Innholdsfortegnelse for 2 May 2022 i India Today

In a state where even minor mistakes by politicians are seized upon by adversaries and blown up as far as they would go, this was a misstep that invited condemnation. So much so that the shrill cries of castigation by the Opposition had to be tempered by critical voices from the party under attack. The alleged gangrape and murder of a 14-year-old Class 9 student at Hanskhali, Nadia, around 100 km from Kolkata, on April 4, had sent shockwaves across the state. The girl had gone to attend the birthday party of the 21-year-old main accused, Brajagopal Gayali, alias Sohail, who was arrested after an FIR was filed on April 10. Sohail was the son of gram panchayat member and local Trinamool Congress heavyweight Samar Gayali. However, speaking at a…

When gunshots rang out inside a Hindu home in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district in the evening of April 13 just as the call for prayers was announced from the nearby mosque, the victim was not just Satish Singh, a Rajput truck driver, but also the inter-religious concord in Kakran. For decades, Muslims and Hindus have been coming to this village to visit the shrine of Kashmir’s revered Sufi saint Hazrat Sheikh Nuruddin, popularly called Nund Rishi and Alamdar-e-Kashmir, and the refurbished ancient temple of Mata Katyayani a few steps away. The bullets of the unidentified militant that riddled Satish’s body have also blown holes in the social fabric of the district that is home to 40-odd Rajput families who did not leave the Valley during the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits…

On April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya—dedicated to all the 14 prime ministers of India—at the Teen Murti Estate in Delhi. Given that Teen Murti Estate was first Jawaharlal Nehru’s home and, later, his memorial, the Congress was opposed to the museum, alleging that it was the BJP’s way of undermining him. No one from the Gandhi family attended the inauguration; instead, the Congress released a video the next day celebrating PMs from the grand old party. To no one’s surprise, P.V. Narasimha Rao, who goes largely unacknowledged by the Congress due to his bitter relationship with Sonia Gandhi, was missing in the video. Last year, a BJP attempt to embarrass the Congress by releasing a commemorative stamp on PVN’s 100th birthday was scuttled after a…

On April 15, Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal was among the last to arrive at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s house for an Iftar party. But that is not all Jaiswal is late for. He is yet to placate Nitish after making a comment that Nitish will be CM only till 2025. It was construed as a signal from the BJP that it might be thinking ahead of the alliance. On April 16, the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s drubbing of the BJP by over 36,000 votes in the Boch aha assembly bypoll made it clear that Jaiswal’s assertions may well have alienated Nitish’s voters.…

THE HIJAB The controversy around the hijab first erupted on January 1 at the Government PU College in Udupi, Karnataka, when six girl students claimed they were not allowed to enter classrooms wearing hijabs, a face covering. Their protest against the college authorities soon became a nationwide movement, with several states seeing similar protests. In a college in Karnataka’s Mandya, when a Muslim girl was allegedly heckled by boys in saffron scarves chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, she shouted back, ‘Allah hu Akbar’. The Karnataka government justified the ban on hijab in classrooms under its 1983 Education Act, under which, it said, it can issue directions to schools and colleges to ensure maintenance of public order. The matter reached the Karnataka High Court, which upheld the state government’s order, saying the…

The author is National Vice-President, Trinamool Congress, and former minister of finance and external affairs India is no stranger to communal strife. Ever since the British decided to follow the policy of divide and rule on the basis of religion, the country has been a witness to communal violence, even leading to its partition 75 years ago. Pakistan became a separate country on the basis of religion and, naturally, became an Islamic republic. But despite all the violence that preceded and accompanied Partition, India opted for a liberal, democratic and secular Constitution. And despite a large number of Muslims preferring to go to Pakistan (where they are still referred to as Muhajirs, a derogatory term), a larger number decided to stay on in India, hoping they would be safer and…

The author is Professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University. His latest book is JNU: Nationalism and India’s Uncivil War. Views are personal Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which many regard as both microcosm and barometer, affords an opportune insight into India’s larger body politic. On April 10, clashes broke out in Kaveri hostel over the serving of meat on Ramnavami and the obstruction of a havan (religious ceremony)—depending on whose version you are listening to. A few days later, on April 13, an outfit called Hindu Sena pasted posters and saffron banners outside the campus. The posters said “Bhagwa JNU” or saffron JNU. Vishnu Gupta, the president of Hindu Sena, claimed that bhagwa and Hindutva were insulted on the JNU campus: “Saffron is our culture…in the entire country, not just…

