Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2, 2020 i India Today

There are four activities that societies have never been able to successfully ban or control: gambling, alcohol/ drugs, prostitution and pornography. Among these, pornography was, for a long time, the most susceptible to control. No longer. INDIA TODAY has tracked the growth of pornography since our cover dated December 1978. Since the arrival of the Internet, it has become almost impossible to control its proliferation. Few recent inventions have changed our lives as radically as the Internet has. Its reach and ability to network billions of humans, inform, illuminate and entertain, is as life-changing as the development and harnessing of electric power in the 19th century. But as is the case with all technology, there is a dark side to the Internet too. It has given sociopaths corners to hide…

Basu’s description of Menon’s efforts to persuade, cajole or induce the sometimes obdurate rulers is nothing short of captivating Narayani Basu’s book on V.P. Me-non has stoked a significant controversy because of a few pages where she asserts that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had failed to include Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the initial cabinet list. It has become the subject of a fraught public debate, with prominent historians and politicians alike weighing in. It is simply beyond the scope of this brief review to adjudicate the merits of the issue. Undoubtedly, in the fullness of time, the matter will be effectively resolved and disposed of. That said, this book is the result of painstaking research in multiple archives, the culling of evidence drawn from memoirs and the deft use of…

311 UIGHUR MUSLIMS were detained in China in 2017 and 2018, with their families and friends subjected to constant surveillance, reveals a leaked report. Their ‘crimes’ included growing long beards. Authorities monitored social media accounts and used facial recognition technology, marking behaviour like applying for passports, accessing foreign websites and going to mosques as ‘suspicious’. Dubbed the ‘Karakax list’, it details the cases of detainees exclusively from the eponymous county near China’s western border with India 5.6 MILLION STUDENTS sat for their Class X and XII board exams in Uttar Pradesh from February 18 onward. They are being monitored on 200,000 cameras across 7,784 exam centres to prevent cheating, a frequent problem in the state 13.61 seconds The time taken by Nishanth Shetty to run 142.5 metres down a slushy…

There seems to be no end to the Kafkaesque nightmare a small school skit has triggered in Bidar, Karnataka. It was meant to be an in-house performance, but a proud parent, Muhammad Yousuf Raheem, decided to stream it on Facebook. Local BJP activist Nilesh Rakshyal took note, and lodged a police complaint stating that children were being instigated into uttering unpatriotic words, hurling abuses at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and being trained to say that if the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) came into force, Muslims would have to leave the country. The police, of course, wasted no time acting on the complaint. Storming into the school (whose spacious facilities on the five-acre campus they have regularly used for…

December 9-14, 1959: Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first US President to visit India. The trip, aimed at strengthening Indo-US ties, was widely seen as a diplomatic success on both sides July 31-August 1, 1969: President Richard Nixon made a very brief visit to New Delhi. Some say the visit was an (unsuccessful) attempt at reducing tensions between him and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi January 1-3, 1978: President Jimmy Carter’s two-day visit was overshadowed by long-term consequences of the 1974 Pokhran-I test, with Carter and Prime Minister Morarji Desai ‘disagreeing sharply’ in private March 19-25, 2000: President Bill Clinton’s visit ended India’s pariah status after the 1998 Pokhran-II tests—which had led to sanctions—and signalled a pivot in US foreign policy toward India March 1-3, 2006: President George W. Bush’s visit…

DEEP WEB The part of the deep web where criminal activities happen is called the dark web Users and websites can achieve total anonymity Uses ‘onion routing’ to hide the original IP address: data passes through several points A new route of data transmission is picked each time and the entire route is not known to any of the points data passes through Websites do not show on Google search. Popular search engines include Onion Land, Duck Duck Go, Hidden Wiki Web links are a random alphanumeric sequence strung together, ending with ‘.onion’ Can be accessed only through a TOR browser Transactions only happen through cryptocurrency and all chats are encrypted REGULAR (SURFACE) WEB Users and sites can be tracked through individual IP addresses Data passes through fixed points and…

