Innholdsfortegnelse for 3 January 2022 i India Today

↗ Uttrakhand is a leading state in Covid vaccination campaign. The state administered the first dose of covid vaccine to the hundred percent of eligible people in the state. More than 65% of people have taken the 2nd dose of covid vaccine also. 331 mobile teams have been constituted for mobile vaccination. ↗ Initially there was not a single lab in the state for the testing of coronavirus. Currently 11 Government and 26 private labs are there. At present the number of isolation beds are more than 31 thousand while the number of ICU has reached 1655. ↗ For a probable third wave of covid state, a task force has been constituted to keenly monitor and do arrangement and preparations for its control. 2097 oxygen beds, 475 ICUs, 465 PICU…

VINATI SARAF MUTREJA, 3 7 Managing Director and CEO, Vinati Organics Ltd, Mumbai Vinati Saraf Mutreja, the elder daughter of Vinod Banwarilal Saraf, executive chairman of Vinati Organics, and Kavita Saraf, had an interest in chemicals ever since she was a schoolgirl. She had begun accompanying her father on client visits whenever back home from the US during college breaks. Vinati Organics, which she would eventually go on to join in 2006, was named after her. At the time of her joining, the company had revenues of Rs 20 crore. This fiscal, Vinati is hoping for a revenue of over Rs 1,600 crore and a market capitalisation of Rs 19,000 crore. The company is the world’s largest manufacturer of ATBS (2-Acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulphonic acid) and IBB (Isobutyl Benzene)—chemicals used in a…

ROSHNI NADAR MALHOTRA, 39 Chairperson, HCL Technologies, & CEO, HCL Corporation, Noida “The rural-urban divide is a difference in access. Even the underprivileged who live in urban India have a certain amount of exposure that enables access…what we are trying to create is a level playing field” Roshni Nadar Malhotra has the daunting task of building HCL beyond what founder Shiv Nadar, built. Among India’s top 20 largest publicly traded companies and one of the top five IT services firm, HCL Technologies had a market capitalisation of Rs 3.14 lakh crore (as of December 20, 2021). Daughter of Shiv and Kiran Nadar, Roshni is the first woman to lead a listed IT company in India. This year, HCL is set to report a double-digit growth in revenues with the pandemic…

LAVANYA NALLI, 37 Vice-chairman, Nalli Chennai Lavanya Nalli is the first woman in her family to join the 90-year-old legacy sari business. An engineer by training, she started her career at Nalli in 2005 and worked there for four years before moving to the US to do her MBA at Harvard Business School. She worked as a consultant with McKinsey in Chicago and as vice-president at Myntra before returning to Nalli on the condition that she will be given complete autonomy to build the brand’s ecommerce venture. Since then, the e-commerce vertical, launched in 2015, has grown manifold (300 per cent in the Covid year, FY2021). A big believer in keeping the luxury of handcrafted weaves within the reach of every woman, she talks about Nalli keeping very low margins…

ADWAIT ANAYAR, 31 CEO, Nykaa Fashion, Mumbai When former investment banker Falguni Nayar decided to venture into the beauty business, her sounding board for all ideas was her daughter, Adwaita, who was still in college at the time that Nykaa was taking shape. Adwaita, the daughter of Falguni and Sanjay Nayar, came home for a break for three months while still a student and worked with her mother to set up the basics of the business, including the wire frame of the company’s website, which remains the same as it was when the business began about 10 years ago. As CEO of Nykaa Fashion, Adwaita’s job is a challenging one—to build the brand’s presence in the highly competitive and seasonal fashion space. She says that when her team tells her…

RITESH MALIK, 32 Founder, Innov8 and Project Guerrilla, Delhi Life would have been very different for Ritesh Malik had he opted to follow in his parents’ footsteps and remained a medical professional. (His father, Ravi, is one of the most sought-after paediatricians in New Delhi, while his mother is a reputed gynaecologist.) A graduate of Tamil Nadu’s Dr M.G.R. Medical University, Ritesh decided his focus would instead be on supporting innovators. As an angel investor, he has funded firms in healthcare, technology, education and energy, also building an enabling ecosystem via his co-working space, Innov8. Beyond just equity investments, Ritesh has also been putting his management expertise to work to support these businesses. Eight years after setting up his first firm, he has funded more than 80 startups via Project…

ONE GREEN MILE An Initiative by Nucleus Office Parks Lower Parel has always been an inseparable part of Mumbai. Not just in geographic location but also by exemplifying the true spirit of Mumbai. To the average Mumbaiker, Lower Parel is not just an area at the heart of the city but it also serves as a place to live in, to work, to play and to be a part of a larger community. But with the changing times, Lower Parel must change too. However, can it be done while maintaining the reputation it has already built? Will renovation lead citizens to fall in love with Lower Parel once again, or give the new generation a whole new Lower Parel to discover? The answer could be both with One Green Mile…

RADHIKA GUPTA, 38 MD & CEO, Edelweiss AMC, Mumbai “What drives me is the opportunity to build financial products that help ordinary Indians create wealth and experience financial freedom” From being a self-doubting girl in college to one of India’s most powerful businesswomen, Radhika Gupta’s journey has been an eventful one. Her birth was a difficult moment—born with complications, she was kept in an incubator for several days, where a grave oversight by a duty nurse left her with a broken neck. The daughter of an Indian diplomat, she grew up on four continents. Graduating from the Wharton School, she faced rejections from several top companies before being hired by McKinsey & Co in 2005. In 2009, while the world was still nursing the wounds of the global financial crisis,…

SAMARTH SINDHI, 29 Founder, Raksha Health (formerly Digi-Prex), Hyderabad “Instead of trying to acquire customers online, we work with physicians and pharmacies to serve [their] customers” For Sindhi, a graduate in mechanical engineering from Brown University in the US, founding a company based on a relationship of trust with customers was of paramount importance. His idea was an online medicine delivery platform, especially for chronic diseases. His firm, Raksha Health (founded as Digi-Prex in 2019), provides discounted medicines that are delivered to customers’ doorsteps. The company uses AI to provide customised lifestyle management solutions for patients with chronic diseases, arranging for monthly delivery of medicines to those who have uploaded their prescriptions through WhatsApp. Over the past two years, the firm has networked with several hospitals and laboratories to help…

