Innholdsfortegnelse for February 10, 2020 i India Today

On December 16, 2012, India was shaken by the brutal gangrape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy graduate. ‘Nirbhaya’, as she came to be known, was subjected to unspeakable horrors in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died in a hospital in Singapore a fortnight later. For a country seemingly inured to cases of sexual violence against women, the horrific case became a watershed. Thousands of angry Indian citizens spilled out onto the streets, demanding not just justice for Nirbhaya but safety for women in general. Seven years after that dreadful night, justice, it seems, will finally be served. Four of the six men who raped her are now on death row. But have things really changed? The Nirbhaya case also marked a legal watershed. It led to the passing of…

The Central Information Commission (CIC) is headless again. Nearly 35,000 cases are currently pending in the CIC, and five out of 11 posts of commissioners, including the chief information commissioner, are vacant. This is even after the Supreme Court directed in February 2019 that appointments of information commissioners must be timely and made in a transparent manner. Vacancies in commissions lead to large backlogs resulting in concomitant delays in hearing cases. Appeals and complaints pending before the CIC were filed as far back as 2017, which negates the very purpose of the RTI law. Every year, around six million people, including the poorest and the most marginalised, exercise their fundamental right to information and file applications under the RTI Act. Information is sought on a host of issues, ranging from…

B.R. Ambedkar has remained an academic untouchable given his insistence on seeing caste as the central fault line of Hindu and, indeed, Indian society. Ambedkar’s persistent, scholarly and polemical enquiries into why Hindus saw other Hindus as sub-human came to be seen more as motivated by personal animus than as a symptomatic reading of the very condition of life in India. We are paying the price now as Hindu violence spreads like a stain across India and includes more and more social categories in the class of the sub-human and dispensable. The Muslim and the Dalit are on par with regard to the value of their lives. Ambedkar began his enquiries into the origins of caste and untouchability following Gandhi’s threat to fast unto death if separate electorates were allowed…

MNS chief Raj Thackeray recently changed his party flag to all-saffron and is now endorsing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens. A strident critic of PM Modi and Amit Shah all these years, Raj says he will also be meeting the Union home minister soon. At a party meeting called to prepare for a proposed march against illegal Bangladeshi migrants, an MNS leader mustered the courage to ask how this shift of stance could be explained to the public. The meeting was wound up immediately.…

“A DANCE NEEDS TO MAKE YOU HAPPY AND YOU NEED TO LOOK GOOD DOING IT, AND HIP-HOP HAS THAT EFFECT, IRRESPECTIVE OF GENDER”—Bosco Martis, choreographer Featuring a bunch of dancers who plied their trade on competitive reality TV shows, ABCD: Any body Can Dance (2013) had next to no A-list stars, its most recognisable face being Prabhudeva. Yet choreographer Remo D’Souza’s second film as director, starring the terpsichorean talents of Salman Yusuff Khan, Dharmesh Yelande, Prince R. Gupta, Punit Pathak and Tushar Kalia, managed to gross nearly Rs 40 crore at the domestic box office. It was the fillip that the producers needed to start a dance franchise, much like the popular Step Up series in Hollywood. ABCD 2 (2015) was inspired by the true story of Suresh Mukund and…

In Amanthi Harris’s new novel, Beautiful Place, a young woman returns to Sri Lanka, where her adopted Austrian father has renovated their villa for her to run as a guest house. Gerhardt had adopted Padma as a child from her own parents, Sunny and Leela, who sold her once and continue to collect from Gerhardt years later. Now she is ready to run an independent business, offering an oasis of friendly accommodation in a seamy little coastal village. A guest house is a narrative convenience if you want characters to enter and exit as you run out of plausible scenes for them to endure. So we have Rohan, newly released from a bad marriage and beginning to consider a life with Padma. Other characters come and go, either lovers on…

Q. What is that one thing that you’ve enjoyed during the break? What I enjoyed the most was not living out of a suitcase. Staying in one place for over a week at a time was amazing because I have travelled all my life since I was 12. Q. Where did you draw inspiration from while you plotted your comeback? I drew inspiration from looking at my son, Izhaan, hoping that one day when he understands all this, he will be proud of his mom. I drew inspiration from other women, from other people. But mostly, I feel you derive inspiration from yourself. And, obviously, winning the first week that I played after two-and-a-half years was amazing. It just shows that I do have some tennis left in me. Q.…

