Publish With Us

Follow Penguin

Follow Penguinsters

Follow Hind Pocket Books

The Commissioner For Lost Causes

The Commissioner For Lost Causes

Arun Shourie
Select Preferred Format
<
Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback

The work done by Arun Shourie and his colleagues rocked institutions and governments: the freeing of 40,000 undertrials; revealing the Bhagalpur blindings; purchasing Kamla; dislodging a ‘Sultan’; foiling ‘strikes’; controverting Judges; battling privilege motions; courting contempt of court charges; nailing corruption, forgeries, lies, and the opportunism of rulers; uncovering suppressed reports… What lay behind these and the consequences that followed?

A comprehensive account of dramatic incidents like getting governments to swallow legislation against the press, unseating of chief ministers, a prime minister unspooling himself even as manoeuvres to unseat him are scotched, a deputy prime minister trying to dislodge colleagues with fabricated documents, people’s movements ending up as rivulets in the sand, The Commissioner for Lost Causes discusses Shourie’s innings, the calumny hurled at him, his dismissal, and his being recalled and removed again.

Delicious tales of characters from the noble to the colourful to the short-sighted to outright bounders: from JP, to a president, to prime ministers, a deputy prime minister, chief ministers, a conman, indignant editors, and of course a great warrior, the press baron, feature in this honest retelling of the life of Arun Shourie, the writer, former editor and minister who was acclaimed as one of the fifty ‘World Press Freedom Heroes’.

Imprint: India Viking

Published: Mar/2022

ISBN: 9780670096404

Length : 616 Pages

MRP : ₹999.00

The Commissioner For Lost Causes

Arun Shourie

The work done by Arun Shourie and his colleagues rocked institutions and governments: the freeing of 40,000 undertrials; revealing the Bhagalpur blindings; purchasing Kamla; dislodging a ‘Sultan’; foiling ‘strikes’; controverting Judges; battling privilege motions; courting contempt of court charges; nailing corruption, forgeries, lies, and the opportunism of rulers; uncovering suppressed reports… What lay behind these and the consequences that followed?

A comprehensive account of dramatic incidents like getting governments to swallow legislation against the press, unseating of chief ministers, a prime minister unspooling himself even as manoeuvres to unseat him are scotched, a deputy prime minister trying to dislodge colleagues with fabricated documents, people’s movements ending up as rivulets in the sand, The Commissioner for Lost Causes discusses Shourie’s innings, the calumny hurled at him, his dismissal, and his being recalled and removed again.

Delicious tales of characters from the noble to the colourful to the short-sighted to outright bounders: from JP, to a president, to prime ministers, a deputy prime minister, chief ministers, a conman, indignant editors, and of course a great warrior, the press baron, feature in this honest retelling of the life of Arun Shourie, the writer, former editor and minister who was acclaimed as one of the fifty ‘World Press Freedom Heroes’.

Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback

Arun Shourie

Scholar, author, former editor and minister, Arun Shourie has, for the last four decades, been one of the most prominent voices in our country's public affairs and discourse.

More By The Author

Preparing

Preparing

Arun Shourie

Lessons on temporality from the last days of the Buddha

The one certainty in life, the one appointment which each of us will just have to face, is the one for which we do the least to prepare-death. Preparing for Death explores the questions that have puzzled humanity from the very beginning as evinced by the rituals, texts and philosophies that surround death. From the […]

error: Content is protected !!