Innholdsfortegnelse for September 18, 2017 i India Today

The Indian economy is often depic ted as a tiger. In reality, it is an elephant. It’s huge, the third largest in the world (in PPP terms), and ponderous in its pace. It can defy even the most skilled mahout. In May 2014, when Narendra Modi took over as prime minister, the India Story had gone into a tailspin. The government was paralysed, corruption was deemed to be at an all-time high, and GDP growth had slumped drastically. The huge mandate for Modi brought with it fresh hope and new confidence, buoyed by the promise of maximum governance and minimum government. For the first 24 months, all was well. India saw steady GDP growth and increasing global interest. Then, its economy, after running at a fast clip of 9.2 per…

In the early 1930s when the Reserve Bank of India bill was being drafted, the governor of the Bank of England was asked what its relationship with the government should be. He said the RBI should be like a ‘Hindoo wife’ who gives advice but does not insist that it be taken. The very first governor forgot this and had to be sacked. Raghuram Rajan, former RBI governor, endorses that view in this book, which is only the second book of its kind, the first having been a similar collection published by Y.V. Reddy in 2009. Like that book, this one too is a selection of his speeches made while he was governor, and some other pieces that he has written as he has gone along. Each speech is preceded…

GAURI LANKESH (29 JAN 1962—5 SEP 2017) The news cycle was dominated by the murder in Bengaluru on September 5 of Gauri Lankesh, the 55-year-old editor of an eponymous weekly tabloid. A staunch opponent of Hindutva politics, Lankesh was held by a lower court last year to have defamed a BJP MP and another prominent party man in an article published in 2008. She appealed the decision, though it didn’t stop Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s information technology cell, from warning other journalists to “take note Lankesh’s murder is being compared to those of M.M. Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, all opponents of Hindutva. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramiah, a personal friend of Lankesh, described the murder as an “assassination of democracy”. But Siddaramaiah is coming under considerable…

No one thought of Jharkhand last month when the deaths of scores of children in a government hospital in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, caused widespread outrage in the country. But as disturbing numbers of paediatric deaths in the state emerge, it seems the ‘premier’ hospitals run by the Raghubar Das government have fared worse than those in UP. In July and August alone, 213 children were reported dead at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in the capital Ranchi whereas MGM Medical College and Hospital in Jamshedpur accounted for 104 deaths. A majority of the deaths took place due to pneumonia, asphyxia, malaria and premature birth. The children mostly belonged to poor and lower middle-class families. RIMS and MGM are the biggest state-run hospitals in Jharkhand. The scale of the…

NOT JUST DEMON Growth had started slowing down before the demonetisation move y-o-y growth (%) at constant prices UNWELCOME PAUSE The Index of Industrial Production has slowed down INDUSTRY WOES It’s the worst hit sector y-o-y growth (%) GVA at constant prices The dark clouds... FARM DISTRESS Farm commodity prices have been on a downtrend LOANS GONE BAD NPAs have ballooned over the past three years CREDIT SKEW Loans have fuelled spending rather than asset creation ...and the silver lining PRICES DOWN Inflation has been reined in... FISC ON TARGET ...and so also the fiscal deficit NIFTY MOVER The stock market is buoyant THE FOREIGN HAND FDI is at record levels…

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula South Africa Since June 12, 2012 Raychelle Omamo Kenya Since May 15, 2013 Ursula von der Leyen Germany Since Dec 17, 2013 Andreja Katic Slovenia Since May 13, 2015 María Dolores de Cospedal Spain Since Nov 4, 2016 Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert Netherlands Since Nov 5, 2012 Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide Norway Since Oct 16, 2013 Roberta Pinotti Italy Since Feb 22, 2014 Marise Payne Australia Since Sep 21, 2015 Florence Parly France Since Jun 21, 2017 Others include Sheikh Hasina (Bangladesh), Martha Ellena Luiz Sevilla (Nicaragua), Mimi Kodheli (Albania), Marina Pendes (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Radmila Sekerinska (Republic of Macedonia)…