O. P. JINDAL GLOBAL UNIVERSITY Sonipat, Haryana www.jgu.edu.in The Jindal Global Business School of O.P. Jindal Global University offers students the five-year integrated BBA (Hons) + MBA programme and it gives them a global management perspective on how businesses are run and organisations function across the world. The teaching and assessment methodology includes live projects, field assignments, class presentations, internships, and stimulation games. Eligibility 60 per cent in Class 12 (all subjects). What’s special Every student has the opportunity to pursue a study abroad option with a partner foreign university in their fifth year and enrol for a one-year MS degree. The exposure helps them in learning people management skills. Duration Five years Fee ₹3.5 lakh per annum SANSKRITI UNIVERSITY Mathura, Uttar Pradesh www.sanskriti.edu.in The integrated BBA + MBA programme…

While one can develop the ability to manage through experience and intuition, a formal degree in management studies helps understand the underlying trends in the industry. An interdisciplinary field that draws from subjects such as economics, psychology, sociology, statistics and mathematics, a degree in management teaches you how to run organisations. Providing a framework for goal setting, it equips you to be alert. Here are a few reasons why it is an essential qualification. › Since management is about having a goal and using resources effectively as well as efficiently to move towards that goal, a professional must have the necessary knowledge. › To ensure that goals are achieved in a sustainable manner, we need organisations. These organisations transcend varying individual capabilities and management therefore provides the framework to create…

As a eight-year-old, Mumbai-based Tanaz Mohammed had always been different. While most of her friends would opt for indoor games, she would be out in the ground playing hockey. Her love for sports didn’t stop there and she started playing football alongside. “My primary sport during my childhood days was hockey, and football was secondary because there was no formal training available for it. It was my hockey coach who trained us in football. Both the games had similar formations and it helped us grow as a team,” says Mohammed, 26, a national level hockey and Level 1 football coach educator with Premier Skills, an international collaboration project between the Premier League and the British Council. Having played several matches in hockey as well as football, she talks about the…

As Chairperson of the Adani Foundation, Priti Adani feels that skilling and reskilling of the workforce is needed to leverage our human capital. Giving the example of Klaus Schwab, economist and the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, who rightly pointed out that jobs of the future will not be created by top companies but by young entrepreneurs, Adani tells us how jobs can be generated in future. ON INDIA FACING THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT India’s demographic dividends present a competitive edge to us over the global peers. It’s essential to nurture this workforce in line with the changing times. We need to infuse confidence in our young workforce through skilling and reskilling. There is another important aspect we often overlook and that’s the women in our…

For many, a career in aviation is the dream job. The industry continues to grow exponentially and India is expected to emerge as its third largest market by 2022. Gradual strengthening of the Indian economy due to urbanisation and increase in middle class with disposable income are some of the factors responsible for the rise of the sector. Positive policy initiatives such as removal of FDI limits for sub-sectors that include airports, air cargo, ground handling, general aviation and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) along with focused development of infrastructure such as airports have contributed to its expansion. In the coming five years, the government’s push on regional connectivity, under the UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme is expected to democratise flying and increase the size of the sector…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is concerned about the girth of BJP leaders. Both current party chief J.P. Nadda and predecessor Amit Shah have noticeably wrestled with weight issues. Modi has now passed on his special dietary chart to BJP MPs and national office-bearers to help them lose weight and stay fit. The chart recommends eating smaller food portions and at shorter intervals, as well as consuming foods high in minerals and proteins instead of those rich in carbs and fats. Fitter office-bearers, the PM’s logic goes, can work longer hours. Partymen say they have no option but to follow what is a rare prime ministerial fiat.…

Former Maharashtra chief ministers Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan have something else in common these days. Both were denied posts in the coalition government and they are both targeting the Shiv Sena. Ashok Chavan claimed on January 27 that to become CM, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray gave an undertaking to Sonia Gandhi to abide by her conditions. Earlier, Prithviraj Chavan had said Thackeray had, in 2014, proposed to team up with the Congress to keep the BJP out of power. Some Congressmen say the duo is merely competing to enter the Congress high command’s inner circle.…