RAVI PRAKASH, 31 Dairy technology researcher Bengaluru A steel milk pail with a power charger that can chill milk in 30 minutes has the potential to revolutionise India’s dairy industry. The nano fluid-based technology pail can store seven litres of milk and chill it from 37°C to 7°C in 30 minutes. The innovator, dairy technologist Ravi Prakash, who is pursuing a doctorate at the, Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Bengaluru, expects to make the pail, costing about Rs 9,000 in the early prototype iterations, affordable. With financial grants from NDRI, he invested over Rs 10 lakh to design a system that cools raw milk from ambient temperature to below the critical limit. “After milking, time is of the essence in preserving quality as the farmer ferries…

ANKIT MEHTA, 32 Co-founder and CEO, IdeaForge Mumbai When Pakistani terrorists struck Mumbai in November 2008, Ankit Mehta, then a student at IIT Bombay, saw Indian security forces struggle to locate the gunmen in the maze of hotels. It convinced him the technology he was developing for remotely operated vehicles was the solution. That was the take-off point for one of India’s pioneering drone start-ups. Mehta’s aerial vehicle made its debut in the 2009 Bollywood film Three Idiots and now, over a decade later, IdeaForge is India’s largest drone-maker and his firm has over 20 patents. An IdeaForge drone takes off once in six minutes across the country running a range of tasks from classified military surveillance missions to mapping agricultural land and surveying infrastructure projects. The drones have a…

DEEPIKA PADUKONE, 35 Actor In the late ’80s, Sridevi reigned supreme; the noughties were all about Madhuri. 2010s have seen both the emergence—and the dominance—of Deepika Padukone. Given her upcoming line-up of films that feature co-stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan and Prabhas, Deepika is determined she won’t let the ongoing decade slip by. An array of films showcase how much she has evolved as an actor. She can be a graceful diva lighting up the screen (the three collaborations with Sanjay Leela Bhansali), the charming mainstream heroine (Chennai Express, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani), the assured actor (Cocktail, Piku, Tamasha) and, more recently, a smart producer (Chhapaak, ’83). That her films fare well at the box office is an added incentive, making her one of the highest-paid…

BHUVAN BAM, 27 YouTuber/actor/singer In 2015, when Bhuvan Bam began exploring a career as an entertainer on YouTube, friends and relatives laughed him off. But with 24.2 million subscribers for his YouTube channel BB ki Vines, a hit web series (Dhindora), a merchandise brand (Youthiapa), a short film (Plus Minus) and multiple interviews with stars under his belt, Bam is having the last laugh. He is a clear example of the ability of video streaming to empower creators. Bam’s success comes courtesy his ability to develop a range of characters, many of whom are drawn from real life. Having grown up on the comedy of Govinda and Kader Khan, Bam focuses on the mundane, the little things that make his humour relatable. The sum of his talents, though, is best…

SUKHBIR SINGH JAUNAPURIA Founder of SS Group ■ You started young in the real industry sector. Was it inspired by your father, Hon'ble Lok Sabha Member Shri Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria, Founder of SS Group, and what have you learned from his experiences? It is true that I am inspired by my father. Despite having a busy schedule as a politician, he still gives equal dedication and time to the company. The huge empire of SS Group that we see today is the result of his sole efforts. I have a marketing background and I learnt life's values such as humility, teamwork and even nuances of real estate from my father. I feel proud to say that today, I enjoy the unquestionable loyalty of my staff. ■ When did the concept…

ADARSH GOURAV, 27 Actor Adarsh Gourav isn’t tall and brawny like the conventional Hindi film hero. What he is, is an adept performer with intense eyes and a fascinating screen presence like the late Irrfan. These attributes were on notice earlier this year when he stole the show in the Netflix film, The White Tiger. “I was almost not going for the audition,” says Gourav. “It was such a big part…I thought they would take someone more recognisable.” The actor would go on to win critical acclaim including an Independent Spirit Award nomination for best actor. He hasn’t looked back since. “I want to be like clay, mould me into anything and I will stick” From the hero’s friend to other supporting characters, he has now “been testing for a…

KARTHICK NAREN, 28 Filmmaker Karthick Naren announced himself with Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru, a Tamil crime procedural that put writing, characters and filmmaking over stars and set pieces. Not often does a debut filmmaker come into the limelight with a tried and tested genre and yet create an impact that’s as new as it is refreshing. At a time when most young aspiring filmmakers were still writing or making short films, Naren had already made a solid first feature that was both a critical and commercial success. Naren quickly made a sophomore feature, Naragasooran, that unfortunately got stuck in release limbo. He then made Mafia: Chapter 1 that put style on the frontburner with a promise of a sequel for the fans. He’s now working on a film with Dhanush—Maaran—and quickly trying…

JUBIN NAUTIYAL, 32 Singer, Dehradun Jubin Nautiyal was in his late teens when A.R. Rahman told him that his voice was “original” and needed a few years to blossom. He cut short his stay in Mumbai and headed back home to Dehradun. A few years later, Sonu Nigam would reject him at the audition of X-Factor. He travelled to Varanasi and Chennai to hone his voice. He returned to Mumbai in 2012. It took him another two years of singing around 250 demos before he scored his first song with ‘Ek Mulaqat’. “Where I knew my limitations, I learned, where there was politics, I smiled and left,” he says. Since then, he has been hitting the right notes—‘Kaabil Hoon’, ‘The Humma Song’, ‘Tum Hi Aana’. It culminated in him dominating…

ARUSHI MUDGAL, 35 Odissi dancer, Delhi Arushi Mudgal dances because she loves it too much—with or without music. “I see rhythm around me all the time, be it the ticking of the clock or water dripping from the tap or the sound of a train running on the tracks. The natural movements fascinate me,” she says. It’s quite natural for Mudgal, who took her Odissi training under her aunt Guru Madhavi Mudgal, as she wakes up to an alaap or the sounds of ghungroo at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Delhi where she stays. She has not only performed and choreographed dance in Odissi, but also collaborated with French percussionists and was even invited by celebrated choreographer Pina Bausch to Germany to perform at the Internationales Tanz Festival. She brings in…

Laying The Foundation For India's Development This is a critical time for education systems worldwide where the nature of education being imparted in schools needs to be questioned. Significant progress has been made in improving the material well-being of humankind through models of education developed in the post-industrial revolution world. However, most models have completely overlooked building an individual's capacity to think critically about the true nature of progress and happiness. Today, the environment in which children grow up is highly unpredictable, with constantly changing socio-economic dynamics. Children are facing stress at a scale that has never been experienced before. The challenge of meaningful employment lies ahead of the ever-growing Indian youth. This has created an urgent need to introduce new curricula, which in addition to promoting the development in…

