Reviews for India Infrastructure Report 2009: Land - a Critical Resource for Infrastructure

The average rating for India Infrastructure Report 2009: Land - a Critical Resource for Infrastructure based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-01-14 00:00:00 Robert Hyde Arun Shourie, BJP ideologue and Hindu apologist, is at his aggressive best in this "expose" of the leftist historians in India: Irfan Habib, Romila Thapar, Bipan Chandra, Satish Chandra et al. His attack is two-pronged. One: the official historians at the ICHR (Indian Council of Historic Research) consumed millions of rupees in public funds with precious little output to show for it. Two: they purposefully distorted Indian history by not mentioning the atrocities of Muslim invaders against Hindus and Buddhists, while at the same time inventing Hindu atrocities against Buddhists and Jains on the most tenuous evidence. Shourie produces an impressive array of documentary evidence in support of the first accusation. If it is true, it is high time the whole thing was investigated by the CBI! Of course, it may be only old-fashioned government lethargy without any intend to defraud: even then, the people responsible for the same should be held accountable. In case of the second accusation, I am in broad agreement with his contention that evidence of Islamic atrocities have been swept under the carpet in the interest of political correctness in Indian history-writing. Shourie has used as sources the accounts of court historians of Aurangazeb et al, about the destruction of "the places of worship of the infidels". The official line that this was just to acquire booty does not hold water, in the face of the praise heaped on these conquerors for committing these acts. I remember the same thing being mentioned by the Malayalam writer Anand in his book Vettakkaranum Virunnukaranum ("The Hunter and the Guest"), and his being called an "Islamophobe" because of it. However, Shourie puts on the same blinkers when he discusses Hinduism. He flogs the dead horse of the Hindutva contention that Hinduism originated in India in times immemorial and there were no Aryan intrusions into the country. He mentions caste just in passing and fails to discuss how Brahmins ruled with an iron hand over the hapless lower castes. He purposefully casts Hinduism as a monolithic religion based on the Vedas, pulling out a few straw men from the criticisms against it, and easily demolishing them. He ignores the many nuances of Hinduism which do not fit in anywhere with the Vedas. While discussing the Marxists' betrayal of the Quit India movement, he is silent on the murder of Gandhi by a Hindu fanatic. Ultimately, the author's prejudices defeat his purpose. This book will preach mainly to the choir. However, for people with only a sketchy idea about Indian history, Shourie will feel very authentic. My only suggestion to such readers is to also read books with opposing viewpoints, and form your own opinions. --------------------------------- I would request people who visit this review to go through the discussion thread below, also. A lot of GR members have come up with strong arguments counter to mine, which repay attention. --------------------------------- An interesting review which effectively takes apart Shourie's book: Investigative Journalism or Slander: Do You Have More Questions Mr. Shourie? I especially loved the last paragraph: In the end, it is hardly comprehensible that a winner of Magsaysay Award for investigative journalism should write as such a reckless ignoramus. But one easily understands that an upwardly mobile political ideologue in a hurry should do so. --------------------------------- I did some research on Shourie's "sources": and interestingly, the person whom he sets most stock by, Sita Ram Goel, is a hard-core Hindu fundamentalist who has run into trouble with the authorities various times for the publication of inflammatory material. Sita Ram Goel In fact there is a whole group out there with these fringe historical theories, not all of them Indian or even Hindu. Out of India Theory. Most of their books are available online. I will be reading some of them as time permits.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-01-14 00:00:00 Jacques Quinn Brilliant book. This book is an eye opener for me. Everyone should read it. This book show how leftist with the help congress distorted our Indian history. You can see how ICHR (Indian Council of Historical Research) are corrupted to the core. These eminent historian charge money in the name of so called "honorary” and they took so much money in the name of project which they haven't completed or even submit any progress. In India, our history is never written in neutral point of view. It is always left leaning to fulfill their agenda and propagate their ideology in Indian history which we all study in schools and universities through NCERT books. This book try to reveal history which was hidden. It makes you realise how our own history was distorted. This was a fantastic read for me who is a product or a victim of the distorted history. Even history books of Bengal and Kerala is totally because communist was there. These historian will even propagate you to believe in "Aryan invasion theory" bullshit. The problem is our history is always written from Delhi centric or Delhi point of view. I am a tamilian by birth born in Nagpur who has lived in more than 5 different cities. There is always a part of me who constantly look for culture, tradition and history of our nation. There was only ONE chapter of Chola, Chera and Pandya dynasty. THREE dynasties in ONE chapter. You can imagine. These three dynasties have been for longer period of time compare to those leftist “fav dynasty” mughal, Delhi sultanate and Tughlaq dynasty No history of Nagpur…No mentioned of Bhosale family who have served under Maratha empire and ancient town Ramtek. No history of Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh is known for 36 forts and no mentioned of 75 days of Bastar dushhera. Chhattisgarh is only known for naxalite issue. See the irony here leftist in ICHR and in naxalite. No history of Bhopal, Ujjain and Indore and Maheshwar. No mentioned of famous Battle of Bhopal where Baji Rao defeated Mughal empire. No mentioned of Raja Bhoj from Parmara dynasty. No mentioned of Avanti(Ujjain) which was the capital of Malwa and how holy city it is. No mentioned of famous Ahilya Bai from Maheshwar. No mentioned of Holkar family who served under Maratha empire from Indore. No mentioned of Pune.. how this city flourished under Maratha empire. Do you how Mumbai name came to exist being one of the 12th richest city in the world.....Naahhh It came from Goddess name Mumba devi. Originally Mumbai was formation of the seven islands and it was a part of Ashoka empire. Above mentioned are cities I have lived in. There are so many dynasties. Now u can imagine how our history are erased or not even mentioning in history books. This is the reason I travel a lot and read lot of non fiction and try to avoid leftist books. I have one relative, her ancestor where syrian christains who came to Kerala because all the atrocities did by Islamic invasion in Syria. Syria was a Christian country. No mentioned of how they came in Kerala and how they lived here. No mentioned of it. Nothing. You can see the amount of history they have distorted by telling lies about Ram Janmabhoomi.There are lot of evidences found in Ram Janmabhoomi. These marxists are the one who are disrupting the harmony of Hinduism and mohammedan. If you want to know the truth listen to the Indian archaeologist k.k. mohammed in YouTube regarding Ram Janmabhoomi. You can see how these historian degrade our scriptures by saying all fault and utter bullshit. Belittling Hindu scriptures are their main purpose in the name of "freedom of speech". And you know books written by these eminent historian are recommended by coaching institute to those who are preparing for UPSC exams. Being a MBA finance guy, i even thought of doing a course in Indian history just for increasing my knowledge. That plan is cancel now after reading so many distorted history. If you ever feel that you have not read the real history like me. This is the perfect book for you which will tell you reason for it and how they distort it. Highly recommended.