Innholdsfortegnelse for 9 May 2022 i India Today

What is the feeling you get if you lose or misplace your mobile phone for a while? Is it as if you have lost a limb, leaving you seriously handicapped? That’s how indispensable a mobile phone has become to us. The glowing touchscreen of our mobile phones has become our collective magic lamp: press your fingertip to the screen and you can instantly communicate with your family and friends and shrug off ennui. Inform the world through social media about how you look, what you eat, which movie you are watching or showcase the flowers in your garden. In doing so, remain connected, in an odd sort of way, not just with your near and dear ones but also to a vast army of anonymous scrollers. This has made the…

↘ In the 1980s and ’90s, Ashok Gehlot’s target used to be Janata Dal and later BJP CM Bhairon Singh Shekhawat ↘ During two terms of BJP CM Vasundhara Raje, Gehlot made several harsh comments against her, who retaliated with anti-corruption steps against his aides ↘ In 2020, Gehlot described rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot as nikamma (worthless) and nakara (idle), when facing an attempt by his former deputy to topple his government ↘ In Shekhawat, Gehlot now has a new bête noire. Shekhawat did defeat his son in 2019, but lost the alleged bid to undo Gehlot in 2020. Who will win the current bout?…

On April 22, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar dropped in at an iftar gathering at political rival and de facto Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Tejashwi Yadav’s residence. It immediately set off the rumours mills in capital Patna, and conveyed a message to alliance partner BJP, which has been getting increasingly ambitious about a bigger role in Bihar of late. Nitish’s visit—with the media in attendance, he preferred to walk the 100 metres from his 1, Anne Marg bungalow to the former deputy chief minister’s home on 10, Circular Road—was portentous as it showcased that he was not without options. Given the assembly seat statistics, the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Nitish’s Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) have the numbers to form an alternative government were they to band…

After week-long parleys, poll strategist Prashant Kishor declined to join the Congress. While both sides are offering different versions on why they could not work together, some Congress insiders had predicted it. Their cue was Rahul Gandhi’s absence from the discussions. Several members of the old guard showed public enthusiasm for Kishor’s inclusion, but team Rahul wants the high command to implement his first prescription—sack those above 70. Ironically, the average age of five of the eight members who deliberated on Kishor’s proposals was 72. Sonia Gandhi made one final offer to Kishor—win Gujarat with limited power and then take a promotion within the party. He declined. Now that talks have failed between Congress and Kishor, he is left with a new client—Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao. Interestingly, in Telangana,…

↘ Turn off all screens, including the television, one hour before going to bed ↘ Follow the 20-20-20 rule: take a break every 20 minutes, look at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds—this gives your eyes a much-needed break from the light of your screen ↘ Instal protective software on sites restricted for young children ?Create screen-free zones at home where no one in the family is allowed to use gadgets ↘ Schedule a ‘digital fast’ on certain days every month when gadget use is prohibited ?Be a role model for your children by following the same rules for healthy media use as them ?Openly discuss device overuse issues and freely voice concerns about any member showing signs of digital addiction…

↘ The farmland needs to be left idle for three years to leach out chemicals from the soil ↘ Too expensive and complicated for small/marginal farmers to make the switch ↘ The marketing network for the produce is still very limited ↘ Farmers are unable to claim differential prices for their organic and natural farm produce in local markets ↘ More corporates need to be encouraged to invest in organic; many have been discouraged by the recent repeal of farm laws ↘ The certification system for organic farming is still not efficient…

100 feet wide stage 40 feet wide revolving platform on-stage 20 feet high bust of Babasaheb Over 50 artists 1 MONTH 50 SHOWS 1,00,000 AUDIENCE A100 feet stage lights up with the image of Babasaheb as 'Babasaheb: The Grand Musical' begins. It had been the dream of CM Arvind Kejriwal to bring to the people of Delhi a grand show on Babasaheb Ambedkar's life. In February 2022, Delhi Tourism And Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) organised a mega scale musical show on the life of Babasaheb Ambedkar at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. It was the first time that a state government organised such a grand show on the life and teachings of the Father of the Indian Constitution. The musical featured 150 artists with Bollywood actor Roh it Bose Roy playing…

