The Eighth Ring—An
Autobiography by K.M.Mathew ; Published by Penguin ; Pages 391 ; Price
Rs. 699/-
*******************************
The first copy of this book was presented to the
President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee . The “ Eighth Ring” is an
English translation of the autobiography of Shri K. M. Mathew who was the
Editor and Publisher of Malayala Manorama. The President complimented the
Manorama Group for treating journalism as a mission and commitment to society.
The Manorama group has demonstrated exemplary leadership in upholding and
expanding the high values set by Shri Mathew. The media in India has
always supported the freedom of individuals and has not compromised on
freedom of speech and expression. The history of Indian journalism is closely
linked with our Freedom movement. The Press was the progenitors of many of our
leaders.
K,M, Mathew is
the Bhishma Pitamaha of journalism in Kerala. This book is a chronicle of the growth of journalism
in Kerala. Dovetailed with it is the poignant tale of the travails of
one family and how like the proverbial phoenix it ascended from ashes. K.
M Mathew dedicates the book to his mother, whose ornaments were made into rings and
given to her nine children. Mathew, being her eighth child was the recipient
of the eighth ring, which provided the title of his autobiography.
Mathew takes us from
Kuppupuram to Kottayam, Thisruvananthapuram, Madras, Delhi, London, Istanbul
and Berlin on a journey that is at once arresting and entertaining.
The book is vivid with photos which show the memorable
events in the life of this legend.
Mathew was born
in 1917 and lived for 93 years. He began his career as a
rubber planter in Chickmagalur in Karnataka and later joined the
family-owned Malayala Manorama in 1954 as its General Manager and Managing
Editor under his elder brother Cherian. Mathew became the Chief Editor of
the newspaper on the death of Cherian in 1973.Under his stewardship, Malayala
Manorama witnessed expansion and modernisation. He was noted for
espousing young talent, and several professionals were specially trained
and oriented to a popular style of journalism that radically altered the role
of newspapers in Malayalam. The paper was eminently
reader-friendly and with the latest production techniques designed
by Mathew scaled new heights and ensured a massive circulation.
Mathew
was a figure to reckon with in the world of journalism. He was the
President of the Indian Newspaper Society; Chairman of the Press Trust of
India; Founder-Trustee and Chairman of the Press Institute of India and Research
Institute for Newspaper Development and a consultant to the International Press
Institute. Government of India honoured him with a Padma Bhushan in 1998.
His wife
made a name for herself with a range of cookery books and was the Editor of Vanitha, a
magazine for women, until her death in 2003.
One of the
darkest chapters in Mathew’s life was the monstrous assault on his family and
Press by the malicious Dewan of Travancore, Sir.C.P.Ramaswami Aiyar , who
systematically destroyed their bank-- Travancore National and Quilon Bank, sent
to jail Appachen and his companions and confiscated the properties of Malayala
Manorama. got its offices locked up for nine years in 1938. He even threatened
K.M.Cherian , “ I will ruin you “.
The Dewan was outraged
by the support Malayala Manorama gave to the State Congress which led an
agitation against the Royal Government.
The veteran
Editor wrote the book “not to display his war wounds or to trumpet the historic events
he had witnessed, but out of a childlike desire to share with everyone the
tenderness of his parents and the unshakable faith he had in Malayala
Manorama's destiny. “
The book is chockfull of racy anecdotes about
hundreds of persons Mathew encountered . There are graphic
images of eminent people. Especially of interest is the story of how Mathew
arranged the meeting of his wife with that “ Iron Lady”, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher,
the then Prime Minister of England.
Mathew played a
pivotal role in Malayala Manorama for fifty four years. He has in this book noted the highs and lows of his father and the
historic events in the nine decades of his life. The Manorama was established
in 1888. Initially a weekly, it became a bi-weekly 11 years later. It became a
daily only from 1928.Prannoy Roy described Mathew as a “towering figure”
of journalism, who won the battles he had fought throughout his life. He said
Mathew was “fiercely independent and tech-savvy” and he spearheaded “socially
sensitive and humane journalism”.
