Chanakya's View: Understanding India in Transition

by Pavan K. Varma

A collection of articles by the best-selling author of Adi Hinduisms Greatest Thinker, Pavan K Varma, this book is a bold and brilliant effort at highlighting the beauty and the sad underbelly of India, which he concedes is one of the greatest civilizations of the world and a vibrant democracy. In Chanakyas Understanding India in Transition, Pavan uses a surgeons scalpel to denounce what ails India when it comes to understanding Hinduism; the growing intolerance towards other religions; the proclivity of turning violent in the first section of the book titled, This is Not India. In the second section called, Politics, Pavan K Varma forewarns his readers of political opportunism, even as he raises hope that India will survive for centuries. In the third section titled, Diplomacy, the ex-career diplomat, Pavan K Varma focuses on the loopholes in Indias foreign policies and what it shall take for India to retain its hegemony amongst its immediate neighbours; and in the final section called, Viewpoint, he pays glorious tributes to some of the greats in Indian history like the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Khushwant Singh and Indira Gandhi. A rare collection of articles from one of Indias best-selling authors, Chanakyas Understanding India in Transition is both a glorious celebration of a great country, and a gentle reminder to save it from a disaster.

344 pages, Paperback

Published July 20, 2019

About the author

Pavan K. Varma is a former Indian Foreign Service officer and was an adviser to the Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, with cabinet rank. With effect from June, 2014 he was a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) until July 2016. He is currently the National General Secretary and National Spokesman of the Janata Dal (United).

Varma is a graduate of St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi where he studied History (Honours) and received the first position. He was President of the St. Stephen’s College Debating Society as well as the star debater and elocutionist of the University of Delhi. He also won the Sir CP Ramaswamy Aiyar Memorial Essay Prize at St. Stephen’s. Subsequently, he acquired a degree in Law from the University of Delhi.

He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1976. His career as a diplomat has seen him serve in several locations, including New York and Moscow. In New York, he was with India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. His assignments in India include that of Press Secretary to the President of India, Spokesman in the Ministry of External Affairs, Joint Secretary for Africa and Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi.

Reviews

[Hrishikesh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Deeply disappointed.