Download or read book In the Service of Free India Memoir of a Civil Servant written by B D Pande and published by Speaking Tiger Books. This book was released on 2021-09-20 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Description In the decades following 1947, as the tallest national leaders were building a new India, they were supported by a band of idealistic civil servants fiercely committed to the country's Constitution and its people. Among these remarkable officers was Bhairab Datt Pande, a young man from the Himalayan district of Kumaon, who joined the Indian Civil Service in 1939. Over almost forty years as civil servant, and later as governor, he played an important role in the country's administration, and interacted with leaders like Indira Gandhi (as cabinet secretary during the Emergency), Morarji Desai and Jyoti Basu. His memoir- which, respecting his wish, is being published posthumously-is a fascinating record of his own life and that of India in the half century after Independence. Pande chronicles several landmark events and initiatives that he either participated in or witnessed. He helped increase food-grain allotment to the state as food commissioner of Bihar in the early 1950s and drew up a new famine code as land reforms commissioner. His work in the Community Development programme some years later still has important lessons for today's Panchayati Raj institutions. After retirement, he was governor of West Bengal during the resurgence of Naxalism in the early 1980s, and of Punjab in 1983- 84-a tragic and turbulent year in the history of the state and the nation. Pande chose to resign as governor rather than carry out unconstitutional orders. His compelling narration of the behind-the-scenes events and negotiations leading up to the Anandpur Sahib Resolution and Operation Bluestar is of great value. Engaging and inspiring in equal measure, this memoir is both a fascinating record of an extraordinary life and an important and revealing historical document.
Download or read book In the Service of Free India written by and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book JOURNEYING WITH INDIA MEMOIRS OF A CIVIL SERVANT written by Y. N. Varma and published by Feel Books Pvt Limited. This book was released on 2023-08-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of modern India is almost always told through the careers of wellknown political leaders. But the Indian nation, especially in the first decades after Independence, was shaped as much by a few hundred remarkable, largely invisible civil servants-part of the 'steel frame of India'. This fascinating book is the memoir of one such extraordinary administrator. Y.N. Varma rose from modest beginnings in a village in the Faizabad/Ayodhya district to become one of India's most senior bureaucrats. He joined the Provincial Civil Service in 1936 and worked in the districts with some extraordinary-sometimes extraordinarily eccentric-British Collectors. During the Quit India movement, he struck a difficult balance between nationalistic sentiment and the duties of governance. He witnessed the tragedy of Partition and worked for the rehabilitation of refugees. Immediately after Independence, as Home Secretary of Delhi, he was instrumental in setting up the state's administration, and supervised the building of the Tis Hazari courts and Tihar Jail. In the mid 1950s, he managed the Indian Airlines Corporation, and in the '60s, he was Director General of All Indi Radio and also worked closely with the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Indira Gandhi. Drawing upon these rich experiences of over thirty-five years, Y.N. Varma gives us a rare and revealing glimpse into governance in both British and free India with insight, honesty and rare humanity. In the process, he also gives us memorable anecdotes about luminaries like Nehru, Rajaji, Sardar Baldev Singh, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, Indira Gandhi, Nandini Satpathy and Josh Malihabadi. Clear-eyed, insightful and always engaging, this a record of a remarkable life, and also a valuable historical document.
Download or read book Driven written by Jagdish Khattar and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2014-11-15 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An epic triple treat—stories from a civil servant, corporate captain and businessman Jagdish Khattar has had an astonishingly diverse career, a trained lawyer who became an IAS officer. He was an agent of change in Uttar Pradesh through his roles as district magistrate, and head of the cement and transport corporations. He also helmed India’s Tea Board in London and played a key role in the steel ministry. Elevated to the post of MD with Maruti Udyog, a firm that was on the verge of a steep decline, Khattar braved labour unions, foreign competition, and politicians as he led Maruti to a very successful IPO. Finally, at the age of sixty-five, Khattar turned entrepreneur with Carnation, India’s first multi-brand car sales and servicing network. Driven spreads across a sweeping national canvas from drought-hit villages to the Shakespearean intrigues of politicians and bureaucrats. Written with flair and liberally peppered with frank anecdotes, it is filled with lessons about leadership, friendships, jugaad-style innovation, resilience, and values.
Download or read book No Dream Is Too Big Memoirs of a Civil Servant written by Dr G G Saxena and published by Prabhat Prakashan. This book was released on 2023-11-24 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting journey of an IAS officer that unfolds between the pages of the book. Be it the difficult posting in Andaman and Nicobar or critical handling in Delhi Administration, the book is raw and relatable for readers everywhere. It takes you through the decision making process of a seasoned bureaucrat who formulated policies, advised political leaders, guided subordinates while serving the public at large.