P.P.Ramachandran
08 / 01 /
2016
Indian Economy in
Transition—Edited by S.Janakarajan, L.Venkatachalam and R.Maria Saleth ;
Published by Sage ; Pages 363 ; Price Rs 995/-
**************************************************************************
This book is a Festschrift to Prof. C.T.Kurien, who has
made a memorable contribution to economic research and policy. He is a
researcher and teacher for over six decades and an author with a dozen books to his credit. He was conferred the Lifetime
achievement Award by the University Grants Commission. He is closely connected
with the Madras Institute of Development Studies ( M I D S ).
In a Seminar held in
2011 on “ Indian Economic Transition –Emerging Issues “, over 20 papers were
presented by 25 scholars Indian and Foreign. The bookunder review is a selection from these papers and cover key
issues and challenges related to recent development experience in India. These
include implications of globalization, impact of economic liberalization on
agriculture, food security, poverty and inequality Also issues concerning
social sectors such as education, human development, ageing population, social
discrimination. Included are problems connected with urban and peri-urban
resources conflict, environmental and ecological problems and the challenge of
democratic governance, economic citizenship and decentralization.
The “ Foreword ‘ is by
Prof. R.Radhakrishna, former Chairperson of the M I D S. According to him, “The
volume is a fitting tribute to Prof.Kurien as it relates with his favourite
theme of economic transformation for which he had contributed in a big way.
The editors are
connected with M I D S. Janakarajan specializes in the areas of water,
environment and climate change. Venkatachalam has bagged several international
awards and is an authority on environmental economics. Maria Saleth was Editor
of journals concerned with water resources, institutional reform and
agricultural development.
There are 15 other
contributors who are all authorities on their subjects of interest. Two are
foreign scholars. The book is divided into fifteen chapters. The introductory chapter by
the Editors deals with the Indian economy in transition. They argue that the
sustainability of growth and development depends on key issues of ecological
security, water security and food security. Agricultural sector has become
stagnated. The spate of farmer suicides is ascribable to unprofitable
agriculture and consequent rural indebtedness.
Sankar analyses in
depth “ Globalization and Indian economy--Issues and Concerns.” He argues that
while international co-operation is more seriously advocated by the developed countries,
the issues concerning environment and climate changes are given least priority.
Abhirup Sarkar
critically analyses food price inflation in the context of growth performance.
He is of the firm view that mere increases in production and productivity
of food grains does not ensure food for the poor. We must ensure that fruits of
growth reach the poorest in the land.
Literacy is one of the
most important of human development indicators. Chandrasekhar and Suryanarayana
study incisively ” Education for all in India; Issues, Policies and
Imperatives”. They suggest policies should go beyond conventional measures such
as budgetary allocations and we should study issues such as” enrollment rates,
dropout rates and school life expectancy and we ought to focus on quality of
schooling and learning outcomes”.
Janakarajan studies “
Impact of increased urban demand for water on livelihood resilience in
peri- urban areas of Chennai.” Water resources have been over-exploited. Women
and landless agricultural labourers who lost their traditional employment due
to urban expansion are left with no choice but seeking odd jobs in urban areas
or remain unemployed.
The issues of
discrimination and governance are the two main subjects of Barbara Harris-
White and Aseem Prakash. According to them , different types of discrimination
in Indian society is institutionalized through several formal and informal
organizations regardless of principles of equality as laid down in the Indian
constitution.
John Harriss in his
chapter on “ Rural poverty, Policy and Play –acting Revisited “ discusses
several aspects pertaining to democratic governance in India, India has
the abysmal record of service deliveries. He wonders how this is tolerated. The
drive for progressive social legislation has come through judicial activism
rather than through a political process.
Due to space
constraints we cannot cover all the contributors. The volume represents a wide
canvas of issues and challenges that have emerged in the process of economic
transformation brought about by the economic reforms implemented since the
early 1990s. The book provides a strong foundation to the study of issues faced by the
country. The book has rich reference material, large number of tables and
figures. It is warmly commended to all economists, planners, students of
economics, public policy and laymen.
