The Hindu on Books is a weekly podcast from India's national newspaper on the latest and the best from the world of literature.
Latest episodes
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34 min
Ira Mukhoty on the history of the Awadh empire
The book brings in granular detail about the Awadh Nawabs, their political history, culture and their struggle with the British. It also captures the echoes of the French and Engli…
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36 min
Joseph Stiglitz on the role of government in the economy
In the 20th century, free market economists such as Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek argued that a limited government that allows markets to flourish can lead a country down the…
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36 min
Tim Walker on his book commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy
Tim Walker took to writing children’s novels at the age of 45 and became popular with his series of action-adventure stories published as a trilogy in 2007. The books -- Shipley Ma…
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27 min
Duvvuri Subbarao on his journey as a civil servant | The Hindu On Books podcast
Each year, some of the brightest young Indians join the civil services with the desire to serve the nation. But very soon they find out the steep challenges ahead as they need to b…
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28 min
Karthik Muralidharan on how to accelerate India’s development
It has been over 75 years since India attained independence and became the world's largest democracy. But there is still a huge unfinished task that is holding back India's economi…
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8 min
Ruskin Bond: Ninety and counting
He started writing his first novel at the age of 17. When he was 23, he won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for The Room on the Roof. In his mid-20s, he returned to India and continu…
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16 min
Dalit literature: Decoding voices of resistance and despair | The Hindu On Books podcast
Celebrated as the Dalit History Month, April is the time to reflect upon Dalit literature. There are many books in multiple Indian languages that raise issues related to caste and…
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48 min
Reading Ram Vilas Paswan, the ‘weathervane’ of Indian politics
Ram Vilas Paswan was a steady presence in national politics for more than four decades. He has held Cabinet posts in several governments, including stints in key ministries such as…
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33 min
Brinda Karat on the struggles of working as a woman activist and politician
Brinda Karat has been working with the CPI(M) for the last 53-years. And this memoir by her is primarily about the ten-years from imposition of emergency in 1975 till 1985 when she…
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49 min
Decoding global semiconductor geopolitics and India’s strategic options | The Hindu On Books podcast
Most of us would remember the sudden shortage of semiconductor chips during the pandemic – how it affected automobile manufacturing, delaying deliveries, and in many cases, even ca…
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51 min
Carlo Rovelli on why it is important to understand ‘white holes’ | The Hindu On Books podcast
What are black holes? Mainstream physics sees them as Universe’s ultimate agents of death; afterall, what crosses over beyond the rim of the black hole – or its event horizon as it…
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26 min
Nidhi Sharma on the trials and tribulations of women in politics
Did you know that women were barred from public gallery of the British Parliament. Some 245 years back in 1778 women were thrown out of the public gallery of the House of Common. F…
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32 min
Rosie Llewellyn-Jones on the East India Company's impact on India
This week we are discussing "Empire Building-The Construction of British India 1690-1860. The book traces the journey of East India Company, from 1690 when they occupied Calcutta t…
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18 min
Samrat Choudhury on his new book ‘Northeast India: A Political History’
Author and journalist Samrat Choudhury’s third book comes at the time Manipur is front and centre of the national conversation. The current fault lines between hill and valley, eth…
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31 min
How Shinzo Abe changed Japan and its relations with India
In this episode, we are discussing the new book "The Importance of Shinzo Abe: India, Japan and the Indo Pacific", a collection of essays, edited by Sanjaya Baru, examining the leg…
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52 min
Zac O’ Yeah on his sub-continental adventures with the tummy | The Hindu On Books podcast
A lot of people love travelling. Typically, people travel for three reasons: to see new places, to experience new cultures, and to get away from their daily routine. There is a fou…
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38 min
Sudha Pai and Sajjan Kumar on the future of Dalit politics in Uttar Pradesh
In 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Bahujan Samaj Party that originated from a rare Dalit movement in North India in 1984, reached its lowest ebb winning just one seat and ga…
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15 min
Arati Kumar-Rao on her new book 'Marginlands' | The Hindu On Books podcast
In this episode of On Book Podcast with The Hindu, we are joined by Arati Kumar-Rao, an artist, photographer and author of 'Marginlands', a book that chronicles a decade of travels…
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1 h 08
Rajeev Bhargava on how the Constitution of India represents the distilled wisdom of the founders of the nation…
We are living through an era of immense political and social turmoil. People have thought the same in many past eras too. But still, the enormity of the present is something that w…
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29 min
Yogesh Maitreya on Dalit representation in India | The Hindu On Books podcast
In this episode of On Book Podcast with The Hindu, we are joined by Yogesh Maitreya a leading independent Dalit publisher, writer and poet. We are discussing his memoir, ‘Water In…