Books recieved

Foreign Aid and Politics in Nepal
by Eugene B Mihaly
Himal Books, Kathmandu, 2002 (2nd edition)
pp lx+237, NPR 460
ISBN 99933 43 40 4

When Mihaly wrote this book back in 1965, he was one of very few scholars questioning the efficacy of aid. That was the era of the Cold War, and developing countries were the recipient of large volumes of aid. Nepal, too, could not remain immune to the worldwide phenomenon, and countries as diverse as India, China, Switzerland, the USA and the USSR poured in aid through various means. It had not been many years since the inflow of external assistance began when Mihaly conducted his study. But there is no doubt what his conclusions were: foreign aid had not achieved what it had set out to do for multiple reasons. This reprint of a recognised classic begins with a wide overview of Nepal's foreign aid scene from the very beginning by Nepali scholar Sudhindra Sharma, who also neatly encapsulates the many debates that have characterised the business of foreign aid in Nepal.

The Romance of the State and the Fate of Dissent in the Tropics
by Ashis Nandy
OUP, Delhi, 2003
pp xii+218, INR 495
ISBN 019565864 7
 
Ashis Nandy, the New Delhi-based social and political commentator, explores key concepts in the mainstream culture of Indian politics, ranging from secularism, development and terrorism to dissent and history. He offers a dissenting perspective on the crisis of Indian democracy, in which some elements of the ideology of the state – such as secularism, development, nationalism and national security – have attenuated status. The ordinary citizen's unconcern with them is seen not as a liability but as a key to the resilience of Indian democracy. Nandy holds that dominant ideology responsible for many of the ills of Indian public life – growing terrorism, massive corruption, communal and ethnic violence, passive submission to mega-technology, and the failure to visualise an autonomous, alternative future for the post-colonial world.