P.P.Ramachandran.
10 / 1 / 2016
The Outsider by
Frederick Forsyth ; Published by Penguin Books ; Pages 368 ; Price Rs. 399/-
*************************************
Who has not heard of
"The Day of the Jackal ", the most thrilling novel of the last
two decades by Frederick Forsyth? The book under review is his autobiography — equally fast-paced and
jam-packed with events. Forsyth’s school days were quite undistinguished. He
wanted to be a member of the Royal Air Force. There is a charming account
of how he managed to secure a pilot’s licence even in his teens.
He acquired knowledge
of a number of languages. His love for adventure takes him all over the
globe. Forsyth confesses that he was a member of the MI6 masquerading as a journalist.
A twist of fate led him to join the Royal Air Force — his dream
fulfilled even when he was 17 only. He crashed his 1949 MG sports car in 1960
and spent three days in a coma, then received his big break when the Reuters
news agency sent him to Paris as a foreign correspondent to cover the revolt
against Charles de Gaulle, the French President.
Forsyth changed his
track and joined the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1965, faced
near- death during the Nigerian Civil War of the late 1960s before turning to
fiction. Forsyth packs his stories with history bursting with events
moving at the speed of a cyclone. "The Outsider " is unputdownable
and as fast paced as any of his novels.
Forsyth grew up with
the bombardment during Hitler’s Blitz and was used to regular fires and he had
a tank parked in his house. He wandered the world over seeking material for his
tales. He got close to a notorious Nazi henchman ; prepared a graphic account
of the attempt to kill De Gaulle and later landed in Biafra as it was engulfed
in a war. He was fired by an unquenchable spirit of adventure.
In 1970
Forsyth unemployed and completely broke set out to write a novel. Camping
in a friend’s London flat, he worked nonstop for 35 days to produce
the story of a plot to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle. He
called it “The Day of the Jackal”. The fact that de Gaulle had served out his
term of office and was still alive led several publishers to reject the book as ridiculous. A friendly editor
realised the worth and warmth of the assassination story and generously
offered Forsyth an undreamt opportunity –to write three books for him. The first of these was the celebrated
“ The Day of the Jackal”. This was followed by the novel on the capture
of Nazis and finally one on the role of mercenaries in a tiny African
state—Biafra.
The book under review offers a fast-paced look back at his life,
from boyhood in England during World War II to his years as a foreign
correspondent, his occasional hush-hush work for British intelligence and his
endless adventures ever willing to embrace new danger. Forsyth’s love of
adventure started early. He sat in a fighter plane of the Royal Airforce—which
played a great role in the Second World War . In school he did very well
but upset his Headmaster by declaring that when he grew up he would pilot
Fighter planes.
Forsyth loved his
three years as a pilot but he opted to become a foreign correspondent. Three
years reporting in England led to a job with Reuters, which sent Forsyth to
Paris. There he learned facts that led to his first novel.
He joined the BBC as a
foreign correspondent and violently disagreed with them when he found that they
supported the British government’s cruel support of Nigeria in the mid-1960s
war with Biafra which left 1 million Biafran children suffering from starvation
and Forsyth blames the war for this. Forsyth declares “...I believe that this
coterie of vain mandarins and cowardly politicians stained the honor of my
country forever, and I will never forgive them.”
At middle age, he took
up parachuting, scuba diving and deep-sea fishing, His friends in British
intelligence sent him on a secret mission to South Africa to learn the country’s
plans for its atomic weapons when the white government was replaced by a black
one. At age 74, he set out for Somalia, one of the most dangerous places in the
world, to research a novel.
"The
Outsider" is an outstanding autobiography of a man of adventure and one
who can write well.
P.P.Ramachandran.
03 / 01 / 2016
The Power of Raisina
Hill by Lokendra Malik ; Published by LexisNexis; Pages 466 ;
Price Rs 695/-
*****************************************
The book under review is a thorough analysis of the academic
and practical aspects of the working of the institution of the Indian
President.