On January 18, rebelling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders met at Delhi’s Constitution Club to stitch together a coalition to challenge Sukhbir Badal’s leadership of the party. They had already identified SAD’s Rajya Sabha MP, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, to anchor this coalition. Sukhdev, who for three decades had occupied the position of party secretary general, resigned in October last year from the leadership of the SAD in the Rajya Sabha. Soon after, his son, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, gave up his post as chief of the party unit in the Punjab assembly. Politically, the SAD has been struggling to enthuse its core base—panthic voters, who are more alive to issues relating to the Sikh faith. Badal’s rivals have accused the party of mishandling the fallout of the June 2015 desecration of…

Rape, as a clearly defined offence, was introduced in the Indian Penal Code in 1860 The Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act of 1983 made it mandatory for courts to assume the absence of consent if the victim says so. It made disclosing the victim’s identity a punishable offence The outcry following the December 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape case led to the passing of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. It widened the definition of rape and made it non-bailable, increased jail terms in most sexual assault cases and provided for the death penalty in rape cases that caused death of the victim or left the survivor in a vegetative state. Stalking, voyeurism and acid attacks were made punishable offences The 2013 law defined as offences the use of unwelcome physical contact,…

Dec. 16, 2012: Six men gangrape and brutalise physiotherapy graduate Nirbhaya and beat up her friend Awindra Pratap Pandey aboard a private bus from Munirka in Delhi Dec. 18: CCTV footage and bus details lead police to the vehicle and accused Ram Singh, who leads them to Vinay Sharma and Jan. 4, 2013: The case is submitted in the lower court Mar. 11: Ram Singh allegedly commits suicide in jail Aug. 31: The Juvenile Justice Board sends the juvenile to a correction home for 3 years Sept. 10: Session judge convicts Akshay Kumar Singh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta. Mukesh is apprehended from Karoli, Rajasthan. The juvenile is arrested from Delhi three days later and Akshay Kumar Singh is arrested in Bihar and brought to Delhi Dec. 29: Nirbhaya dies at…

PANIPAT by Vishwas Patil; translated by Nadeem Khan WESTLAND ₹899; 650 pages Fought between the Marathas and the king of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Wadali, the 1761 battle of Panipat saw 150,000 soldiers and 80,000 animals die in a day. This novel goes beyond the body count. THE EMPEROR WHO NEVER WAS Dara Shukoh in Mughal India by Supriya Gandhi HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS ₹699; 304 pages Historians have for long asked what would have been the fate of the Mughal Empire if Dara Shukoh, not Aurangzeb, had ascended the throne? This biography of the Sufi prince helps provide key answers. ALLAHU AKBAR Understanding the Great Mughal in Today’s India by Manimugdha Sharma BLOOMSBURY ₹599; 330 pages Looking at the reign of Akbar from a contemporary perspective, the book questions the politics…

When Dilip Kumar Chaodhary bumped into a friend last month, he was congratulated on his daughter’s success. He didn’t make much of it, given that Sweety Kumari, 20, had often returned from rugby tournaments with a trophy or a medal. Once home, he realised that the family was gearing up for a little celebration. It was only then that he learned Kumari had been awarded ‘International Young Player of the Year’ by Scrumqueens.com, an authority on women’s rugby around the world. For Chaodhary, it was another reason to believe in his little girl, who had bagged her biggest award yet. The fifth among seven siblings, Kumari started out as an athlete only at the age of 14, but aced the shorter sprint distances in no time. At a state meet…

ASHOKA UNIVERSITY SONIPAT, HARYANA, www.ashoka.edu.in Ashoka University’s study abroad programme gives students the opportunity to experience different cultures and global classrooms. It has semester exchange programmes with universities such as King’s College London, Harvard University, HEC Paris, and the University of Melbourne. Students can sign up regardless of their field of study—the emphasis during selection is on their CGPA (cumulative grade point average) numbers. In addition, Ashoka University also offers international summer school courses, with programmes at the University of California at Berkeley and Yale University in the United States, as well as King’s College London and the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom. The university’s office of international programmes tracks the credits earned by students during these programmes, adding them to student tallies. Duration Semester exchange programmes…

FORMAL MEETS FUNCTIONAL AYUSHI GUDWANI 35 Founder, FableStreet, Delhi “BE OPEN TO TAKING RISKS” A degree in management was a natural choice for Ayushi Gudwani as she realised early on that it opens up horizons across categories, functions and industries. A postgraduate from IIM Calcutta, she worked with McKinsey & Company for over six years before starting FableStreet in 2016. The idea for the online platform that makes stylish workwear for women came to her during placements as she struggled to find the perfect outfit for her interviews. “I realised that there weren’t many brands making office wear for Indian women. I would go into trial rooms and the outfits either didn’t fit or didn’t look well,” says Gudwani. How is it different? It is a platform for international quality…

The lines between digital and physical spheres have blurred. Future business leaders will have to go ahead within this dynamic, challenging world now that computers are able to emulate better than human thinking and performance. Progressive management education needs to provide the right melange of decision making capability and new age specialisations that could straddle both the technology and management space. A few questions that would help. What are the current trends? Specialisations in MBA have been increasingly focusing on the data sciences piece. This is driven by the growth of artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and greater than before digitalisation. Apart from the current subjects such as marketing, finance, human resources, operations, and international business, alternatives around AI, data engineering and analytics are becoming important. For this, MBA students…

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s decision to abolish the state legislative council will strip TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh of his legislator post and perks. This is being seen as another strike at the TDP, which opposed Reddy’s decentralised capital plan after he jettisoned Naidu’s Amaravati ‘dream capital’ project. Reddy is also upgrading Kuppam, a town in Naidu’s assembly constituency, into a municipality. Perhaps he wants to make the point that Naidu, who has notched seven consecutive electoral wins from Kuppam since 1989, did little for its growth.…

I can never reject the tag ‘Muslim’ because I was born in the faith and it has shaped me in many ways. It is the same with being Indian. I was born an Indian and, unless forced by circumstances beyond my control (such as a rash National Register of Citizens), I will die an Indian. I believe this so strongly that I have not applied for Danish citizenship despite becoming eligible for one 15 years ago and despite the inconvenience, and significant visa-related expenses, of travelling in the West on an Indian passport. To say so is not to claim that Islam is a superior religion. Similarly, I hold on to my Indian passport not because I believe that India is better than other nations of the world. I do…

It’s an election year and Nitish Kumar knows it well. He sounded conciliatory on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, when senior leaders of his party, the JD(U), Prashant Kishor and Pavan K. Varma, went public with their criticism of the new law but seems to have changed his line after Union home minister Amit Shah paid a visit and declared that Nitish would lead the BJPJD(U) alliance in the state election. Likely emboldened by Shah’s vote of confidence, Nitish has ticked off both Kishor and Varma in no uncertain terms, saying they are “free to leave” if they want. Speaking in Vaishali district, Shah, till recently the BJP national president, said he was there to scotch “all rumours”. “The NDA will contest the next Bihar poll under Nitishji’s leadership.…

Despite enacting stricter laws in the aftermath of the Nirbhaya case, the rate of rape crime has shot up while the charge-sheeting rate has dropped. The rate of convictions improved marginally Sex crimes and death Sex offenders account for 37% of the total death penalties awarded by lower courts in the past four years. In 2019, the figure went up to 53% How the higher courts dealt with sex offenders The high courts upheld trial court death sentences in 65% cases of murder involving sex offences. In contrast, 64.7% of the death sentences commuted by the Supreme Court were cases of murder involving sex offences Number of convicts whose death sentence was confirmed Number of convicts whose death sentence was commuted The count of the noose No official count is…

In its 2013 budget, the UPA government announced the ‘Nirbhaya Fund’, with an initial outlay of Rs 1,000 crore, to support countrywide initiatives for the safety and empowerment of women n The Nirbhaya Fund Framework provides for a non-lapsable corpus administered by the Department of Economic Affairs of the Union finance ministry n An empowered committee, chaired by the secretary, women & child development ministry, recommends proposals to be funded under the framework n The projects should directly relate to the safety and security of women, use technology innovatively and not be duplications of existing schemes n The fund, though, is grossly underutilised. Out of the Rs 3,600 crore corpus, the Centre had, till November 2019, allocated Rs 2,050 crore to the states. However, only 20 per cent of this…

FOR WHY NOT DEATH? “You look at the crime and you look at the criminal. If it’s a dope dealer who guns down an undercover narcotics officer, then he gets the gas…. If it’s two dope heads who gangrape a 10-year-old girl and kick her with pointed-toe cowboy boots until her jaws break, then you happily, merrily, thankfully, gleefully lock them in a gas chamber and listen to them squeal. It’s very simple. Their crimes were barbaric. Death is too good for them, much too good.’” —John Grisham, A Time to Kill Our consciousness lies at the root of all our decisions. If we think about it, our thoughts are what make us who we are. Our thoughts are what create societies, rules, laws and the punishment for flouting those…

Till the protests over the new Citizenship (Amendment) Act offered themselves as a more emotive election issue, it looked like Delhi’s inescapable, annual battle with pollution would also count for votes in the assembly polls due on February 8. While that threat seems to have receded, the air quality index (AQI) reading for Delhi has only improved from ‘Hazardous’ then to ‘Very Poor’ now. Union Environment Minister PRAKASH JAVADEKAR and Delhi Chief Minister ARVIND KEJRIWAL spoke separately to Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa and Deputy Editor Shwweta Punj on how they were tackling the key pollution challenges confronting the national capital. Excerpts: Q. What are the main causes of pollution in the national capital? PRAKASH JAVADEKAR: There are four to five components of pollution—vehicular, dust management, biomass burning and industries.…

When Kanishk Seth was just 13, trying to wrap his head around high school science, his father told him he ought to start learning sound engineering. Now 24, Seth, a Mumbai-based producer, singer, guitarist and composer, says he was initially stumped by his father’s unusual instruction, and that it was only later when he understood why he and his mother, Sufi and ghazal artist Kavita Seth, had nudged him towards music. Seth admits that only after losing his father at 16 did he start taking music seriously. Having taught himself the technology and software that music production entails, he collaborated with his mother on her 2014 album, Trance with Khusrow. Kavita Seth’s evocative renditions of Khusrow’s verses were at the forefront of the Sony Music record, but its sonic direction…

On paper, Michael Coutinho is not your typical protagonist. He is not especially heroic, virtuous, or possessing of any quality that sets him apart. He is not an antagonist either. As a boy, he is sweet and well-mannered; as a young man, a regular college-goer. Later, his marriage is like most—loving, yet difficult at times and full of petty arguments. As a widowed old man, forced to live with a sister he detests, he is grouchy and averse to change. And yet, it is Michael—and not his flighty sister Annette, who abandons her fiancé on the night of her engagement party to run away with Benji, or even the tragic Joe, Michael’s best friend and Annette’s jilted ex-fiancé—that author Jane Borges chose to be the protagonist of her debut novel,…

Q. Can you tell us about your subjects and what inspired you to shoot them? I have been working on this series for about eight years. The interesting thing about shooting over a period of time is that the work takes on many layers, making it richer. Initially, I had a sense of what I was gravitating towards and that’s what I would look for in all the spaces I visited. I am fascinated by the imagined worlds and the make-believe characters that inhabit them. Every viewer resonates with something different in an image and carries back a different story. I am interested in these stories and all the stories that are born when the viewer sees them. Q. One of the defining images from your exhibition depicts a burnt…

To finish first, you must first finish If there is one exam in which you stand a chance to succeed, even with little time at your disposal, it is CAT (Common Admission Test). While a longer duration of preparation can increase your chances of success, you must remember that any game is decided in the final stages. Even if you are behind, how well you finish can change the game completely. To win it, you have to stay in it. Unprepared is not the same as zero If you are not prepared for CAT, it does not mean you are at zero. Take stock of where you are and what you need to cover. Knowing what you have done or are capable of doing makes you feel confident. Think in…

As driverless cars and robot teaching assistants are becoming a reality, Elizabeth Croft, Dean of Engineering, Monash University, Australia, which is known for its strong academic science education, decodes the uses of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Know the difference Machine learning (ML) is using large data set to optimise the relationship between inputs and outputs. Mathematical concepts find connections between the input and the output and for that, it uses automation and statistics and takes advantage of the computation power of graphics processing unit. If you look at the human brain, we have synapses that optimise the relationship between inputs or what we see and the output, which are our reactions. We have an input and an output and thus, there are billions of cells in our brain making…

Poor eyesight, blurred vision, and frequent eye infections are common problems we all have to face at some point or the other. While in some cases, a routine eye examination can identify the issue, in others, advanced clinical tests and surgical interventions are required. That’s why we need an ophthalmologist to look into that. Apart from clinical observation, doing specific eye tests such as vision assessment, refraction, slit-lamp examination, advanced microsurgery, and intra-ocular pressure measurement, an ophthalmologist also needs to educate patients and their family members, along with maintaining the patients’ records and keeping an eye on their recovery and rehabilitation. A career in ophthalmology is a demanding profession and requires aspirants to stay up-to-date with new researches, upgrade their knowledge and skills, read a lot of journals and papers.…