Midnight's Machines, Bottle of Lies among titles shortlisted for Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2020

The New India Foundation (NIF) announced the shortlist for the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize on 16 November. The prize recognises and celebrates excellent non-fiction writing on modern and contemporary India. Established in 2018, it comes with a Rs 15 lakhs award and citation. The jury, chaired by author and political scientist Niraja Gopal Jayal, also includes author and historian Ramachandra Guha, entrepreneur and author Nandan Nilekani, historian and author Srinath Raghavan, historian and author Nayanjot Lahiri, Teamlease Services Chairman Manish Sabharwal. The six books on the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2020 shortlist are: — Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements by Amit Ahuja (Oxford University Press) — Midnight’s Machines: A Political History of Technology in India by Arun Mohan Sukumar (Penguin Random House) — The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra by Arupjyoti Saikia (Oxford University Press) — A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V.K. Krishna Menon by Jairam Ramesh (Penguin Random House) — Bottle of Lies: Ranbaxy and the Dark Side of Indian Pharma by Katherine Eban (Juggernaut) — Wild Himalaya: A Natural History of the Greatest Mountain Range on Earth by Stephen Alter (Aleph) The final winner will be announced in early December 2020. The 2019 prize was  awarded  to political and modern Indian history scholar Ornit Shani for her book How India Became Democratic: Citizenship and the Making of the Universal Franchise.