Download or read book THE ASPIRANT Memoirs of a Monk Turned Civil Servant written by Mathew Joseph and published by One Point Six Technologies Pvt Ltd. This book was released on 1900 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you do not become what you once aspired to become, does it matter? ‘The Aspirant’ looks for an answer to this perennial question. It is the story of a young man who once wanted to become a Carmelite monk, but ended up becoming a monk of a different order - a civil servant. The disillusionment with the way monastic life was practiced, made him take this new direction. The journey ahead as a bureaucrat in CAG’s institution took the author to many places across the globe and caused him to meet several people – ordinary people with extraordinary stories – and those stories add extra layers to this memoir. And all through his life’s varied voyages, a part of him remained as a monk. ‘The Aspirant’ attempts to demystify two venerable institutions - the church and the bureaucracy - with a tinge of irreverence but without an iota of malice.
Download or read book Advice and Dissent written by Y.V. Reddy and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2017-06-27 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Few people know more about India's financial system than Dr Y.V. Reddy. And even fewer have the authority that he commands.' - Raghuram Rajan, former RBI governor 'If America had a central bank chief like Y.V. Reddy, the US economy would not have been in such a mess.' - Joseph Stiglitz, economist and Columbia University professor 'One among the brightest intellectuals living in India today...the most eminent central banker of the last decade across the world.' - P. Chidambaram, former Union finance minister 'How did India manage to beat the odds? [It was] largely the result of the sound management and foresight of one man: Yaga Venugopal Reddy.' - Arvind Panagariya, vice-chairman of the Niti Aayog 'I have high regard for him for two reasons. First, his complete integrity. There are very few civil servants like him who are not self-centered. He does not want to please any bureaucrat or minister. Second, his devotion to work. Intellectually, he is very open.' - Bimal Jalan, former RBI governor 'Unlike Alan Greenspan, who didn't believe it was his job to even point out bubbles, much less try to deflate them, Mr Reddy saw his job as making sure Indian banks did not get too caught up in the bubble mentality.' - Joe Nocera, American journalist and author 'Dr Reddy is of a generation that believed public service was the highest calling.' - Karina Robinson, editor, The Banker magazine A journalist once asked Y.V. Reddy, 'Governor, how independent is the RBI?''I am very independent,' Reddy replied. 'The RBI has full autonomy. I have the permission of my finance minister to tell you that.'Reddy may have put it lightly but it is a theme he deals with at length in Advice and Dissent. Spanning a long career in public service which began with his joining the IAS in 1964, he writes about decision making at several levels. In his dealings, he was firm, unafraid to speak his mind, but avoided open discord.In a book that appeals to the lay reader and the finance specialist alike, Reddy gives an account of the debate and thinking behind some landmark events, and some remarkable initiatives of his own, whose benefits reached the man on the street. Reading between the lines, one recognizes controversies on key policy decisions which reverberate even now.This book provides a ringside view of the licence permit raj, drought, bonded labour, draconian forex controls, the balance of payments crisis, liberalisation, high finance, and the emergence of India as a key player in the global economy. He also shares his experience of working closely with some of the architects of India's economic change: Manmohan Singh, Bimal Jalan, C. Rangarajan, Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh and P. Chidambaram. He also worked closely with extraordinary leaders like N.T. Rama Rao, as described in a memorable chapter.As governor of the RBI from 2003 to 2008 he presided over a period of high growth, low inflation, a stable rupee and ample foreign exchange reserves -- a far cry from the 1991 crisis he lived through and describes in vivid detail, when the country had to mortgage its gold to meet its debt obligations. He is credited with saving the Indian banking system from the sub-prime and liquidity crisis of 2008 that erupted shortly after his term at RBI ended.Dr Reddy provides insight into post-crisis reflection undertaken by several global institutions on the international monetary system and financial architecture. In addition, he describes the development of the Fourteenth Finance Commission report, which he chaired, and is considered a game changer.Leavened with his irrepressible sense of humour, Advice and Dissent is a warm, engaging account of a life that moves easily from his career in the districts as a young IAS officer to the higher echelons of policy making, in a trajectory that follows change in the country itself.
Download or read book The Insider s View written by Javid Chowdhury and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2012-09-15 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this illuminating memoir Javid Chowdhury shares his varied experiences over four decades in the IAS: the years in training when he imbibed the service’s ethos and values; his initiation into the rural universe as the District Development Officer and the District Magistrate; and further on, to his handling of the infamous Bank Securities and Jain Hawala scams as Director of Enforcement and Union Revenue Secretary. With a light pen, Chowdhury describes the changing social profile and attitudes of entrants to the higher civil services; the nepotism, in many garbs, that he encountered as Establishment Officer; and the stranger-than-fiction tortuous investigations of crimes. He also offers his nuanced reflections on the dubious legacy Gujarat acquired as a result of the communal carnage in 2002. Chowdhury further examines how policymaking within government came to be whittled away under the neo-liberal theology, with key scrutiny being left to external expert think tanks and ad hoc groups. As a consequence, he perceives that public accountability came to be inordinately diffused, resulting in the roller-coaster governance that we witness today. Sharp and insightful, replete with telling anecdotes and amusing sketches of icons, colleagues and ministers, The Insider’s View is a compelling portrait of the author, a self-confessed welfare socialist, besides being an X-ray of the innards of the bureaucracy.
