Title: Chanakya’s New Manifesto To Resolve The Crisis Within India

By: Pavan K. Varma

Pavan K. Varma studied history at St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and took a degree in law from Delhi University. He has been press secretary to the president of India, official spokesman of the Foreign Office, director general of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and India’s ambassador to Bhutan. Having taken premature retirement from the Indian Foreign Service, he now seeks to be actively involved in public life.

Pavan K. Varma has authored several acclaimed and bestselling books, among them, Ghalib: The Man, The Times; Krishna: The Playful Divine; The Great Indian Middle Class; Being Indian: The truth about why the 21st century will be India’s; Becoming Indian: The Unfinished Revolution of Culture and Identity and When Loss is Gain. He has also translated into English the poetry of Gulzar, Kaifi Azmi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

ISBN:     9789382277095

Cover Price:       Rs. 295.00

Rating:  3.5/5

Chanakya (c. 270-380 BCE) was classical India’s greatest thinker and teacher. Through his unparalleled ability to devise result-oriented military, political, and administrative strategy, he overthrew one king, crowned another and paved the way for the establishment of India’s first great empire. His seminal work, the Arthashashtra, arguably the world’s first comprehensive treatise on statecraft and governance, was written approximately two thousand years before Machiavelli’s The Prince.

What would Chanakya do if confronted with the various crises that beset contemporary India? Using this question as the starting point for his new book, celebrated writer and thinker Pavan K. Varma has drawn up a practical and detailed plan, modelled on the Arthashashtra, to bring about reform and change in five key areas that require urgent attention governance, democracy, corruption, security, and the building of an inclusive society. Whether it is laying the foundation for an independent and effective Lokpal, or decriminalizing politics and successfully weeding out the corrupt, the solutions he proposes are substantive, well within the constitutional framework, and can make all the difference between intent and action.

Chanakya’s New Manifesto is both a call to action as well as a deeply insightful account of the challenges facing the country today. It is a book that should be attentively read by everybody with a stake in India’s future.

Honestly I don’t think I would have picked up this book from a bookstore and read it if it wasn’t for BlogAdda. I had read about Chankaya in the boring history books when in school so I was curious what this New Manifesto could be all about. So when BlogAdda sent this book across to me, I jumped right into it with the curiosity of a child.

The book first introduces you to Chanakya, the great thinker and strategist who lived about 2300 years ago. Pavan Verma attempts to offer solutions to the problems that plague our country in the present day by taking a leaf out of Chankya’s Arthashastra. He presents the problems first and then moves on to laying out the blue print for change. His inspiration is Chanakya and what the latter would probably have done if living in this day and age.

The Arthashastra dealt analytically with the problems that plagued India at that time, over 2000 years ago, and offered solutions. Chanakya’s New Manifesto is set along the same lines. The obstacles that we as a country face today are the same, perhaps more complicated, but essentially the same.

It is a good book no doubt. Pavan Kumar has logically and systematically attempted to break down every complication, every hurdle and dissect it to offer some answers, some solution. Governance, Democracy, Corruption, Security and Creation of an Inclusive Society are the keys areas that Pavan Kumar attributes India’s current mess to. And I certainly agree!

It’s a serious book on a serious issue. I hadn’t read any of Pavan Kumar’s earlier books so I wasn’t really acquainted to his style as a writer. However Chanakya’s New Manifesto does justice to all that I had read about him over the net in the past few days. So my verdict is that the book is certainly a good read. Give it a go!