India’s innumerable mango varieties are not known outside their regions. To really enjoy them, one has to go to them. If you do, you get a lot more than the best of India’s mangoes. You can cut short your friends in the middle of an argument about the best mango varieties. We tapped into several regional experts to bring you a list of India’s mango hotspots. Use this to plan your summer, filling it with taste and sweetness. JUNAGADH, SAURASHTRA, GUJARAT Bollywood actress Parveen Babi was only one of the national treasures to come from here. The sweet, orange flesh of Junagadh’s Kesar mango has inspired many a Gujarati trader to take a long trip to the orchards around Junagadh. The flesh of the Kesar has little fibre, is creamy…

Delivering on perfection is a given in sport, and TAG Heuer seems to have taken a page out of sporting glory’s finest with the launch of an exciting new generation of its Connected Watch. Built to deliver the ultimate in both elegance and sporting performance, the two new watches showcase its trademark design codes and access to its growing ecosystem of sports activities, wellness apps and elegant watch faces inspired from iconic watchmaking chronographs. The larger 45mm model offers a striking redesigned sporty look, while the smaller 42mm offers a slim look built primarily for elegance. Customers can also opt for a large variety of straps, including a leather or steel strap for a more refined appearance and to sport a more rugged feel, multi-coloured rubber straps are on offer.…

There is such a big change in masculinity,” says Alessandro Michele, creative director of Gucci. He’s talking about the Fashioning Masculinities exhibition at the V&A, which recently opened and for which Gucci is a partner, but he could be talking about his own designs. Since Michele took the reins at Gucci in 2015, questioning what masculinity means has become a signature theme for the Italian luxury fashion giant, with the designer making suits in rainbow-bright colours and graphic prints and dressing men in feather boas and skirts. Redefining Masculinity “I like the word flamboyant because it means being super alive, especially in this time,” he continues. A recent picture of the Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield, resplendent in a pink Gucci satin suit adorned with outsize fabric flowers, springs to mind.…

India is Sri Lanka’s only neighbour. It follows that what happens in Sri Lanka, especially if it involves the suffering of Sri Lankans, concerns India. The numerous ties that bind the two countries are too myriad to enumerate in this column. Suffice it to say that Sri Lankans, whether Sinhalese or Tamil, are our first cousins removed only by the Palk Strait. In geopolitical terms, Sri Lanka’s location is the pivot—literally that cockpit guarding prime navigation routes, that key neighbourhood watch—over the vast expanse of the southern Indian Ocean. Conversely, from Sri Lanka, the southern Indian peninsula is within touching distance, which is why any talk of Chinese infrastructure projects in the northern part of the island is strategic anathema to India. India has reached out to Sri Lanka in…

Maharashtra tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray is trying hard to promote the state’s tiger sanctuaries as a destination for foreign tourists, but the visitors seem to be only interested in Bollywood and spend their time in the state visiting film sets. In fact, a Vietnam official recently said that the Hindi soap opera Balika Vadhu, dubbed in the local language, had become the most watched TV programme in his country. Walter J. Lindner, German ambassador to India and a cinephile, has suggested 10 potential shoot locations in Germany for Indian films. Thackeray is clearly going to need more aggressive marketing to promote tigers, ironically also his party Shiv Sena’s symbol.…

DIVORCE LAWS FOR HINDUS ↘ Under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the husband or wife can seek divorce on nine grounds. There are four additional grounds available to the wife ↘ Both husband and wife are legally entitled to claim alimony and maintenance. The wife can also claim maintenance under Section 18 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 DIVORCE LAWS FOR MUSLIMS ↘ Under Islamic law, divorce is classified into three categories: talaq or divorce at the instance of the husband; khula or divorce at the instance of the wife; and mubaraat, divorce by mutual consent. The husband can delegate the power to pronounce talaq to the wife to any third person by an agreement ↘ The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, has made…

EVERY MORNING, 12-YEAR-OLD AMRITA (name changed), lets her 592 friends on Facebook know what she did the day before. And there is plenty for this Delhi schoolgirl to post. “I wake up at 4.30 am and study till 8 am,” she says. Breaks between online classes are spent doing quick high-intensity workouts. Post school, there are guitar tutorials online, and homework to finish. Recently, Amrita surprised her mother by cooking her own dinner, but it was only so she could post pictures online. She says she derives her energy from the number of ‘likes’ and ‘wows’ she gets on FB. Any negative comment, however, and she breaks down in tears. Sometimes, she is on her phone all night, mindlessly scrolling on FB. “I feel peaceful, it calms me down,” she…