KANISHK THAROOR, 37 Author, New York “Fiction can make people think about issues, can spark imaginations, can take people out of their own frame of reference” For Kanishk, New York City has been home since he moved there at the age of six with his brother Ishan and parents. His father, Shashi Tharoor, was, of course, an influence, but it was in books that his mother, Tilottama Mukherji, read out—the Old Testament, Shahnameh, The Persian Book of Kings—that Kanishk found wonder. The older a text, the more historical its antecedence, the more was Kanishk drawn to it. His abiding love for folklore, for fable-like narratives that only the past makes possible, was made apparent by his first collection of short stories Swimmer Among the Stars (2016). “Fiction can make people…

SMRITI MANDHANA, 25 Cricketer, Sangli, Maharashtra Smriti Mandhana was always a precocious talent, just nine when she made it to the Maharashtra Under-15 team, 11 when she was drafted into the state Under-19 team. She donned the blue Indian jersey for the first time in the summer of 2013. She was just 16 then. Since then, her rise has been phenomenal, so much so she’s already one of India’s most successful batters With runs and experience under her belt and an affable personality, it’s just a matter of time before Smriti is handed the Indian captaincy. She’s also on the radar of every franchise/ team when it comes to foreign leagues like the Women’s Big Bash League and The Hundred. Success brings with it a lot of expectations and Smriti…

FOOD MOVEMENT, 1959 West Bengal It began as a protest against the B.C. Roy-led Congress government’s indifference to the food crisis in Bengal, when rice began selling for Rs 28-30 per maund, and the subsequent hoarding and black marketing triggered a near-famine in the countryside. In no time, however, the movement, which began under the aegis of the CPI or Communist Party of India’s Price Increase and Famine Resistance Committee (PIFRC), escalated into a mass uprising. Stu dents from city schools and colleges flocked to the cause, as did peasants and the working class, braving batons and bullets. Descending soon into a vicious spiral of violence and counter-violence, a four-day bloody carnival (August 31-September 4, 1959) of arson and anarchy by protesters was met with the most brutal state repression.…

ASSAM AGITATION, 1979-85 Assam The six-year-long Assam agitation started with the primary demand for identification and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants residing in Assam. The agitation, led by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP), had begun as a non-violent movement. It turned violent in the later phases. Since the 1960s, there had been a demand in Assam for identification of illegal settlers, who were finding a place in the electoral rolls. The immediate trigger for the agitation was the discovery of over 45,000 illegal immigrants in the electoral rolls of the Mangaldoi Lok Sabha constituency in 1979. Over the next six years, Assam witnessed widespread civil disobedience, including railway blockades and attacks on oil pipelines, political instability and ethnic violence. While operations…

CHAHAK MALHOTRA, 18, DELHI Fashion Media Communication, School of Contemporary Media, Pearl Academy, Delhi Padhega India tabhi toh badhega America’. Actor Anupam Kher had put up this post on Instagram. It captured the reality of the Indian youth—many famous personalities, like Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai and Shantanu Narayen, have an Indian background. The data collected by Leverage Edu in 2021 shows that 94 percent of Indian students choose to study abroad if they get the chance. This urge of Indian students to move away from their home to another country must have some significant reason behind it. Most students are chasing two things—exposure and experience. Most universities and schools in India still follow the process of rote learning of facts. There is a need for an education system that focuses…

RUPSADAS GUPTA, 19 KOLKATA Physics Major, St Xavier’s College, Mumbai What is my dream India like? Well, it’s not like I’ve been given a menu card of choices to pick from. Ah, a more tolerant India. What would you like with that? A side of inclusivity? Maybe a dash of free speech and fundamental rights? Well, here you go, we offer everything in our Constitution. But whether they offer you a dash of this and a side of that, never forget to take everything with a pinch of salt. The India I’ve grown up in has constantly said the future is in our hands, yet our hands are tied behind our backs. When we’re crossing milestones, it applauds us, but suddenly, mysteriously, we’re “crossing limits”, and it becomes orange-faced, spluttering…

The first edition of india today hit the stands in the silver jubilee year of our Republic. Three years from now, when the Republic is 75, we will celebrate half a century of our existence. What an incredible journey it has been. We have covered the highs and lows of India’s roller-coaster ride of the past few decades, from the Emergency to the pandemic, without missing a single edition. The anniversary issue of the magazine is often a time for us to reflect. Our previous issues have looked at the significant events of the past decade, the life-changing moments of top personalities and the changes in rural India. We are also conscious that we live in the youngest country among major economies—half of India is under 29. The youth account…

DR. SAMIN KSHARMA Director, lnterventional Cardiology, Mount Sinai Health System, NY, USA Chairperson - Eternal Hospital, Jaipur DR. AMIT CHAURASIA Director - TAVI & Structural Heart Disease Program HIGHLY EXPERIENCED STRUCTURAL HEART TEAM AT ETERNAL HOSPITAL, JAIPUR WITH 3800+ TAVI PROCEDURES COLLECTIVELY WITH UT MOST SAFETY. 68 year old patient was suffering from shortness of breath on minimal activity and was diagnosed with severe Aortic Stenosis. She also had kidney problem and already had an open heart surgery in the past for blockages. As she was at a high risk of undergoing open heart surgery for the second time, the only therapy which could help her was aortic valve replacement. Aortic stenosis refers to narrowing of aortic valve. Aortic valve permits the flow of blood from heart to the rest…

RISHABH MARIWALA, 37 Co-founder, Soap Opera N More & Director, Sharrp Ventures, Mumbai Rishabh Mariwala spearheads Sharrp Ventures, which manages the Mariwala family office. After graduating from Hofstra University in US in 2007, he joined Kaya Skin Clinic, an arm of the family business Marico. The son of Marico founder Harsh Mariwala and Archana Mariwala, Rishabh works across several roles, from projects, service quality management and online marketing. After three years in the Marico Group, Rishabh took the entrepreneurial leap, establishing Soap Opera N More, a marketer of niche bath and body personal care products. In 2016, he introduced a luxury range of skincare products under the brand PureSense. In 2014, Rishabh began overseeing the family’s investment portfolio under the umbrella of Sharrp Ventures, which works in public markets, private…

