Praise for A Feast of Vultures:
The Hidden Business of Democracy in India
This is a book about the truth about our nation. It confirms what we already suspect and shocks us further by unravelling the workings of the Indian system. Crossword Book Award Jury, 2017, for the best book in the non-fiction category
This is an irritatingly brilliant book. Too sweeping, too condemnatory, and, perhaps, too true. This is not the kind of book Indians write. Such books are mostly written by foreign correspondents who after a stay of two or three years presumptuously do their obligatory India book. Harish Khare, The Tribune
Corruption emerges from a poorly regulated, unfree economy; personalities are irrelevant. Parties still need to be funded; allies still need inducements. I will not repeat all of what he has revealed and collated about the manner in which crony capitalism continues in the Modi era; buy A Feast of Vultures and be convinced yourself. Mihir Sharma, Business Standard
This is a book that will depress you. It wont be an overstatement to say that it is a pessimistic take on todays India, but at the same time, it is a must-read for every Indian. The book paints a realistic picture of the country, which, sadly, never gets depicted in the works of our academicians or even journalists. Rishi Raj, The Financial Express
Josy Josephs A Feast of Vultures is an important, if sobering read, meticulously researched and intelligently written. India is a rich nation of poor people, and the vultures that prey on the common person are the everyday fixers, the multimillion-dollar-deal middlemen, and the billion-siphoning crony capitalists. The book starts with Indias poorest and ends with the richest, leaving no doubt that the departure of the venal United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has made no difference to business as usual. Aditya Sinha, Mint
Award-winning investigative journalist Josy Josephs book, A Feast of Vultures , brings to the surface a narrative that calls for the cry of change in India. Exposing how our democratic system has been hijacked long ago, the book is explosive and frightening. It contains damning evidence against some of the largest businesses in India and highly-established politicians. Iftikhar Gillani, DNA
Part memoir, part reportage and part polemic, Josephs book is a cautionary tale of a nation losing its way because of an unchecked breakdown of some of its critical institutions. Rage seeps through the pages, and there is little hope. But there is some modest redemption When Joseph shines a light on the dark corners and the frayed edges and the decaying heart of the worlds biggest democracy, its a good time to ask: when will Indians confront their realities head on? Soutik Biswas, Open
A Feast of Vultures is lending voice to millions of Indians, simmering with anger over huge corruptions Josephs book is a big hope if not for changing, then at least for challenging the prevailing development discourse and pervasive corruption and rivalry in the upper echelons of power. A compelling multi-layered inquiry of deep corruption at the highest level of business and politics which must be read by activists, writers, teachers, students and public intellectuals to check the claims of transparency in governance and integrity in delivery of public promises. Manzar Imam, The Criterion Journal
Every Indian citizen should read this book. It would perhaps even be advisable to translate this book into various Indian languages to ensure that it reaches everyone. Karthik Venkatesh, Caf Dissensus
In a time of strong charismatic leadership and whooping political changes, Josy Josephs A Feast of Vultures reveals the truth about democracy in India The book comes up as a reality check for all those who believe in the efficacy of post-socialist India. The sad truth about democracy in India is that politicians come and go, the filthiness does not. It stays there, poisoning the entire system and laying down a path for systematic exploitation and destruction of a nation. Tejas Vasani, LegalBites.in
Award winning journalist Josy Joseph wrote this book feeling anguished by the sheer scale of corruption in India, its dilapidated institutions and the deep immorality at the heart of its democracy. This is a fascinating study of an ugly India, a must read for those who care for the country and its future. IANS
First published by Context, an imprint of Westland Publications Private Limited, in 2021
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Copyright Josy Joseph, 2021
ISBN: 9789390679539
The views and opinions expressed in this work are the authors own and the facts are as reported by him, and the publisher is in no way liable for the same.
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T he message arrived on a winter morning as the year was winding up. I thought 2020 could hold no more surprises after the C OVID -19 pandemic and the unravelling that followed. In my privileged seclusion, I was working on the last chapters of this book when the phone beeped: When I highlighted this ten years ago, no one bothered.
Attached was a newspaper report about the latest Indian business family to flee the country after taking massive loans against non-existent businesses. The sender of this message, a successful petrochemical trader, had walked into my life more than a decade ago after a distress call detailing harassment at the hands of this business family. If I am to be honest, it took me a while to fully trust him. I had to hear his story a few times over, read hundreds of documents and meet other victims of the harassment. To begin with, I had thought he was hallucinating.
He claimed that he was hired to expand the petrochemical trading business of a Delhi-based company, owned by the business family, only to discover that the business was expanding into nowhere. Then he stumbled upon the companys dark secrets: its true business was money laundering, the circular trade of diamonds and other shady dealings. He wrote detailed whistle-blower accounts to Indian investigation agencies and banks. All of these complaints soon landed up with his company management or were ignored. Then began the harassment.
He, his extended family, his house help, his deputy in the company who refused to file a fake case, all of them were hounded, harassed and tortured by the Punjab police. After our story was published, partial normalcy was restored in their lives. During this period, the company tried its utmost to silence me through threats and inducements of a magnitude that was surprising even to a seasoned reporter like me. But stranger things were to come.
