Named after Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay-- the patriot who immensely contributed to India's freedom struggle, to the women’s rights movement, to refugee welfare and to the renewal of handicrafts-- the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize is an annual award given by the New India Foundation (NIF). In it's fourth edition now, the award celebrates the best non-fiction literature on the theme of modern India which was published in the previous year. A shortlist of six non-fictions for Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2021 was announced on November 10.
The shortlist of six non-fictions were selected from a longlist of 12 books by the jury, which includes: political scientist and author Niraja Gopal Jayal (Chair); entrepreneur and author Nandan Nilekani; historian and author Srinath Raghavan; historian and author Nayanjot Lahiri; and entrepreneur Manish Sabharwal. The six books shortlisted for Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2021 are:
1. 'The Death Script: Dreams and Delusions in Naxal Country' by Ashutosh Bhardwaj (Fourth Estate, HarperCollins Publishers)
This is a sensitive yet stunningly crafted narrative which is based on the Bhardwaj's reportage from India’s so-called ‘red corridor’.
2. 'India’s First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-77' by Christophe Jaffrelot and Pratinav Anil (HarperCollins Publishers)
In this deeply researched book, the authors delve on Indira Gandhi’s infamous Emergency, and her son Sanjay Gandhi’s role in it.
3. 'Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism' by Dinyar Patel (Harvard University Press)
Dinyar Patel's book is a noteworthy biography of Shri Dadabhai Naoroji.
4. 'Gandhi in the Gallery: The Art of Disobedience' by Sumathi Ramaswamy (Roli Books)
The book explores 'how and why Mahatma Gandhi came to be the muse of several modern Indian artists who, by making him visually familiar through their art, have become Gandhi’s conscience-keepers in the present'.
5. 'The Coolie’s Great War: Indian Labour in a Global Conflict 1914-1921' by Radhika Singha (HarperCollins Publishers)
This is 'a pioneering history of the 550,000 non-combatants in the Indian Army who participated in the First World War as menial labour – porters, construction workers, cooks and water carriers – and on whose largely invisible labour the war effort of the British Empire depended so greatly'.
6. 'Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi' by Vinay Sitapati (Penguin Random House)
In this book, Vinay Sitapati writes about how the deep friendship and partnership of over 60 years between Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani led to the success of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Commenting on the six shortlisted books, the Jury said in a statement, “We hear that COVID has created many challenges for the publishing industry, but our book prize Jury didn’t confront any consequences. Narrowing down to the six-book shortlist from our longlist of twelve books was very hard because so many of the books captured unique and diverse angles of modern India. This shortlist is an intellectual feast of non-fiction reading.”
The Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2021 winner will be announced on December 1; the winner will receive a cash award of 15 lakh INR and a citation.
Previous winners of the award include: Milan Vaishnav for 'When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics' in 2018, and Ornit Shani for 'How India Became Democratic' in 2019. In 2020, the award was jointly given to Amit Ahuja for 'Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties Without Ethnic Movements' and Jairam Ramesh for 'VK Krishna Menon, A Chequered Brilliance'.