MANASITATA, 32 Executive Director and CFO, Kirloskar Systems; Managing Trustee and CEO, Caring with Colour; Mumbai When Manasi Tata graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in the US, many would not have expected her to opt for a corporate career. But Manasi chose to take up a three-year training at Toyota Kirloskar Motor, encompassing technical processes, manufacturing, Japanese work culture, industry-leading quality management systems and business functions. That learning has stood Manasi in good stead as director of Kirloskar Technologies, which delivers medical equipment to 175 major hospitals and medical colleges in India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Toyota Tsusho Insurance Broker India. In 2012, Manasi harmonised art with business with her interior designs for the Sakra World Hospital in Bengaluru to create a vibrant and musical ambience meant…

PARTHJINDAL, 31 MD, JSW Cement & JSW Paints; Founder, JSW Sports Mumbai Parth Jindal joined the Rs 98,800 crore JSW Group in 2012 after a two-year stint abroad, starting with a hedge fund in New York before working in Japan for JFE Steel. Here, he learnt the intricacies of auto-grade steel manufacturing and sales. Upon joining the JSW Group, he was appointed an economic analyst and was to lead all strategic projects. He helped devise a new retail strategy for JSW Steel and took up the challenge of turning around some of the group’s loss-making entities—JSW Cement and JSW Steel USA. Jindal now heads JSW Paints, launched in May 2019, and JSW Cement, a Rs 4,560 crore company with a production capacity of 14 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity,…

RHEA MAZUMDAR SINGHAL, 39 Founder and CEO, Ecoware Delhi “We intend to make our products available in smaller towns and cities and grow the positive social and environmental impact created by Ecoware. Pollution is a global problem that requires a concerted solution” On a mission to make sustainable packaging a way of life, Singhal has introduced the likes of national food giant Haldiram’s to using cutlery made of biodegradable materials. Distressed at the amount of plastic waste generated by disposable cutlery—with the attendant environmental consequences—Singhal worked to find an appropriate replacement material. She settled on sugarcane bagasse (the residue left from the extraction of sugarcane juice), and today, her firm claims its cutlery degrades into soil in just 30 days. Founded in 2010, Ecoware currently has a turnover of about…

KANIKA TEKRIWAL, 33 Founder and CEO, JetSetGo Delhi “My dream is to put India on the private aviation map and build the fastest possible connectivity from point A to B” The founder of JetSetGo—an aggregator service for aircraft, often described as the Ola/Uber of the skies—Kanika Tekriwal founded the company when she was just 24. She has surmounted major challenges in her journey—a year into developing her business model, Tekriwal was diagnosed with cancer. Nonetheless, she fought her way through, beginning her business with an investment of just Rs 5,600 and without owning a single aircraft. Her business began with an app on which customers could book chartered flights. In the early years, as she sought meetings with potential clients, she was often dismissed and sometimes ignored at meetings, with…

The NEP envisages that the curriculum and pedagogy of our institutions must develop among the students a deep sense of respect towards the Fundamental Duties and Constitutional values, bonding with one's country, and a conscious awareness of one's roles and responsibilities in a changing world. The vision of the Policy is to instill among the learners a deep-rooted pride in being Indian, not only in thought, but also in spirit, intellect, and deeds, as well as to develop knowledge, skills, values, and dispositions that support responsible commitment to human rights, sustainable development and living, and global well-being, thereby reflecting a truly global citizen. GL Bajaj Educational has always been among the fore runners among to implement the latest in its pedagogy and methodology. Consequently, be it the university results, placements,…

SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (Deemed to be University u/s 3 of {UGC Act, 1956) Dr. T. R. Paarivendhar, Founder Chancellor SRM Group of Institutions SRRMIST carries out cutting-edge research in frontier areas with more than 238 government-funded research projects at an outlay of Rs.150 Crores. It has 23 national and international patents also. The institute recently opened Sir C V Raman Research Park at an estimate of Rs.120 crores with state-of-the-art equipment. The Institution functions from five campuses in the country, namely, at Kattankulathur in Chengalpattu district, Tamil Nadu, Ramapuram and Ramapuram Part (Vadapalani) in Chennai city, Modi Nagar, in NCR New Delhi, and at Thiruchirappalli (lrungalur), built over a total land area of about 400 acres with a built-up area of over 12 million square feet. SRMIST…

PAWAN KUMAR CHANDANA, 31 Co-founder and CEO, Skyroot Aerospace Hyderabad “The future is in small satellites for observation and communication through small rockets—India has just a two per cent share in this $370 billion business” Choosing one’s passion over their ambition can leave most conflicted. Not IITian Pawan Kumar Chandana. He craved the independence of an entrepreneur along with a desire to build rockets. What helped him blend both was a mechanical engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur. Chandana opted for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) over going abroad for further studies or enrolling in the high-paying finance or information technology fields. “Without any thought, I attended the interview and luckily got selected. I was fortunate to get in despite a comparatively low academic performance—the three others chosen were among…

RIDDHI SEN, 23 Actor/director “A quote I live by is by filmmaker [Alejandro Gonzalez] Inarritu, ‘I don’t have a career, I have a life’” Riddhi became one of the youngest actors to win the National Film Best Actor Award for his portrayal of a eunuch in Kaushik Ganguly’s Nagarkirtan when he was just 19. Still only 23, he has already worked with a number of notable directors including Aparna Sen, Sujoy Ghosh and Pradeep Sarkar, playing such varied roles as a helper at a tea stall in Kahaani, a debauched son in Parched and an adorable one who helps his mother find her creative identity in Helicopter Eela, and the war-ravaged orphan in Children of the War. Many of his films, such as Parched or B.R. Mishra’s Chauranga, were made…

KEERTHY SURESH, 29 Actor Daughter of Malayalam film producer G. Suresh Kumar and Tamil actress Menaka, cinema ran in Keerthy’s blood. She appeared as a child actor in some of her father’s productions, but then went on to study fashion design at the Pearl Academy in Chennai. Soon, however, she realised cinema was her true calling, and began acting in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu cinema. While her initial years as an actor were eclipsed by the heroes of the films (Rajini Murugan, Remo, Sarkar, Bairavaa), it was with the 2018 film Mahanati (The Great Actress) that she came into her own. A biopic of one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema—Savitri—casting Keerthy in the iconic role invited a lot of scepticism. Soon, however, Keerthy turned all her critics into…

TAAPSEE PANNU, 34 Actor “Half the industry is driven by conventions of what is good and bad. I have made a career out of [playing] grey [characters]” The best of actors resist being pigeonholed, but Taapsee Pannu seems to thrive in the image she’s been boxed in, as someone who prefers woman-centred, empowering narratives. “The only stereotype I don’t mind is that the film has a tedha [crooked] heroine or has some takeaway,” says Pannu. “I don’t want to repeat the mudde [issues].” It all started with Pink in which she shone as a sexual assault survivor fighting the system. Since then, Taapsee has made a career out of playing messy, strong women (Badla, Manmarziyaan, Haseen Dillruba) persevering against all odds (Saand ki Aankh, Game Over, Thappad, Rashmi Rocket). Still,…