Monica Ali confessed in a recent interview that the reception of her last novel, Untold Story, left her paralysed for a decade with depression and a catastrophic loss of confidence. Critics, and perhaps readers, she says, were left “confused” by a writer they associated with immigrant narratives turning her hand to a counterfactual about Princess Diana. Stay in your lane, Ali assumed they were saying. That she was foolish and naive to think she could write about “whatever I wanted, like a white male writer can”. After 11 years, Monica Ali has re-emerged with her fourth novel, a familiar blockbuster. Having read about her dejection at the critical obsession with taxonomy, the desire to bully certain kinds of writers (women and minorities) and to put them in their place, you…

Architects Huzefa Rangwala and Jasem Pirani are known for designing spaces high on colour and patterns. But when it came to designing a bachelor pad they threw convention and the rule book out of the window. “Naked is a home that is undraped, undisguised and unexaggerated. Our client’s bold vision and unconventional brief required us to envision a 1,000 sq ft bachelor’s pad akin to Philip Johnson’s Glass House with an open plan sans walls and doors. Essentially, we had to create a pavilion for viewing the hillock in the distance, a lucid space that offers a seamless integration with the cityscape 15 floors above the ground,” says Rangwala. They were given two one-bedroom units (each with a living-dining space, kitchen and bathroom), which they merged into one large unit.…

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann knows there is little room to manoeuvre, but he is trying to stay true to the pre-poll promises of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). So, following on the Delhi AAP model, every domestic consumer in Punjab will now get 300 units of free power per month from July this year. But it comes with a rider—cross the threshold and use more, and you pay for all of it. Among those who get a pass are Dalit homes, along with those of backward communities and freedom fighters; they will pay only for the extra power they use. Here, too, later clarifications sequestered the claimants—only those with a 1KV connection and do not pay income tax are eligible. Of course, the largesse comes with a cost.…

On March 27, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan revealed Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s best-kept secret at a function organised by Marathi daily Loksatta in Mumbai. Pradhan, who handled the ministry of petroleum and natural gas earlier, said Thackeray has changed his mind on a proposed petrochemical refinery in coastal district Ratnagiri in the Konkan region, which he vehemently opposed earlier. On the next day, it became clear that Thackeray had indeed written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 12 expressing his willingness to acquire land for the refinery at Barsu village instead of the original site at nearby Nanar in the same taluka, Rajapur. At Barsu, however, the villagers are unwilling to accept Thackeray’s revised proposal. On March 30, they marched in large numbers to the Rajapur tehsil…

The author is a Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology and chairman, All-India Professionals Congress When the Editor asks, ‘Is the Divide Deepening?’, I do not find myself thinking immediately of the depressingly familiar tragedies that must have prompted his question—the communal rioting, mob lynchings and cow vigilantism that have scarred our society—nor even the manufactured controversies over hijab, halal meat and azaan on loudspeakers that have recently served to marginalise our country’s Muslim minority. Instead, I find myself thinking of three seemingly trivial anecdotes that came to my attention in recent weeks, which illustrated the divide more directly, if less starkly, for me. EPISODE ONE: In Jaipur recently, I met a blonde Lebanese lady who had been coming to India for…

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‘ALIF ALLAH’ Coke Studio Pakistan (Season 3) Performed by folk singer Arif Lohar and pop star Meesha Shafi in 2010, it was this song which made the world sit up and take notice of a musical revolution brewing in Pakistan. Though unusual, the collaboration hit all the right notes, paving the way for several more such juxtapositions. ‘NASEK NASEK’ Coke Studio Bangla (Season 1) A new entrant but no amateur, Bangladesh’s Coke Studio released on February 23 this year. Its first song already has over 10 million views on YouTube. Featuring Animes Roy and Pantho Kanai, the track checks many boxes—danceability, diversity, delight. ‘KATTEY’ Coke Studio India (Season 3) Most listeners agree that it was with this song that Coke Studio’s Indian chapter peaked. Composed by Ram Sampath, ‘Kattey’ featured…