In his day, J.B.S. Haldane was one of the most famous scientists (and popularisers of science) in the world. A colourful character, he was a lifelong rebel who became a committed Marxist and, near the end of his life, renounced his British citizenship and moved to India to live and work there. Seeing that there is clearly a great story to be told here, Samanth Subramanian has written a well-researched biography that can help revive interest in one of 20th century’s most fascinating characters. The book starts with an account of a 1948 meeting in Moscow where Trofim Lysenko used Stalinist tactics (including public confessions and purges) to force Russian biologists to reject “Bourgeois Genetics” and accept his pseudo-scientific nonsense in its place. When the BBC did a programme about…

Back in November, the government’s decision to revoke writer Aatish Taseer’s Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card caused a brief media kerfuffle. Taseer, a prominent writer, is the son of veteran columnist and Lutyens insider Tavleen Singh and Pakistani politician Salman Taseer, a former governor of Punjab whose criticism of his country’s blasphemy laws precipitated his assassination by his own bodyguard. The product of a fleeting affair, Taseer wrote over a decade ago about his secular upbringing in India and his infrequent contact with his father and extended family in Pakistan. Taseer now lives in New York with his husband Ryan Davis. Taseer’s documentary explores India’s secularity and the fractures of Partition The reason provided by the government for revoking his OCI card was his apparent failure to disclose his…

A Sense of Space—The Crisis of Urban Design in India takes you on a virtual journey of India with the author, architect and urban designer, Ranjit Sabikhi who raises vital questions about town planning, land, space, and design. He picks several cities across India and goes onto give a detailed account of Delhi’s urban crisis. In the book, you will find comprehensive plans, a complete study of urban planning and ideas, especially if you are a planner, urban designer, landscape architect, economist, or sociologist. He starts with traditional Indian architecture that was all about close-knit spaces, internal courtyards, and narrow streets and stresses that these had a sense of community and local character as opposed to the current, detached ones. He then turns a critical eye when the British enter…

Staid but stunning micro concrete, printed heritage tiles in soft shades, bright blue stripes and a wash of warm wooden flooring offer Siddharth and Minal Bhargava’s Santacruz home, the ideal backdrop against which their vibrant travel souvenirs, bright artworks, and contemporary furniture and accessories stand out beautifully. Artefacts from Spain, Portugal and India rub shoulders with artworks from Miami as subtle greys, blues and blacks dominate the furniture and upholstery in the young couple’s home. “For a space to stand out, the objects in it must communicate, respond and balance one another,” says interior designer Richa Bahl who designed the home for the businessman-and-fashion designer couple who enjoys travelling and socialising. It helped that they were her friends because Bahl knew the pulse of the house “from day one”. In…

Concrete In-situ In-situ concrete is poured, molded and cured on site to custom build and is incredibly versatile. Cement concrete flooring is one of the most common types of flooring used in both residential as well as public buildings owing to its nonabsorbent nature. It is durable, smooth, pleasing in appearance, easy to maintain and economical. Ensure the floor finish is divided into suitable panels to reduce the risk of cracking. PRICE ₹150 per sqft onwards Slate Slate is a beautiful porous stone yet durable flooring material. Available in black, grey and gold, it is a suitable material to use for creating a warm atmosphere in the home. Due to its aesthetics and properties it generally adds real estate value. It has a stain-resistant surface, making it suitable for installation…

Upbraided for their “disturbing” arguments, the government must now accept the Supreme Court’s verdict that women officers too deserve the opportunity to ascend to the top ranks of the Indian army. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seized on the court’s decision and said on social media that the BJP had “disrespected every Indian woman by arguing in the SC that women Army officers... were inferior to men”. Part of the government’s argument was that the men in the army, most of whom are from rural backgrounds, were not prepared to accept commands from women. The government, though, seemed not to recognise the irony of its position, given its dubious contention that “motherhood, childcare and psychological limitations” should limit a woman’s career in the army. That said, the Supreme Court demurred on…

