Manna for the Starving

"You don't have non-fiction in India," a cynical publishing veteran told the Babu once, "you have naan fiction. It's flat, mass-produced and not very satisfying on its own." Ask Indian authors why there is only one Ramachandra Guha and only the occasional Princely Impostor, and they'll tell you that money's the stumbling block. A good work of non-fiction can take anywhere from five to ten years to research and write; the Babu met a fiendishly talented writer recently who's taken eight years on his book and who produced 1,676 pages as the first draft. He couldn't have done that without support from his publishers, but Indian publishers, given the small print runs of even successful books, aren't able to pay high advances.
The New India Foundation, which includes Andre Beteille, Ramachandra Guha and Naina Lal Kidwai among its trustees, is offering fellowships that could change the situation. "Given India's size, its importance, and its interest, and given that this is our country, the lack of good research on its modern history is unfortunate. It is this lack that the New India Foundation seeks to address, by sponsoring high quality original research on different aspects of independent India."
Here's a bit more about the Fellowships:
"The New India Fellowships are open only to Indian nationals, including those currently living abroad. Fellowship holders shall be expected to write original books. Their proposals should be oriented towards final publication, and outline a road map towards that destination. The Foundation is ecumenical as regards genre, theme, and ideology: the only requirement is that the proposed works contribute to the fuller understanding of independent India. Thus Fellowship holders may choose to write a memoir, or a work of reportage, or a thickly footnoted academic study. Their books could be oriented towards economics, or politics, or culture. They could be highly specific-an account of a single decade or a single region-or wide-ranging, such as a countrywide overview."
They're also inviting recommendations for the New India Book Prize, "to be awarded for the finest book on independent India published between 1 April 2002 and 31 March 2004".
All the Babu can say is, bless 'em.