Land ownership in India has always been a risky proposition. The hitherto unfettered power of acquisition and the refusal of the Parliament to recognize the right to own property as a fundamental one, had emboldened the state to stake claim on any land it saw fit. However, in the years 2012-2014, the Government of India embarked on an exercise to not just amend but to rewrite the law on acquisition. This process saw the radical polarization of public opinion into two sharp sides -those who saw acquisition as a necessary tool to India's development (given the absence of other mechanisms guaranteeing clear title), and those who were sharply opposed to an archaic relic that defied the rule of law. This book attempts to explain the rationale employed behind each and every provision by the then Minister and his Principle Aide who helped draft the law. The book is a firsthand account of the challenges faced and the factors that drove the decisions in regulating the State's approach to a resource that is arguably the most important in a land deficit people surplus nation.

Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India for sixteen years, was as charismatic as she was controversial-at once admired and criticized for her political judgements and actions. Yet beyond such debate, what has not been fully understood is her life-long communion with nature and how that defined her very being. Weaving personal, political, and environmental history, politician-scholar Jairam Ramesh narrates the compelling story of Indira Gandhi, the naturalist. He tells us why and how she came to make a private passion a public calling; how her views on the environment remained steadfast even as her political and economic stances changed; how her friendships with conservationists led to far-reaching decisions to preserve India's biodiversity; how she urged, cajoled, and persuaded her colleagues as she took significant decisions particularly regarding forests and wildlife; and how her own finely-developed instincts and beliefs resulted in landmark policies, programmes, initiatives, laws, and institutions, that have endured. Drawing extensively from unpublished letters, notes, messages, and memos, Indira Gandhi: A Life in Nature offers a lively, conversational narrative of a relatively little known but fascinating aspect of Indira Gandhi's tumultuous life. Equally, the book acts as a compass to India at a time when the country faces the formidable challenge of ensuring ecological security and sustainability in its pursuit of high economic growth.