Innholdsfortegnelse for July 9, 2018 i India Today

Stories about the Bharatiya Janata Party are rarely complete without a mention of its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The RSS calls itself a social organisation distinct from its political wing, the BJP. This is a dualism almost without parallel in world politics. Where the interests of the two have converged of late is in the election arena. A decisive electoral push by the RSS and its cadre, the first since 1977, was one of the factors that enabled the BJP to surge to power in 2014. Since then, Sangh leaders have occasionally voiced the RSS’s disagreements with the Narendra Modi government’s style of functioning and its economic policies, including the sale of Air India and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax. These differences, however, have not…

Senior Congress politician and former Union minister Saifuddin Soz’s new book, Kashmir: Glimpses of History and the Story of Struggle, is a coherently crafted chronicle that delves deep into the cultural and historic origins of the Kashmiri people. Citing a wide variety of historical and literary sources, the author has devoted a significant portion of his text in tracing the region’s roots—from the pre-history recorded in Kalhana’s Sanskrit treatise Rajatarangini all the way to Partition and Jammu & Kashmir’s accession to India. But it is the latter part of the book—detailing episodes linked to J&K’s Constituent Assembly, the Delhi Agreement of 1952, the rise of militancy and the exodus of Pandits in the early 1990s and the following decades of turmoil and bloodletting—that are predictably contentious. His reference, for instance,…

Nitin Gadkari The Union minister’s supporters in Nagpur kick up a storm after discovering his pictures were missing from a state booklet Jyotiraditya Scindia Widely tipped to lead the Congress in the Lok Sabha, a sop for his agreeing to support Kamal Nath as CM candidate in Madhya Pradesh Giriraj Singh Coalition partner JD(U) blames the Union minister for weakening the NDA in Bihar with his snarky comments against the Nitish Kumar regime…

Police personnel in Chhattisgarh have hit upon a new way to press home their demands without risking action for violating service rules. Family members of the state’s 70,000-strong constabulary and special armed force (SAF) are leading the agitation by proxy. On June 25, the families joined a protest rally at Raipur’s Idgaahbhata ground to press for the demands, including better salaries and allowances, and a practical policy on transfers. It all began some six months ago, when Rakesh Yadav, a constable in Bilaspur, who had been dismissed from service in 2013 for organising hunger strikes and dharnas, began an online campaign articulating the demands. He found instant traction on social media. The campaign became more vociferous after the Raman Singh government conceded contractual teachers’ demand to regularise their jobs. The…

When China announced on June 19, with little prior warning, that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had already arrived in Beijing under a shroud of secrecy for an unexpected two-day visit, the news was striking on many levels. Kim’s armoured train was a topic of particular public fascination but more momeorable perhaps was the fact that it had taken the young dictator six years to make his first visit to China. His latest visit, however, would remarkably be his third in as many months, following an ‘informal’ seaside summit with Chinese president Xi Jinping in Dalian in May. The message from the three visits was clear: the old Communist allies were very much still, as Mao Zedong proclaimed to Kim’s grandfather, “as close as lips and teeth”. Yet the very…

After its revival by Netflix last year, the Grammy award-winning Queer Eye isback with its second season. Like the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which debuted on cable TV in the US in 2003, the reboot follows five big-hearted gay men as they enter the lives of people who don’t always share their ideals, providing a non-preachy lesson on tolerance in the palatable packaging of an entertaining makeover. This season, Tan French, a gay Muslim man, is one of the fab five. Simply having him on screen highlights the absence of conversations about queerness in Islam. The very first episode quotes the Prophet: “Where there is no kindness, there is no faith.” And Queer Eye sets out with faith in the belief that kindness will win. While Queer…

The rising intolerance we see today toward the media goes back 238 years ago to the time of James Augustus Hicky, who became the first editor in India to earn the ire of the State and the Church. Hicky’s Bengal Gazette is a painstaking documentation of how this Irishman exposed the systemic corruption of Governor­General Warren Hastings, the manipulation of the legal system by Supreme Court Chief Justice Elijah Impey and the shady dealings of Swedish missionary Johann Zacharias Kiernander. Hicky, a sometime law clerk and printer, sailed to India hoping to strike it rich. Soon afterward, he started a paper to highlight the unsavoury dealings of the Company and question British rule. Hastings rigged contracts, accepted huge bribes, doled out jobs to his supporters and constantly schemed to usurp…

