A new issue of The Caravan is out. From Himal Southasian, a special issue on the caste system. A republican agenda: If democracy in India is to survive, it must move away from the paternalism of its founders. A review of Post-Hindu India: A discourse in Dalit-Bahujan, socio-spiritual and scientific revolution by Kancha Ilaiah. Global fashion was chasing an Indian dream — the dream is now over. From Outlook India, "development is a contraceptive": An interview with Ashish Bose, India’s foremost demographer, on how India ended up with the world’s largest population despite 60 years of family planning (and a review of Headcount: Memoirs of a Demographer); Hindu terror is a reality, yet India refuses to utter its name; and intellectuals want change, but not without the freedom to disagree. A think tank report warns that India is poised on the brink of anarchy, that we could hurtle very fast into an ungovernable mess — the signs are all around us. More and more and more on Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India by William Dalrymple. India asks, should food be a right for the poor? A look at how mobile phones are transforming Indian agriculture. A review of Mother Pious Lady: Making Sense Of Everyday India by Santosh Desai. Is India the world’s worst place to die? Real India: Historian Ramachandra Guha cautions the use of “the Indian Century”. Zahid Rafiq is a pacifist — but he wants to be a stone-pelter. A. Revathi's The Truth About Me is a much needed introduction to hijras' lives and their community (and an interview). Comic realism: Classical Indian comics basically train young minds to suck up to the stereotypes of the status quo.