The author Lokendra
Malik is a practicing advocate in our Supreme court. He was awarded a
prestigious doctorate by the National Law School of India University, He taught
in the Indian Institute of Public Administration and has written over 15 books.
The President is the
constitutional head of the Union government and the Union’s executive power is
vested in him which he exercises on the aid and assistance of the Council
of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister. He appoints the various high officials
like the Prime Minister, Governors of States, Judges of the Supreme Court and
High Courts, etc.
Though a titular head
he enjoys extraordinary powers. However, the responsible government system does
not leave any scope for the President to act independently of the Council of
Ministers. The 44th Constitutional Amendment empowers the
President to return the advice of the Council of Ministers for reconsideration.
But he has to act on the reconsidered advice.
Beginning with Dr.
Rajendra Prasad, India had thirteen Presidents and mostly all of them have been
constitutional heads and have acted on the advice of the Council of Ministers
and have not deviated from the precedents.
Prof. M.P.Jain has
accurately portrayed the President, “The President’s
role is advisory; he may act as the guide, philosopher and friend to the
Ministers but cannot assume himself the role of their Master. The Constitution
intends that the President of India should be the centre from which a
beneficent influence should radiate over the administration and not that he
should be the centre of any power.”
Malik’s book is an analysis of the role, responsibilities
and powers conferred upon the President by the Constitution. Our polity is
based on the Westminster model of governance and the President is like the
British monarch—a constitutional monarch acting on the advice of the Prime
Minister and his Council.
The last sixty five
years have produced a wealth of landmark judgments settling controversial
questions of law about the Presidential powers. The changes brought about by
the 42nd and 44th constitutional amendments
have been highlighted by Malik.In the case “ Samsher Singh Vs State of Punjab”
the Supreme Court while upholding the supremacy of the President throws a flood
of light on some grey areas where he may have to act on his own judgment and
wisdom. These are 1) Appointment of the Prime minister in a situation where no
single party or alliance commands clear majority in the Lok Sabha ; 2)
Appointment of a Prime Minister in the case of sudden death , where the
ruling legislature party is unable to meet immediately to elect a leader,
there is no settled seniority among Cabinet Ministers and a name from outside
the Cabinet is suggested ; 3).Dissolution of the Lok Sabha on the advice
of the Council of Ministers that may have lost majority support or against whom
a vote of No-confidence has been passed and 4) Dismissal of Council of
Ministers in case the Council loses the confidence of the House but refuses to
quit.
The author dissects
all problems very thoroughly. The book is divided into eight chapters. The “
Introduction” by Malik poses as many as fourteen questions which he has
answered “with finesse, exhibiting his erudite formulations”, as observed by
Justice Sikri in his “Foreword”. The historical background to the institution
of the President is delineated sharply in Chapter Two. The author tackles the
history from the beginning of the British rule and gives a neat analysis of
the debates in the Constituent Assembly. The next chapter is concerned
with the Constitutional provisions. Malik critically covers issues such as
Elections, Tenure, Oath, Privileges and Impeachment of the President. Chapter
Four is an analysis of the relevant constitutional powers and the President’s
relations with the council of Ministers. The discretionary powers of the
President which he can exercise without consulting the Council of Ministers is
the subject of the next chapter. Taking a judicial and juristic approach Malik
analyses the Presidential powers. An interesting chapter compares the
constitutional position of the President and the British Monarch. The final and
absorbing chapter is a discussion of the functioning of different Presidents
from Rajendra Prasad to Pranab Mukherjee.
The Appendices are
highly valuable and contain notes and statements of eminent Presidents and
advocates, There are rich reference sources and a plethora of court cases.
The book is of great value to economists. lawyers,
academicians, students of constitutional law and Indian political
history.