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s upcoming state visit to India is unconventional as he will be spending little time in Delhi. By this unusual gesture to visit only Gujarat, the frontrunner of reforms in India, he pays the highest tribute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Their chemistry fits remarkably. Both are expected to officially launch the high-speed rail project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, which adopts the well-known disaster-proof Shinkansen system of Japan. This exceptional infrastructure project follows excellent Japan-India cooperation on a series of projects, such as the Delhi Metro and similar initiatives in major cities, industrial corridor projects between Delhi and Mumbai as well as Chennai and Bengaluru, and the Delhi-Mumbai rail freight corridor project. The Shinkansen project is a precursor to the one between Chennai and Bengaluru and, perhaps,…

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a widespread condition among women of reproductive age that leads to infertility, may also put them at significantly higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. According to the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, a study by Denmark-based scientists found the risk of type 2 diabetes to be four times higher in women with PCOS than others. Women with PCOS often have insulin resistance, a condition in which the muscles, fat and liver do not respond properly to the hormone, causing the body to produce more of it. Excessive insulin production is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. On other type 2 diabetes risk factors, the study found that PCOS correlated positively with body mass index (BMI), insulin, glucose and triglyceride levels, but…

WORDS... is a collection of poems, plays and songs directed by Sunil Shanbag In times when noisy cacophony passes as debate, Sunil Shanbag’s Words Have Been Uttered presents stimulating voices of reason, from different lands and centuries, urging viewers to reflect on what it means to resist. A collection of poems, narrations, songs and play extracts, staged in Mumbai at the 50-seat Tamaasha Studio, Words… is cura ted by Shanbag, Sapan Saran and Irawati Karnik, and directed by Shanbag. Forthcom ing shows will be on September 10 and 17. With material as diverse as Afghan girls singing Landays about physical love, Bhakti poems extolling forbidden love, Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai’s humorous narration of the Lahore court case in the 1940s trying her for obscenity, and Bob Dylan’s iconic The Times…

KHUNDRAKPAM PRADIPKUMAR SINGH battled the stigma of being HIV+ to build a successful bodybuilding career for himself Bodybuilder Khundrakpam Pradipkumar Singh revealed that he was HIV positive on the day he was crowned Mr Manipur—his first major title—in 2007. The revelation catapulted Singh and the sport of bodybuilding onto the country’s front pages for a brief moment. But after the headlines faded, his struggle went on. Ten years later, Singh returns to the spotlight with a new biography by journalist Jayanta Kalita. Titled I Am HIV Positive, So What?, the book celebrates how Singh battled the virus and the effects of antiretroviral therapy to become a bodybuilding champion— winning Mr India in 2010 and Mr South Asia in 2012 and earning a bronze medal at the Mr World competition in…

It’s impossible to be an immigrant in America and not talk about Donald Trump—whose vindictive anti-immigrant stance has won him the admiration of white supremacists and neo-Nazis. But Trump-bashing is not Iranian-American Maz Jobrani’s strong suit, the Los Angeles-based comedian’s new Netflix special illustrates. Competitors like late night show hosts Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers and Trevor Noah have set a high bar, and Jobrani’s Trump material doesn’t offer anything fresh. Fortunately, Jobrani hits his stride when he digs into his experience as an immigrant. We “carry our passports to the protests”, he quips—highlighting the jittery mood of the migrants Trump has demonised for stealing American jobs. His mostly immigrant audience helps. Jobrani is relaxed as he reinforces stereotypes such as how Arabs can be identified as the community that dances…

The secret is never revealed, not even to the oldest of cooks. The family holds the key to the recipes gathered and improvised by the founder Ashok Kumar who established Pal Dhaba in the year 1969 in Chandigarh. The Back story When Kumar was allotted a small booth to start a dhaba decades ago, he knew that if there was anything that Punjabis across the spectrum cannot live without, is good quality non-vegetarian fare. And that hasn’t changed over the years. In fact, this eatery’s popularity has only soared, despite massive media campaigns by vegetarians. When it started off, the place had just two tables. Now 22 tables occupy the space, not to mention the takeaways and the 300 customers who enjoy Pal’s delicacies. The Legacy Sunny Pal, who represents…

