Innholdsfortegnelse for August 20, 2018 i India Today

Freedom is an idea for which many have died—freedom from slavery, freedom from colonialism, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to protest, and many others which we often take for granted. On the eve of Independence Day, this issue is devoted to what freedom means for us. On August 15, 1947, 330 million Indians, nearly 13 per cent of the world population at that time, were freed in one of the single-largest emancipations in human history. India formally began its tryst with destiny and, in two years, had located the beating heart of its Constitution in Article 19, which gave its citizens the freedom of speech and expression, to assemble peaceably and without arms, to form associations or unions, to move freely throughout our national territory and, with certain…

“I ask you, why does our prime minister wear all sorts of outlandish headgear wherever he goes around the country or around the world? Why does he always refuse to wear a Muslim skullcap... you’ve seen him in hilarious, sort of, Naga headdress and feathers, and you’ve seen him in various kinds of extraordinary outfits... but he still always says no to one.” Congress MP SHASHI THAROOR, who has been outspoken in his criticism of Narendra Modi of late, provoked another contretemps with his remarks at an event in Thiruvananthapuram. But Tharoor, in striding out to the battlefield, managed to put his foot in his mouth. You know the point he is making. You might even agree with it. But why allow the BJP an opening to focus on a…

The Aam Aadmi Party is appealing to the Supreme Court to reverse a Delhi High Court decision to repeal the Delhi government’s hiking of minimum wages for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labour. In response to petitions filed by employers’ associations, including traders and restaurateurs, the high court said the Delhi government had acted in haste, failing to afford both employers and their employees a chance to present their respective arguments. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, decrying the decision, tweeted that his government was “committed to give relief to the poor”. But the court pointed out that while wage reform was necessary, AAP’s haphazard, somewhat arbitrary, wage rise, in violation of both procedure and principles of ‘‘natural justice”, would serve only to set back Delhi’s workforce. 37% The hike in minimum…

From a fledgling party that took the Punjabi hinterland by storm, winning four Lok Sabha seats in 2014, the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab has been reduced to a deeply divided political entity. That, in a state where AAP had started out with much promise, perhaps even more than its 2013 debut in Delhi. On August 2, seven of AAP’s 20 MLAs hosted a convention of volunteers at Bathinda, in open defiance of the party’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal. While the rebels, led by former Congressman Sukhpal Khaira, failed in their promise of getting 14 legislators to attend, the massive turnout—largely AAP volunteers and supporters from the southwestern Malwa and central Doaba regions—has the Delhi chief minister and party leaders in a sweat. In fact, Khaira claims that “95 per…

He is not free who is not free from fear. Before I could complete that short line, a fear seized me. Fear of a gender minder’s admonition. How can you say ‘Heis not…’ ? You should say ‘He or she is not…’. Better still ‘She or he…’ The scolding delivered in a counter tenor was deserved. I had erred. Freedom without equality is a sham. Quick on the heels of that fear came another. This time in a language purist’s sharp baritone. Free from fear ? Where is your language ? Free of fear. I stood corrected. Freedom without quality is a poor thing. And then a third. Fear of INDIA TODAY. Here it is, the voice said in a strong baritone, compiling its Independence Day issue on freedom, meaning…

Close on the heels of Independence Day last year, the Supreme Court told us that the Indian Constitution had always guaranteed our right to privacy. While the nine judges who made up the historic right to privacy court were unanimous, Justice S.A. Bobde proposed the only definition of privacy the court ventured in that case: It is “the right to choose and to specify” backed by “cognitive freedom” or the assurance of a “zone of internal freedom in which to think”. Freedom needs privacy, said the court. It needs the quiet and the shadows. It is only when all Indians can fearlessly choose how they live and who they love that the hopes for freedom and human flourishing with which we began our journey as a democracy in 1947 can…

$302.8 BILLION Value of exports from India in 2017-18 $156.9 BILLION India’s trade deficit in 2017-18 9.78% Growth of India’s exports in 2017-18, compared to the previous fiscal $459.7 BILLION Value of imports into India in 2017-18 7.15% Growth of India’s imports in 2017-18, compared to the previous fiscal All figures are for merchandise exports and merchandise imports…

