New Delhi:
Penguin Random House India on Wednesday announced the acquisition of a new book by award-winning journalist and author Snigdha Poonam that gives an insight into the subculture of scams, cons and frauds in the country.
The book, titled “India: A Scamster Born Every Minute”, will be released under Penguin’s Viking imprint in 2022, the publishing house said in a statement.
It proposes to navigate the sociocultural landscape of India and maps the evolution of corruption in the country.
“Having reported on scams of various kinds for some years now, I find that few stories capture the realities of today’s India better than those revolving around fraud. A book following the trail of scams across India seemed like a natural next step.
“I am grateful to Penguin for the opportunity and excited to work with them once again,” said Poonam, whose first book “Dreamers” won the 2018 ‘Crossword Book Award’ for non-fiction.
Be it “widespread unemployment”, “rising aspirations”, or a “plunging economy”, the book claims to uncover the “reality behind fraud and deception” in India
Beside revealing how scamsters work their inventiveness, determination and willingness to adapt — the book, according to the publishers, also shows “how various scams evolve or spread in India, explore the cross-border connections that make fraud a global phenomenon and thereby demonstrates how fraud and globalisation are ultimately connected”.
“By delving into the aspirations of ordinary individuals, existing socioeconomic forces and institutional setbacks, her (Poonam’s) new book offers insight into the very genesis of India’s widespread scam culture.
“She intricately weaves instances of fraud with social commentary and analysis, and her new book is as much a portrait of the contemporary class-divide in India as it is a stunning work of investigative journalism. We can’t wait to share it with the world,” said Meru Gokhale, Publisher, Penguin Random House India.
