific cases, including an in-depth analysis of the ecosystem of extremism and terrorism in Kashmir and the rise of homegrown suicide attackers. Dr. Pandya’s work has proven prescient, indirectly forecasting events such as Pulwama-styled suicide attacks.
Dr. Pandya’s commitment to knowledge dissemination extends beyond the written word. He has delivered lectures on geopolitics and security issues to diverse audiences, including NATO officers, US Congressional Staff members, and various institutions in India and globally. His expertise has been sought by renowned organizations like the Central Reserve Police Force, the Indian Army, and the Jerusalem Institute of Strategic Studies.
In times of critical importance, Dr. Pandya has played advisory roles, notably offering insights on security issues during the revocation of Kashmir’s special status (Article 370) and contributing to the International Labor Organisation, UN, as a member of the national-level specialist team on MGNREGS. His rich experience encompasses a deep understanding of conflict situations and intelligence dynamics in Kashmir.
Dr. Pandya’s latest contribution, “Terror Financing in Kashmir” (Routledge, Taylor and Francis 2023), promises to be a seminal work. This book meticulously analyzes the intricate web of terror financing in Kashmir, shedding light on the multifaceted financial system involving various actors. Drawing on interviews with confidential sources within terror networks and inputs from security agencies, the book provides a foundation for a robust counter-terrorism strategy in Kashmir.
Dr. Abhinav Pandya
With a remarkable track record of research, publication, and advisory roles, Dr. Abhinav Pandya stands as a thought leader in the fields of security studies, military and strategic studies, politics, and international relations. His work is invaluable for professionals and researchers seeking deeper insights into complex geopolitical issues, particularly those concerning South Asia.
The author conducted interviews with experts, internal stakeholders, intelligence officials, police and administrative officers, academics and journalists…reports Asian Lite News
As the Indian Army and agencies work hard to end the scourge of terrorism from Kashmir, the book, ‘Terror Financing in Kashmir’ authored by Abhinav Pandya released recently delves deep into the intricacies of how terror funds are generated by the terror organisation and used against India.
Abhinav Pandya completed his PhD on terrorism and counterterrorism in Jammu and Kashmir from OP Jindal Global University. The book analyses the layered and complex web of terror financing in Kashmir and examines the role of multiple actors, including formal and informal, state and non-state, profit and non-profit, and local and international, to delineate the various strands of an intricate financial system.
It explains how, over time, these sophisticated networks have largely remained elusive to Indian counter-terrorism agencies and the need for a specialised and focused effort to understand it.In the book, which is written with the gathered data from interviews with confidential sources within terror networks as well as input and intelligence from security agencies on the ground, the author lays the groundwork for a robust counter-terrorism strategy in Kashmir.
The author conducted interviews with experts, internal stakeholders, intelligence officials, police and administrative officers, academics and journalists. Interestingly, even the over-ground workers (OGWs), members of separatist groups, terror financing coordinators, former militants, weapon dealers, drug smugglers, and hawala operators were also interviewed for details on terror financing.
This book also discusses the channels used for terror financing, including the Line of Control (LoC) trade between both nations, which was suspended in 2019. The author noted the terror funding sources used in Jammu and Kashmir to run terror groups and mentioned in the book fake currency printed in Pakistan, the collection of donations in some Middle Eastern countries, the US, and European countries under the name of ‘Jihad Fund’, smuggling drugs, and extortion from traders, contractors, and affluent people in J&K.
It also highlighted the money sent allegedly by Pakistani intelligence agencies to militant and secessionist groups operating in J&K, mainly through hawala and drug dealers; funds sent by some Kashmiri businessmen dealing in carpets and handicrafts in Dubai; hawala dealers in Mumbai and Delhi; and Zakat (an Islamic tax); and donations raised by terror groups in Pakistan. The Author also mentioned Haj tours, MBBS seat rackets, the Trans Line of Control (LoC) and legitimate businesses used for funding terrorism.
The book highlights: “While mentioning the distinct features of Kashmir’s terror financing, it is crucial to discuss Pakistan’s extraneous geopolitical objectives. By funding and supporting Kashmir’s proxy war theatre, Pakistan wants to bleed India economically. For Pakistan, it takes hardly INR (Rs) 1,50,000 to Rs 2,00,000 to train, send and sustain a terrorist. The amount spent by India on J&K’s security infrastructure in one day far outweighs the amount spent by Pakistan. India maintains 3,43,000 security personnel in Kashmir… one can imagine the amount which India spends to deal with 250-300 Pak-sponsored militants”. Before the abrogation of Article 370, the proxy fronts of groups such as Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and others had the Kashmir valley under the grip of their terror, the book said. In today’s Kashmir, one can also find the presence of local affiliates of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, aspiring to bring Sharia rule to Kashmir. The author, has also discussed the growth and evolution of Pakistan’s proxy war in Kashmir over the last three decades; however, the prime focus has remained on the terror financing aspect.
A book feature by columnist Riccha Grrover for Asian Lite International.
Vani Tripathi Tikoo remarks, “Each book has a journey but this book has two. My first journey was while deciding on the title of the book. I wanted to remember all those little red elephants that you and I have tucked away inside us but have forgotten them because we think like adults now. The second journey was about this beautiful family of 12 people in COVID times, and my daughter Akshara who was just two and a half years old then and is the protagonist of this book, Akku. She was without me, her mother because I was with my mother in Delhi, and she was being brought up by these beautiful people in Singapore. So, these journeys were unique, and it took two different countries to bring up my child.”