1949 The Reserve Bank of India, so far a shareholders’ bank, is nationalised. It had actually started operations on April 1, 1935 1951 Nehru presents India’s first Five-Year Plan. Focusing on the primary sector, it had a total planned budget of Rs 2,069 crore 1955 The Imperial Bank of India is nationalised to form the State Bank of India. Its descent from the Bank of Calcutta, set up in 1806, makes it the oldest commercial bank in the subcontinent 1969 14 leading banks are nationalised. According to the Indira Gandhi government, this was done as 361 banks ‘failed’ from 1947 to 1955, and ignored agriculture 1973 The Foreign Exchange Regulation Bill is passed, monitoring certain payments and forex dealings. Coca-Cola departs when asked to divulge secret formula and dilute stake…

This essay presumes that the road of emancipation for queer Indians—without detours—is going to begin soon when (and not if) the Supreme Court disposes the garbage that is Section 377 into history’s dustbin (of course, in its application to consenting adults). It’s been a battle that was first articulated in the courtroom in the mid-1990s, and picked up steam with the Naz Foundation case in 2001. Mainstream media began to cover issues of queer oppression and liberation in a concerted way around then. A generation of Indians has grown up with some level of consciousness around queer issues. Hopefully, many of them have met queer compatriots. There have been very real and painful ways in which queer Indians have had to suffer under the yoke of 377. Often, it has…

The freedom to question the government about its actions is the hallmark of a democracy. The Right to Information Act, passed in 2005, guarantees the citizens of India the right to question their government, and ensures that people no longer have to rely solely on elections to hold public functionaries accountable. Every year, nearly 6 million information applications are filed across the country, making the RTI Act the most extensively used transparency legislation globally. National assessments have shown that a large proportion of these applications are filed by the poorest and the most marginalised. This is perhaps because they have understood the tremendous potential of the RTI law to empower them to access their basic rights and entitlements, especially in the absence of effective grievance redress mechanisms to address service…

Does a film on freedom make us feel freer? You know the answer to that and I won’t insult you by putting it in words. Neepa Mazumdar, in her book, Wanted: Cultured Ladies Only, interviews Girish Karnad about Fearless Nadia, the stunt star of the 1930s. He talks of how half the pleasure of watching Nadia’s films lay in being able to imitate the fights and stunts afterwards. We all have this story—about a dance move we practised, a swagger we adopted, a phrase we began to use as if it were our own. I remember feeling this mouthwatering desire to own the cool of Pawan Malhotra’s character in Saeed Mirza’s Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro—his swagger, indolent flamboyance and verbal flair. It bypassed gender, sexuality and social class via…

There are now more than one billion of us, Indian citizens. And we together celebrate August 15 as the day we won our freedom. Men, women and children through the length and breadth of the subcontinent took part in the Indian freedom movement. The immediate cause of the first great war of Indian independence in 1857 was the revolt of Indian soldiers in the British army upon discovering that when they bit the paper to open the cartridge of the new Enfield rifles, they were swallowing pork and beef grease covering the bullets to keep them dry. The British had offended the religious sensibilities of both Muslims and Hindus and united them in a massive uprising. India’s first war of independence began in May 1857 and has been described as…

I drink the alcohol,” growled the old Babaji, “I don’t let the alcohol drink me.” I was in my early twenties when I heard the old sadhu say this, sitting outside his hut in a village in Birbhum. That winter night, everybody was drinking rum that we, the visiting party, had brought with us from Calcutta. One of the Babaji’s young shishyas had got into a close and personal tangle with the liquor, drinking faster than everybody else, and the old guru was admonishing him about overdoing the Old Monk before sending him off to bed. It took me a while to understand what the Babaji meant, but then I heard it said a lot among the Bauls and Vaishnav sadhus as I spent time with them. There were variations,…

The Biligiri Rangana (BR) Hills in southeastern Karnataka lie where the Western and Eastern Ghats meet. This is where wildlife from one ecosystem mixes with another, creating a unique biological bridge that allows gene flow between otherwise distinct populations. Elephants and tigers and humans travel through this storied landscape. So do birds, insects, reptiles and amphibians. Along with the wind, these creatures carry pollen and seeds. Each fleeting visit to a flower or fruit, each casual dropping of dung, keeps this great forest alive and evolving. But, unwittingly, the birds and macaques have ferried seeds that spell the death of this forest. Lantana camara, an ornamental shrub introduced from the American tropics, has so successfully lured pollinators and seed-spreaders with its pretty flowers and purple fruit that it has out-competed…