After China invaded Tibet in 1950, ‘sporadic armed resistance’ started springing up across the country, and when these factions later united, they together came to be known as the Chushi Gangdruk army. Interestingly, these events all unfolded during the Cold War, when the US wanted to contain the spread of communism. So, when the resistance fighters sought support, the CIA both trained them and funded their movement. This secret operation, which ran from 1957 to 1970, was code-named STCIRCUS. This little-known chapter in history is the subject of Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam’s exhibition Shadow Circus: A Personal Archive of Tibetan Resistance (1957–1974).Organised with curator Natasha Ginwala, it is on view at India International Centre’s Art Gallery in Delhi till May 1. Shadow Circus includes material that Sarin and Sonam…

Turning page after page of Moving Focus, a compendium on Indian art edited by Mumbai gallerist Mortimer Chatterjee, one hopes that there would be a parallel universe in which the two volumes would serve as guidebooks for an actual public collection of art in India, made since 1900, which we would be able to experience together in all its eclectic, idiosyncratic and cacophonous expansiveness. To make Moving Focus, Chatterjee invited 54 artists, curators, historians and writers to each nominate five artworks made by artists living in India or identifying as part of its diaspora. In the overall selection, there are, of course, a lot of paintings, some sculptures, photography, installations and new media art, a fair number of them recognisable and iconic, but also unexpected objects like Dashrath Patel’s in-flight…

This home is aptly called the Roof House. As the name suggests the hero of this space is the roof. Located in Khandala, Maharashtra the 10,000 sq ft plot receives a lot of rainfall. “The house uses the roof not only as a rain protection element but also as a space making element where the roof itself becomes the vertical space making element,” says architect Sonal Sancheti of _Opolis Architects, adding, “Past experiences of building in this region led us to create roof surfaces to take the onslaught of the monsoon from the south west direction. A concrete portal—low and cantilevered, free from the ground breaks this roof to create openings that include the main entrance and the connection to kitchen exterior space.” The use of levels further creates privacy…

A CHILD’S ROOM IS THE HEART OF THE HOUSE. It is a magical space. Therefore when designing for them the central idea remains that it is a room that is thoughtful; that helps children develop a well-rounded personality and gives them gentle nudges to being more creative, practical, organised and most importantly, happy. Here are four different children’s rooms that will give you ample inspiration and ideas. BABY’S DAY IN The Heirloom nursery space is a neutral, elegant, dreamy and stylish baby nursery themed room, done up in a muted grey aesthetic that shines a soft spotlight on the white furniture. A beautiful chandelier adds an upscale air to a little baby’s first home. Leave some walls empty so you can add a baby rocker, high chair or stroller as…

It’s a familiar feeling—sifting hurriedly through 50-odd apps downloaded on our phones to look for the one app we need in the moment. A “superapp” in such a situation would be quite the time-saver, a one-stop solution for all one could want—shopping for clothes, medicines or groceries, paying utility bills, browsing social media sites, booking a hotel or even buying airline tickets. On April 7, the Tata Group launched its much-publicised Tata Neu app for commercial use. It brings together all of its digital services and apps on a single platform with the possibility of onboarding third-party apps, too, in the future. Until Tata Neu, the Paytm app, launched in 2010, and Reliance’s MyJio app, launched in 2016, with 100 million downloads each on Google Play Store, were said to…

In Madhya Pradesh, politics has found an unusual battlefield—Daly College. The prestigious public school in Indore, established in 1870, has as its alumni some of the state’s political bigwigs—former CM Digvijaya Singh, MLA Laxman Singh, former Union minister Arun Yadav, the current Guna Lok Sabha MP K.P. Yadav and seven MLAs from the state. In a hostile takeover of the school board on April 6, Narendra Singh Jhabua, of the erstwhile royal family of Jhabua and the president of the board at the time, and his son Jai Singh, a parents’ nominee on the board, were forced out by a group within the board. Sources say the trouble began over then principal Neeraj Bedhotiya seeking an extension. One section of the board was opposed to it, while the Jhabuas were…