Abhinav Lal, 63, was looking forward to a quiet retired life with his 60-year-old wife (who does not wish to be named) after he left his job as a banker in Mumbai. The childless couple spent the two years of the Covid lockdown catching up with friends online and watching the latest TV serials. Night after night, Lal would talk for hours with old college friends on Facebook Messenger. He soon began to sleep with his phone under the pillow, a habit he had been firmly against before the pandemic. In January 2022, Lal began to attend counselling for textaphrenia, the pathological fear of not being able to send or receive texts, after he nearly hit his wife because she had accidentally turned off the wi-fi in the middle of…

↘ NATURAL FARMING Only natural, farm-based pesticides, insecticides like Dashparni Ark and Neem Astra, and natural crop nutrients, like weed mulch, are used, not chemicals. The local breeds of seeds, native varieties of vegetables, grains, pulses and other crops are grown. Quality is good and is dependent on the weather and other external factors. ↘ ORGANIC FARMING Organic fertilisers and manures like compost, vermicompost and manure are used and added to the farms externally. Organic farming requires bulk manure and has an ecological impact on the surrounding environments. Quality is good, but the quantity is less. ↘ CONVENTIONAL FARMING Relies on chemical intervention to fight pests, weeds, insects along with providing plant nutrition to produce more yield. Focus is on increasing quantity. Quality remains questionable. ORGANIC SPREAD…

LIGERS OF GUJARAT For all its pride in hosting the last redoubt of the Asiatic lion, Gujarat has suffered the absence of a stable population of resident tigers—unlike the neighbouring states of Rajasthan, MP and Maharashtra. All that is about to change with the announcement of a 28.96 hectare tiger safari park in the Dang district, which will be the new home for a population of eight zoo-bred big cats. While the beasts enjoy their new-found freedom, the development may lead to renewed calls for the Gujarat authorities to release some of their 500-odd lions to sanctuaries that have been designated for their reintroduction, in MP, Rajasthan and UP. HIGH GEAR Sometimes referred to as the ‘Little Kashmir’, Pithoragarh shares a border with Nepal to the east and Tibet to…

No matter if you have been on umpteen safari rides, there is always a flutter of anticipation at the start of each journey. The familiar rituals—waking before dawn, bundling up in down and fleece, settling your butt comfortably on the seat of the open jeep, driving in through the park gates—prepare your mind for the magic that might come. What sightings shall we be granted? Will there be the ultimate reward of coming face-to-face with a big cat? You may tell yourself to not get your hopes up, to simply enjoy the jungle, but there it is: meeting charismatic megafauna is what most of us look forward to. And the only place in the world where you can see one of the most endangered of these magnificent beasts is the…

LADAKH LEH The Grand Dragon Offering the plushest comfort one can find at a height of 3,500 metres, the Grand Dragon is one of Ladakh’s earliest luxury hotels. Whether you are on an indulgent high-altitude holiday or have just returned from a gruelling trek, this iconic hotel welcomes you with central heating (including heated bathroom floors!), a 24x7 coffee shop, a restaurant and tea lounge. (www.thegranddragonladakh.com; INR 15,200 deluxe rooms with breakfast) Ladakh Eco Resort Located in the valley’s upper reaches, the Ladakh Eco Resort is where serenity meets sustainability. An organic estate, complete with natural springs, traditionally insulated rammed earth cabins with simple, yet tasteful Ladakhi interiors and tranquil views of the mountains, this is a place to slow down and appreciate low-impact living. (www.ladakhecoresort.com; INR 13,000 with breakfast…

Q. You started travelling as a backpacker. Is there anything about that footloose life you miss? It’s been about six years since I backpacked but because that was the language I learned how to travel in, backpacking still informs how I explore a place. I would mostly travel solo. All I’d carry is a little rucksack with basic supplies, figuring out each day as it came. I still seek from travel the same experience: a dialogue with a place, its people, with its culture and food. I like submitting to the place. Q. How gratifying is travelling solo? Do you not worry that solitude will give way to loneliness? I’ve always been very comfortable being by myself and travel only made that richer. Everybody, I feel, must travel solo at…

Hue Gran If you’re always losing the battle against time management with a visit to the salon remaining a forgone conclusion, Kerastase’s new launch, Chroma Absolu, is your everyday companion. The hair care range designed is a two-or-three-step solution for all types of colour-treated hair. Now, colour away without sacrificing healthy hair. Price upwards of `2.450 per product; Availability Kèrastase salons across India Final Frontier Clearly, the future is now, even in beauty. With the Smart Response Serum, Dermalogica has launched this new AI-driven skin care product. The formula works proactively mapping the skin’s changing needs before they become visible. By activating key ingredients on different areas of the face in response to the skin’s micro changes, it anticipates and delivers both on expectations and need. Price ` 10,500 (30ml);…