P.P.Ramachandran
27 /
12 2015
Easy Money
by Vivek Kaul ; Published by Sage ; Pages 325; Price Rs 425 /-
**********************************
The author of the book under review has worked for DNA, Economic Times as also a
number of business publications. Presently he is with First Post,Com. He is an
authority on finance, political economy and marketing.
This book is Part Two and the first volume dealt with
“ Evolution of Money from Robinson Crusoe to the First World War"
The second
volume is dedicated to the period 1914 to 1945 and thus covered the
developments during two World Wars—and also the current problems and is
about the evolution of the global financial system upto the great bubble burst.
The starting point of
the book is a paper written 130 years ago entitled, “Shall silver be
demonetized?” (1885).
According to that
paper even though money is one of the oldest human inventions, there is none
that has been perfected so slowly. Kaul is of the firm view that this ancient
doctrine of W.G.Sumner of Yale College holds even today and is
unassailable.
Kaul predicts that the
great recession started seven years ago and was appropriately christened
“ the Second Great Depression”. He graphically recounts the significant
slowdown in the world’s largest economy in terms of its purchasing power parity
–that is China,
Kaul warns of
consequences of the depreciation of the yuan and the decline for the demand for
raw materials and other commodities. An eminent economist is adduced as
saying,”New Chinese government under President Xi Jinping is keen on popping
the domestic bubble and allowing wider defaults” ( Worth Wray ).
Kaul throws a flood of
light on the convoluted financial movements of Greece, Russia and China.
The financial meltdown
has brought back to the front stage Karl Marx and J.M.Keynes. the tools
fashioned by them have acquired renewed relevance.
The volume shows the
author’s penchant for America. The dominance of the United States
led to its currency , the Dollar becoming the international
currency. This led to America having an important privilege which it still
continues to have. Over the years this privilege has led to many
financial crises in different parts of the globe. It has also been responsible
for the current financial crisis . Quite recently this doyen of Capitalism has
been transforming itself into a Welfare State. China will become, according to
Kaul, the most capitalistic country in the world amassing billions of dollars
and using it to help finance the great American budget deficit.
The story of twentieth
century global economics has been one of a periodic build-up in money supply
that resulted in booms followed by busts. This did not prevent economists from
prescibing more money printing to enhance growth and reduce unemployment. This
led to hyper-inflation as also depression. Kaul’s book enlightens us about the experimentations and
follies of governments and economists involving the use and abuse of money over
the ages.
This book deals with the evolution of money in the last
one hundred years. Three major events of a catastrophic nature are the Asian
Financial Crisis of the late 1990s, the Dot.Com collapse of the last decade and
finally the Lehman crisis.
Why have the lessons
of History not been learnt?. There is strong evidence that politicians and
central bankers committed the identical financial folly. Busts are
precipitated by events like Subprime defaults or by a shift in public
expectations. All bubbles burst ultimately. Warren Buffet wrote—“ ..but a pin
lies in wait for every bubble.” Vivek Kaul’s book throws the searchlight on the follies of
politicians and economists. Alan Greenspan was honest enough to admit that the
old way of thinking does not work any more. However, economists are not ready
to give up the efficient markets hypothesis. The dazzle of this belief has
blinded economists so much that they cannot spot bubbles any more.
An important Appendix
in this book deals with the astounding contribution of an Italian immigrant
in USA—Charles Ponzi who acquired notoriety with a scheme named after him. He
was the forerunner of scams the world over which enveloped politicians,
government officials and honchos of the corporate world. The original scheme
was innocuously called “ How to double your money in forty five days”. Now the
schemes are infamous as “ Ponzi Schemes”.
There are many lessons
that History offers. Two economists wrote wisely, “ If we learn from experience,
History need not repeat itself.”
This book is a fascinating historical account of the
decline and fall of the monetary system which is chockful of racy anecdotes. It
is a useful guide to students, economists, politicians of every hue.
P.P.Ramachandran.
13 /
12 / 2015
Baat Niklegi
Toh Phir—The
Life and Music of Jagjit Singh by Sathya Saran ; Published by Harper
Collins ; Pages 225 ; Price Rs. 699/
********************************
Sathya Saran was the
editor who ensured “ Femina “ became the last word in Fashion and Lifestyle..