On April 7, when officers of the Rajasthan anti-corruption bureau (ACB) raided the residence of Surendra Singh Rathore, the CEO of Rajasthan Biofuel Authority (BFA) and a joint secretary in the rural development department, they unearthed Rs 3.62 crore in cash and details of unaccounted-for assets worth Rs 100 crore. Rathore had earlier been caught red-handed accepting Rs 5 lakh in cash, when apparently he boasted to the ACB officers: “You can’t do anything to me. I run a thousand crore business.” But more than the cash, what surprised officials is the extent of corruption in the biofuels sector, deemed a novel concept aimed at reducing the nation’s use of fossil fuels. Rathore himself personifies this, having risen from the post of havildar in the Indian Air Force (IAF) to…

India’s religious festivals are enthusiastically celebrated at home and are world famous everywhere else. The crowds, the colour, the din, the passion. Not to mention the hatred, the obscenities, the bloodshed and broken bones. The bulldozers… Perhaps there was a time when it might have been considered a blessing that fasting days of the Navratras and Ramzan coincided as closely as they did this month. A conjunction that might cause observant Hindus and Muslims to reflect on their cultural affinities or even their common humanity. This is not that time. This is not that country. Instead, we had a slow-motion pile-up of Hindu-Muslim clashes that snaked across our land in a sorry sequence that we may not have seen since the days of the Rath Yatra in 1990. Nothing about…

The author is a constitutional law expert and currently Vice-Chancellor, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. Views are personal The story of civilisations is all about the rise and fall of communities. But how do you characte rise the rise and fall of a civilisation? Can what is happening in India be really termed as the finest hour of Hindu civilisation? Should we assume that the new wave of communal frenzy, the stinking environment of hate and the rise of the so-called fringe to the mainstream mean that Muslims are passing through their worst times and that it is the end of the road for them? RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) chief Mohan Bhagwat repeatedly says that the happiest Muslims in the world are in India. Is the extreme right bent upon…

Over the past few years, India’s leather capital has been shifting downstream the Ganga—from Kanpur to Kolkata. Once the hub of the country’s leather industry, the Uttar Pradesh town has had to gradually cede that distinction as cow vigilantism in the state made the transportation and slaughter of cattle increasingly difficult, which, in turn, dealt a blow to the leather trade. So, when Iqbal Naaz, the regional chairman of the Council for Leather Exports and owner of the Kanpur-based Naaz Exports Private Limited, met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee during a stopover in Milan in September 2018 en route from a business trip to Italy and Germany, he wondered whether her government could provide him land in West Bengal to expand his unit. Shortly afterward, at the Bengal Global…

Days after the Punjab assembly passed a resolution reiterating the state’s claim on Chandigarh, legislators from Haryana convened a special session of their Vidhan Sabha on April 5 to stake a counter claim. The two northern states have a long-standing dispute over the ownership of their joint capital, along with residual issues from the 1966 Punjab Reorganisation Act that carved out modern-day Punjab and Haryana. The latest round of hostilities was triggered after Union home minister Amit Shah, on a visit to Chandigarh on March 27, announced that Central Civil Services rules will apply on employees of the Union territory (UT), instead of Punjab Civil Services Rules, from April 1. This has angered most political parties in Punjab who see it as “another big blow to the rights of Punjab”.…

Though excellently curated by the Science Gallery, Bengaluru, PSYCHE can feel a little overwhelming. Besides the 10 exhibits that all delve into the complexities of the human mind, this online exhibition also features six films and over 40 live programmes that include virtual masterclasses, workshops and public lectures. It also gives access to books, podcasts, games and graphic novels. PSYCHE isn’t just about mental health. It also focuses on forensic psychology, hypnosis, AI and psychedelics. Speaking of the collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), The Wellbeing Project and Museum Dr. Guislain, Dr Jahnavi Phalke, founding director of the Science Gallery, says, “This has been an exciting opportunity to bring together academics, curators and artists to debate questions concerning the social and sometimes not-so-social lives of…

The Earth and Glass House, a weekend retreat in Sultanpur, Delhi by Studio Lotus is all about interconnected volumes that establish a dialogue between the indoors and the outdoors. Designed for a family looking to host friends and relatives to unwind and move far away from the chaos city life; it is situated on a two-acre rectangular plot with one half is for hosting events. The house is surrounded by farmlands on three sides and a dense urban settlement on its eastern edge. “Breaking rank with conventional construction, the Earth and Glass House unites three construction systems: a mild steel framework, load-bearing walls made of rammed earth, and exposed RCC slabs. A key design challenge was to develop the requisite joinery and junction details to cohesively unite these three distinct…