SIMPLICITY COMPASSION AND HUMILITY THE UNIVERSAL MANTRA NOW "A NEW NORMAL'.' The way forward for corporates in the 'new normal' is clearly to redefine management frameworks with interpersonal bonding, trust and care in the workplace Modi Enterprises set a steady pace adapting to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. But what's unique about this journey for the company is that long before the pandemic, it already had enshrined a solid work ethic within whose embrace were set the key components of financial stability, productivity, worker engagement, and loyalty. Smart thinking, compassionate planning, communication and a people-centric outlook have been the drivers behind the nurturing agenda of Dr Bina Modi since she took over as Chairperson in 2019, following the death of her husband Mr. KK Modi, Chairman, Modi Enterprises. Modi…

BHAVANA REDDY, 30 Kuchipudi exponent, Delhi Bhavana Reddy took to dance as fish takes to water; her parents Raja and Kaushalya Reddy are celebrated Kuchipudi exponents. “When she was in my womb, she used to kick/ turn a lot, and that I suppose was dancing for her,” says mum Kaushalya. Bhavana started dancing at the age of six as Lord Krishna in her father and mother’s productions and continues to dance, choreograph and teach dance at her recently started school in Los Angeles, US. “A lot of my dance training has happened informally by watching my parents and sister dance, practice and teach students,” she says. Bhavana chose dance but was fascinated by western music and would participate in all competitions while studying at the Lady Shriram College in Delhi.…

In the highly competitive market of today, Team GR8 Adverts helps with branding of small shops, vendors and other startups. Their services include designing digital ads, posters, business cards and logos. Using their parents' mobile phones, they have managed to cater to over 40 customers. They even found opportunity within Business Blasters, by helping other teams with their branding. ₹70,000 Investment 2 Tablets Seeing the havoc that is being created by plastic in their surroundings, Team Biothene decided to take it upon themselves to find a greener substitute forth is polymer. After undertaking several trials and experiments, they finally found what they were looking for: a material that feels similar to polythene but is biodegradable, water-soluble and poses no harm to animals who may ingest it. ₹1,50,000 Investment Team Tech-Up…

MANU PILLAI, 31 Author, London Having graduated from Pune’s Fergusson College, Manu Pillai’s resume almost started to build itself. After a stint with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, Pillai spent some time working at the House of Lords and then with the BBC World Service. More than these high-profile jobs themselves, what excited Pillai was the access they brought him. Working with Tharoor, he had the National Archives and the Kerala State Archives at hand. In the UK, he tuned to the British archives. Poring over those records paid off. Released when he was just 25, Pillai’s first book, The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore, was an instant hit. It even won him a Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in 2016. Pillai has since authored three more books. He doesn’t…

From April to November 2021, gems and jewellery exports were worth $26.04 billion, compared to $13.98 billion for the same period in 2020-a 86.27 per cent rise. In the corresponding period of 2019, the figure was $25.15 billion. Currently, the industry employs over 4.3 million people and contributes 12% to India's total merchandise exports. The gem and jewellery sector has seen spectacular growth post liberalization and has emerged as India's leading foreign exchange earner. In order to continue being a flagship industry and recover its shine optimally, a conducive environment is crucial for its uninterrupted and luminous march ahead. The government's unstinted support backed by relief measures could achieve “Atmanirbhar” vision nurtured by the industry. The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council of India (GJEPC), the apex body in India…

SHAFALI VERMA, 17 Cricketer, Rohtak, Haryana “We would want to win every game in the World Cup but we are starting against Pakistan, so that’s going to be special” Shafali Verma announced her arrival in just her second T20 international against South Africa in 2019. Just 15 years old then, she missed out on a half century by four runs but it came off 33 deliveries. Since then, it hasn’t taken long for people to start comparing her with former India opener Virender Sehwag. Shafali walked into an Indian women’s cricket dressing room which boasts of many established names, but soon became one of the most talked about batters in the team. Her style of play looks more suited for shorter formats and many had doubts if she could replicate…

Today, with rapid urbanization and changing lifestyle, dietary patterns have shifted towards pre-packed foods, frozen foods, fast food including fried foods and desserts etc., which are generally high in salt, sugar, fats, and even trans fats. In India, a variety of foods are prepared e.g., sweets, bakery products, namkeens etc., which may contain trans fats. Also, repeated heating of cooking oil leads to formation of Total Polar Compounds (TPC) which are toxic in nature and may cause health risks such as hypertension, heart diseases, etc. The Hon'ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi Ji's vision for a new lndia@75 years of the country's independence emphasises on health for all, holistic nutrition and freedom from malnutrition. With targeted push for mandatory fortification of rice and availability of fortified seeds to deal with…

ANTI - HINDI AGITATION, 1965 Madras State The anti-Hindi sentiment gained traction as the day of the switchover (January 26, 1965) to Hindi came near The Union government’s efforts to impose Hindi as the sole official language after 1965 met with resistance in the erstwhile Madras state, which soon snowballed into a violent agitation. The anti Hindi agitation gained traction with students out on the streets as the day of the switchover (January 26, 1965) to Hindi neared. On January 25, riots broke out in Madurai sparked off by a minor altercation between agitating students and workers of the ruling Congress. It soon spread across the state and continued for two months. The fledgling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) rallied the youth, harped on the self respect of Tamils, and kept…

STUDENTS’ MOVEMENT, 1974 Bihar In 1974, socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) launched a movement called Students for Democratic Governance in Bihar, which soon caught the popular imagination at a time when India was getting increasingly restive because of soaring prices, growing unemployment and an indifferent Congress government at the Centre. Launched initially as a students’ movement in Bihar, the idea soon spread like wildfire across India. When JP finally addressed a public meeting in Patna on June 5, 1974 and gave the call for ‘Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution)’, almost 500,000 people attended the rally. JP attracted people from every section of society, all with the common aim of changing the government, and then society. Though India Gandhi continued with her government and finally clamped Emergency on the country on June…