1 FRENCH CONNECTION MUSTARD Just when you wonder what’s common between French and Bengali cuisine, the owners of the newly opened restaurant Mustard explain that it is indeed the spicy mustard that brings the two diverse cuisines together. Both types of cooking rely on few ingredients in a dish and let the tiny spice add that pungent twist. The décor reflects the old world charm of Bengal with cane chairs and a kantha embroidery wall piece and blends that with plush upholstery that has a distinct French touch. The peach ceiling-to-floor arched windows and shuttered doors complete the French look giving the restaurant a fine-dine ambience with no distraction from the mall in which it stands. With a French chef and a Bengali chef planning the menu, the food is…

The draft National Register of Citizens on July 30 has left out more than four million of Assam’s 32 million people. While those excluded have a chance to re-apply for citizenship by September 28, there is no clarity on the government’s policy on those who fail to make it to the final NRC, to be published by the year-end. Adding to the confusion is the government’s push for the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016, which may end up legalising half of those excluded in the NRC. In an exclusive interview with KAUSHIK DEKA , BJP National General Secretary and Northeast in-charge RAM MADHAV explains his party’s stand on those excluded by the NRC and why they support granting citizenship to Hindu immigrants, Excerpts: Q: What is…

Congress corporators recently hit out at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) administration for losing a prime plot of land in Jogeshwari, first in the high court and then during a subsequent appeal in the Supreme Court. Among the reasons the BMC cited for losing in the apex court was that its senior counsel was absent in multiple hearings. His name? Congress Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi.…

ANONYMITY IS IMPORTANT: MILLIONS OF VICTIMS OF THIS LITTLE-UNDERSTOOD INFECTION SUFFER WRENCHING DISCRIMINATION This World Hepatitis Day, on July 28, set off yet another year of grim diagnosis and treatment. An estimated 1.4 million people die each year in the world from Hepatitis B, about 4,000 a day, due to liver cirrhosis (shrunken hard liver) or liver cancer. This is a staggeringly high number, higher than the counts for HIV/ AIDS and tuberculosis combined. At 40 million, India has the maximum number of people infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), next only to China, 1-2 per cent of whom die. This year, however, there is some silver lining to rejoice over. The Union ministry for health and family welfare has taken up the task of eradicating hepatitis on top…

“Under democracy, individual liberty of opinion and action is jealously guarded.” —M.K. Gandhi “When it comes to democracy, liberty of thought and expression is a cardinal value that is of paramount significance under our constitutional scheme.” —Supreme Court of India, Shreya Singhal vs Union of India, March 24, 2015 Democracy is proclaimed more easily than it is practised. This is for the most part true of contemporary India. Top leaders of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government frequently recall the Emergency to caution citizens against the possible re-enactment of those dark days, and the curbs on political freedom imposed by Indira Gandhi between 1975 and 1977. But events of the last four years (2014- ) indicate that curbs on freedom and dissent come in different guises…

All civil liberties in India flow from the Constitution. In particular, Articles 14, 19, 21 and 25 of the Constitution lay down the Fundamental Rights of the citizens and these have been zealously guarded by the courts. When India got her independence in the backdrop of partition, integration of the princely states, the conflict over Kashmir, and the separatist movement in Nagaland, the state was quite unprepared without the necessary institutions and trained manpower to handle such a situation. The administrative structure was slow to react to the unfolding events and in many cases got weighed down by the happenings. The primary task for the central government was to preserve the integrity of the Indian Union; everything else was subservient to this. THE POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN THE INITIAL YEARS WAS…

1992-97 The Export and Import Policy (Exim Policy) makes an effort to do away with various protectionist policies prevalent till then 2004-09 FTP has new schemes like Target Plus, under which exporters get duty-free credit, and Free Trade and Warehousing Zones 2015-2020 The current FTP focuses on supporting both manufacturing and services exports and improving ease of doing business. Aim is to increase India’s exports to $900 bn by 2019-20 1997-2002 The Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) aims at making India a globally oriented economy through the Export Promotion Capital Goods Schemes, Advanced Licence Scheme and 100 per cent foreign equity participation in export-oriented units 2009-2014 New initiatives like Focus Market Scheme to help exporters compete in foreign markets and Focus Product Scheme to incentivise exporting of products that are big…

