NIF fellowships to 11 scholars, writers
Bengaluru, Apr 15: The New India Foundation (NIF) will award fellowships to 11 scholars and writers this year for a set of non-fiction book proposals chronicling post-Independence India, it was announced Thursday.
The NIF fellowships are awarded for a period of one year with an annual stipend of Rs 18 lakh to each recipient; and include editorial and publishing support for each project. The fellowship enables scholars and writers to write and publish works of non-fiction.
"So far, 22 books written by fellowship winners have been published under the NIF aegis; many of these have become seminal and award-winning works on contemporary Indian history," NIF said in a statement.
Currently in its 10th cycle, the NIF fellowship awardees this year comprise an eclectic mix of journalists, academics and researchers, both young and experienced, with a compelling and wide range of proposals, it said.
The list of awardees was decided by a panel of jury members that included political scientist Niraja Gopal Jayal, historians Ramachandra Guha and Srinath Raghavan, CEO of Pratham Education Foundation Rukmini Banerji, entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani and chairman of Teamlease Services Manish Sabharwal.
The awardees and their tentative book titles include Anjum Hasan ("Shillong: First City of India's Northeast"); Chitrangada Choudhury ("Power, Profit and Protests: Forest Communities on the Frontlines of Environmental Justice"); Jaideep Hardikar ("The Rise and Fall of The Empress"); Jayaseelan Raj ("The Egalitarian Paradox: Dalits and the State in Kerala"); Maya Ratnam ("Dwelling in the Forest: The Government of Nature in Tribal Central India); and M Mohsin Alam Bhat ("Constitutional Culture: Muslims and Popular Constitutionalism in India").
Raza Kazmi ("The First of Nine: The Story of Palamau Tiger Reserve"); Simin Patel ("Irani Restaurants of Bombay"); Sohini C ("The Losers: A History of Women Runners, and Running in India"); Srikar Raghavan ("From Malnad to Mysore: Following the trail of Literature and Activism in Karnataka"); and Suryakant Waghmore ("Is a Post Caste City Possible?: Examining Caste Erasure in contemporary Ahmedabad and Mumbai") complete the list.
Speaking on behalf of the jury, Raghavan said this was an exceptional year for the NIF fellowships as not only over 900 applications were received, but more fellowships are being awarded than ever before.
"The 11 NIF fellows will write books on a remarkable set of topics encompassing cities and forests, law and politics, sports and literature, business and culture - books that promise to transform our understanding of contemporary India," he said.
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Attempt to shield 'infiltrators': BJP ahead of Cong's rally against 'vote theft'
New Delhi (PTI): Ahead of the Congress' rally over the "vote theft" issue, the BJP on Sunday alleged that the main opposition party was holding the event in its bid to "protect infiltrators" from being removed from the electoral rolls.
The ruling BJP asserted that the Congress will not succeed in its design of misleading people as well as "insulting and defaming" constitutional institutions, because the entire world knows that India's democracy is "very robust".
Stepping up its campaign against the alleged "vote theft" by the BJP in elections, the Congress has organised a rally at the Ramlila Maidan here on Sunday that will be attended by the party's top leaders, including general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, and Sachin Pilot.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi are expected to address the gathering. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi is also likely to be present at the event.
Ahead of the event, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Congress was holding the rally even as Union Home Minister Amit Shah "exposed" the opposition through his point-by-point rebuttal to their "fabricated" allegations during a debate on electoral reforms during the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.
"This shows that you do not have truth in your hand, yet you are trying to create an atmosphere of confusion. The Congress' rally is an exercise to protect 'ghuspaithiyas (infiltrators)'. This is what the Congress is doing," the BJP MP told reporters here.
"The Congress party may try all it wants to mislead the people as well as insult and defame our constitutional institutions. But, the entire world knows that India's democracy is very robust and it cannot be shaken," he added.
The BJP leader accused the Congress of holding the rally to pursue its "appeasement politics" and dared Rahul Gandhi to challenge the Bihar assembly polls if he felt that there was any irregularity.
"Rahul ji, you still have perhaps 10 days left in your hands. You can still file a complaint if you feel that there was any irregularity (in the poll process) in any of the seats in the Bihar assembly polls," Patra said.
