Book Review — Caged Tiger by Subhashish Bhadra

Caged Tiger — How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back by Subhashish Bhadra

During the first two waves of Covid, with the daily cases mounting to lakhs at one point, along with huge shortage of hospital beds and oxygen supply, a majority of us wondered if the government was totally unprepared to handle a pandemic, of this scale. This is the exact point where author Shubhashish Bhadra’s argument of how institutions in India are currently working, begins.

The book touches on sensorship not just in the areas like movies which is obvious to the common man but also on social media, how the courts are functioning, economy is affected, so is educational system. The author touches on these not just in current times but starting from the period of the British Raj.

The book is well researched and very gutsy in my opinion. There are sections which can feel overwhelming if you are not much into current politics and happenings in the country. The author also points how citizens of the country are also indirectly responsible for failure of the governance when they don’t hold the authorities accountable for these failures.

The book overall makes for an interesting read if nonfiction books discussing such current affairs interest you.

My rating:

4/5.