Last Independence Day, Raghubar Das, the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, celebrating his government’s achievements, declared that they had saved crores of rupees in the Public Distribution System by deleting over 1.1 million ‘bogus’ ration cards. Within six weeks of his grand announcement, Santoshi Kumari, an 11-year old Dalit girl from Simdega died of starvation. Her family’s ration card had been cancelled in the deletion drive the Chief Minister had been celebrating. The state government denied any responsibility. In fact, they claimed she died due to malaria (even as they suspended the local ration dealer and recommended action against a food department official). Ultimately, the government more or less admitted that the so-called ‘savings’ included cancelled rations card, such as those of Santoshi’s family. Since Santoshi, there have been 13 more…

The condition of media today presents a paradox: the greater the freedom of individuals to express their views, the greater grows the pressure to tell only the story of the noisiest and most aggressive. And as tens of millions of people become global broadcasters through their hand-held communication devices (we used to call them phones), the difficulty of maintaining organisations committed to gathering and validating ‘news’ also grows. There are two aspects to the dangers that confront today’s media world. The first is the idea that ‘truth’ and ‘fact’ do not exist. Wise journalists and scholars have always recognised that to know the ‘whole truth’ or ‘all the facts’ is an unattainable goal, always a little beyond reach. But in struggling towards that goal, honest inquirers could come close to…

1975 The Supreme Court rules that the people of India have a right to know 1982 SC rules that the right to information is a fundamental right 1994 Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan in Rajasthan launches movement demanding village-level information 1996 Civil society group National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) starts movement for RTI Act 1996 NCPRI and other groups, with support from Press Council of India, send draft RTI bill to the Union government 1997 Government refers the draft bill to a committee headed by H.D. Shourie 1997 The Shourie Committee submits its report 2000 A case is filed in the Supreme Court demanding an RTI mechanism; Shourie Committee report is sent to a parliamentary committee 2001 Parliamentary committee gives its recommendations 2002 Supreme Court gives ultimatum to…

1971 The CBFC asks the makers of Gambler to change the heroine’s name Indira; it’s dubbed to Chandra 1975 Political satire Kissa Kursi Ka is denied certification Aandhi starring Suchitra Sen as a politician is banned during the Emergency due to its similarity with the life of then PM Indira Gandhi 1994 Bandit Queen suffers several cuts for its abusive language and nudity 1998 Offended by Deepa Mehta’s Firefor its depiction of lesbian relationships, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and BJP members disrupt its screening 2006 Aamir Khan’s Rang De Basanti and Fanaa are not screened in Gujarat because the actor supports the rehabilitation of those affected by the Narmada dam 2016 CBFC refuses to certify Lipstick Under My Burkha for reasons as absurd as being “lady oriented” 2017 Malayalam filmmaker…

1944 The British ban the slaughter of young, healthy cows—prefiguring the restrictions that apply in states where there’s still no absolute ban 1945 Mohandas K. Gandhi famously says, ‘I would not kill a human being for protection a cow’, and ‘I will not kill a cow for saving a human life’ 1950 Support for a ban on cow slaughter is included in the Constitution 1950-1978 Ban on slaughtering young, healthy cows enacted in every state, except Kerala and some in Northeast 1958 The Supreme Court says cow slaughter bans don’t infringe on Muslims’ rights—they can sacrifice goats or camels for Id 1982 PM Indira Gandhi asks 14 states to ensure ban on slaughtering young, healthy cows is not circumvented 1996 McDonald’s enters India with promise not to serve pork or…

1949 The Bombay Prohibition Act is introduced. Still in force in Maharashtra though the state licensing regime is quite liberal 1960 A sumptuary law is introduced in Gujarat when it is carved out of Bombay state that proscribes alcohol. But now a massive illicit liquor racket flourishes 1971 Tamil Nadu CM M. Karunanidhi repeals the prohibition in vogue since 1952 but then re–imposes it in 1974, only for M.G. Ramachandran’s AIADMK regime to scrap it in 1981 1977 Bihar announces prohibition but fails; it is withdrawn in just a year 1989 Nagaland introduces total prohibition with restricted permits. But ban hasn’t been a ‘success’ and illegal bars and shops continue to operate in the state 1991 The Manipur People’s Party government enforces prohibition in Manipur. Lifted partially in the five…