Download or read book Rites of Passage written by Hiralal Muljibhai Patel and published by books catalog. This book was released on 2005 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Autobiographical reminiscences of Hiralal Muljibhai Patel, 1903-1993, Indian politician, civil servant, cabinet officer, and educator; also includes his impression on the events around partition of India, 1947.
Download or read book In Quest of a Meaningful Life written by Prashanta Kumar Mishra and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book India Unbound written by Gurcharan Das and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2002-04-09 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: India today is a vibrant free-market democracy, a nation well on its way to overcoming decades of widespread poverty. The nation’s rise is one of the great international stories of the late twentieth century, and in India Unbound the acclaimed columnist Gurcharan Das offers a sweeping economic history of India from independence to the new millennium. Das shows how India’s policies after 1947 condemned the nation to a hobbled economy until 1991, when the government instituted sweeping reforms that paved the way for extraordinary growth. Das traces these developments and tells the stories of the major players from Nehru through today. As the former CEO of Proctor & Gamble India, Das offers a unique insider’s perspective and he deftly interweaves memoir with history, creating a book that is at once vigorously analytical and vividly written. Impassioned, erudite, and eminently readable, India Unbound is a must for anyone interested in the global economy and its future.
Download or read book VP Menon written by Narayani Basu and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-02-04 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With his initial plans for an independent India in tatters, the desperate viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, turned to his seniormost Indian civil servant, Vappala Pangunni Menon—or VP—giving him a single night to devise an alternative, coherent and workable plan for independence. Menon met his stringent deadline, presenting the Menon Plan, which would change the map of the world forever. Menon was unarguably the architect of the modern Indian state. Yet startlingly little is known about this bureaucrat, patriot and visionary. In this definitive biography, Menon’s great-granddaughter, Narayani Basu, rectifies this travesty. She takes us through the highs and lows of his career, from his determination to give women the right to vote; to his strategy, at once ruthless and subtle, to get the princely states to accede to India; to his decision to join forces with the Swatantra Party; to his final relegation to relative obscurity. Equally, the book candidly explores the man behind the public figure— his unconventional personal life and his private conflicts, which made him channel his energy into public service. Drawing from documents—scattered, unread and unresearched until now—and with unprecedented access to Menon’s papers and his taped off-the-record and explosively frank interviews—this remarkable biography of VP Menon not only covers the life and times of a man unjustly consigned to the footnotes of history but also changes our perception of how India, as we know it, came into being.
Download or read book The Naked Civil Servant written by Quentin Crisp and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1997-05-01 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comical and poignant memoir of a gay man living life as he pleased in the 1930s In 1931, gay liberation was not a movement—it was simply unthinkable. But in that year, Quentin Crisp made the courageous decision to "come out" as a homosexual. This exhibitionist with the henna-dyed hair was harrassed, ridiculed and beaten. Nevertheless, he claimed his right to be himself—whatever the consequences. The Naked Civil Servant is both a comic masterpiece and a unique testament to the resilience of the human spirit. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Download or read book India Calling written by Anand Giridharadas and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2011-02-28 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reversing his parents immigrant path, a young writer returns to India and discovers an old country making itself new. Anand Giridharadas sensed something was afoot as his plane prepared to land in Bombay. An elderly passenger looked at him and said, Were all trying to go that way, pointing to the rear. You, youre going this way. Giridharadas was...
Download or read book The Enduring Babu written by Kallidaikurichi Chidambarakrishnan Sivaramakrishnan and published by Har Anand Publications. This book was released on 2008 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Autobiographical reminiscences of K.C. Sivaramakrishnan, b. 1935, on his sojourn at various locations he was posted as an Indian civil servant.
Download or read book My American Journey written by Colin L. Powell and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2010-12-29 with total page 701 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A great American success story . . . an endearing and well-written book.”—The New York Times Book Review Colin Powell is the embodiment of the American dream. He was born in Harlem to immigrant parents from Jamaica. He knew the rough life of the streets. He overcame a barely average start at school. Then he joined the Army. The rest is history—Vietnam, the Pentagon, Panama, Desert Storm—but a history that until now has been known only on the surface. Here, for the first time, Colin Powell himself tells us how it happened, in a memoir distinguished by a heartfelt love of country and family, warm good humor, and a soldier’s directness. My American Journey is the powerful story of a life well lived and well told. It is also a view from the mountaintop of the political landscape of America. At a time when Americans feel disenchanted with their leaders, General Powell’s passionate views on family, personal responsibility, and, in his own words, “the greatness of America and the opportunities it offers” inspire hope and present a blueprint for the future. An utterly absorbing account, it is history with a vision.
Download or read book The Khalistan Conspiracy written by G.B.S. Sidhu and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-10-24 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author, a former Special Secretary of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), examines a series of interconnected events that led to the rise of the Khalistan movement, Operation Blue Star, the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 and the anti-Sikh violence unleashed thereafter. With a timeline that moves from seven years before to a decade after 1984, the book strives to answer critical questions that continue to linger till today. The narrative moves from Punjab to Canada, the US, Europe and Delhi, looking to sift the truth from the political obfuscation and opportunism, examining the role that the ruling party allegedly played, and the heart-rending violence that devoured thousands of innocent lives in its aftermath.
