Vision for a Nation

What is the nation? What is the idea of India? Whose India is it, anyway?
This inaugural volume in the series titled Rethinking India aims to kickstart a national dialogue on the key questions of our times. It brings together India's foremost intellectuals, academics, activists, technocrats, professionals and policymakers to offer an in-depth exploration of these issues, deriving from their long-standing work, experience and unflinching commitment to the collective idea of India, of who we can and ought to be. Vision for a Nation: Paths and Perspectives champions a plural, inclusive, just, equitable and prosperous India, committed to individual dignity as the foundation of the unity and vibrancy of the nation.

In order to further disseminate these ideas — the vision for the nation as aspirationally reflected in the Constitution -- this book provides a positive counter-narrative to reclaim the centrality of a progressive, deeply plural and forward-looking and inclusive India. It serves as a fresh reminder of our shared and shareable overlapping values and principles, and collective heritage and resources. The essays in the book are meaningful to anyone with an interest in contemporary Indian politics, South Asian studies, modern Indian history, law, sociology, media and journalism.

Vision for a Nation
Paths and Perspectives

Contents

Editors’ Note

Introduction
Aakash Singh Rathore and Ashis Nandy

Epic, Narrative and Lyric Ideas of India
G.N. Devy

A Land of Belonging
Shashi Tharoor

Secularism: Central to a Democratic Nation
Neera Chandhoke

Indian Nationalism versus Hindutva Nationalism
Sitaram Yechury

From the Largest Democracy to the Greatest Democracy
S.Y. Quraishi

A Shared Past, an Uncertain Future
Syeda Hameed

The Fate of Shudras in a Buffalo Nation
Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

Feminist Futures and Ideas of Justice for India
Kalpana Kannabiran

Imagining and Embodying the Nation
Navtej Singh Johar

The Battle for India’s Soul
Pushparaj Deshpande

Notes
Index

An Interview on Rethinking India series with The Caravan
15 December 2019

Interview in The Caravan (Hindi)

Shashi Tharoor

The Indian Express: Bookmarked
10 December 2019

Firstpost: Books of the week
23 December 2019

Books to watch out for in 2020:

The Week, Outlook, The Hindu

An excerpt in The Quint

An excerpt in Scroll.in

Authors Speak on Vision for a Nation

G. N. Devy

Neera Chandhoke

Mridula Mukherjee

Sitaram Yechury

Ashis Nandy

World Book Fair 2020, New Delhi

An excerpt in News18
Why Jawaharlal Nehru Wanted India to Embrace 'Tolerant and Creative Nationalism'

February 8, 2020

An excerpt in The Wire
What Explains the Rise of Authoritarian Regimes Across the Globe?

Book Launch: 5 February 2020

From New Delhi book launch
5 February 2020, Jawahar Bhawan

Glimpses from the book launch

From the Keynote Address

“Democracy was built on some very fundamental and seminal ideas, one of which is secularism. Essays in this book open us to the ideas of citizenship.”
— P. Chidambaram

Featured in The Quint

Leaders speak

Featured in National Herald

Featured in The Telegraph
Protesters walking in Gandhi’s steps

Sanjay K. Jha, 6 February 2020

Comments from the book discussion

An Interview with The National
February 4, 2020

An excerpt in The Print

An excerpt in Youth ki Awaaz

Rethinking India
Series Editors: Aakash Singh Rathore, Mridula Mukherjee, Pushparaj Deshpande and Syeda Hameed

Volume 1. Vision for a Nation (ed. Aakash Singh Rathore and Ashis Nandy)
Volume 2. The Minority Conundrum: Living in Majoritarian Times (ed. Tanweer Fazal)
Volume 3. Reviving Jobs (ed. Santosh Mehrotra)
Volume 4. Rights for the People (ed. Nikhil Dey, Rakshita Swamy, Aruna Roy)
Volume 5. A Country of 10% Women (ed. Nisha Agrawal)

Penguin Short:
Can we have a singular vision
for our nation?

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