Just how white should the Taj Mahal be? The right person to ask that question would have been Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who procured purest white marble, sang-e-rukham, from Rajasthan’s Makrana mines to create a mausoleum of dreaming spires that would change colour through the day: milky white at sunrise, jewel bright at high noon, mellow orange at sunset and iridescent blue at night. So how white is white for the Taj? That question has become particularly pressing now, with the Supreme Court’s recent admonition to the central and UP governments over the way the monument is slowly turning into a sickly shade of brown. Union minister of state for culture Mahesh Sharma has come forward to “assure everyone that there is no danger to the Taj’s structure and no…

It’s twilight. The last few groups of players on the South Course of the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, have finished their practice round. Unbeknownst to them, one player is still out on the course, waiting patiently for precisely this moment. The lone figure of Shubhankar Sharma, 168 yards out on the 18th fairway isn’t visible from the clubhouse overlooking the green. Eight-iron in hand, Sharma can barely discern the contours of the fairway snaking up to the green. But he knows the shot he has to play; he has seen it hundreds of times. The 22-year-old was three-years-old when Tiger Woods hit that iconic eight-iron from precisely the spot where Sharma is standing. Woods couldn’t see the green, but hit it to within two feet to win the…

CHALO JEETE HAIN If you haven’t had your fill of hagiography already, this 30-minute short explains how Naru (aka Narendra Modi) became so selfless and empathetic. Hotstar TIKLI AND LAXMI BOMB In a ripped from the headlines type story, two Mumbai sex workers try to cut pimps and police out of the oldest profession, freeing the actual workers from exploitation. Netflix KAALA His actual political chops remain in question, but on celluloid Rajinikanth has no trouble leading Tamil migrants in Mumbai to victory over the nefarious gangster-turnedneta trying to turf them out of Dharavi. Amazon Prime…

Colour Coordinated DEDEEPYA REDDY, 31 While travelling on the Mumbai metro, Dedeepya Reddy, 31, glanced at the “beautiful but untouched landscape of Asalpha village slums” and decided to use the settlement as a canvas to give the city a coat of colour inspired by Italy’s Positano. “I was reminded of the unwarranted negativity that most conversations about slums have. With colour, we can change people’s outlook towards these areas and also create a positive emotion among the residents,” she says. Fuelled by an aggressive social media campaign and armed with paints donated by manufacturers, Reddy and her team called Chal Rang De of around 1000 volunteers transformed Asalpha village, painting its walls and roofs. Eventually, she painted three more slums in Khar in May and they got more than 2800…

Emoji-savvy Mufti What could have been a sour, rancorous exchange between rival politicians was turned into a jokey one thanks to former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s deft Twitter touch. Omar Abdullah, vice-president of the National Conference, claimed on social media that Mufti had told both the Congress and BJP that she would support their respective picks for vice-chairman of the Rajya Sabha. “How does that work exactly,” he asked somewhat snidely. Another politician might have taken umbrage, responded with a pompous denial or a curt rebuff. Mufti chose charm, responding to Abdullah with a Pinocchio emoji, his nose tapering off into the distance because of his lies. Abdullah laughed but also patronised Mufti by praising “whoever operates your account”. They, he said acidly, “actually have a sense…

Mamata Banerjee was the first to speak out in defence of the four million people left in limbo in neighbouring Assam following the Supreme Court-ordered publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). “It’s a plan to throw out Bengalis and Biharis, whose names have been removed on the basis of surnames,” the West Bengal chief minister claimed at a news conference, minutes after the numbers were released on July 30. She accused the BJP-led Assam government of deliberately targeting Muslims. Clearly expecting the diatribe, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh responded with a series of demonstrations demanding a similar exercise in Bengal. “If voted to power, we will have a separate NRC for Bengal and push illegal migrants out of the country. Those supporting them will also be thrown out,”…

MUTHUVEL KARUNANIDHI’S FIGHT began early, with a refusal to learn to play the naadasvaram, his father’s vocation. A young Karunanidhi was apparently angered when he saw his teacher remove his upper cloth to bow bare-chested before an upper-caste man. Born on June 3, 1924, at Thirukkuvalai, near Thiruvarur, to Muthuvelar and Anjugam who belonged to the backward Isaivelalar community, caste inequality and its silent acceptance by the oppressed classes infuriated him from an early age. Later in life, he was hailed as the ‘samooga needhikaavalar(custodian of social justice)’ for his efforts to ensure 69 per cent reservation for the backward castes. He dreamt of a classless society, building communes called samathuvapuramacross the state, where people belonging to all castes and religions lived together. (But he was pained to see that…

