Forgotten Refugees: Two Iraqi Brothers in India

AS of early 2022, over 9.2 million Iraqis have been internally displaced or turned refugees. Two of them landed in India in 2014, seeking support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. But refugees are people, not statistics, right? So, human rights lawyer Nandita Haksar took it upon herself to recount their story, how the land they had been told was a place of tolerance seemed hostile. They had become the nowhere people, and were branded illegal foreigners. With no help from the very agency that exists to support them, they now live in constant fear of being deported, often singled out for being Muslims. Their testimony exposes the many truths about the refugee problem — in India and abroad.

MUCH has been said about the 1971 war in its 50th anniversary year. Good triumphed decisively, unequivocally and indisputably. Yet, author KS Nair feels that while there is popular awareness of the victory in India, numerous poignant and heart-warming stories of the war have failed to become iconic representations of military intervention and success in the popular culture of India, Bangladesh and beyond. With ‘December in Dacca’, he seeks to right this wrong. From the dramatic dogfight over Boyra to the cornering of Pakistani naval vessels at Karachi to the helicopter-riding infantry and paratroopers forcing the enemy to retreat, the book retells many anecdotes, putting them in diplomatic, strategic and tactical contexts.

CALLED “the most entertaining artist-iconoclast of contemporary Indian art”, Pushpamala N’s art stirs, reasons, humours. Her series, Motherland, which she began working on in 2009, imagines the nation in various roles — that of a woman, mother, goddess. A book, ‘Motherland: Pushpmala N’s Woman and Nation’, now maps its journey in India and abroad. It takes stock of her provocative works on Mother India’s myriad personifications: nubile beauty and saintly renunciant; goddess wearing a garland of skulls or receiving the ultimate sacrifice of a warrior’s head; the mothersurgeon activating the birth of model citizens. In this, she represents what she calls “a history of the changing images of a nation to the public eye”.

‘UNFILLED Barrels: India’s Oil Story’ sets out to understand why the hunt for oil and gas has been challenging in India. Strong foundations were laid by the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Current PM Narendra Modi has reiterated his resolve to cut down the import bill. So then why is it that India continues to be heavily import dependent, long-time oil reporter Richa Mishra tries to find out, more so when petrol/diesel prices are so high. Mishra also narrates the complex story of India’s hunt for fossil fuel, reasons why domestic production is important and how it will help in making petrol and diesel cheaper. All this, in turn, will touch millions of lives dependent, day in and day out, on petrol, diesel and LNG.