As part of its efforts to promote tourism in Assam, the Sarbananda Sonowal- led BJP government in the state teamed up with a media group to hold a film award ceremony in Guwahati on February 15. But rather than provide cheer in the aftermath of the anti-CAA protests, it ended up angering the protesters even more. Especially as Assamese singer Zubeen Garg, who had at one point appealed for a boycott of government functions, not only attended the function but was also hugged by Sonowal. Pro-CAA finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma missed the event, as he was away in Delhi, attending the wedding reception of Arun Jaitley’s son. Biswajit Daimary, a Rajya Sabha MP of BJP ally Bodoland People’s Front, also boycotted the event after he claimed he was insulted.…

Pakistan has refined the stratagem of the minimal satisfier to an art form. For decades, whenever it has been brought under extraordinary external pressure, it has quickly sought to project formal compliance on counter-terrorism parameters to escape imminent punitive measures, but ensured that its basic capacities to project terrorism into its neighbourhood and beyond remain intact. This has continued for decades, despite the fact that Pakistan has been acknowledged, even by the most reluctant among prominent powers, as the epicentre and a state sponsor of terrorism; and crucially, despite the fact that its proxies—most prominently the Taliban and Haqqani Network—have targeted and killed thousands of soldiers of the US-led Coalition in Afghanistan (as well as tens of thousands of Afghans); despite the fact that US drones have ‘taken out’ dozens…

244,188 unique Twitter accounts engaged in child sexual exploitation were removed between January and June 2019 11.6 million pieces of content considered to involve child nudity were removed by Facebook in the first quarter of 2019 1.2 mn photos of child abuse and nudity were removed by Instagram in the second and third quarters of 2019 850,291 videos were removed by YouTube between July and September 2019 over concerns about child safety 130,000 WhatsApp accounts that shared images of nude children in January 2019 were blocked 50,000 The number of daily Indian users on the dark web. In 2014, before virtual private networks (VPNs) became commonplace, the figure was 200,000…

The cyber grooming of children by predators—the befriending of children online with the explicit intention of later sexual exploitation—is spreading with alarming rapidity in India. And what often goes largely unreported in India is the evolving modus operandi of such predators. “The victims are those who are ‘struggling’ in some way,” says Shelja Sen, child psychologist and family therapist. “They could be lonely, failing in academics, dealing with parental strife, born with a disability, isolated from others their age... these are the kids who are singled out and approached.” Through a process that involves stalking their victims on social media and spinning a compelling narrative as bait, cyber groomers appear to rely heavily on gaming forums and chatrooms to develop emotional connections with their victims. “They don’t care if the…

TEN YEARS AFTER INDIAN TELECOM was rattled by the 2G spectrum scam and the Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences issued by the UPA government in 2008, the sector is witnessing another upheaval. This time, the apex court has stepped in to ensure that telcos Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices pay up over Rs 1 lakh crore in revenue share the government claims they owe in return for acquiring licences and spectrum. The three companies are widely referred to as the ‘incumbent’ players, since the other major operator, Reliance Jio, entered the market only in 2016. According to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which issues the licences, the three incumbents owe the government Rs 35,600 crore, Rs 53,038 crore and about Rs 14,000 crore, respectively. On February 17, three…

• Now, revive your lapsed ULIP within three years and non-linked plan within five years • Surrender value is now fixed across all insurers and ranges between 30 and 50% for two to seven years • Partial withdrawal up to 25% in three tranches allowed for ULIPs after five years of the policy • Minimum death benefit guaranteed at 105% of all premiums paid • Flexibility to reduce your ULIP premium to 50% after five years • Commute up to 60% from your insurance-linked pension plans • Minimum death cover under ULIPs down from 10 to seven times the premium paid • One can pick a different annuity provider in deferred annuity plans • ‘No-guarantee option’ on market-linked pension products…

It’s that exciting time of year when the Berlin Film Festival, or Berlinale, one of the first A-list festivals in the calendar, comes around. Held from February 20 to March 1, the 70th edition of the festival will open with Philippe Falardeau’s My Salinger Year. Starring Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley, it follows Joanna, assistant to literary agent Margaret, whose job is to answer the fan mail of cult author J.D. Salinger. Headed this year by artistic director Carlo Chatrian, the Berlinale will screen about 400 films of all genres, including fiction, documentary, shorts, animation and children’s and experimental films. It’s a sign of the times that Johnny Depp (of Pirates of the Caribbean fame) now stars in the docu-fiction film Minamata, as war photographer W. Eugene Smith, who documents…

TABLE OF CONTENTS It’s the season for collaborations and we are very excited about this one. Tableware brand Hitkari has collaborated with Casa Pop and the collection is just the right mix of traditional and modern design. PRICE on request AT www.hitkari.co.in FIRST CHAIR Flipkart recently tied up with House of Pataudi and launched a range of solid wood products. Featured here is the Ruhani Fabric Living Room Chair in Baroque blue. PRICE ₹34,999 AT www.flipkart.com BETWEEN THE SHEETS The new year marks the entry of a new bath and bed linen brand, Stellar Home USA, in India. From bed sheets, comforters and towels to pillows and curtains, the brand walks a fine line between classic and contemporary. PRICE ₹649 onwards AT www.stellarhomeusa.com FLORAL NOTES There’s something about frangipani flowers…

If you are looking for flooring options that are versatile and instantly add a luxurious feel to your interiors—wooden flooring is the answer. Be it laminate, engineered or natural wood, the beauty of this material adds warmth, character and enhances the overall ambience of the space. While budget is always an important factor, today wooden floorings come in inexpensive options too. And while you are still toying with that idea, here is an insight on what’s available in the market. Natural Wood Nothing beats the real thing. So if you can, you should invest in natural wood. Solid wood flooring tends to last for more than a hundred years. If maintained well, it looks even more graceful with age. It is low maintenance and the non-electromagnetic nature keeps the dust…

As a sturdy material with an elegant and luxurious look, marble instantly uplifts the room. The good news is that it continues to be in vogue in 2020. Possibly introduced by the Rajputs, marble with inlay work is making a strong come back to give homes a luxe touch. It doesn’t have to be only marble with marble inlay work, it can also include marble with metal inlay as well. This flooring option can instantly uplift the room. There is also a noticeable shift from darker floor colours to lighter hues. From off-white to beige and grey, minimalism is trending and white marble floors continue to be in. Honed marble finish, a porous marble finish is winning hearts and minds everywhere. It is created when the stone’s surface has been…

₹ 17,878.2 crore Kashmir’s economic losses (Aug 5 to Dec 3), as per Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) report 496,000 Jobs lost in the same period (KCCI) ₹ 1,056 crore J&K tourism losses (KCCI) 43,000 Tourist arrivals in Aug-Dec, compared with >300,000 in the same period last year (Indiaspend) 174 days Of total internet shutdown in Kashmir; only low-speed (2G) mobile internet restored on Jan. 25; state-owned BSNL broadband internet, which caters to almost 90 per cent people, still suspended 1,485 Websites ‘whitelisted’ so far, not including local news websites; ban continues on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp…

Anyone know where cricketer-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu is? The former Punjab minister has been incommunicado for the past four months—despite being listed as the Congress’s star campaigner for the Delhi election. Word is, he wants to quit the Congress. Sidhu’s supporters reportedly explored the possibility of his return to the BJP but found the door firmly shut. After all, you don’t get chummy with the Pakistani prime minister, even if he is a former cricketer, and then expect to sing a saffron tune. Now, we hear, the Aam Aadmi Party and a rebel faction of the Akali Dal are wooing him. What will it be? Pehle AAP or a SAD outcome?…

On February 10, Tamil Nadu chief minister E.K. Palaniswami announced that the Cauvery delta would be declared a Protected Special Agricultural Zone (PSAZ) to accord primacy to the state’s food security and to protect farmers’ livelihoods. Over the past four decades, the delta’s share of the state’s food production has fallen from 65 per cent to 40 per cent. A major cause of this decline is hydrocarbon exploration. In recent years, there have been many protests against such projects, which not only occupy fertile agricultural lands but also cause ecological damage. The chief minister’s announcement followed his objection, in January, to a unilateral amendment by the Union government to the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006. This amendment relaxed the environmental clearance requirements for oil and gas exploration. “The state government…

Everyone, irrespective of caste and community, is entitled to quality education. The family’s financial constraints cannot be allowed to become an impediment. Deputy commissioner, Gumla, take cognisance of the report, do the needful and update.” This was Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s tweet on February 14, with which he tagged a newspaper report on how Amisha, a state-level school topper, was struggling to pursue her education because of financial hardships. The post had an electrifying effect. Within three days, Gumla deputy commissioner Shashi Ranjan met Amisha’s parents and assured them of help. “We are making all arrangements so that Amisha, who is studying in Ranchi, faces no hindrance in her studies,” Ranjan told INDIA TODAY. SOREN’S TWEETS ARE ADVERTISING HIS OUTREACH AND KEEPING OFFICIALS ON THEIR TOES From ordering an…

“NO POST IS PERMANENT, BUT WHILE I AM IN THE CHAIR, MY FOCUS WILL BE ON DELIVERING TRANSPARENT, MEANINGFUL GOVERNANCE” Q. The BJP stormed into power in Uttarakhand in 2017, winning 56 of 70 seats in the state assembly. As you complete three years in office, what would be your midterm analysis? A. The mandate was against the previous regime’s corruption in matters related to land, mining, transfer postings, forests and liquor, among others. We brought in legislation to curb interventions in transfer postings in government jobs. The committee under the chief secretary considers pleas only in exceptional cases. We have effectively wiped out the forest, liquor and mining mafias in the state. We cracked down on 150 officials, including five PCS and two IAS officers. Q. When you assumed…

JUNE 26, 2017 White House, Washington D.C.: Modi and Trump’s first meeting. India and US release a statement on shared values. India objects to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, with US support NOVEMBER 13, 2017 ASEAN summit, Manila: Modi and Trump discuss geostrategic interests in the Indo-Pacific Quadrilateral and free trade DECEMBER 1, 2018 G-20 Summit, Buenos Aires: Modi participates in the first trilateral meeting with Japanese premier Shinzo Abe and Trump JUNE 28, 2019 G-20 Summit, Osaka: Trump and Modi discuss 5G, defence and trade. Before the meeting, Trump demands India withdraw ‘unacceptably high tariffs’ AUGUST 26, 2019 G-7 Summit, Biarritz, France: Trump says he ‘discussed Kashmir’ with Modi, offers to mediate with Pakistan. India rejects the offer SEPTEMBER 22, 2019 “Howdy, Modi!”, Texas: Trump and Modi address a…

LEGISLATIVE Make advocating sexual acts to a child an offence under POCSO and IT Acts Prescribe Code of Conduct for intermediaries (online platforms) to curb use of children for pornography Hold intermediaries responsible for reporting IP addresses of all those viewing or searching for porn Make school management responsible for a child’s safety on premises Enact punitive measures for those showing children porn Let Centre block any channel carrying child sexual abuse material TECHNOLOGICAL Permit law enforcement agencies to break end-to-end encryption to trace child porn distributors Make apps to monitor children’s access to porn mandatory on all devices sold in India Coordinate with block-chain analysis firms to trace cryptocurrency transactions Make it mandatory for social media platforms to have tools to detect child porn INSTITUTIONAL National Commission for Protection…

Identify child based on vulnerability, emotional deprivation Establish contact with child through social media or a video game chat Gain trust through repeated conversations (this can take 2-3 months) Introduce the child to porn and nudity Ask child to shoot ‘harmless’ nude images of self Cyber groomer taps dark web using a free TOR browser Contacts buyers through encrypted chats on dark web marketplaces Sells images and videos—transaction in Bitcoin Content is now on ‘dark’ websites, which have no name, and are only listed on encrypted search engines Viewers of child porn pay in Bitcoin to access content…

After the telecom sector was liberalised in 1994, the National Telecom Policy stipulated a steep fixed annual licence fee; telcos defaulted regularly In 1999, telcos were given the option to shift to a revenue-sharing model; 15% of the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) was fixed as licence fee; revised to 8% by 2013. Spectrum usage charges were fixed at 3-5% While telcos want AGR to be calculated based on income from core operations, DoT says it should include dividends, sale of assets, etc. The Supreme Court upheld the DoT’s contention in Oct. 2019…

Q Laila aur Satt Geet, your second feature at the Berlinaleafter Lajwanti, is epic, poetic, contemporary and political. How did the script evolve? My scripts are usually only an idea. I work with people, and change things along the way. In fact, Laila aur Satt Geet was the first film I wanted to make. It is based on Vijaydan Detha’s story Kenchuli, drawn from a folk tale. I belong to Rajasthan’s Gujjar community, which is linked to the nomadic Gurjars and Bakarwals in Kashmir. They are associated with militancy, but I found them to be hard-working and kind. I thought I could adapt the folk tale to Kashmir well. Q. Kashmir is a hotbed of socio-political issues. How did you decide what would lend itself to a fable? I could…

In the restored 19th century Currency Building in Dalhousie Square is Kolkata’s brand new museum. The structure demonstrates the success of public-private partnerships—here, the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, INTACH and the ASI. It now houses an exhibition with more than 600 works—Ghare Baire | The World, The Home and Beyond: 18th-20th Century Art in Bengal, commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and curated by the Delhi Art Gallery, in collaboration with the NGMA. Large panels with illustrated timelines plot a historical trajectory with key moments and figures in the art of Bengal. Introductions to each section are interspersed with excerpts from the writings of historians like Partha Mitter and Tapati Guha-Thakurta. The exhibition, on till March 5, begins with 18th-century paintings from the colonial period made by itinerant British and European…

This pattern has been created using Mikasa Oak Fume and Mikasa Oak Stockholm from Mikasa Floors. PRICE on request AT www.mikasafloors.com These Moroccan tiles under Somany Ceramics’ Duragres Tiles come with VC Shield, built to last abrasion. PRICE on request AT www.somanyceramics.com Customised Giza pattern from Bhart Floorings’ BFT+ Designer collaboration range. PRICE ₹250 per sqft AT www.bharatfloorings.com Stone Polymer Composite tiles from Welspun Flooring’s Click N Lock range are highly durable. PRICE ₹175 per sqft AT welspunflooring.com…

There is no right or wrong when decorating a home. It can be as minimal as popularised by Marie Kondo or as ostentatious as any Victorian castle. What’s of significance is that it should be a safe, secure space for its inhabitants to let their hair down. Couturier Tarun Tahiliani’s 1.2-acre farmhouse on the Green Avenue Lane in Vasant Kunj, Delhi, is a picture of who he is as a person and designer, and what are his tastes and inspirations. “People should live the way they feel comfortable, but I think it’s nice when there is warmth and the interiors reflect the country of one’s heritage,” says Tahiliani, who lives here with his wife, two sons, and three dogs. A good home must be made and not bought, and Tahiliani…

A lot can happen in five years. But for fashion designer Raghavendra Rathore, the quinquennial marks the completion of his designs for carpets and rug company, OBEETEE. Part of the brand’s third in the Proud to Be Indian (PTBI) series, the carpets bring in a beautiful royal touch. “The collection epitomises old-world luxury and has the essence of a bygone era. The Mar-war region, specifically Jodhpur, is the core inspiration for all ideas and vision behind the look and feel of these carpets. We have experimented heavily with paisleys, asymmetrical designs and unusual patterns to create unique design sensibilities taking references from the past,” says Rathore. Exquisite and fine embroidery, intricate weaves and asymmetrical designs come together to create three sub categories. The Durbar Gaadi Masand, rendered with opulent embroidery…