1870s Sedition added to the Indian Penal Code. Section 124-A was used by the British to crack down on freedom fighters 1897 The first time the British imprisoned Bal Gangadhar Tilak for the crime of sedition 1973 A decade of social upheaval and mass protests like ‘Save Silent Valley’ and Chipko movement 1974 J.P. Narayan, 72, leads a student movement in Bihar, calling for a “total revolution”. Protests tap into a nationwide discontent, precipitating the Emergency 1985 The Narmada Bachao Andolan starts against the Sardar Sarovar dam 1990 The V.P. Singh government’s plan to implement the Mandal Commission proposals of reservations for OBC students lets loose a cascade of fury 2011 Anna Hazare monopolises national attention as he goes on hunger strike in Jantar Mantar to force the UPA government…

In his all-time classic, Protection or Free Trade, published in 1886, American political economist Henry George provides one of the wittiest and most persuasive defences of free trade. At the time he wrote, the world was in the midst of the First Globalisation. Liberal trade policies had swept across the globe. Yet, his own country remained staunchly protectionist. Unsurprisingly, his axe fell on every conceivable argument protectionists of his day offered. In the book, George observes that protection implies prevention and defence. In this vein, protective tariffs prevent foreign goods from flowing into our country. Unlike a flood, earthquake or tornado, which are acts of nature, flow of goods is the result of human action. He asks, who are the people whose actions lead to this flow of goods? Foreign…

“I do not minimise the difficulties that lie ahead on the long and arduous journey on which we have embarked. But as Victor Hugo once said, ‘no power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come’. I suggest…that the emergence of India as a major economic power in the world happens to be one such idea.” With these powerful words, the then Union minister for finance Manmohan Singh closed one of the most famous budget speeches in Indian history on July 24, 1991. The life of Indians would never be the same. With economic liberalisation in 1991 and beyond, the scope of economic freedom for Indians expanded exponentially from what it had been under the Licence-Permit-Quota Raj that had choked economic freedom for decades following independence in 1947.…

If you wish to converse with me, define your terms,” said Voltaire. For over 70 years, we have been debating on words like religion, secularism and freedom without really bothering to define or understand their true meaning in the Indian context. In any discourse on secularism, the facts that dharma is not religion and secularism has no Indian equivalent have to be accepted as ground rules. The term Hindu cannot be conflated with the Western concept of religion, which is of a fairly recent origin. On the other hand, the term Hindu in the Indian context is several millennia old. Hindu essentially meant the society with its cultural and civilisational way of life, its core beliefs, traditions, and practices and also prejudices. In the Indian way of life, dharma plays…

On March 23, 1782, Hicky’s Bengal Gazette shut down and founder James Augustus Hickey was arrested after he called then governor general of India ‘the miserable successor of Lord Clive’ In 1975, the Indira Gandhi government imposed press censorship during emergency The Bihar Press Bill passed on July 31, 1982, made the publication of ‘grossly indecent or scurrilous matters’ non-bailable The Rajiv Gandhi government introduced a defamation bill against the Press in 1988. It was withdrawn In April 2012, Rahul Gandhi’s aide Meenakshi Natarajan was to introduce a bill in Lok Sabha to gag the media on the pretext of ‘protecting national interest’. The move was dropped Rajasthan’s Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill of October 2017 sought to shield judges and government employees from media probes. It was later withdrawn…

A couple of years ago, my friend M said to me, “I don’t know why people say women are not raped because of their clothes. Of course they are.” I nearly fainted. Feminism had taught me that rape has nothing to do with what women wear and everything to do with men. Then M continued, “Men rape because of rage and power, not sex, right? And sometimes when they see a woman dressed a particular way, they feel, ‘How dare she? She must be punished’.” M made perfect sense. It reminded me of everyone, from the Mumbai airport official who stopped me mid-gallop to point out my bra strap to the two burly men who chased me through Kozhikode back when I was a bald-headed, pants-wearing teenager to any number…