ANTI-MANDAL AGITATION, 1990 Pan-India This was a nationwide protest against the implementation of the B.P. Mandal Commission’s recommendation of 27 percent quota in government jobs and public universities for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The commission was set up in January 1979 by the Morarji Desai government and presented its report to the President in December 1980. Given the existing 22.5 percent reservation for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, the OBC quota meant nearly 50 percent government jobs and public university seats would be out of bounds for the general category. The V.P. Singh government decided to implement the recommendation in August 1990, sparking student protests, which began from Delhi University and spread quickly. It turned violent at several places with roads blocked, vehicles targeted, schools and colleges shut and government and…

JNU UPRISING, 2016, 2020 Delhi In 2016, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students gathered to protest the capital punishment meted out to 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, leading to the arrest of students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar and two others. The arrests, it was alleged, were the BJP-led Centre’s attempt to silence dissent. Protests were held in college campuses in many other states in solidarity. Investigations carried out by the Delhi government and JNU revealed the controversial slogans had been raised by outsiders. The arrested students were granted bail. However, after 21 students were charged with violating university rules and punitive action taken against them, the students went on a hunger strike. The Delhi High Court suspended the punitive action on the condition that the students end the strike. Protests…

RADHIKA BHARADWAJ, 16 GHAZIABAD Class 11 student, Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad I believe in what standup comedian Vir Das said—‘I live in two Indias’. The first one where the population explosion has a ripple effect in terms of unemployment, access to basic housing, sanitation and food, and the other where the population has the power to be a productive resource with established business acumen. But don’t worry. The capable youth of India is coming to the rescue. I can envision content farmers, resilient students and transparent leaders in a gender-sensitised environment uniting to make an incredible India. Why am I so certain? Because we are being nurtured wonderfully by schools. Thanks, especially, to the New Education Policy. So, rest assured, India is going to be in good hands.…

VIBHOR JAIN, 19, PUNJAB BTech, Textile Technology, IIT Delhi [The India we want]: A new India and, ironically, the oldest India, One with safety to walk, One with safety to talk, One where voices are heard, One where stereotypes are unheard; Maybe the 50-year-old suited journalists have forgotten India, And perhaps the democratically chosen politicians have forgotten India, But the youth hasn’t and will not forget India. From climate strikes, to giving voice to the voiceless, to marching on streets to know the truth, to going through the internet to garner support for the needy, to asking the right questions, to just knowing their rights and enforcing them, there is a change, and there will be one. Visible? Yes, Audible? Yes, Fast? Probably not, But comprehensive? Damn straight.…

PRISHITA KULKARNI, 20 MUMBAI Architecture, School of Environment & Architecture, Mumbai Schitt’s Creek was a show that really opened my eyes to the way the LGBTQ community should be perceived. In India, we have made slow progress towards accepting the community. In the name of acceptance, the lives and struggles of those who identify as ‘queer’ are mocked as entertainment. As we shifted online during the pandemic, it became easy for people to open up about their struggles. Articles and videos, even things like putting one’s preferred pronoun on public platforms, helped create safe spaces. There have been shows that have tried to eradicate the idea of homophobia. This is the kind of future I hope for—where we completely eradicate homophobia and queerphobia. While this is still a utopian dream,…

Farmers ❑ Debt free farmers, input subsidies improving productivity and farm income, strengthening overall economy ❑ Financial assistance to rural landless laborers Cattle Farmers ❑ Institutional purchase of cowdung adding a whole new avenues of income ❑ Uplifting rural economy by enabling value addition to cowdung Women ❑ Prioritizing women nutrition and health ❑ Empowering women, providing them equal opportunities Tribals ❑ Landmark decisions of returning occupied land ❑ Decision to review pending litigations against tribals in the quest for delivering justice Forest Dwellers ❑ Expediting Forest Rights Titles delivery ❑ Declaring MSP for Minor Forest Produce, first in the country ❑ Procurement of 52 types of MFPs from 7 being earlier Youth ❑ Better employment avenues for youth ❑ Inclusion of a new category in Public Works Contractors, enabling…

KARANADANI, 34 CEO, Adani Ports & SEZ Ahmedabad As a young man about to enter the family business in 2009, Karan Adani was given two options—power or ports. He opted for the latter and joined Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), where he gained expertise in core operations. In 2016, he took over the reins of APSEZ, and decided to shift its focus from coal to containers, making investments in Kattupalli, Kamarajar and Vizhinjam ports, keeping expansion in containers in mind. With the rising global awareness about climate change and environmental pollution, the company is also focusing on handling gas, LNG and LPG. Inland logistics has been another focus area. His idea is to form an integrated logistics company that will provide end-to-end logistics solutions to customers using Adani’s…

SHASHWAT GOENKA, 31 Vice-chairman, Firstsource Solutions (part of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group) Kolkata HEADY MIX Shashwat enjoys badminton and photography, and is passionate about cooking and travel. He also has a newfound interest in reading books “I am driven by the need to do better each and every time” As director of Saregama, which has the largest repertoire of music under its label in India, Avarna Jain helped steer a 100-year-old legacy company into the digital world. Saregama launched Carvaan in 2017, a portable, retro-looking music player with over 5,000 pre-loaded songs. In a year’s time, Carvaan sales crossed a million units. Saregama followed this up with Carvaan kids and Carvaan karaoke, and forayed into the OTT film segment and stepped up new content acquisition. Ever eager to expand her…

ANANYA BIRLA, 27 Founder & Chairperson, Svatantra Microf in; Co-founder, Mpower Minds; Singer & Songwriter Mumbai A nanya Birla wears many hats. She is a singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and a mental health advocate. At 17, Ananya started Svatantra Microfin, which now has presence across 78,000 villages in 20 states, employs over 6,000 individuals and has impacted 18 million lives. It is the only microfinance institution to extend 100 per cent cashless disbursements since inception. Svatantra MHFC, the micro-housing arm, is among the few housing institutions to focus on the economically weaker sections. Svatantra Microfin’s gross loan portfolio has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 135 per cent from 2015 to 2022 and Svatantra MHFC’s at a CAGR of 133 per cent (2017-2022). Ananya’s Mpower Minds is an…

ANANT GOENKA, 40 Managing Director, CEAT, Mumbai “What drives me is the challenge of making a larger impact on our customers and on society than anyone else, with limited resources” Before taking over the mantle at tyremaker CEAT when he was just 30, Anant Goenka cut his teeth at KEC International, an RPG Group firm that makes transmission towers, where he oversaw operations in supply chain management, manufacturing, planning and quality control. Under his leadership, CEAT saw its net sales grow from Rs 4,649 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 7,573 crore in 2020-21. Goenka’s focus has been on high-margin products, bringing about rapid innovation and marketing aggressively. He changed the product mix at the company, prioritising sales of high-margin two-wheeler and SUV tyres over the low-margin crossply tyres used in…

