Swadeshi's heroic failure

At a time of 'Make in India' and Asia's rise, the story of a man, a failure in his endeavour, shows us how the past can illuminate and educate our current journey

Swadeshi Steam: V O Chidambaram Pillai, and the Battle against the British Maritime Empire

Author: A R Venkatachalapathy
Publisher: Penguin Random House

Price: Rs 999

The conflation of political assertion, a larger social movement and modern economic enterprise is what distinguished the efforts of this company. Such stories are not new in the history of colonial, later imperial, India. Jamshedji Tata and the foundation of the steel city of Jamshedpur and the effort of the young Ghanshyam Das Birla to rally Indian business groups on a platform of economic nationalism are widely known. The Bajaj and Dalmia families’ links to nationalism are also