Monthly Archives: February 2022

Who Are the Killers of Govind Pansare?

International Union of Left Publishers On February 16, 2015, Govind Pansare and Uma Pansare went for a morning walk. Men on a motorbike stopped near them, shot them, and fled. Govind Pansare died four days later, on February 20; Uma Pansare survived, but continues to suffer from the attack. Govind Pansare was a communist, whose book – Who Was Shivaji? (New Delhi: LeftWord Books) – rankled the right-wing which did not agree with his factual presentation of the life of this 17th century icon.[...]

Amazon's Westland plan: game-changing or gaming the book industry? by Vinutha Mallya

[This post was written and published on 1 February 2022, the day Amazon announced that Westland was going to be wound up.] Just five years after it acquired Westland as a wholly owned subsidiary, Amazon today announced to its employees the decision to shut it down. The news, first reported by Mint Lounge (February 1, 2022), has raised concerns about the future of Westland’s catalogue even as it has generated wide-ranging responses of disappointment and ‘heartbreak' from authors and readers [...]