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By Shashi Tharoor. New Delhi Aleph 2016 , In 1930, the American historian and philosopher Will Durant wrote that Britain’s ‘conscious and deliberate bleeding of India… [was the] greatest crime in all history’. He was not the only one to denounce the rapacity and cruelty of British rule, and his assessment was not exaggerated. Almost thirty-five million Indians died because of acts of commission and omission by the British—in famines, epidemics, communal riots and wholesale slaughter like the reprisal killings after the 1857 War of Independence and the Amritsar massacre of 1919. Besides the deaths of Indians, British rule impoverished India in a manner that beggars belief. When the East India Company took control of the country, in the chaos that ensued after the collapse of the Mughal empire, India’s share of world GDP was 23 per cent. When the British left it was just above 3 per cent. The British empire in India began with the East India Company, incorporated in 1600, by royal charter of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I, to trade in silk, spices and other profitable Indian commodities. Within a century and a half, the Company had become a power to reckon with in India. In 1757, under the command of Robert Clive, Company forces defeated the ruling Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula of Bengal at Plassey, through a combination of superior artillery and even more superior chicanery. A few years later, the young and weakened Mughal emperor, Shah Alam II, was browbeaten into issuing an edict that replaced his own revenue officials with the Company’s representatives. Over the next several decades, the East India Company, backed by the British government, extended its control over most of India, ruling with a combination of extortion, double-dealing, and outright corruption backed by violence and superior force. This state of affairs continued until 1857, when large numbers of the Company’s Indian soldiers spearheaded the first major rebellion against colonial rule. After the rebels were defeated, the British Crown took over power and ruled the country ostensibly more benignly until 1947, when India won independence. In this explosive book, bestselling author Shashi Tharoor reveals with acuity, impeccable research, and trademark wit, just how disastrous British rule was for India. Besides examining the many ways in which the colonizers exploited India, ranging from the drain of national resources to Britain, the destruction of the Indian textile, steel-making and shipping industries, and the negative transformation of agriculture, he demolishes the arguments of Western and Indian apologists for Empire on the supposed benefits of British rule, including democracy and political freedom, the rule of law, and the railways. The few unarguable benefits—the English language, tea, and cricket—were never actually intended for the benefit of the colonized but introduced to serve the interests of the colonizers. Brilliantly narrated and passionately argued, An Era of Darkness will serve to correct many misconceptions about one of the most contested periods of Indian history. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Review This is one book which falls in the unputdownable category (i had always thought that this term is absurd and exaggerated) but as i started reading An Era of Darkness ,I just couldn't Stop reading.This generation knows so little about history apart from what we mugup for our history exams.This book categorically dispels some wrong notions that some might have been holding to, also it awakens you to a painful realisation of facts that history books dont dwelve into and leaves you with many whatifs.It is a must read for each and every full blooded Indian.It strikes a patriotic chord and leaves you humbled and saddened at the same time.Id go to the extent of saying that this is his best book ever. --By deepali mohokar on 30 October 2016 Shashi Tharoor's 'An Era of Darkness' is brilliant. It is a solid extension of his Oxford Speech which had gone viral, so anyone who's interested in forming more knowledge about the British Empire in India, this book could very well be their handbook. It is enlightening, lucid and unbiased. --By SB on 8 November 2016 Not a conventional history textbook! An Era of Darkness wonderfully enlightens us about various facets of India s ignored glorious past and simultaneously argues how the scandalous Raj robbed us of it. Every young Indian must read. --By Ruhi on 9 November 2016 About the Author Shashi Tharoor is the bestselling author of fifteen previous books, both fiction and non-fiction, besides being a noted critic and columnist. His books include the path-breaking satire The Great Indian Novel (1989), the classic India: From Midnight to the Millennium (1997), and most recently, India Shastra: Reflections on the Nation in Our Time (2015). He was a former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and a former Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Minister of State for External Affairs in the Government of India. He is a two-time member of the Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram and chairs Parliament’s External Affairs Committee. He has won numerous literary awards, including a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and was honoured as New Age Politician of the Year (2010) by NDTV. He was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, India’s highest honour for overseas Indians. 9789383064656 (hardback) | 938306465X

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INDIA SHASTRA : NAMMUDE KALATHE CHILA RASHTRA CHINTHAKAL (ഇന്ത്യ ശാസ്ത്ര; നമ്മുടെ കാലത്തെ ചില രാഷ്ട്ര ചിന്തകള്‍)

By Shashi Tharoor. Kottayam DC Books 2016 , ഇന്ത്യ അര്‍ദ്ധരാത്രി മുതല്‍ അരനൂറ്റാണ്ട്, പുതുയുഗം പുതു ഇന്ത്യ എന്നീ ഗ്രന്ഥങ്ങളിലൂടെ ശശി തരൂര്‍ തുടക്കമിട്ട 'എന്താണ് ഇന്ത്യ?' എന്ന പഠനാന്വേഷണ പരമ്പരയിലെ അന്തിമ കൃതി. രാഷ്ട്രത്തിന്റെ സാമ്പത്തിക വ്യവസ്ഥ, രാഷ്ട്രീയം, വിദേശനയം, പൗരാവകാശങ്ങള്‍, മാധ്യമനയങ്ങള്‍, ഭരണം തുടങ്ങിയ പല രംഗങ്ങളിലും രൂപപരിണാമങ്ങള്‍ സംഭവിക്കുന്ന ഇക്കാലത്ത് പ്രസക്തമായ ചില രാജ്യചിന്തകളാണ് ഇന്ത്യ ശാസ്ത്രയുടെ ഉള്ളടക്കം. നമ്മുടെ ഭാവി എന്തായിരിക്കും? നല്ലകാലത്തെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ള വാഗ്ദാനങ്ങള്‍ വെറും മിഥ്യ മാത്രമായിരിക്കുമോ? നമ്മുടെ രാഷ്ട്രനായകര്‍ കൈമാറിയ ജനാധിപത്യ, മാനവിക, മതേതര സങ്കല്പങ്ങളെ നാം വിസ്മരിച്ചുവോ? സാര്‍വ്വത്രിക സാക്ഷരത, ദാരിദ്ര്യനിര്‍മ്മാര്‍ജ്ജനം, എല്ലാവര്‍ക്കും ഭക്ഷണം, വീട്, ആരോഗ്യം തുടങ്ങിയ അടിസ്ഥാന ആവശ്യങ്ങളെ അതിവേഗ തീവണ്ടികളും ചൊവ്വാദൗത്യങ്ങളും ഗ്രഹണം ചെയ്യുന്നുവോ? തുടങ്ങിസാധാരണ പൗരന്മാരെ പലപ്പോഴും ചിന്താബദ്ധമാക്കുന്ന ഒരുപിടി ചോദ്യങ്ങളിലൂടെയുള്ള ഉത്തരംതേടലാണ് ഈ കൃതി. സമകാലിക ഇന്ത്യയെ മനസ്സിലാക്കാനാഗ്രഹിക്കുന്ന ഏതൊരാളും വായിച്ചിരിക്കേണ്ട പുസ്തകം. വിവര്‍ത്തനം: എ.എസ്. ഫാരിദിന്‍ 9788126473991

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INDIA : FROM MIDNIGHT TO THE MILLENNIUM AND BEYOND

By Shashi Tharoor. Haryana Penguin Books 2007 9780143103240

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