The New India Foundation is pleased to announce the much-anticipated Shortlist for the 9th annual Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize. This diverse list reflects some of the finest non-fiction on independent India published in 2025, with each of the five books illuminating a significant dimension of the country. 

Narayani Basu’s A Man for All Seasons traces the shaping of the idea of India through the life of one ‘impossible’ man, K.M. Panikkar. In Assembling India’s Constitution, Rohit De and Ornit Shani examine the making of the Constitution and the many voices, extraordinary and, perhaps more importantly, ordinary, that fought for representation. Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian’s A Sixth of Humanity analyses independent India’s tempestuous developmental odyssey with both empathy and incisive commentary. In Shattered Lands, Sam  Dalrymple explains how the five partitions of the twentieth century cleaved South Asia into the independent nations we know today. Finally, Sumana Ramanan enters the world of Khayal through the life of Arun Kashalkar in The Secret Master, as she moves between the roles of disciple, listener and journalist.

One of the most prestigious literary awards in India, the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize celebrates excellence in non-fiction about India published in the previous calendar year, by writers of any nationality. Established in 2018, the Prize carries a cash award of ₹15 lakh and a citation.