For too long, the quality and safety of food in India has been questionable. In late July, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report damned the food and drink served on trains and at stations as “unsuitable for human consumption”. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was set up in September 2008 to improve testing and establish uniform criteria. It’s been 11 years since the Food and Safety Act, 2006, and the FSSAI has unveiled a series of measures to improve the infrastructure around lab testing and state-level facilities to ensure food quailty. “Testing of food is to instil confidence among consumers,” says FSSAI chief executive Pawan Agarwal, “that it is safe to eat. But the number and spread of food testing labs is woefully inadequate.” There…

PRONAB SEN Former Chairman, National Statistical Commission NEELKANTH MISHRA Managing Director and India Equity Strategist, Credit Suisse ASHIMA GOYAL Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) DHARMAKIRTI JOSHI Chief Economist, Crisil ASHOK GULATI Infosys Chair Professor for Agriculture, ICRIER AJIT RANADE Chief Economic Advisor, Aditya Birla Group ROHINI SOMANATHAN Professor of Economics, Delhi School of Economics Q DID YOU EXPECT GROWTH TO SLIDE BELOW 6 PER CENT? TO WHAT EXTENT WOULD YOU ATTRIBUTE THIS TO DEMONETISATION? A PRONAB SEN Yes I did, but I did not expect it to show up in the GDP estimates until the revised estimates are released next year. The reason is that the main adverse effects of demonetisation have been on the non-corporate sector, and the present GDP estimates reflect only the performance of…

A even his closest confidants will tell you, it’s never easy reading Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mind. This was proved once again last week with the cabinet reshuffle— as many as nine new faces from the BJP were inducted, six ministers were dropped and a major reshuffle of portfolios was effected. The bag of surprises included a major bump up for Nirmala Sitharaman to the post of Union defence minister and nixing of rumours that the JD(U) or AIADMK may make it into the cabinet. By and large, the political message was clear: perform or perish. Good performers were rewarded and poor ones downsized or dropped. While MoS for skill development Rajiv Pratap Rudy clearly paid the price for not doing enough to realise the PM’s dream in the area,…

• Make your exercise regimen about you in the present, not you in the past or in the future • Exercise at a sustainable pace and build on it slowly. If walking, you could start with a few minutes a day, increase it to 30 minutes over a period of time and maintain over a week. Use the speak-sing test to ensure you are doing more than strolling • Focus on cardio, strength, flexibility and balance. The first two help keep the heart healthy and muscles strong. The other two keep your body limber and coordinated • Intersperse high-intensity exercises, such as running and jogging, with moderate ones like walking • Be mindful of injuries and side-effects when exercising intensely. Try aerobics and swimming for great benefits • Include weight…

ARVIND GAUR with actors from Asmita, after a performance of ‘Nukkad Natak Bekhauf Azadi’ After more than 30 years on the stage, you’d think veteran director Arvind Gaur would be done with pre-production jitters. But the founder of Asmita—India’s largest contemporary theatre group— appears to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown as he prepares for the troupe’s next show. Or maybe it’s just an act. “Relax, I am OK. This avatar of mine ensures that the actors’ energy levels are at their peak before the show,” the visibly hyper 54-year-old says. Asmita celebrated its 25th anniversary in July. The group now has 250 members, and is renowned for its hard-hitting socio-political productions. But as he downs bitter lemon tea that he insists packs a bigger jolt that several…

For the documentary 1984, When the Sun Didn’t Rise, independent filmmaker Teenaa Kaur travelled to Widows Colony in Tilak Vihar in Delhi to explore the legacy of the anti- Sikh riots—when 2,733 people were killed in the capital alone following the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi. “This was genocide, not riots,” widow Harbans Kaur tells her, breaking down over never finding her husband’s body. Having shown the documentary at the DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival in March and the Indian Doc u mentary and Short Film Festival in Kerala in June, Teenaa is now seeking a grant to take it to colleges around the world. “The killings of minorities keep taking place. We have to stand for humanity,” says Teenaa. “The film needs to be taken to the…

