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Civil servants in India usually do not either maintain a diary or write their memoirs. This is proving to be a major void in the source material that historians would like to access. To some extent this Diary fills that gap. It covers the period from November 1974 to 15 August 1975. The author was in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat (PMS) as it was known then, as a Joint Secretary dealing mainly with political affairs. His entries, made almost on a daily basis, trace the trajectory of the political crisis that would, on 26 June 1975, overwhelm the country. They take the reader through the major issues of the day and the manner in which the PM and her office dealt with them. In the process, the reader gets an accurate and fascinating glimpse into the persona of Indira Gandhi as well as her working style. The Diary also reveals hitherto untold secrets—such as the utilisation of government funds for the party. It portrays political leaders and others, who became powerful at the time, in their true colours.
Bishan Narain Tandon joined the IAS in 1951 after taking his MA degree in history from the University of Allahabad. He was assigned to the UP cadre and served the state and the central governments in many capacities. His most important assignment was a long stint as Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office during the fateful years 1969-76. Mr. Tandon sought voluntary retirement in 1983. He is currently the Director of the K K Birla Foundation.
T.C.A. Srinivasa Raghavan is currently a Consulting Editor at Business Standard. He has earlier worked at The Financial Express, The Indian Express and The Economic Times as Economic Editor. He has been a Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, and Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, U.K. and a Visiting Fellow at the Delhi School of Economics for a year (1999).
ISBN - 9788122006933
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Pages : 388
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