VASUDHA DINODIA MUNJAL, 40 Founder and CEO, Choko la, New Delhi Born and raised in an entrepreneurial family, Vasudha Dinodia Munjal, the eldest daughter of Dr Pawan Munjal, chairman and CEO of Hero MotoCorp, and Aniesha Munjal, showed a passion and acumen for entrepreneurship early in life, a quality she clearly inherited from her father. She started Choko la in 2005 with the vision to introduce superior quality and beautifully crafted premium chocolates in India and has since used her financial and entrepreneurial acuity to make Choko la a global made-in-India luxury chocolate brand. What started as a small one café venture in Delhi’s Vasant Vihar is now a global premium chocolates brand. Post Covid, the business also established a strong online presence in India, the US and Europe via…

AYUSHI GUDWANI, 37 Founder and CEO, FableStreet Gurugram When Gudwani began working as a management consultant at McKinsey, the first thing she noticed was the paucity of professional-wear options for women. Most brands in this field were international, with the clothing not specifically designed for Indian women. Spying an opportunity, she set up FableStreet, a domestic clothing brand catering specifically to India’s professional women, in 2016,. Gudwani says that though she has a personal interest in such products, she was clear that her firm would not be a passion play but rather would be established on a sound business model. She says her company’s revenue has grown eightfold in the past two years, all the more impressive given that this took place during the pandemic. “Short of sewing, I can…

VINEETA SINGH, 38 Co-founder and CEO, Sugar Cosmetics, Mumbai “Moving forward, we will strengthen our core pillars—distribution, product, content and community. We aim to make Sugar one of India’s top three cosmetics brands” Singh famously gave up a crore-rupee job offer from an investment bank while she was still in her twenties because she wanted to build a firm of her own. Sugar Cosmetics, a digital-first brand, is her third start-up—the first two failed, but that did not dampen her enthusiasm. Pouring her learning and consumer insights into Sugar, which she co-founded in 2015, the IIT and IIM graduate has scaled up the firm to around 35,000+ retail touchpoints in over 130 cities across India. In 2020-21, the firm achieved Rs 130 crore in revenue, and raised $21 million (Rs…

TANMAY BUNKAR, 30 Founder, Botlab Dynamics Delhi When Tanmay Bunkar, a young IIT Delhi student, read of how the Indian army was looking to import American-made Javelin anti-tank missiles in 2010, he began looking for solutions. He quickly gave up because the sugar rockets—homemade rockets using potassium nitrate—were proving expensive to build. Less than a decade later, he had found the answer—dozens of low-cost drones carrying explosives and flying in a ‘swarm’ could attack tanks far beyond the range of anti-tank missiles. By 2014, he had demonstrated a two-drone hunter-killer team. In 2016, he began Botlab Dynamics, a start-up at IIT Delhi, with a loan of Rs 50 lakh from the Department of Science and Technology. He didn’t win the 2019 IAF competition to field drones but used the experience…

VIDYUT MOHAN, 30 Co-founder & CEO, Takachar Delhi “I want to cut a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air each year” Delhi-based entrepreneur Vidyut Mohan’s start-up Takachar (literally, money from carbon) aims to provide affordable machines for farmers to convert their agri-waste into cash. One of the five winners of the Earthshot Prize, 2021, he has pilot projects in Haryana and Africa operate on a simple principle. Existing machines that process farm waste are large, centrally located and need huge logistics to transport crop waste. Mohan’s start-up plans to hook up these compact machines on to tractors, making them portable and affordable, and give farmers a new revenue stream. The idea germinated from his master’s thesis at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. There was, he…

"Don't wait. The Time will never be just right," says 31-year-old SIDDHARTH GAUTAM. Born in a middle class family in a small town in Raebareli district, Uttar Pradesh, Gautam got selected for the Institute Of Hotel Management Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition (IHMH), Hyderabad. He started his career as Food Production lncharge in five star hotels. Subsequently, Gautam joined Chokhi Dhani Foods Pvt Ltd, Jaipur as Food Production Manager and got the hang of the food processing industry. Here, he used to work with a team of 25 people, whose monthly turnover was Rs 20-30 crore. Sensing the immense scope in the food industry, he quit his job, driven by a desire to set forth a successful business model to motivate the youth of his village. In 2015, he set…

KARTIK AARYAN, 30 Actor “Every time I come on the screen, I have to prove myself again. I can’t take it [my place] for granted. It motivates me to work harder” Since his debut at 20 with the sleeper hit Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011), Kartik Aaryan has gradually edged his way into becoming one of the leading young men of Hindi cinema. It’s all the more impressive given that the Gwalior-born actor didn’t have any connections in the Hindi film industry when he first landed in Mumbai as an 18-year-old. “There’s no second chance for me. It’s always been the only chance, film or character to prove myself,” he says. He capitalised on the few chances to effectively portray the angst of young Indian men in a string of friends-centred…

RANVEER SINGH, 36 Actor “I am not the kind of person to half-ass anything,” says Ranveer Singh. It shows in the impressive body of work he has accumulated in just a decade-long career. Be it the ruthless antagonist upstaging the good king in Padmaavat, an aspiring rapper in Gully Boy, the deceitful lover in Lootera or even his spirited debut in Band Baaja Baaraat, Singh has the ability to sink himself into any role and play it with utmost conviction. The more they demand of him, the more he thrives. “I approach every day at work like it’s my first day or my last day, with full commitment,” he says. “Logically, if you spend enough years in show business, some complacency starts creeping in. With me, it’s the opposite. The…

CHAITANYA TAMHANE, 34 Filmmaker Few directorial debuts have been as thought-provoking as the National Award-winning feature Court (2014). That a 27-year-old was the creator of this wry and devastating critique of the Indian judiciary impressed many. “I had a few simple rules in mind: the film’s form and tone should be consistent, its craft should have a certain standard and hold up in any part of the world, and that I should grant intelligence and intuition to the viewer,” says director Chaitanya Tamhane. Tamhane deployed the same tactics to profound effect in his second film, The Disciple (2020), a Marathi-language drama that follows a classical vocalist high on aspiration but low on talent. Tamhane’s films defy the mainstream mould and he doesn’t foresee them “ever being truly popular”. “I aspire…