Praising the book, Smt Smriti Zubin Irani had at the launch earlier in 2023 said, “This book is proof that a story can be written in pain. I stand here for the family that has kept themselves together irrespective of the pandemic and the challenges that were brought upon by geography. This book is a symbol of your tenacity, Vani, and that we stand shoulder to shoulder irrespective of our gender for those who need us the most.”
Dr Ramesh Chandra Gaur has said that , “This book is coming from a person based on her experience, exposure, and interaction; hence it contains a lot of practical thought; which is the beauty of this book. When you go through the book, you may also feel that you are going through the experience of your own parenthood.”
About the Book
“So, isn’t it fun to think of a crab, who has a moustache, a fish who probably has a horn, a unicorn who doesn’t have a horn, and an elephant who is red? What a fun place that world would be!”
Akku is a lively, imaginative, and adventurous two-and-a-half-year-old little girl. Growing up partly in Gurgaon and mostly in Singapore, she is the darling of her big joint family. From playing with her fishy friends and beloved puppy to discovering the wonders of swimming pools, sea beaches, and malls, every new experience fills Akku with joy and curious questions.
She loves to scribble, draw and colour and her imagination runs riot with elephants that are red, crabs that have moustaches, and unicorns that don’t have horns. But the biggest adventure of all awaits Akku — her first day at school.
About the Author
Vani Tripathi Tikoo is an actor and teacher who considers The Little Prince as the Bible for all adults who want to understand children. Keeping her work with children alive after having done theatre with kids for more than two decades at the National School of Drama, Theatre in Education Company and has written plays that turned into performances, she has finally forayed into writing for children. This is her first book as an author. She considers children to be the Gurus who saved us from adulthood!
Vani Tripathi
About Niyogi Books
An internationally acclaimed publishing house, Niyogi Books, established in 2004, has more than 500 titles today. We not only specialize in textual context but also strive to give equal importance to visuals. We purvey a wide range of content on art, architecture, history, culture, spirituality, memoirs, and every aspect, which connects, with our rich heritage. Under our umbrella, we have fiction and non-fiction that cover books on social science, cookery, and self-help as well as the English translation of modern classics from different Indian languages. Niyogi Books have recently launched four new Imprints: Olive Turtle (English fiction), Thornbird (English Translation) and Paper Missile (non-fiction) and Bahuvachan (Hindi Translation: Fiction & Non-Fiction). Also, we have co-published a number of critically acclaimed books with reputed institutions like the British Library, Rietberg Museum Zurich, IGNCA, National Gallery of Modern Art, Ministry of Culture (Govt. of India), National Manuscript Mission, Sahitya Akademi, among many others.
For him, the great war in Kurukshetra makes for a medium of reflection on human conditions and ethical dilemmas, and how one reacts when one of his own is insulted or threatened…writes Sukant Deepak
“There are no clear-cut binaries. Shades of gray eclipse every character, thus adding to their dimensions. The good and the bad reside inside everyone who plays a role in the great epic Mahabharata. How can one not be fascinated and spellbound every time he/she reads it,” asks author and scholar Purushottam Agrawal, who is currently working on a book on the epic tentatively titled ‘Nobody Listens to Me: Reflections on Mahabharata’
Agarwal stresses that socially we are living in strange times characterised by distrust, and where violence has been internalised.
He elaborates, “The appeal of one of the most important texts in the world has become more urgent, precisely why I chose to work on it now though the book has been in my mind for the last two decades. ”
For him, the great war in Kurukshetra makes for a medium of reflection on human conditions and ethical dilemmas, and how one reacts when one of his own is insulted or threatened.
” And what do you do when you have to kill one of your own? After winning the war, Yudhishthira instead of being happy or content, just says, ‘We fought like a pack of dogs…’ “
For this scholar, who also served as a member ofbook the Union Public Service Commission, it is important to reach out to the newer generation. While in every age, a stage comes when the young want to go back and rediscover their history, and claim mythology, the author, who was at the Mahindra Kabira Festival produced by Teamwork Arts, warns, “In my quest to acquaint the young with their past, I want to ensure that I do not compromise on my integrity. Facts should not be tampered with, nor any attempts made to rewrite history. Even if I have 10 readers, I am satisfied.”
Agarwal, who has been called ‘Islamprast’ (favouring Islam) and right-leaning at the same time by different groups, says while he is uncomfortable with such charges, he will continue to keep his stand as long as he can.
“Considering I am well-acquainted with the Islamic traditions in India, and talk about them, some groups call me pro-Islam. When I speak against some Islamic traditions and focus on rich Hindu mythology, I am immediately called anti-Islam. How absurd is this?” he asks.
The author, who edited ‘Kabir Granthawali’( Rajkamal Prakashan), the most authentic text of Kabir’s work feels that the legendary mystic poet continues to enjoy immense popularity owing to his interrogative nature and the value system.
“At times, his language is exotic and mysterious, and sometimes it is direct to the point of being offensive. His layered thoughts and straightforwardness are bound to appeal to everyone.”
When it comes to the much controversial issue of reinterpretation of history, Agarwal opines that being a student of history and literature, it is part of the job and he has himself challenged several existing interpretations of Kabir’s work.
“However, in the absence of factual evidence, tampering with history should be termed as misinterpretation. Everyone has a right to opinion, but no one should be allowed to tamper with facts. Kabir may be revered by a larger number of Hindus, but you cannot deny the fact that he was born in a Muslim weaver’s household,” he concludes.
