D. P. Tripathi - Böcker

Nepal's democracy struggle has been continuing for more than six decades. Since it could not sustain a stable democratic framework even after several attempts in the past, many scholars are stating that Nepal is in permanent transition. Once again, however, it has bagged enormous success in the field of political transformation in 2006 through a highly successful but peacefully organised movement with participation of people from all fields in large numbers. But it could not deconstruct the position of the transition as it has failed to institutionalise the recently gained achievements by making a new constitution even after five years. The only positive thing is that Nepali people, along with various political parties, are still trying hard to resolve vital conflicting issues through dialogue, and come up with a new democratic constitution, though they have already missed three deadlines.

The legend that Faiz Ahmed Faiz was during his lifetime has come alive as a worldwide celebration in his Centennial Yeara 2011. This book is a collection of some of his masterpieces in different genres; tributes by his family, contemporaries who had the fortune to know him personally and by scholars who know Faiz through his immortal poetry, its music, beauty, romance and revolution.

India and China had a glorious history of cultural and material exchanges, which developed into friendship and subsequently into camaraderie during first half of the twentieth century when both India and China fought western imperialism. Owing to serious misconceptions and misjudgements the relations remained under the shadow of animosities and mutual distrust for over three decades until Rajiv Gandhi's China visit in 1988. After 62 years of diplomatic relations between the two, there is a certain maturity in the relations, as both are sharing new responsibilities in the stupendously changing global architecture. India-China Relations: Future Perspectives is a collection of eighteen essays by eminent Indian and Chinese scholars, diplomats and political personalities, who look at the complex and multi-layered relationship from different perspectives covering various domains such as civilizational dialogue through history, the 1950s brotherhood, the border, and various other issues pertaining to education, agriculture, security, defense and economic complementarities etc.The complex and multi-layered character of the relationship makes it difficult to define as an adversarial or competitive, for there has been cooperation at various levels between the two, such as climate change and many other multilateral forums like G20 and BRICS. Notwithstanding the cooperation, there have been incremental yet cautious approaches towards cooperation in various fields from both the sides. As the global economic and political scenario is undergoing a tremendous change, and its shift to Asia is visible, the contributors feel that India and China need to handle the hypersensitive issues with care and tap the existing complementarities appropriately, or else the Asian century would not only be a distant dream, but could also endanger the peace and stability of the region and the world.

Political democracy in India has not been followed by economic democracy. This is not to deny the frowth that India has registered over the last 63 years, especially over the last two decades, India has been growing at rates fairly higher than the world average. From an economy impaired by an exploitative colonial past, India has emerged as a major economic power. In spite of this high economic growth rate, the issues of poverty, unemployement, malnourishment of children has not been adequately taken care of. These are some few details that the book discusses. This book is based on articles written by well known economists and covers all aspects of the Indian Economy.

India and China, the 'cultural cousins' of the past were reduced to 'colonial cousins' during the 19th century by the British colonialists. If the colonial connections strengthened the bonds between the Indian and Chinese people during the 19th century, the same sowed the seeds of conflict during the 20th century. India wished to forge alliance with the nationalist as well as the communist China; however, the colonial legacy denied that alliance with both the parties. India's hobnobbing with Taiwan in the wake of the 1962 hostilities did not go unnoticed in Beijing, however, after the relations were restored between India and China in mid 1970s, India became cautious and remains so developing more intimate relations with Taiwan, albeit there is a momentum as far as cultural and educational ties are concerned. India and Taiwan: From Benign Neglect to Pragmatism is a collection of eleven essays by eminent Indian and Taiwanese scholars, as well as research scholars who look at the multifaceted relationship between India and the Republic of China and contemporary Taiwan from strategic, trade, economics, educational and cultural perspectives.This has been a multilayered relationship where there are shades of support and sympathy, cooperation and conflict, attempts to befriend enemy's enemy briefly, and now seeking more depth as regards security, trade, cultural and educational etc. arenas are concerned. However, China remains a factor, and both are not willing to cross the red line when we talk about relations between the two. Major areas covered in this volume pertain to India and the ROC prior to the establishment of the People's Republic of China, which includes perceptions on Tibet issue, quest for alliance, Chiang Kai-shek and the India-China-Burma theatre of war, the then ROC ambassador to India, Luo Jialun paying his last respect to Gandhi in 1948; India-Taiwan security and trade relations; experiences of developmental states in India and Taiwan; educational and cultural cooperation between India and Taiwan; Taiwan studies in India, the future direction of the India-China relations, and if Taiwan could play a bit of its role here. The collected essays are pertinent, as they help us to understand the past as well as present scenarios between India and the ROC on one hand and India and Taiwan on the other.These are also relevant to any researcher delving into the India-China relations.