The forgotten heroes of Indian democracy

January 17, 2019 12:48

Ornit Shani drew applause from the audience while she described the amazing story of the making of India's first voters list. The Israeli academic spoke about the forgotten bureaucrats who drew up the first electoral rolls, the crucial exercise of making every vote equal and how those first electoral rolls laid the plinth of Indian democracy.

Ornit Shani discussed her fascinating book (Penguin) at the Times Lit Fest last month with journalist Vikram Doctor, whose grandfather Ambassador AV Padmanabhan was among the civil servants who worked on that historic enterprise -- India's first electoral rolls.

Rediff.com's Archana Masih listened in. Do read

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