The Making of Modern India: From 1498 to the Modern Times (for UPSC Civil Services Examination)

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While the book attempts to give a historical account of events that have shaped India since the advent of the Portuguese in 1498, it is not merely a chronicle of the past events. The author has taken care not only to cover the events of historical significance which happened in the Indian subcontinent, but has also made an attempt to reassess the burgeoning body of newer evidence to throw fresh light on some of these. In the process, at times, a lesser-known fact has also come to the surface-many of these, according to the author, deserve a more detailed - and at times a more nuanced, and often an altogether different - exposition to understand the flow of events in a more holistic manner. Thus, the book will engage and encourage its readers in discovering new ideas and knowledge and motivate them to dig deep into Indian History!

The content and the treatment of the book would make it immensely useful in the preparation for the General Studies-1 (Paper-II) of Main Examination as well as the Preliminary Examination (General Studies Paper-1) conducted by the UPSC every year. Aspirants with History as optional subject would also benefit from the book as would the UG and PG students of History and the lay person with an interest in History. While writing the papers, most often, UPSC aspirants need to explore and deeply analyse multidimensional aspects of historical events and synthesise simple, logical and to-the-point answers from the complicated layers of historical events. This skill would eventually be tested and used in the real life by the budding civil servants who would move later into the higher echelons of bureaucracy.

Mr Ajay Shukla did his Masters in History and cleared the UPSC Civil Services Examination (Then called as the AS & Allied Services) in 1979. He retired as Member Traffic Railway Board in 2015. Travelling to places of historical significance has been one of his special interests. He has also been passionate about India's heritage and culture and has authored a book on the philosophy of Bhagavada Gita. The present book is an outcome of years of research on primary sources and archives available in India and abroad.

Why this book?

It is even a bigger wonder that this union of the sub-continent was brought about not by Indians but by Europeans-predominantly by the British. This is also without a precedent and has never been repeated. And it happened not out of any consistent policy or strategy, but by situations created by global events, and by sheer serendipity. This book is the story of this miracle.

However, when we read India's story of integration as a country, many questions puzzle not only the scholars of History but people within and beyond the Indian borders. Why Europeans came to India at all? Why the British succeeded while the others failed and how did they establish their dominance? How did the domestic imperatives of Britain affect their expansion in India? What was the social, political and economic impact of British rule on India? And how it affects the Indians today? What was the role of religion in this epoch? Was partition of India inevitable? How has India evolved-socially and economically-after Independence? These are also the themes of endless debates even today as these shaped the India that we know. This book tries to answer these questions and thereby narrates the tale of making India a nation.

Writers of Indian History are often shy-or try to be politically correct-when discussing many of these sensitive issues. These are by no means limited to history but are a major part of the contemporary socio-political discourse. However, Indian society has matured much since Independence, and these issues are now being deliberated upon more candidly by society in the media. As such, it has become necessary to discuss the same with an intellectual detachment. Further, a fresh interpretation has become necessary also because with passage of time, the perspective changes and opinions held some fifty years back do not hold good anymore. A century is a short time in history to comprehend the significance of past events because their ramifications take their own time to unravel. Thus, with age, views change, and hence the need to revisit history with an open mind, and to have a fresh look! This book is an attempt in this direction.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages