Innholdsfortegnelse for May 11, 2020 i India Today

Jobs are always the central issue in any economy. Elections are won and lost on unemployment figures. After all, they are about human beings. People have to earn money from jobs for the goods or services they first produce and then consume which makes the wheels of the economy turn. The fear of the coronavirus spreading has led to a shutdown of large parts of the economy. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) estimates 120 million people have been rendered jobless in one month of the lockdown. Of the total 406 million people employed in the country, only 20 per cent, or 81.2 million people, are in the salaried class. While the pandemic won’t spare them either, the future will be grim for the remaining 324.8 million people who…

ANIMOSITY AT BAY An Alternative History of the India-Pakistan Relationship, 1947-1952 By Pallavi Raghavan HARPERCOLLINS ₹396 (Kindle); 260 pages Given the sheer significance of the India-Pakistan relationship, the paucity of careful and informed scholarship about its origins and evolution is quite striking. Diplomatic historians, political scientists and former policymakers have all written about the subject. However, with marked exceptions, the bulk of these works have been partial, polemical and idiosyncratic. Worse still, because of the unavailability of suitable archival material from either side of the border, till recently, almost all writing on the subject was based on elite interviews, newspaper accounts and other documents in the public domain. Apart from these limitations, the bulk of the available work has focused on the underlying sources of discord as well as the…

For 30-year-old Sasi Kumar, an Uber driver in Delhi, owning a car and earning Rs 15,000-20,000 a month was more than enough. It was more money than he had ever earned; it helped his small family of three survive. He also had the flexibility to earn more if he wanted to; more hours meant extra cash. Life, however, came to a standstill for Kumar this March when the coronavirus pandemic overwhelmed the country. Stuck at home, his earnings abruptly halted, he has been at the mercy of the local moneylender for his expenses, of which the EMI (equated monthly instalment) of the car loan he took from an NBFC (non-banking financial company) accounts for a fat chunk. “Uber told me I’d be put on goods delivery duty, but it didn’t…

Migrant workers, hundreds of thousands of whom made their way back to native villages and towns across India in March as the COVID-19 outbreak shut down factories and other avenues of their employment, are a grim reminder of the unique challenge the government faces as it looks to bring the battered Indian economy back on track. According to the Economic Survey of 2018-19, released in July 2019, almost 93 per cent of the workforce is ‘informal’. Sonu Yadav, 25, from Hisua in Bihar’s Nawada district, worked at a factory making corrugated boxes in Chhattarpur, Delhi. He earned about Rs 11,000 a month. When the factory shut down on March 20, Yadav and 100-odd workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were told to leave. “We waited for a week, hoping work…

COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown have changed our lives in unexpected ways. Schoolchildren who a few months ago were negotiating with parents for some extra screen time—often with limited success—now find themselves attending online classes and study sessions for hours every day. Juggling multiple challenges, teachers are using such online sessions to create an environment of learning across varied student age groups, under the watchful eyes of their parents. The success of these sessions depends a lot on observing netiquette, simply put the rules of acceptable behaviour on the Internet. Here are a few tips for students and teachers to begin with. BE PRESENTABLE You may be home, but remember that your teacher and fellow mates can watch you during the online session. So be presentable and sit in a…

It is almost impossible for me to come to terms with Rishi Kapoor’s passing so soon, but I do remember my earliest memory of him. I was eight when I went to see Bobby (1973) in a theatre. He was the ‘loverboy’ then, and that impression did abide for a while. All the memories that I have of him from that era are those of a good actor who mostly played happy-go-lucky characters. But one film that left a very, very deep impact on me was Prem Rog (1982), which saw him essay a very different role. Rishi Kapoor changed with the times. He never harked back to an older self, and was never afraid to break the mould Despite having been in Bombay for 30-odd years, and having met…

SANJAY RAJOURA I did not venture into stand-up comedy to make a career but to have an avenue to speak about things that bothered me that I found unjust and wrong. I don’t think I will stop raising that voice because of the coronavirus. I will write about it, speak about it. It’s an appropriate time to write jokes. Just look at the stupidity. People banging thalis, RWA people coming to your apartments if you don’t switch off lights, people making this a Muslim controversy. These people are jokes in themselves. I will not stop making fun of them. The pandemic has exposed the government and the people. If I survive this, I am going to make a huge comedy set out of this. It is during these times that…

The RSS is discovering the benefits of online meetings. Its workers have shifted their daily morning sessions,called shakhas, to digital platforms such as Webex and Say Namaste. An appeal by RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat to around 5 million swayamsevaks to hold a shakha with family members in their homes on April 19 was a hit—some 30 million people participated. A week later, Bhagwat exhorted workers to continue their social work during the COVID crisis. As if on cue, he opted for a web address this time.…

With a third of the world’s humans under lockdown, the skies are blue and rivers run clear. Bears, nilgai and elephants wander through deserted city streets. If these signs of Nature reclaiming the planet unsettle the order of life-as-we-know-it, worry not. The ministry of environment, forest and climate change is working hard to ensure that environmental destruction continues as before. The COVID-19 pandemic should have led the ministry to pause and press the reset button. There is credible evidence linking zoonotic diseases to the loss of habitat for wild biodiversity. Not that we need one more reason to protect what’s left of our once magnificent forests, rivers and other ecosystems that sustain life on earth. However, various statutory committees of the ministry are carrying on with business as usual. In…

India has taken on the critical task of supplying medicines to countries across the globe by enhancing production and expediting export clearances to meet the explosion in demand for drugs such as Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and Paracetamol. Medicines have been delivered as gifts to developing countries and as commercial exports to those who could afford to buy them Gifts Exports *Includes Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Seychelles, Mauritius, and countries in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, South America and the Caribbean Procurement facilitation MEA officials are also part of the Government’s empowered group involved in the procurement of medical supplies, including personal protective equipment and testing kits from countries manufacturing these items HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE Rapid response teams, consisting of doctors, nurses and paramedics (from the armed forces), have been deployed to…

WHAT IS SWAMITVA? Swamitva is a new central scheme to grant legal recognition to residential properties in rural areas. After they are mapped and cleared, houses in surveyed areas will be allotted numbers and issued property cards WHO WILL EXECUTE IT The Union panchayati raj ministry in coordination with the state panchayati raj and revenue departments and the Survey of India THE BENEFITS Legal recognition will enable owners to monetise their property, access bank loans using it as collateral. For the government, the updated maps will help in preparing accurate development plans. The gram panchayats will be able to collect house tax now POSSIBLE ISSUES • Absence of property records in villages • Property disputes within families, especially in old settlements • Ownership being granted to houses on illegally occupied…

One Congress leader who hasn’t found favour with either Team Rahul or the old guard is Shashi Tharoor. The Thiruvananthapuram MP is one of the five in the party to have won three consecutive Lok Sabha elections. Last year, Tharoor was ignored for the post of leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha; he was not even made party whip. The party did not include him in the rapid response committee on CAA-NPR formed in January, or the COVID-19 task force set up on March 28. Tharoor was also ignored for the 11-member consultative group formed to formulate the party’s views on the COVID crisis. Given Tharoor’s experience in the UN, it’s shocking that he is not being consulted on the pandemic. That, Tharoor might have said, amounts to…

AUTO & AUTO COMPONENTS CONTRIBUTION TO GDP 9.4% TOTAL DIRECT JOBS 44 million JOBS AFFECTED 14 million STRESS FACTORS 1. Disruption in supply of parts from China 2. All dealerships shut. Nod for some economic activities after April 20 did not help as rules weren’t uniform 3. Supply chains hit 4. Cash constraints hurt components business RESCUE MAP 1. Boost sales with lower taxes, cheaper loans 2. Government backs firms taking bank loans with guarantees 3. Moratorium on bank loans for smaller players and dealerships MSMEs CONTRIBUTION TO GDP 29% TOTAL DIRECT JOBS 120 million JOBS AFFECTED 22-51 million STRESS FACTORS 1. No economic activity, unpaid bills piling up 2. Orders cancelled or delivery stuck at ports 3. Fall in demand, supply chain disrupted RESCUE MAP 1. Government compensates for…

here is a strange dichotomy that you are T in a profession where you attract attention,” said Irrfan Khan in a conversation with Naseeruddin Shah for India Today TV’s Unforgettables show in 2016. “But I don’t like it when it comes to me. I want the attention to go to the character.” It’s a philosophy that Khan followed religiously throughout his 32-year-long career, which began with a bit part in Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! (1988). While his peers built an image playing a type, Khan built an enviable body of work by playing flawed, unheroic men. He was an anomaly—a star because of his talent. Khan came to Mumbai, the “film mandi” as he called it, in the late 1980s after graduating from the National School of Drama in Delhi.…

Q. You are only the fourth Indian stand-up artist to have a Netflix special. Were there nerves? Well this ( Yours Sincerely, Kanan Gill) is my third hour, so I can say with confidence that there are always nerves. The process of putting [together] an hour involves a lot of rigour, a lot of writing, and show after show. I stage-tested this special more than I ever have before. It was exhausting. One and a half years of touring in India and six months touring abroad is what it took before recording. Q. The ability to laugh at oneself is a key part of being a good comic. Are being vulnerable and opening your life to scrutiny essential too? Being vulnerable and honest helps you come to terms with exactly…

A number of mainstream music acts around the world have postponed the releases of their albums owing to the ongoing lockdown. Hindi hip-hop star Raftaar, however, decided to stick to his plan and put out his second full-length effort, Mr. Nair, in the middle of April. He feels the extra time people have on their hands could mean that the 16-track collection is experienced the way he intended. “[Usually] people are so busy with their jobs and businesses that not every song gets the attention it needs,” says the rapper born Dilin Nair. “Now that people are [working from] home, they have the patience to listen.” Mr. Nair is decidedly different from his 2018 debut Zero to Infinity, which was packed with Punjabi party numbers. Raftaar, who is from Kerala…

Q. In the Hotstar show, Hundred, your character faces rampant sexism at work and is denied due credit. Did it feel personal? Most working women have faced some sort of sexism, regardless of industry. In the largely male-dominated film industry, we have faced it ourselves. All the female officers I spoke to while preparing to play Saumya (her character), function in an environment where you can’t show any kind of weakness or femininity. Q. India loves to put its women on a pedestal, but this show revels in the flaws of its two leading ladies… I loved that she was a badass, had her vices and was unapologetically ambitious. As a female actor, very rarely do you get an opportunity to play such a layered character. Most of the female…