From the bookshelves of Forbes India

All through his career, Madhav Gadgil has worked closely with communities on the ground, roping in researchers, policy-makers,

The teachers of sustainability at the Azim Premji University in Bengaluru discuss their new book ‘Shades of Blue: Connecting the Drops in India’s Cities’, which combines scientific rigour with anecdotes, community histories, and nostalgia to take us through water bodies across the country. The authors talk to Divya Shekhar about our complicated collective history with water, community warriors who are showing the way, whether we need to put a price on water, and how we can start rebuilding our relationship with it.

In his book ‘Back to Bharat: In Search of a Sustainable Future’, impact investor Nagaraja Prakasam distinguishes between India and Bharat. For him, the word ‘Bharat’ means the “ignored billion” in the country. These are people, he says, that are still largely left out of the digital revolution—venture investors are mostly wary of them, and businesses stay away as they do not see profit in solving for them. Prakasam, who calls himself a farmer, retired from a software career at the age of 41 and has since spent his time backing social enterprises. He talks to Divya Shekhar about his new book and life choices.

Anurag Behar is the CEO of the Azim Premji Foundation that has been working in the space of education and now healthcare. In his new book, ‘A Matter of the Heart: Education in India’, he shares a collection of essays that takes us to schools in some of the most remote villages in India. Behar leads an organization of thousands of people working across districts in India. He tells Divya Shekhar that his book is about stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary work. It also throws light on the struggles and infrastructure challenges at these schools, but at its core, it is about voices that are life-affirming and insightful

You might be all in on the #OOTD (outfit of the day) trend or not care about leftover food from a takeout. All this, and a multitude of small daily habits that we might not think twice about, could add to the climate burden. Digital influencer and activist Aakash Ranison attempts to decode these in his new book ‘I’m a Climate Optimist’. He takes stock of various sectors—like transport, beauty, food, textile and technology—to talk about how we can be more mindful of the choices we make in our daily life and make a positive difference at an individual level.

In her book, 'The Defiant Optimist', Durreen Shahnaz, the first Bangladeshi woman to work on Wall Street, presents a glimpse of her life and her effort to make financial markets more equitable and inclusive. The founder of the Impact Investment Exchange in Singapore believes that financial systems that enrich the few can be transformed for the good of the many. As India is working on its own social stock exchange, she speaks with Divya Shekhar about what it takes to build an ecosystem to measure and prioritize social impact, whether India is ready to launch a social stock exchange, and why the rules for women to succeed are different—and often harder—than men.

Her previous book, Let’s

The self-made businessman has worked with several pharma and biotech companies for targeted therapies and innovation through his company MedGenome. He has also incubated and launched many companies leveraging next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics through his incubator SciGenom Labs. He talks to host Divya Shekhar about his book, ‘Sam’s 12 Commandments for the Indian Entrepreneur’, where he draws upon over 35 years of experience to delve deep into the psyche of Indians doing business and shares lessons that will help them succeed.

What does it take to build a legacy and ensure generations of people benefit from your work? Are there leadership lessons old industrialists can offer young founders of today? These are some of the questions that family business historian Sonu Bhasin attempts to answer through a series of books called 'Entrepreneurs Who Built India'. The latest book is on Lala Shri Ram, who built Delhi Cloth and General Mills (DCM) into a conglomerate and market leader and

How did India’s earliest Finance Ministers shape the economic story of the country? In his new book 'India’s Finance Ministers: From Independence to Emergency (1947-1977)', senior journalist AK Bhattacharya presents a detailed account of the work done by finance ministers in India’s first three decades since Independence. He speaks with episode host Divya Shekhar about how finance ministers like RK Shanmukham Chetty, John Matthai, CD Deshmukh, TT Krishnamachari and Morarji Desai balanced economic considerations with politics of their time, their relationship with prime ministers and other prominent political and economic figures, and how this book can be read in the context of the current political and economic scenario of the country.