Baniya—a derivative of the Sanskrit word Vanij, is a term synonymous with India’s trader class. Over the decades, these capitalists spread their footprint across vast sectors of the economy from steel and mining to telecom and retail. And now even e-tail. Nikhil Inamdar’s Rokda features the stories of a few pioneering men from this mercantile community—Radheshyam Agarwal and Radheshyam Goenka, founders of the cosmetic major Emami; Rohit Bansal, co-founder of Snapdeal; Neeraj Gupta, founder of Meru Cabs; and V.K. Bansal, a humble mathematics tutor whose genius spawned a massive coaching industry in Kota—amongst others. Through the triumphs and tribulations of these men in the epoch marking India’s entire post independence struggle with entrepreneurship—from the License Raj to the opening up of the floodgates in 1991, and the dawn of the digital era—Rokda seeks to uncover the indomitable spirit of the Baniya.

Since the first atomic weapon was detonated in 1945, Canadians have debated not only the role of nuclear power in their uranium-rich land but also their country’s role in a nuclear world. Should Canada belong to international alliances that depend on the threat of nuclear weapons for their own security? Should Canadian-produced nuclear technologies be exported? What about the impact of atomic research on local communities and the environment? This incisive nuclear history engages with much larger debates about national identity, Canadian foreign policy contradictions during the Cold War, and Canada’s global standing to investigate these critical questions.

The book describes the journey of 10-year old Aruna, who grows up amidst rejections in a state plagued with female infanticide and eventually finds herself in Bollywood’s Sholay Town. Jayesh, a young news reporter, investigates the case but what he finds out on connecting the dots, sends shivers down everyone’s spines.

Shroff's vibrant narratives in this concept collection of 14 stories set in contemporary Bombay feature a range of beautifully drawn characters in fascinating situations: from the laundrywallas' water shortage problems, to the doomed love affair of a schizophrenic painter and his Bollywood girlfriend, to the wandering thoughts of a massagewalla at Chowpatty Beach, to the heart-warming relationship of a carriage driver and his beloved horse.

This book addresses the instabilities that growing industries face in developing countries, especially Nepal. Also, what happens when industries die out? It questions the rickety ride to industrialization and development - if at all it is avoidable? The author delves deep into its impact on human lives - what happens to those hundreds of thousands of people whose livelihoods are dependent on these industries? How do they inculcate new skillsets to suit changing requirements? What future awaits those who leave the country in search of a better tomorrow? The author challenges the existing perspective that the Maoist movement was essentially a rural, guerrilla warfare. She explains how the Maoist-led labour uprising in Nepal following the death of the garment industry was embedded in a broader political upheaval that was essentially urban in nature and was more about national politics than everyday politics in the margins.