Q: How did you develop Take 35, the monologue you are performing as part of The Park’s New Festival? A: The piece is about a child actor who does not make it big as an adult. When we were growing up, we always saw these child actors in films like Baby Shalini who was called that even when she appeared in Alaipayuthey. Parents can be so ambitious for their kids, even when it’s a three-year-old in front of the camera. I once shared a van with a seven-year-old who told the make-up artiste exactly how she wanted her make-up done. Q: Is it aggravating that people still remember you as Lola Kutty even when you are doing a serious piece? A: Fortunately or unfortunately, that’s what people remember me as.…

@ShougatDasgupta The Real Reshuffle (Not) Lost in the social media clamour over Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s momentous cabinet reshuffle—in which he appointed himself minister for water resources, his first portfolio halfway into his five-year term—was the little-noticed ascension of Nirmala Sitharaman to the post of India’s defence minister. Until wrong-footed by Kejriwal, social media was consumed by which minor AAP functionary might be appointed to which hamstrung ministry. First on Kejriwal’s to-do list was to take himself off for a 10-day Vipassana retreat in Maharashtra. As for Sitharaman, it must have been hard for her to miss out on column inches because of Kejriwal’s careful manipulation of the news agenda. Otherwise she might have enjoyed days of soft-focus news features, adulation on Twitter, and crowing about women’s empowerment. Like…

Generation Ex That the BJP’s Margdarshak Mandal was created in August 2014 as a parking slot for senior leaders L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi and A.B. Vajpayee was no secret. It fulfilled a symbolic role over the past three years, with BJP ministers visiting Advani and Joshi to seek their blessings before taking oath. But as the September 3 reshuffle showed, even that function has now ceased. In a break from tradition, none of the new BJP ministers visited the party patriarchs. As a newly promoted minister put it, “If word gets around we met the veterans, we would be the next entrants into the mandal.” Didi’s New Tune Mamata’s debut as a lyricist and music composer in her recently launched music album, Matri Ma, is all set to hit a…

Tragedy is written into the civic constitution of our cities, geared only to clear after-effects Some years back, an uncle of mine on a visit from Canada fell into an open manhole in south Delhi. He had merely stepped out of the house for a walk before dinner, but returned 11 hours later in the morning when a passerby heard his shouts and he was rescued. Had the incident happened in his home city of Toronto, he would have sued the city authorities for a million dollars. So he said. But he was lucky to have escaped with only minor injuries, and luckier still that someone else hadn’t fallen in, on top of him. The next day’s newspaper carried stories of three separate manhole accidents. It need hardly be said…

SOMETIME LATER THIS YEAR, INDIA’S NEW DEFENCE MINISTER, NIRMALA SITHARAMAN, 58, COULD BE EXPECTED TO PERFORM A SMALL CEREMONY. SHE WILL HAVE TO APPLY VERMILION, FOLD HER HANDS IN PRAYER AND CRACK AN AUSPICIOUS COCONUT ON THE STEEL FIN OF INDIA’S 7,000-TONNE INDIGENOUSLY DESIGNED AND BUILT BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINE (SSBN) WHICH SHE WILL ALSO NAME THE ‘ARIDAMAN’ (DESTROYER OF ENEMIES). NAVAL TRADITIONS CALL FOR WARSHIPS TO BE LAUNCHED BY WOMEN AND THIS ROLE HAS IN recent years been reserved for first ladies. This task was last performed by exprime minister Manmohan Singh’s wife Gursha ran Kaur when she launched India’s first SSBN, the INS Arihant, in ’09. The choice of Sitharaman will be more than just symbolic because she is now part of the committee which also steers one of…

IN PICTURESQUE KYOTO—an urban landscape of skyscrapers, centuries-old temples, geisha houses and verdant greens—Prime Minister Narendra Modi is possibly one of the best recognised world leaders. Even the taxi driver refers to an india today reporter as a “visitor from Modi’s land”. In Kobe, the shop floor of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which manufactures rail cars, has pictures of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Modi during their visit to the plant in November last yea In Tokyo, state officials in the transport department, academicians and corporates, all refer to Modi as a man with a vision and the determination to get things done. “I see that Abe and Modi have a relationship of trust, and also that Japanese policy is now very much focused on India,” says Masafumi…

