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Aadhaar
A complex tale of idealism, negotiation and realpolitik records how a revolution was engineered. Aadhaar was born in July 2009, yoking modern technology and management expertise to political will. The biometric-based unique identification system, built by tech czar Nandan Nilekani and his team of innovators, was designed to enable subsidies and social spends reach their true destination, plug institutional corruption and save trillions of tax-rupees. In July 2017, Aadhaar is 1.15 billion identities and growing. In Aadhaar: A Biometric History of India's 12-digit Revolution, senior journalist Shankkar Aiyar traces the history of this ambitious, controversial undertaking. He speaks with President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Manmohan Singh, P. Chidambaram, Yashwant Sinha, Rahul Gandhi and others to document how politicians with diametrically opposed ideologies were equally determined to propel Aadhaar. Aiyar maps how Aadhaar's application expanded beyond its original intent. He researches its ups, downs and turnarounds; discusses the concerns of activists and bureaucrats on potential misuse of the database for state surveillance; raises the urgent need for a data-protection and privacy law and spells out the solutions. An unusual contemporary dramatization, this book is a breathless ride through recent changes in India's political and economic landscape. About the Author Shankkar Aiyar is a prominent India-based political economy analyst, columnist and author. His path-breaking book Accidental India fetched him acclaim as a public intellectual. A journalist for over three decades, Aiyar has covered every parliamentary election since 1984. His 1991 scoop on India pledging its gold reserves drew world attention to the crisis in the economy which consequently compelled liberalisation. Aiyar has analysed every Budget since liberalization. As a columnist Aiyar specializes in the interface of politics and economics. He has authored a study on India's socio-economic faultlines and its hundred worst districts. His investigation on twenty-five years of political corruption is part of an anthology. He has been a Wolfson Chevening Fellow at Cambridge University where he studied the lifecycles of emerging economies. Aiyar is a Visiting Fellow at the IDFC Institute. He is currently working on his third book and policy research on evolving demographics and implications for the next economy.
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Accidental India: A History of the Nation's Passag
Accidental India: A History Of The Nation’s Passage Through Crisis And Change, published in 2012, takes an in-depth look into the major changes in India post-independence. The author has shortlisted seven game changers, and he deconstructs each one of them to explain to readers that India has missed many opportunities in every decade. Furthermore, he says that the most important decisions ever taken in the last sixty years have always been in the wake of a crisis. Each chapter of Accidental India: A History Of The Nation’s Passage Through Crisis And Change begins with a date. In The Bonfire Of The Vanities, Aiyar points out that despite popular belief, Dr. Manmohan Singh was in fact not the sole architect of the liberalization in the 90s. The book also covers a very interesting story about the Green Revolution that took place in the 1960s. Titled Hunger Games, this chapter describes how Dr. G. V. Chalam, along with the help of IAS officer secretary S. Venkitaramanan, managed to transport a kilogram of paddy seeds in spite of being stopped at the Palam Airport. These smuggled grains became the seeds of a revolution. Readers will also learn about the political drama enacted by PM Indira Gandhi in order to nationalize banks in 1969. Accidental India: A History Of The Nation’s Passage Through Crisis And Change also covers Operation Flood, the Mid-day Meal scheme, software revolution in the 1990s, and the Right to Information Act. This book has been written after intensive research. The author met leading personalities of the past and the present, collected facts and figures, and looked into India’s controversies. He has also incorporated many stories about how individuals have successfully transformed India while fighting against all odds. This book is for anyone who thinks that India deserves much better than just waiting for a crisis to solve a problem.