Since its inception, our satirical stage show ‘Aisi Taisi Democracy’ has gained a reputation of being anti-establishment. Our audience knows what to expect. But not everyone can take a joke that hits too close to home. During one performance, I took a dig at members of a particular religious community for their outrageous claims and irrational ways. The audience cheered and laughed uproariously. But since all religious communities tend to have similar idiosyncrasies, I then directed my barb at another community—this time a minority group. That’s when the penny dropped. Suddenly, a section of the audience began to squirm in their seats, visibly uncomfortable. The same lot were laughing at all my other jokes. After the show, they cornered me for making fun of their practices; it was alright till…

Seventy-one years ago, at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the people of India took a bold leap of imagination. Not only did they win their freedom from their colonial masters but also decided to give that freedom wings in the boldest way possible. And despite occasional bouts of turbulence, that flight of fancy and hope has endured. During the past seven decades, when most of our neighbours flirted with varieties of unfreedom, our flight of freedom turned into an enduring saga of courage and determination. India is about a million freedoms now. A right to privacy has recently been affirmed as of constitutional value, gender and caste are continuously interrogating privilege. Gay rights are on the verge of being legally recognised. Euthanasia and suicide find greater legal…

Seventy-one years after Independence, as we revisit today what independence and autonomy mean to us in both conceptual and practical terms, a reminder of the fact that rights and responsibilities go together is perhaps needed. On that note, we may want to look at what the contours of those rights and responsibilities look like in the context of a doctor-patient relationship. The interaction between the two is indicative of more than just what is happening in the interspace of the doctor and the client. It is also reflective of the larger societal and legal influences which will inevitably influence the interaction. So, the sense of autonomy that the patient has in the clinical encounter will be determined by how society views the doctor. Equally, the sense of urgency, whether participative…

A REFINERY IN THE WRONG PLACE… 1973 Just 40 km from the Taj and up-wind of Agra, Indira Gandhi lays the foundation of the six million tonne Mathura oil refinery of the Indian Oil Corporation with Soviet help; assures Parliament that refinery to start only after protection of monuments 1974 S. Varadarajan expert committee appointed by the ministry of petroleum and chemicals to check environmental hazards 1976-77 Pollution from refinery will be within safe levels; decay in marble and sandstone already exists; hold reports by Italian firm Techneco and the Indian Meteorological Department BUT NO ONE CAN STOP IT... 1977 Data insufficient and unreliable, say the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), ASI and Bombay Natural History Society. Reports of their objections never put in public domain 1977 No great…

KUBBRA SAIT HAS PLAYED BOTH Antonio in The Merchant of Venice and a convict in The Bishop’s Candlesticks. So she didn’t bat an eyelid when she was offered the role of the transgender character Kukoo on Netflix series Sacred Games. “Why does our level of curiosity, innocence and childlike joy change when you are a professional?” she asks. Not every actress would have been confident enough in her femininity to take the part. And it turns out transgender actors weren’t willing to take the role, as they didn’t want to admit their gender identity, director Anurag Kashap told her. “I was taken aback by that, because if you don’t talk about it, then who will?” Sait says. A compelling presence over the four episodes in which she appears, Sait uses…

One way to think of Latitudes of Longing— Shubhangi Swarup’s first novel—is as a cycle of four novellas. A minor character from one leaps into the next as a central character. The sections are united by a shared mood—intense longing. They are also united by, of all things, plate tectonics. Millions of years ago, the Indo-Australian tectonic plate collided with the Eurasian plate, giving us the Himalayan range, the Arakan mountains in Burma and the Andaman islands. The four sections of Latitudes work their way up along this geological fault-line, mirroring the emotional plights and journeys of its characters above. The four sections of the book work their way up geological fault-lines, mirroring the emotional plights and journeys of its characters In the Andamans, a man of science learns to…

Q. The best twist in Race3was that you were not Salman Khan’s stepfather. But it was still hard to buy you as Bobby Deol’s father. What’s the secret to your ageless appearance? This is the feedback I was waiting for. (Laughs) My wife Sunita is very strict. We have sweets coming to our place and they are there precisely for five minutes. She sends it to the office or has them distributed on set. Her hand is constantly hitting mine whenever it nears a dessert or junk food. Q. Fanney Khan is about a father who takes extreme steps to realise his daughter’s dreams of being a singer. Are you happy with the career trajectory of your three kids—Sonam, Rhea and Harshvardhan? I couldn’t have asked for anything better than…