‘The Light of Asia’: Jairam Ramesh’s new book is a biography of an epic bio-poem on the Buddha

An excerpt from ‘The Light of Asia: The Poem That Defined The Buddha’, by Jairam Ramesh.

Jairam Ramesh

· Jun 08, 2021 · 08:30 am

July 19, 1969: Fifty years ago, India nationalised 14 private banks. This is how it was done

Jairam Ramesh’s biography of PN Haksar, who masterminded the nationalisation of banks announced by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Jairam Ramesh

· Jul 19, 2019 · 07:30 am

Jairam Ramesh: Lessons from reorganising India's states – and why Uttar Pradesh needs to be divided

India needs a second States Reorganisation Commission. And it needs to split up its most populous state into smaller, manageable states.

Jairam Ramesh

· Jan 15, 2019 · 07:30 am

Indira Gandhi’s conscience keeper? ‘I could not become a ‘keeper’ of something which did not exist’

Extracts from a new biography of the former prime minister’s close aide, PN Haksar, who has been called her ‘moral and ideological compass from 1967 to 1972’.

Jairam Ramesh

· Jun 18, 2018 · 08:30 am

Behind the scenes at the Copenhagen, Cancun climate talks: How India helped ease the path to Paris

Jairam Ramesh explains.

Jairam Ramesh

· Jun 12, 2018 · 12:30 pm

‘The Planning Commission did not keep India poor. It actually kept India together’: Jairam Ramesh

‘The gap between India and China widened astronomically not during the planning era but actually during the market reforms era.’

Jairam Ramesh

· Apr 23, 2018 · 03:30 pm

India’s so-called demographic dividend could easily end up becoming a nightmare: Jairam Ramesh

As India prepares to overtake China as the world’s most populous country by the year 2024, it faces age-old problems.

Jairam Ramesh

· Jan 26, 2018 · 06:30 pm

How Indira Gandhi dealt with the demand for a national law to ban cow slaughter (and other stories)

She refused permission to DLF for a hotel in Lutyens’ Delhi and then allowed it to the Tatas. And she sanctioned contentious dams on the Narmada.

Jairam Ramesh

· Jun 21, 2017 · 06:30 pm

PN Haksar: The man who was Indira Gandhi's alter ego at the peak of her glory

She was almost in awe of the man with whom she enjoyed an unusually warm personal relationship – her daily moral and ideological compass from 1967 to 1972.

Jairam Ramesh

· Jun 03, 2017 · 12:30 pm

How Telangana and Seemandhra fought for Hyderabad (and how the battle was won)

Book excerpt: Jairam Ramesh, who was closely involved with the bifurcation, recounts the tussle for the capital.

Jairam Ramesh

· Jun 21, 2016 · 08:30 am

Narasimha Rao, the Sanskritist Prime Minister

As India embarked on its economic reforms, the Prime Minister stumped Parliament with his frequent use of Sanskrit.

Jairam Ramesh

· Sep 06, 2015 · 12:30 pm