She is an accomplished film biographer with her volumes on Guru Dutt and
S.D.Burman ( reviewed by us).
The book under review is the saga of a “King of Ghazal”, Jagjit
Singh, who was loved by many, revered by some and has not been surpassed by any
one in his chosen area. Jagjit re-invented the ghazal at a time it was groaning
under the onslaught of giants of the Hindi film music like Rafi, Kishore
Kumar and Lata. He introduced novel expressions, unexpected twists and a
variety of instruments leading to a new avatar of the traditional ghazal.
Jagmohan was the third
of eleven children. His father Amin Chand was by birth a Hindu but adopted
consciously the tenets of Sikhism. He became a Namdhari Sikh and changed his
name to Amar Singh. His guru advised him to change Jagmohan’s name to Jagjit.
The guru declared, “ He will win the world over.” His father discovered Jagjit
Singh’s passion for music and encouraged him. His first guru was Pandit
Chhaganlal Sharma, a blind singer. Ustad Jamal Khan, a descendant of Tansen,
taught the boy thumri and khayal.
The alphabets of
Jagjit’s music were the songs of Mohammed Rafi and the Gurbani. His first
successful rendering of a song in public was “Ki Tera Aithaar O Rahiyaa”
in Raga Bhairavi followed by the Rafi classic from Baiju Bawra. In fact Rafi
was his idol and he chose Rafi songs that tore at the heartstrings.
Jagjit drank deep the
songs of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amir Khan and Talat Mahmood. For getting a
foothold and to get a picture of himself he decided to cut his hair,
beard and cast away his turban. Thus was born the Jagjit Singh we know.
The “ Unforgettables “
released in 1976 catapulted Jagjit to an unprecedented level of popularity.
Sharing the limelight with him was Chitra Singh, his one-time student and wife.
She acquired fame for her jingles and she was called “ Jingle Queen”. She was
the first wife of Deboo Dutta and they had a daughter Monica. Dutta made
her go through the agony of a divorce and the wife and daughter stayed
separately. Jagjit was their protector. Jagjit married Chitra in 1970.
Chitra and Jagjit
started singing as a couple. Jagjit started recording E P which became highly
successful. A son was born to them in 1971 and was named Vivek and called
Baboo. HMV approached Jagjit to record a full album. A revolution began with
the release of “ The Unforgetables”. The Singhs never looked back.
Jagjit made the ghazal
sound cool with western instruments and stereophonic recording. The “ Singh-ing
“ duo were invited to the most prestigious performance venues—Carnegie Hall,
Royal Albert Hall, etc. Their music transcended the barriers of language.
Jagjit has to his credit a staggering eight albums. Highly successful albums
were, “ Live at Wembley” and “Come Alive”.
Jagjit’s three songs
in the film “ Arth “ of Mahesh Bhatt are attributed by Shabana Azmi as partly
the cause of her success. Jagjit did great work in giving music for Gulzar’s
serial “ Mirza Ghalib” with Naseeruddin as the poet.
The world crashed for
Jagjit and Chitra when their son’s car crashed into a ladder as he was driving
on a night. Baboo was at the wheel and died soon after being admitted in a
hospital. He was only 18 years old. Chitra stopped singing. It took six months
for Jagjit to become normal. The duo released a new album, “Someone Somewhere”
in memory of Baboo.
Jagjit Singh’s persona
changed with this great tragedy. He drifted into new realms and his songs
became more introspective and more spiritual. His songs took on serious
spiritual overtones and his lyrics expressed human life in a contemplative
context.
More tragedy piled up.
Monica their daughter committed suicide at the age of 46 due to marital
disharmony.
This is a very
passionately written book about a singer who had more sorrow than justified.
The volume gives the
texts of important ghazals and is veritable album of photographs of the Jagjit
Singh family.
P.P.Ramachandran
06/ 12 / 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment