Innholdsfortegnelse for May 21, 2018 i India Today

When I read the daily roll call of children being raped, it makes me sick to the stomach with disgust and makes my blood boil against these perverts. I imagine many of you must feel the same. This is a story you may not want to read, but you must, because it explains why there is a silent implosion of rage among India’s men; especially those who are violating children—the most vulnerable section of our society, and because rape is not always just a sexual act, but can be a political weapon, a demonstration of power, a way to keep the weak in subjugation. In India, in these last few ghastly weeks, it has been repeatedly used as all of the above, exposing the schisms at work in contemporary India.…

“No prime minister has used the office to say things about their opponents (the way) Mr Modi has been doing day in and day out. It doesn’t behove a prime minister to stoop so low...” Former PM Manmohan Singh at a press conference in Karnataka where the Congress is embroiled in a tight, tetchy election contest, desperate to cling on to one of the few states where it is in power. He did not comment on whether it was appropriate for a former prime minister to speak so bitingly of his successor. If it is true that Narendra Modi displays the same penchant for campaign rhetoric as he does for clasping world leaders to his bosom, it is perhaps also true no PM has been subject to such sustained, vitriolic…

MNS chief Raj Thackeray made an embarrassing Maharashtra Day Twitter debut on May 1. His first tweet in Marathi had several grammatical errors. He even misspelt jababdari (responsibility). Four days later, his tweet on International Cartoonists Day had errors too: he named several cartoonists “responsible in awakening” the cartoonist in him. Worse, his blueprint for the state’s development had 257 grammatical errors. Is this a silent cry for help?…

TWENTY KILOMETRES off the highway to Panchkula from Saharanpur, the village of Hauj Khedi presents a rather unusual picture. It is past 6 pm and some fifty 5- to 16-year-old children are engrossed in studying. Most of them are barefoot, seated on gunnysacks and peering intently into their books, occasionally addressing queries to the young volunteer teachers. Welcome to Hauj Khedi’s Bhim Pathshala, one of some 500 schools for Dalit students that have cropped up across western Uttar Pradesh in the past two-and-a-half years. There are 300 in Saharanpur district alone, where Dalit boys and girls come to revise lessons learnt in their regular day schools, while the rest of the village kids head for playgrounds. Here, besides the usual school subjects, they are also told about Bhimrao Ambedkar and…

THE BJP WANTS TO MAKE IT A KISAN PUTRA VS CORPORATES CAMPAIGN In a heads-up to the BJP’s plans, Amit Shah, on May 4, described the coming assembly polls as a battle between those representing farmers and those who speak for corporate houses and maharajas. It was an evident dig at Kamal Nath, the new state Congress president, and Jyotiraditya Scindia, newly named chairman of the Congress campaign committee. Shah’s two-hour visit to Bhopal on the day predictably caused quite a stir, given that he had taken time off from the hectic poll campaign in Karnataka to address an ‘extended’ BJP state executive meeting that included block-level workers in Madhya Pradesh. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had added to the suspense after indicating at an event of the state’s happiness…

CONVICTED: Seven-year jail term for Ayaz Mohammad Ali Ansari, 37, in April 2017 for molestation and rape of two minors; 25 cases under investigation now PROFILE: Blind in one eye, with a limping gait; he would steal and sell mobile phones to procure drugs; no permanent address; visited the Haji Malang dargah after each crime ON RECORD: Kept a tab on middle-class localities; stalked minor girls; introduced himself as a family friend with urgent messages for their fathers. He would take them to a secluded spot, molest and rape at knife point and leave them bleeding PSYCHOPATHOLOGY: Typically, a loner, a master manipulator. who does not trust anyone. Inspector Dinesh Kshirsagar, who interrogated Ansari after his arrest in 2015, says he never travelled by public transport, never used mobile phones…

On April 21, a 22-year-old son of a stone mason raped his mother in Gujarat’s Palanpur. In police custody, he confessed to compulsively watching porn on his mobile phone, often in the presence of his mother and younger sister. Six youths and two minors were arrested in January 2016 in two rape cases at a homestay in Fort Kochi, Kerala. They recorded the sexual assaults on mobile phone to blackmail the victims in both incidents. In April 2015, a 21-year-old man was booked by the police at Nargol village of Valsad, Gujarat, for shooting photographs of his teenage ex-girlfriend in compromising positions on a mobile phone and uploading those on popular social media sites. He did it as ‘revenge’ because the girl’s parents were reportedly looking for a groom for…

By 2009, a Rs 8,000 crore hole had appeared in India’s finances, courtesy beer baron Vijay Mallya’s stab at commercial aviation. Then, as Kingfisher Airlines went down in metaphorical flames, two catchphrases rose to prominence. One was ‘NPA’—a debt that remained unpaid despite repeated attempts by the lender to collect payment. The other was ‘absconding billionaire’. In 2018, those titles made the news together once more, thanks to diamond merchant Nirav Modi. This time, not only was the NPA larger—over Rs 11,400 crore—it was ‘created’ through outright fraud. However, if even that were the worst of the current NPA crisis, it wouldn’t have been so bad. A loss of Rs 20,000 crore can break a bank, but won’t wreck a banking sector as big as India’s. NPAs are also a…

Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts. The weather is about to get worse,” says Ranbir Kapoor as a young Sanjay Dutt in the teaser for Sanju, Rajkumar Hirani’s highly-anticipated summer release. So far, 2018 has been a bumpy ride for Bollywood. The historical drama Padmaavat just about struck the Rs 300 crore mark, still impressive given that it didn’t release in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The presence of Akshay Kumar wasn’t enough to convince people to watch a film on menstrual hygiene, with Pad Man only managing Rs 78 crore. In a reflection of our dwindling standards, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, a misogynistic bromance, and Baaghi 2, in which Tiger Shroff’s Rambo-inspired character drives around Kashmir with a human shield, were the only films to cross the coveted Rs 100…

Satyajit Ray was a science fiction aficionado long before he became a movie director. He read extensively across the genre, wrote SF and wrote about SF, and thought deeply about the ways in which it could be translated onto screen and stage. He created one of the most iconic characters of Indian SF in Professor Shonku and spent several years trying to get a big-budget SF film project off the ground. In the late 1960s, the script and storyboard of that putative film, complete with multiple concept sketches, did the rounds in Hollywood. It had a working title, The Alien.Columbiaalmostbacked it and put some money into it. Ray himself visited Paris and Los Angeles trying to drum up support for the project. Peter Sellers wanted to work in it; Marlon…

Whether by chance or design, New Delhi’s colonial-era power corridor, Rajpath, will be the frontline of a brief but colourful culture war this week. An acclaimed exhibition titled ‘India & the World—A History in Nine Stories’ opens its Delhi run at the National Museum, while across the road the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) stages a Hindu-hip cultural carnival, the ‘Festival of Bharat’. First shown in Mumbai in November, India & the World is an ambitious curatorial collaboration between three museums and at least two art historians. The exhibit, which will be in Delhi through June 30, features a dazzling array of the ancient artefacts and contemporary art of five continents, drawing parallels between the material culture of India and the world through the ages. A sumptuous…

A certain retired chief justice of India is known for his spotless dressing. At a recent social function, he turned out in a dazzling white art-silk jacket. When I went up to greet him post-dinner, I noticed a very fresh curry stain on his lapel. “Sir, daag lag gaya (There’s a stain),” I said. He looked straight into my eyes, and with a twinkle in his own, said: “Kabhi lag bhi jaatey hain, par chipaktey kam hain (It does stain sometimes, but it seldom sticks).” We both knew that we were not talking about his soiled coat. For the Supreme Court, 2018 has been an annus horribilis so far. The year began with a press conference addressed by four senior judges who, along with the Chief Justice, currently make up…

The very success of America’s immigration policies has now provoked a backlash which, in large measure, contributed to Trump’s victory Amy Chua, who teaches in the Law School at Yale University is probably best known for her book on her experiences with child rearing, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. The book though widely reviewed and read was also equally reviled. The criticism, in considerable measure, stemmed from the harsh punishments that she had meted out to her children in attempts to mould their behaviour. Her present book, Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations, returns to issues that she had previously explored: questions of ethnic identity and social conflict. The current work examines two facets of the same question: how Americans have dealt with questions of ethnicity…

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis denied senior bureaucrat Medha Gadgil an opportunity to become the first woman chief secretary by appointing her junior Dinesh Kumar Jain to the coveted post on April 30. Mantralaya buzz has it that she was overlooked because her husband Anant Gadgil is a Congress leader. Fadnavis reportedly felt uncomfortable having a political opponent’s spouse as his chief secretary. Though the CM can overlook seniority in making appointments, the already disgruntled bureaucracy is not happy with the move.…

REVANNA CLARIFIED THERE WAS “NO DISSENT”, EVERYONE WOULD “ABIDE BY FATHER’S (GOWDA’S) DECISION” The last 10 days before polling day witnessed dramatic flip-flops by all political parties in the Karnataka assembly elections: Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to praising former PM H.D. Deve Gowda even as he exhorted crowds not to vote for the Janata Dal (Secular). Gowda’s son and former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who had consistently claimed that the JD(S) would emerge as the single largest party, changed tack and started talking of possible post-poll alliances. While all this was happening, the ruling Congress led by chief minister Siddaramaiah, quietly started back-channel negotiations with the JD(S). If the opinion polls are a pointer, Karnataka’s voters simply can’t agree on a single party this time like they did while…

MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, they died before pain or perception. Like soldiers in the heat of war—a leg blown off, shrapnel in the eye, intestines hanging out—but numb to pain. That silent prayer wafts heavenwards, as the nation grieves. Grisly remains of children are emerging every day from their dark resting places: Kathua, Surat, Etah, Balasore, Indore, Chatra. Smashed skulls, chewed lips, lacerated genitals, sticks and bottles forced inside the belly. About 20,000 children a year, 50 a day, two every hour—age seven months to 17 years—mangled, raped and murdered in a frenzy of blood, agony and that ultimate breach of trust: adult lust for innocence. This is a story you may not want to read, but you must. Five months into 2018, the litany of brutal acts of rape, torture…

Over the past 35 years, Dr Rajat Mitra has studied over 2,000 child rapists and sex offenders. A clinical psychologist, he has interacted closely and consistently with prison inmates at the Tihar Jail in Delhi since the 1990s to understand their mindsets and motivation. A leaf from his field notes: *The rest of the percentage is indeterminate; current study conducted under the aegis of Swanchetan Society for Mental Health with the support of Ajay Aggarwal, former DG Prisons and Sunil Gupta, former Law Officer, Tihar…

1 Ensure that loan approvals are based on rigorous due diligence Banks do already have due diligence processes, but the scale of the NPA problem proves these were not being followed. A finance ministry analysis revealed highway projects in which loans were disbursed before environmental clearances had been granted and power projects that began work without knowing who would supply the coal or buy the electricity. Projects with incomplete business plans are almost certain to face difficulties during repayment. 2 Ensure that borrower’s balance sheets are scrutinised and cash flows are appropriately ring-fenced Finance ministry officials say in many cases banks did not have the expertise to properly examine borrower paperwork, failing to identify artificial leveraging and over-invoicing, such as is alleged in the case of Essar Projects, currently with…

Bucket List In her Marathi feature debut, Madhuri Dixit is an ideal wife and mother of two whose outlook changes when she begins to fulfil the desires and aspirations of her heart donor. They include developing a taste for alcohol, having fun with furry handcuffs, donning a leather jacket and riding a bike, taking a selfie with Ranbir Kapoor and dancing. May 25. Mahanati The Telugu-Tamil-Malayalam trilingual is a biopic of popular 1950s-60s Telugu star Savitri (Keerthy Suresh) that looks at her personal and professional highs and lows. Apart from recreating the elaborate sets of some of her biggest hits, including the mythological drama Mayabazar, it showcases her interest in car racing and cricket. Malayalee actor Dulquer Salmaan plays the legendary Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan aka Savitri’s husband and Samantha…

Known these days as “Cop Shiva”, Shivaraju still works as a police constable in Bengaluru, even as his photography garners attention from the art world in India and abroad. His ‘Street as Studio’ exhibition featured in this year’s India Art Fair; he’s been invited to document Sweden’s embrace of refugees by the Swedish Art Council; and later this year has exhibitions planned for Switzerland. His beats as cop and photographer are overlapping. “As a documentary photographer, my practice happens mainly on the streets, and my subject is always the human being and his deep rooted emotions. I capture the ordinary man in an extraordinary situation, and his conflict or dialogue with the surroundings,” he says. “As a policeman I have developed a very sharp eye, always attentive to the world…

Q. What made you quit acting for eight years? During the shoot of Nayee Padosan (2003), I realised the need to think about the kind of cinema I really wanted to do. It made more sense to produce for television than accept mediocre work as an actor. One day, Anurag Kashyap offered me Ugly, and I was back in business. Q. What was it like working with Sudhir Mishra in Daas Dev? Sudhir gives 100 percent to each of his projects. Daas Dev was a multi-layered experience that challenged me as an actor. Sudhir brought out the best in me. This character has been played by actors like Dilip Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan, whom I admire. But when people see Daas Dev, they won’t see Rahul Bhat but Dev.…

After months of speculation, the $500 billion US retail giant Walmart has bought a 77 per cent stake in the homegrown online retailer Flipkart for a consideration of $16 billion (over Rs 1 lakh crore), pitting itself directly against rival American firm Amazon in India. The deal, one of the largest involving an Indian company, was announced by visiting Walmart CEO Doug McMillon in Bengaluru on May 9. What explains Walmart’s interest in India? The Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow to $200 billion (Rs 13.4 lakh crore) by 2026, from $38.5 billion (Rs 2.6 lakh crore) as of 2017, according to the India Brand Equity Foundation, a research body under the commerce ministry. This growth has been triggered by increasing internet and smartphone penetration. India’s total internet user…

A Foreign Hand Vijay Sampla, the minister of state for social justice and empowerment, is, by the standards of too many Indian politicians, a modest Twitter presence. But when he invoked PM Narendra Modi’s nonagenarian mother, Heeraben, in a recent tweet, he experienced the thrills and spills of virality. Sampla posted a picture of Modi’s mother boarding an auto to cast her vote in the 2014 general election. He contrasted it with Rahul Gandhi, whose mother, Sampla tweeted, “is the World’s 4th Wealthiest Politician!” Leaving aside the fake news about Sonia Gandhi’s net worth, Sampla’s point was opaque. In any case, everyone was distracted by a hand, unattached to a body, helping Heeraben into the auto. Photoshop, the Twitterati cried. How embarrassing. Except it wasn’t. Sampla didn’t tamper with the…

The state effectively decrees that Muslims will neither pray in the open nor will their ancestors’ remains rest in peace Offering namaaz every day has been part of my life. My parents offered namaaz, always at home, every day, three times. Fajr (morning), zuhr asr combined (afternoon) and maghreb isha combined (evening). They taught by example, never compulsion. Perhaps that was why I became a namaazi. I don’t recall my father ever missing his namaaz or ever going to pray at the masjid. My mother and other women of the household always prayed at home, a personal preference which I imbibed. Wherever I lived in the world, my namaaz was offered in my private space. This was in the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. Cut to 2018, Gurugram, Haryana. (Incidentally,…

Punjab has not seen a significant deployment of central forces for more than 20 years now. But they are set to return to duty in the state, responding to intelligence agencies’ warnings about the revival of the Khalistani terror machine. The new arrangements follow a high-level meeting between Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh and Union home minister Rajnath Singh on April 19. Evidence of a nexus between Khalistani extremists and local gangsters was unearthed during the Punjab Police and National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigations of a series of assassinations targeting local Hindu leaders, Dera Sacha Sauda adherents and Sikh preachers not in sync with the mainstream faith. The NIA’s 2,000 page chargesheet, which names 15 alleged Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) men in the assassination of Ludhiana-based RSS leader Ravinder Gosain…

I struggle to write about my childhood memories, and it is not because I was sexually abused at four by a family member, and was subsequently victimised over 25 times till the age of 19. It is because I feel guilty about overshadowing an otherwise privileged and pampered existence with these multiple painful internal wounds that will never completely heal. Guilt, self-blame, loathing and constantly questioning myself; childhood sexual abuse brought with it generous lashings of the aforementioned emotions and much more. It was as if the violation of my body was not enough, deeper holes were dug into my mind; the mental trauma for most survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) overwhelms the violation of physical and sexual trauma. Daddy’s princess and the apple of mummy’s eye. Also depressed,…

1. Be wary of people who exhibit anger outbursts, verbal and physical violence without provocation 2. Beware of adult males showering a child with attention, treats, gifts, trips to places that children enjoy, or special privileges. Paedophiles are charming to children 3. Watch out for touching—hugs and pats, wrestling, tickling, playing hide and seek in the dark, drying a child off with a towel, massaging, playing physical games, cuddling—by relatives, acquaintances, neighbours, teachers and coaches. Go with your instincts if anything bothers you about someone who spends extra time with your child 4. Child molesters seem to enjoy, and often collect, images of children engaged in typical childhood activities. Be cautious of people who enthusiastically photograph children who are not their own 5. Notice if someone asks a child to…

Motorsport fans across India reacted with despair, disappointment and, above all, anger when it was announced that the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) was hosting its last Formula 1 race in 2013. India had been waiting for its first FIA Grade 1 track since the first empty promises nearly a decade earlier, and just three years after the first Indian Grand Prix in 2011, the party was over, thanks to unsubsidised licensing fees, financial trouble for the promoters Jaypee Sports and tax disputes with the local government. For a small group of dedicated gearheads, however, Jaypee’s woes came with a silver lining. BIC may never scream with a dozen-odd high-revving V8 engines. But on the last Sunday in April, the grandstand reverberated with the deeper whine of four-cylinder engines—the kind under…

Tamil and Telugu actor Keerthy Suresh slips into flashback mode in her latest film, Mahanati,abiopicaboutthe South Indian star Savitri—who acted in nearly 300 films in the 1950s and ‘60s. The part was “truly extraordinary and challenging,” says Keerthy, who grew up watching Savitri’s films because her mother is an ardent fan. Directed by Nag Ashwin, the film released on May 9 across India in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. Savitri’s best known films were Telugu hits like Mayabazar (1957), Chivaraku Migiledi (1960) and Mooga Manasulu (1964). Mahanati portrays her life as one of the most revered stars of her time, while also presenting the person she was off-screen. “Not many may know that the graceful Savitri played cricket, loved swimming and was a car racer too. Since these happen to be…

HAPPY Based (like everything else, it seems) on a graphic novel, this offbeat comedy—where a hitman teams up with his daughter’s imaginary friend to save her from a kidnapper—will either have you in splits or diving for the remote when the animated blue unicorn appears. Netflix THE NOTHING FACTORY Portuguese writer-director Pedro Pinho’s fiction debut —a strange-but-compelling mashup of genres that deals with the closure of a Portuguese factory--snatched a critics award at Cannes in 2017. Mubi THE IMPROVISERS: SOMETHING FOR NOTHING The first streaming comedy special by an Indian improv group. Something is lost in watching pre-recorded spontaneity, but it’s better than nothing. Amazon Prime…