IT is almost exactly 10 years since Shinzo Abe, during his first innings as Prime Minister, visited India in August 2007. This visit saw the first-ever address by a Japanese PM to our Parliament. Abe spoke of the ‘Confluence of the Two Seas’. Narendra Modi was in Japan in November 2016 from the 10th to the 12th. So Abe’s return visit comes after an interval of a mere 10 months. In August 2007, Abe outlined his vision for the shared responsibility of India and Japan towards the security and prosperity of the Indian and Pacific oceans; these two huge bodies of water were an ancient and natural link between the two great democracies of Asia. Abe’s successors as PM continued the practice of annual exchanges at the summit level established…

Researchers at McMaster University’s Population Health Research Institute found that it is not the fat in your diet that increases the risk of premature death; rather too many carbohydrates, particularly the refined, processed type, might be the killer. People with high intake of fats (35 per cent of their daily diet) were found to be at 23 per cent lower risk of premature death as compared to those who ate less fat, according to The Lancet. The study found that high–carb diets—with nearly 77 per cent carbohydrates— were associated with 28 per cent increased risk of death How to be footloose • If your job requires long hours of standing, wear shoes that are wide and deep to keep the toes comfortable. This will prevent pain under the feet or…

British actress and novelist Sarah Winman’s first two novels—When God Was a Rabbit and A Year of Marvellous Ways—were huge successes. With Tin Man, she has produced another rare gem. “All Dora Judd ever told anyone about that night three weeks before Christmas was that she won the painting in a raffle,” the novel begins. The painting in question is a cheap copy of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers that Dora chooses over a bottle of whisky in defiance of her husband. As the painting passes from Dora to her son Ellis and later his friend Michael, it becomes a recurrent motif symbolising “the life she wanted: Freedom. Possibility. Beauty”. After this prologue, the story shifts from Dora to Ellis and Michael, alternating from one man’s point of view to the other’s…

RIDE TO THE ROOTS Discover how bedroom DJ Udyan Sagar became Nucleya, India’s Biggest EDM star. Sagar revisits his homeland Ahmedabad to recap his musical journey with his parents, friends, managers and wife Smriti as supporting voices. Full of fun anecdotes, great visuals and an atmospheric background score. YouTube JOSHUA The documentary following the rise of Hongkonger Joshua Wong as a political activist at 14 is important as he and two other pro-democracy activists are currently in jail and barred from fighting elections. Netflix WHAT THE FOLKS Nikhil’s stay with his in-laws is marred by one mishap after another. The Dice Media-produced Hindi-English web series has a new episode every Thursday.…

EXPERIMENTING TO SURVIVE Suvrita Bhardwaj, 26, Architect, Loop Design Studio, Chandigarh The Trust Factor Contrary to popular perception, Bhardwaj feels that in today’s time, more people are stepping forward to give youngsters a chance. “This also has to do with the fact that clients realise that people like us have a fresh approach and are not averse to experimentation. Someone like me does not want to be slotted in a particular kind of an architectural style, thereby making me more open,” admits Bhardwaj, who completed her bachelor’s degree in architecture from Sushant School of Art and Architecture in 2014. Evolution of the Client Bhardwaj, who along with her partner Nikhil Pratap Singh, has handled prestigious projects such as Karim’s in Chandigarh, says that clients now demand subtle design. “I mostly…

Fizzy Goblet, Mumbai, 2013 Fizzy Goblet was conceived by the young and spirited design student Laksheeta Govil to create fun footwear. USP Known for their innovative concepts such as jutti sneakers, brogues and DIY shoes. Style Tip Wear juttis with skirts, denims, culottes and skirts. Jutti sneakers, brogues can be easily teamed up with sarees as well as dresses. Price Rs 1,500 to Rs 3250 Price fizzygoblet.com Needle Dust, Delhi, 2014 Needle Dust’s journey started when its founder Shirin Mann Sangha wanted to wear the traditional jutti on her wedding. She says, “I couldn't find the kind of juttis I had in mind so I got some designs made with the sketch I had. This gave birth to Needle Dust.” USP Extra cushioned, comfortable and soft. Price Rs 2,700 to…