New Delhi: It is that time of year again when book awards are announced. The shortlist for the fourth edition of the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize announced by the New India Foundation comprises The Death Script: Dreams and Delusions in Naxal Country by Ashutosh Bhardwaj (HarperCollins), India’s First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-77 by Christophe Jaffrelot and Pratinav Anil (HarperCollins), Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism by Dinyar Patel (Harvard University Press), Gandhi in the Gallery: The Art of Disobedience by Sumathi Ramaswamy (Roli Books), The Coolie’s Great War: Indian Labour in a Global Conflict 1914-1921 by Radhika Singha (HarperCollins) and Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi by Vinay Sitapati (Penguin Random House). Instituted in 2018, the prize carries a cash award of Rs 15 lakhs and a citation. The winner will be announced on December 1, 2021.
The books cover diverse themes. Bhardwaj’s comprises his very thorough and comprehensive reportage from India’s so-called “red corridor”. Sitapati’s is an account of the six decades-long friendship between Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani. Singha writes a pioneering history of the 550,000 non-combatants in the Indian Army who participated in the First World War as menial labourers. Patel’s work is a biography of Dadabhai Naoroji, while Gandhi in the Gallery is a beautifully illustrated volume that explores how and why Mahatma Gandhi became the muse of several modern Indian artists. Jaffrelot and Anil’s book studies Indira Gandhi’s Emergency, and her son Sanjay’s role in it.
This year’s NIF jury includes political scientist and author Niraja Gopal Jayal, entrepreneur and author Nandan Nilekani, historian and author Srinath Raghavan, historian and author Nayanjot Lahiri and entrepreneur Manish Sabharwal. Previous winners of the prize include Milan Vaishnav, Ornit Shani, Amit Ahuja and Jairam Ramesh.
