NIF announces five-book shortlist for the 2024 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Book Prize for nonfiction

The New India Foundation has announced the shortlist of the 2024 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Book Prize which honours nonfiction books about modern and contemporary Indian history. The winning author receive a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh.

The winner will be announced in November and the winning author will be in conversation with an NIF Trustee at the Bangalore Literature Festival on December 14, 2024.

This year’s jury is chaired by political scientist Niraja Gopal Jayal, and comprises historian Srinath Raghavan, entrepreneur Manish Sabharwal, former diplomat and author Navtej Sarna, lawyer Rahul Matthan, and public policy researcher Yamini Aiyar.

The shortlisted books are:

• How Prime Ministers Decide, Neerja Choudhry, Aleph Book Company

• A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of BR Ambedkar, Ashok Gopal, Navayana

• Sheikh Abdullah: The Caged Lion of Kashmir, Chitralekha Zutshi, Harper Collins India

• Fire on the Ganges: Life Among the Dead in Banaras, Radhika Iyengar, Harper Collins India

• H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars, Kunal Purohit, HarperCollins

Here are reviews and excerpts of the shortlisted books for this year’s Prize:

How Prime Ministers Decide, Neerja Choudhry

An excerpt from the book:

“I think I will just go to the hills and retire there, mused Indira Gandhi to a couple of visitors at her Safdarjung Road home.” Maybe I will take a small cottage somewhere in Himachal Pradesh, and write my memoirs.'

“After all, what are my needs?” she went on reflectively....

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