Five books to understand India today

India After Gandhi (2007)

by Ramachandra Guha

Guha’s magisterial work is the book to read about India’s history since independence. In exhaustive detail, the Bangalore-based historian identifies the people, events and lucky twists of fate that allowed India to hold together — by no means a foregone conclusion in 1947 — and still shape it into the present day. An updated edition incorporates Narendra Modi’s rise to national office in 2014.

Whole Numbers and Half Truths (2021)

by Rukmini S

Data journalist and campaigner Rukmini S’s book is subtitled “What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India”. In a country that has not held a census since 2011, she looks at where data is misleading, lacking or tells a different story from what first meets the eye. In so doing, she composes a compelling snapshot of contemporary India: how it lives and works, what Indians spend their money on, how they get old, fall ill and get better.

Unequal: Why India Lags Behind Its Neighbours (2023)

by Swati Narayan

India, south Asia’s rising superpower, has one of the world’s fastest- growing economies, but lags woefully behind regional neighbours such as Bangladesh on most social indicators including health, education, nutrition, sanitation and the employment of women. Narayan’s analysis of India’s social and regional disparities, including the worsening economic rift between the poor north and wealthier south, is sharp, well researched and timely.

The Struggle for India’s Soul (2021)

by Shashi Tharoor

India is replete with accounts by disillusioned liberals of how Hindu nationalism under Modi has changed India and altered its democratic institutions and constitutional order — in some cases stretching them to breaking point. Distinguished author and opposition Congress MP Tharoor argues that the idea of India as a place that respects all religions, regions and castes is under threat from Hindu nationalists who seek not only to rule the country, “but to change India’s very heart and soul into something it has never been and was never meant to be”.

The Greatest Indian Stories Ever Told (2023)

edited by Arunava Sinha

This capacious anthology of short stories, compiled by prizewinning translator Arunava Sinha, roams across India’s diverse regions and modern history. Alongside renowned Indian writers such as Rabindranath Tagore and Khushwant Singh, and widely loved tales such as Ruskin Bond’s touching and beautiful “The Blue Umbrella”, the collection contains lesser-known and newer gems like Kashmiri writer Shahnaz Bashir’s devastating tale of a father and his son’s early death “The Gravestone”. It is an eye-opening introduction to India, writ small.

John Reed is the FT’s South Asia bureau chief, covering India, Pakistan and the region

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