Number 1 People born on dates 1, 10, 19, 28 of any month are said to be Number 1. The ruling planet of Number 1 is Sun. (i) Since relation between Number 1 and Number 6 i.e. single number of the year number 2022 (2 + 0 + 2 + 2 = 6) is not positive and they act negative to each other, therefore this year is going to be poor for these people (ii) They should avoid making plan, Investment in new projects, unnecessary arguments with boss or any superior, restrict travelling and try to remain low profile. (iii) In year 2022, however, if they want to do something which is urgent and can't be postponed, then the preferred months for doing work will be all months except June…

SAMHITA ARNI, 37 Author, Bengaluru Samhita Arni was four when her father, an officer in the Indian Foreign Service, was handed a Pakistan posting. In Karachi’s embassy library, she found several versions of the Mahabharata. Having read the text over and over again, she decided to illustrate and rewrite Vyasa’s epic. Arni was 12 when her The Mahabharata: A Child’s View was released. There was something endearing about the quirky way in which she drew astras, but what seemed precocious was her anti-war stance. Arni’s talent only grew with time; in 2012, she found herself on the New York Times bestseller list with Sita’s Ramayana. Though the illustrations were by Moyna Chitrakar’s, a Patua scroll artist, Arni imagined Sita’s voice and narration of the Ramayana. She followed up on the…

AVNI DOSHI, 39 Author, Dubai Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020, Burnt Sugar (published in India as Girl in White Cotton) is, in many ways, Avni Doshi’s labour of love. She started writing the novel in 2013 and the draft she finally submitted to her publisher was her eighth. Reading Doshi can be an unsettling and harrowing experience. Rather than pandering to her readers, she portrays human intention and action with an unflinching honesty. For her, the mother-daughter relationship, for instance, is hardly ever straightforward. It’s with good reason that her novel’s first line—“I would be lying if I said my mother’s misery has never given me pleasure”—is quoted so often. While Doshi’s book defied the toughest of odds—the pandemic—to succeed, it did also show that characters in a…

NEERAJ CHOPRA, 24 Athlete (Javelin throw), Khandra, Haryana Until August 7, 2021, Neeraj Chopra was just another young, talented sportsperson who carried the weight of expectations of winning an Olympic medal. A day later, he became that rare figure who didn’t just meet but over-delivered on them by winning a gold medal at the Tokyo Games. India’s first medal in athletics and only its second individual gold came from a throw which wasn’t even his career best. Chopra’s era has begun on a high note but he hasn’t reached the summit yet. Having already accomplished a milestone, the sky is the limit for the Haryana athlete. He can now focus on adding to his laurels—win the world title in his discipline and enter the small, elite league of throwers who…

TELANGANA AGITATION, 1969-70 Hyderabad The movement for bifurcation was the result of severe misgivings in Telangana that their interests were being curtailed The 1956 reorganisation of states in the south failed to usher in equitable development of all regions. The Telangana agitation was one of the outcomes. The movement for bifurcation of the state of Andhra Pradesh was the result of severe misgivings among the people of the Telangana region that their interests were being curtailed. It all came to a boil in 1969. While factional politics inspired the agitation in its initial days, the ferment among the youth, especially students, stemmed from a sense of frustration at the lack of job opportunities. In the Telangana region, it engendered a strong, sub-regional agitation. Incensed students boycotted classes and took to…

STUDENTS’ MOVEMENT DURING THE EMERGENCY, 1975 Pan-India The Emergency, imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975, saw bans on political rallies, media censorship, incarceration of Opposition leaders and controversial measures, such as coercive sterilisation—all leading to severe curbs on individual and institutional freedoms. At first, Emergency created a false sense of order. The government, for instance, claimed trains were running on time and—with strikes banned—industrial output was picking up. Indira Gandhi announced a 20-point programme to tackle various challenges, such as inflation, making farm production sustainable and streamlining the public distribution system. She brought in legislation to cap rural land ownership. At the same time, there was rampant misuse of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). Outright victimisation, mistaken identities and flimsy suspicions were cause…

ANTI-RESERVATION PROTESTS, 2006 Delhi, Mumbai In April 2006, the UPA government, through the 93rd Constitutional Amendment, decided to implement 27 percent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in higher education institutes, including central universities, IITs, IIMs and AIIMS, inviting protests from forward class students. Medical students in Delhi took the lead and drew support from their counterparts in other cities, such as Mumbai, and IIT Roorkee students. The protesters organised themselves under the banner of ‘Youth for Equality’ and demanded a rollback of the quota, a white paper on the reservation policy and alternative ways of affirmative action. WIN SOME, LOSE SOME: While the agitation paled in comparison to the anti-Mandal protests of the noughties, a key development was the Supreme Court’s April 2008 verdict, which upheld the 27 percent…

BHU PROTESTS, 2017 Varanasi In September 2017, a female student of the Banaras Hindu University reported an incident of sexual harassment to the hostel authorities. Instead of taking action, the authorities berated the young girl for being out late. When students staged a dharna outside the vice-chancellor’s residence, the police lathi-charged them, resulting in some students and journalists getting injured. This only hardened the students’ stand, and the protests soon spread to Delhi. The 2017 protests brought to the fore security issues at campuses across India and the patriarchal response to complaints on matters like sexual harassment. More than a year later, the BHU administration debarred 11 students who were part of the protests from seeking admission to the university in future. A probe panel headed by a retired high…

With an average age of 29, India is currently home to a fifth of the world’s youth population. The United Nations Population Fund predicts that this ‘youth bulge’—often referred to as India’s demographic dividend—will last till about 2025, with India continuing to have one of the youngest populations in the world till 2030. In the coming decade, more young people than ever before will join the country’s work force. Young people today are highly informed, aware of both domestic and international issues and increasingly technologically savvy. They are also highly mobile: according to a recent study by the Institute for Governance, Policies and Politics in Delhi, around 86 percent of those aged 18-25 access the internet and social media through mobile phones. This constant exposure to different views, trends and…

PRACHIKA SHYAP, 19 GUWAHATI BTech Computer Science Engineering, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar The India of my dreams is that of a common citizen of this country, who wants to wake up after a peaceful sleep, with no worries about their job security or family’s safety, who wants to breathe clean air, walk down clean streets with fewer beggars. Who wants to sleep without worrying about the safety of their daughter returning late, without worrying about corruption. Who wants to be surrounded by countrymen who truly follow their dreams rather than blindly following society, grow companies at home that have a huge impact on employment and the world. Who is willing to get their hands dirty, cleaning boundaries made to divide people and erase the gap between decision-makers and the common people.…