India Connected
How the Smartphone is Transforming the World's Largest Democracy
Price: 550.00 INR
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ISBN:
9780190937089
Publication date:
20/11/2018
Hardback
240 pages
Price: 550.00 INR
We sell our titles through other companies
Disclaimer :You will be redirected to a third party website.The sole responsibility of supplies, condition of the product, availability of stock, date of delivery, mode of payment will be as promised by the said third party only. Prices and specifications may vary from the OUP India site.
ISBN:
9780190937089
Publication date:
20/11/2018
Hardback
240 pages
Ravi Agrawal
Rights: SOUTH ASIA RIGHTS (RESTRICTED)
Ravi Agrawal
Description
Former chief CNN India correspondent and award-wining journalist Ravi Agrawal takes readers on a journey across the Subcontinent, through its remote rural villages and its massive metropolises, seeking out the nexuses of change created by smartphones, and with them connection to the internet.
As always with India, the numbers are staggering: in 2000, 20 million Indians had access to the internet; by 2017, 465 million were online, with three Indians discovering the internet every second. By 2020, India's online community is projected to exceed 700 million, and more than a billion Indians are expected to be online by 2025. In the course of a single generation, access to the internet has progressed from dial-up connections on PCs, to broadband access, wireless, and now 4G data on phones. The rise of low-cost smartphones and cheap data plans has meant the country leapfrogged the baby steps their Western counterparts took toward digital fluency. The results can be felt in every sphere of life, upending traditions and customs and challenging conventions. Nothing is untouched, from arranged marriages to social status to business start-ups, as smartphones move the entire economy from cash-based to credit-based. Access to the internet is affecting the progress of progress itself. As Agrawal shows, while they offer immediate and sometimes mind-altering access to so much for so many, smartphones create no immediate utopia in a culture still driven by poverty, a caste system, gender inequality, illiteracy, and income disparity. Internet access has provided greater opportunities to women and changed the way in which India's many illiterate poor can interact with the world, but it has also meant that pornography has become more readily available. Under a government keen to control content, it has created tensions. And in a climate of hypernationalism, it has fomented violence and even terrorism.
The influence of smartphones on "the world's largest democracy" is nonetheless pervasive and irreversible, and India Connected reveals both its dimensions and its implications.
About The Author
Ravi Agrawal has worked for CNN for over a decade in London, New York, and New Delhi. He currently lives in New York.
Ravi Agrawal
Table of contents
Table of contents
INTRODUCTION: India's Great Connect
PART 1 - OPPORTUNITY
CHAPTER 1: FROM YOUR LIPS TO GOOGLE'S EARS
Women and the smartphone
CHAPTER 2: HELLO EDUCATION
Bridging the learning gap
CHAPTER 3: INDIA'S MOBILITY
The gig economy and job creation
PART 2 - SOCIETY
CHAPTER 4: TRUE, MAD, LOVE
Dating and marriage in the small screen era
CHAPTER 5: SEARCHING FOR SUNNY
The rise of pornography
CHAPTER 6: WHATSAPP-ENING IN INDIA?
Fake news and the problem with hyper-connectivity
PART 3 - THE STATE
CHAPTER 7: BIG BROTHERS
Internet shutdowns, and Facebook vs India
CHAPTER 8: "DEMONETIZATION"
A shock war on cash, and the rise of digital wallets
CHAPTER 9
CONCLUSION: How we got here . . . and where it's going
Ravi Agrawal
Features
- Uses vivid characters and up-to-date interviews to capture the latest digital snapshot of a country being changed by the internet
- Explores the full range of changes -- positive and negative -- brought about by smartphones
- Provides insights into India's growing role in the global sphere as accessibility to technology becomes more widespread
Ravi Agrawal
Review
Reviews
"In this delightfully readable book, Ravi Agrawal blends the experiences of an assortment of interesting characters with his own insightful reflections, succinctly capturing an India riding on the wave of the internet-enabled smartphone revolution, while always conscious of its challenges and limitations. His India Connected: How Smartphones are Transforming the Worldâs Biggest Democracy is illuminating, eye-opening, and like the phones it describes, smart. An engaging read!"
— Shashi Tharoor, author of Inglorious Empire.
"The story of how India has gotten Wired is one of the most important in the world, and youâll find no better guide than Ravi Agrawal. Heâs dug in to give us a story of optimism, intrigue, and profound change. And he does it with grace: chasing down stories and introducing us to people whose stories are revealing and riveting. I read it straight through and I suspect you will too."
— Nicholas Thompson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired
"India Connected is a fascinating and very well-written account of the ways in which the smartphone is transforming every aspect of Indian life, from marriage to politics, and not always for the better. It is a remarkable work of non-fiction ... a must-read for everyone who is interested in contemporary India."
— Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement
"The automobile unleashed American freedom and energy. The smartphone is doing the same for India. To understand why India will succeed, read this fascinating book. Modern India leaps out of its pages."
— Kishore Mahbubani, author of Has the West Lost It?
"The smartphone may well rank among fire and electricity in terms of sheer impact on humanity. And, as Ravi Agrawal argues in this book, there are few places in the world that have experienced that revolution as forcefully as India. Like no one else, Agrawal highlights just how far India has come with the smartphone, and how much further it can go. A read as entertaining as it is informative."
— Ian Bremmer, author of Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism
Description
Former chief CNN India correspondent and award-wining journalist Ravi Agrawal takes readers on a journey across the Subcontinent, through its remote rural villages and its massive metropolises, seeking out the nexuses of change created by smartphones, and with them connection to the internet.
As always with India, the numbers are staggering: in 2000, 20 million Indians had access to the internet; by 2017, 465 million were online, with three Indians discovering the internet every second. By 2020, India's online community is projected to exceed 700 million, and more than a billion Indians are expected to be online by 2025. In the course of a single generation, access to the internet has progressed from dial-up connections on PCs, to broadband access, wireless, and now 4G data on phones. The rise of low-cost smartphones and cheap data plans has meant the country leapfrogged the baby steps their Western counterparts took toward digital fluency. The results can be felt in every sphere of life, upending traditions and customs and challenging conventions. Nothing is untouched, from arranged marriages to social status to business start-ups, as smartphones move the entire economy from cash-based to credit-based. Access to the internet is affecting the progress of progress itself. As Agrawal shows, while they offer immediate and sometimes mind-altering access to so much for so many, smartphones create no immediate utopia in a culture still driven by poverty, a caste system, gender inequality, illiteracy, and income disparity. Internet access has provided greater opportunities to women and changed the way in which India's many illiterate poor can interact with the world, but it has also meant that pornography has become more readily available. Under a government keen to control content, it has created tensions. And in a climate of hypernationalism, it has fomented violence and even terrorism.
The influence of smartphones on "the world's largest democracy" is nonetheless pervasive and irreversible, and India Connected reveals both its dimensions and its implications.
About The Author
Ravi Agrawal has worked for CNN for over a decade in London, New York, and New Delhi. He currently lives in New York.
Reviews
Reviews
"In this delightfully readable book, Ravi Agrawal blends the experiences of an assortment of interesting characters with his own insightful reflections, succinctly capturing an India riding on the wave of the internet-enabled smartphone revolution, while always conscious of its challenges and limitations. His India Connected: How Smartphones are Transforming the Worldâs Biggest Democracy is illuminating, eye-opening, and like the phones it describes, smart. An engaging read!"
— Shashi Tharoor, author of Inglorious Empire.
"The story of how India has gotten Wired is one of the most important in the world, and youâll find no better guide than Ravi Agrawal. Heâs dug in to give us a story of optimism, intrigue, and profound change. And he does it with grace: chasing down stories and introducing us to people whose stories are revealing and riveting. I read it straight through and I suspect you will too."
— Nicholas Thompson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired
"India Connected is a fascinating and very well-written account of the ways in which the smartphone is transforming every aspect of Indian life, from marriage to politics, and not always for the better. It is a remarkable work of non-fiction ... a must-read for everyone who is interested in contemporary India."
— Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement
"The automobile unleashed American freedom and energy. The smartphone is doing the same for India. To understand why India will succeed, read this fascinating book. Modern India leaps out of its pages."
— Kishore Mahbubani, author of Has the West Lost It?
"The smartphone may well rank among fire and electricity in terms of sheer impact on humanity. And, as Ravi Agrawal argues in this book, there are few places in the world that have experienced that revolution as forcefully as India. Like no one else, Agrawal highlights just how far India has come with the smartphone, and how much further it can go. A read as entertaining as it is informative."
— Ian Bremmer, author of Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism
Table of contents
Table of contents
INTRODUCTION: India's Great Connect
PART 1 - OPPORTUNITY
CHAPTER 1: FROM YOUR LIPS TO GOOGLE'S EARS
Women and the smartphone
CHAPTER 2: HELLO EDUCATION
Bridging the learning gap
CHAPTER 3: INDIA'S MOBILITY
The gig economy and job creation
PART 2 - SOCIETY
CHAPTER 4: TRUE, MAD, LOVE
Dating and marriage in the small screen era
CHAPTER 5: SEARCHING FOR SUNNY
The rise of pornography
CHAPTER 6: WHATSAPP-ENING IN INDIA?
Fake news and the problem with hyper-connectivity
PART 3 - THE STATE
CHAPTER 7: BIG BROTHERS
Internet shutdowns, and Facebook vs India
CHAPTER 8: "DEMONETIZATION"
A shock war on cash, and the rise of digital wallets
CHAPTER 9
CONCLUSION: How we got here . . . and where it's going