IF you ever found yourself wondering why Bill Clinton’s speeches weren’t longer, this book is for you. Everybody else should start on page 160, where the by-the-numbers action starts. Like everything James Patterson does (and everything Clinton does, come tothinkofit), The President is Missing comeswith a preposterously aggressive hard sell—promising that old Bill has divulged heretofore unknown insider secrets of the workings of the White House and Patterson has worked his 1-page chapter voodoo to spin them into THE MOST GRIPPING AND SURPRISING THRILLER IN YEARS. It would be a less egregious exaggeration to say it’s mildly interesting, mostly due to the fun in reading between the lines. Clinton’s expertise in ditching Secret Service stems from his cigar tricks with Monica Lewinsky; President Duncan slips the leash to save the…

21 Indian cities to run out of water by 2020, says NITI Aayog, including Delhi and Bengaluru 40% Of Indians will have no access to safe drinking water by 2030. India has 18% of the world’s population, 4% of water resources 120 India’s rank out of 122, says NITI Aayog report, for water quality; up to 70% of our water is contaminated 54% Of India’s groundwater wells are declining. According to NASA, in 2011, India pumped out 245 billion cubic metres of groundwater, 25% of the global total 62,000 Million litres per day (MLD) of urban sewage generated in India. Treatment capacity is 23,277 MLD. Only 522 of 816 municipal treatment plants work, so 18,883 MLD actually treated 200,000 Die every year due to lack of access to safe water.…

Results of the latest Swachh Bharat Survekshan have displeased West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Her state has fared worse than most, with several cities counted among the dirtiest in India. After the latest rankings were released, a minister in her government decried the survey as “politically motivated.” He drew a contrast between the assessment of Nadia district by the United Nations, which gave it an award for eliminating open defecation in 2015, and the Swachh Bharat, which ranks several towns in the district as the dirtiest in the country. Critics also argued that the assessment of Varanasi, the prime minister’s constituency, was routinely inflated. 4,203 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) assessed in 2018 Swachh Bharat Survekshan, up from 434 cities ranked in 2017 and 73 in 2016 66 Days in…

Always planning for a future Delhi makes the present Delhi a carcinogenic wasteland where construction is a perpetual cause of blight Two thousand and three hundred trees to be cut in New Delhi’s Netaji Nagar, 11,000 in Sarojini Nagar, another 1,400 at Nauroji Nagar... The headlines are loud and clear. If in the case of redevelopment a few thousand 100-year-old trees are cut, so be it. Life goes on. One of the great tragedies of the Indian city—besides the more obvious environmental one caused by cutting trees—is the failure of the government, concerned architects and planners to provide reasoned ideas suited to local forms of urban living. All three projects are being developed by the NBCC, a construction arm of the government. With Sarojini Nagar slated for development this year,…

The RSS believes there are forces trying to divide Hindu society and stop Narendra Modi from coming back to power in 2019. These groups, they feel, have the support of Opposition parties such as the Congress, SP, BSP and TMC Both RSS and BJP have agreed to set aside differences on issues of governance and policies, work to take on a uniting Opposition This year, the RSS believes, is crucial to the future of the Sangh parivar; it wants Modi and Shah to change their autocratic style of functioning, take along other leaders The RSS is reviewing the performance of BJP MPs; 100 incumbent MPs may be replaced With Opposition parties ganging up against it, the RSS has instructed the BJP brass to reach out to disgruntled allies and critical…

1 MADHYA PRADESH TRIBAL POPULATION 21% Tribals have formed politically savvy groups, such as the Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti. The group was floated by a former AIIMS doctor in 2012 2 MAHARASHTRA TRIBAL POPULATION 9% Groups like the Sarvahara Jan Andolan want the consent of gram sabhas taken before acquiring land for development projects 3 WEST BENGAL TRIBAL POPULATION 6% The Bharat Jakat Majhi Pargana Mahal runs 60 Santhali schools and contested against the Trinamool Congress in the panchayat polls 4 JHARKHAND TRIBAL POPULATION 26% The Pathalgadi movement is spread over 100 tribal villages in three districts. A new law on land acquisition could provoke further mistrust 5 ODISHA TRIBAL POPULATION 23% The Dongria Kondh community’s successful struggle to save the Niyamgiri hills from bauxite mining drew worldwide attention 6…

BLOOD BROTHERS Mao’s decision to send his troops across the Yalu river to support the North in the 1950 Korean War cemented relations. Mao’s oldest son would die in the war DEFENCE PARTNERS A 1961 mutual cooperation treaty has been seen as China’s only defence pact with any country, although it is ambiguous on whether Beijing would intervene in a war FORGED IN HISTORY Three generations of the Kim family, starting with Kim Il-sung, have forged close relations with their Communist neighbour to the West, a constant over the past six decades TRADING TIES North Korea’s $6 billion trade with China accounts for 90 per cent of its total trade, and it’s reliant on China for everything, from oil to agricultural commodities NUCLEAR UMBRELLA The North’s first nuclear test in…

Q. Do you worry that the audience will hear your performance as background music to the animated film, without recognising Chopin’s genius? I think that in a situation when kids are having one of their first encounters with this kind of music, the screen will reinforce their experience and help understand the music better—just as Tom and Jerry helped me! Q. What kind of reception do you anticipate for western classical music in India, which has a strong culture in popular and art music of its own? I think The Magic Piano will surely be well received here, just as in any other country, as kids are the most sincere and open-minded. I do think that music education needs to be supported, and what would also help is to have…

Score a Meal [ Till July 15 ] With the FIFA World Cup 2018 fever at it's peak, it's time to bring the season’s favourite game into your food as you cheer your team to the goalpost. Monkey Bar celebrates this season with 'Halftime Deals' with a special menu that has snacks such as Football Farsan, Mexican Wave, Kahn’s Hot Dog which is a tribute to Germany, and No. 10, a pork belly dish that pays tribute to the legends of the game. So what are you waiting for? At Monkey Bar, Khar West…

Nandy was suspicious of, and saw Gandhi as an antidote to, the hyper-masculinity of colonial powers their former subjects internalised In an interview with Ramin Jahanbegloo and Ananya Vajpeyi, the editors of the excellent Ashis Nandy: A Life in Dissent, Nandy ruminates on the role of the intellectual. If, he says, “you are an intellectual as opposed to an academic, you are automatically sensitive to public life... it is your job to look at the world and comment on it.” He learned the necessity of public engagement, of writing for a wider audience during the Emergency. “[E]ither you write when the chips are down,” he says, “or you don’t write at all. What is the point of your political psychology if you cannot comment on the Emergency when it faces…

Target Sushma As her phone buzzed with abusive tweets, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, once a beacon for obsequious online flattery, must have allowed herself a moment of wonder at the slings and arrows of social media adoration. One minute you’re everyone’s favourite minister, celebrated for your social media savvy, for your alertness to distress calls on Twitter, and the next you’re deserted by your party colleagues as the slavering right-wing mob, once so docile, comes chasing, frenzied jawssnapping. Fansofthefirst Karate Kid moviewill remember the scene in which Daniel-san and Mr Miyagi visit the dojo where the former’s tormentors train. In some fevered BJP IT cell, a similar scene must play out: “We do not train to be merciful here,” the instructor shouts, spittle coating the glasses of the wannabe troll-soldier…

There’s a reason why Rahul Gandhi’s tweets have taken a sharper, wittier turn of late. Nikhil Alva, producer of successful shows such as Indian Idol and son of Congress veteran Margaret Alva, manages the account now. The content flows from the social media, communication and research teams, but Nikhil, and quite often Rahul himself, give it the final twist. Alva, who describes himself as a media entrepreneur with the soul of a political activist, is an infrequent tweeter. He is part of Rahul’s non-political circle and their bond has weathered Margaret Alva’s 2016 memoir (which was quite critical of Sonia Gandhi). Nikhil’s Twitter performance is believed to have eased his mother’s quiet return to the party too. She was part of the election committee for the Karnataka elections. Chinese Whispers…

The Janata Dal United (JD-U) and Bharatiya Janata Party have begun vying for political elbow-room in Bihar ahead of the 2019 general election. There’s simmering unease between the alliance partners on seat-sharing—whether to base it on the results of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls or allocate them according to the 2015 assembly election verdict. Of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, the ruling National Democratic Alliance has 33, including the two Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) won in 2014, contesting against both the NDA and the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress alliance. The BJP holds 22 of the NDA’s seats. And while senior BJP leaders acknowledge the need to drop some of their non-performing MPs, surrendering seats to the JD(U) is apparently not an option. Senior BJP leaders privately accep that keeping everyone…

Unhappy with the Kashmir situation, the RSS had been asking the BJP to snap ties with the PDP since January Within a week of Mohan Bhagwat’s demand that Air India be sold to an Indian company, the aviation ministry reworked conditions to make it more attractive for Indian players Sangh affiliates like the Laghu Udyog Bharti have suggested corrections in the implementation in GST and expansion of the definition of SMEs The SJM ensured that the old format of free trade agreements was discontinued, saying it jeopardised Indian industry The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, along with the Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas rejected the T.S.R. Subramanian committee recommendations on the New Education Policy; the Centre has formed a new panel Caving in to the Sangh, the government plans to restructure the…

Q: Are you leaving with regret, in anger or with relief? A: Neither regrets, nor anger. I have finished my duties and I am walking off. That’s all. Q: You were the lone dissenting judge in the NJAC (National Judicial Appointments Commission) verdict of 2015. Would you have taken the same stand today? A: Yes, I’d still support the NJAC, on the very same grounds. It is one thing to say the structure is unconstitutional and another to say the way that it’s being operated is wrong. My complaint was only that the system was not being operated properly. Q: Your time as a Supreme Court justice has been marked by protests against the functioning of the court. Have they made a difference? A: I wouldn’t call it protest. I…

“The moment it happened, all cobwebs vanished. I started concentrating on my work,” said Kashyap, adding that he has never been so efficient. “Look at my social media. There is much less distress, and I have stopped abusing. Now I am speaking my mind only through my work.” With three major releases slated for the next few months, including his contribution to the Netflix anthology Lust Stories that hit the web on June 15, he’s got plenty to say. A companion to 2013’s Bombay Talkies, Lust Stories again places a Kashyap short alongside films by Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Karan Johar. It’s a departure from his preferred genre of hardboiled noir. But he’s excited to see how the audience responds, given how rapidly perceptions about love, sex and relationships…

GOLIATH SEASON 2 Billy Bob Thornton is still too good for Angelina Jolie, he ably demonstrates as a hard-drinking, hard-moping sad-sack lawyer taking on a giant conspiracy. Superpower: “Aw shucks” drawl. Amazon Prime CLOAK & DAGGER With Jessica Jones, Daredevil and Luke Cage playing on another network, Marvel moved the teen heroes of Cloak & Dagger from New York to New Orleans. Superpowers: All-enveloping darkness (Tyrone aka Cloak) and knife-like shards of light (Dagger aka Tandy). Amazon Prime LUKE CAGE SEASON 2 The Blaxploitation era vibe of Luke Cage sometimes makes you wonder if this is the same city where the indestructible man met Jessica Jones. Superpower: Bullet proof Netflix…

Q. You travelled through Himachal Pradesh for this season of The Great Escape on Fox Life. What was the highlight of the adventure? When I was called to do this show, all they said to me was we want to take you on a road trip. There’s no better way to discover any country than by travelling by road. The whole thing was a great experience. Q. There must be something that really stood out. The [ceremonial] lunch at the Chamunda temple was by far one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever had in my life. I’m going to remember that meal for the rest of my life. Q. You got famous before Twitter and Instagram. How are things different today? I think I would have had more control.…

NEW IN TOWN CinCin INSPIRED ITALIAN From Venice to Amalfi and Rome to Calabria, the diverse cuisine of Italy finds a home at CinCin. The peppy restaurant at Bandra Kurla Complex is reminiscent of a Venetian bacari—with cicchetti, wood fired pizzas and hand rolled pastas on the menu—all inspired by owner Karyna Bajaj’s travels across Italy. “It’s a place that caters to simple flavourful food and great wine; a space where you can savour a bowl of fresh, handmade pasta with wine or unwind with an Aperol Spritz post sundown,” says Bajaj. ITALY ON A PLATE Napoli pizza from Naples, fresh pasta from various regions in Italy and wines by the glass served in a casual setting inspired by the neighbourhood bars of Venice; CinCin offers flavours from various regions…