Change is the only constant. Yami Gautam is all too familiar with the maxim. So when the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the functioning of the film industry in 2020, Gautam didn’t wait long to take the direct-to-digital route. Gini Weds Sunny released in October 2020 on Netflix. A year and a half later, Gautam is now a ubiquitous presence on streaming platforms. For Gautam, adapting and evolving was the need of the hour. “A lot of films were stuck and audiences wanted fresh content. OTT came as a boon for everyone,” she says. “The work does reach the audience eventually and that’s most important.” Four months into 2022, and she is riding high with two recently-released features—A Thursday (Disney+ Hotstar) and Dasvi (Netflix). The former, a dramatic thriller, was the first…

Defined by class, chic, comfort and endorsed by top global icons including Daisy Fellowes, Coco Chanel, and Elsa Schiaparelli, Art Deco jewellery brought a momentous change and rewrote the history of fashion forever. The term Art Deco was coined during the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, held in Paris in 1925, which was largely devoted to the arts of jewellery. This dramatic transformation was set in motion during the era of the first world war in Europe. Women had to forgo their layered and complicated outfits in favour of simple dressing that allowed them to do industrial work in the absence of men who were serving on the war front. This era also ushered a resistance against the excesses of the previous European monarchies, consequently, impacting jewellery…

You can drench any Mercedes-Maybach car with the choicest superlatives and still be found wanting, each time a new rendition rolls out from the German stable. While the erstwhile interpretation of these larger-than-life luxurious automobiles dwelled largely on exquisite comfort and opulence, this stellar label has opened the vistas of imagination to bespoke builds, unrivalled technology, and an after-sales service that is more easily envied than emulated. And the 2021 Mercedes-Maybach S-Class S580 bears testimony to this, and more. Size Matters One would imagine that Mercedes touched the pinnacle of its achievements with the S-Class, but with the new Maybach, the German automaker has created a new benchmark in the segment. It is 18cm longer than the S-Class and features subtle exterior nuances that beg to differ. After the length,…

THE PROBLEMS ↘ Half a dozen incidents of electric bikes catching fire in India have been reported in less than a month. The problems seem to be with lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. ↘ The electrolyte fluid between the two electrodes in Li-ion batteries is highly combustible. When the battery cells overheat, the heat and pressure rise to a point where the battery explodes. THE SOLUTION ↘ Sodium-ion or Na-ion batteries are said to be promising alternatives. They are also cheaper than their Li-ion counterparts. ↘ Research is being carried out on magnesium, sea water, glass batteries, fuel cells and liquid batteries as well SPEED-BREAKER? 233,971: Total number of units of e-scooters sold in India in calendar year 2021; 132% higher than the previous year. The incidents of fire, however, could scuttle…

News consumers in the digital age may chiefly remember Arun Shourie for his corpus of books on subjects ranging from political ideology, religion and law to personal memoir and his tenure as a forward-thinking disinvestment minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. But a few still recall his trail-blazing innings as editor-activist of The Indian Express that made him a household name in the 1970s and 1980s. Relocating to India from his World Bank job due to his son’s illness, Shourie’s passionate critique of Indira Gandhi’s Emergency regime coincided with the fierce opposition mounted by press baron Ramnath Goenka, owner of the Express. Together, they forged a partnership that ineluctably changed the tenor of journalism in that turbulent time. An implacable defender of press freedoms, Goenka had doting epithets for…

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was in India recently, was given an unusual gift by the Sabarmati Ashram Trust during his trip to Ahmedabad—a book titled Guide to London. Penned by Mahatma Gandhi, the unpublished book contains his suggestions on how to live in the UK capital. However, there may be more than meets the eye to this gift. Johnson had landed in controversy last year after he and his colleagues violated Covid norms during a party hosted at the PM’s official residence in London. The book might be the trust’s ‘subtle’ way of communicating Gandhi’s emphasis on following rules.…

ON APRIL 22, Union home minister Amit Shah, while addressing a BJP meeting in Bhopal, reportedly told his colleagues that it was time to focus on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). Almost on cue, the next day, Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that the BJP government in the state was considering implementing the UCC. In next-door Uttarakhand, the BJP state cabinet is already forming a committee of experts for the same. Shah’s intent seems clear—Uttarakhand is a pilot project for what will soon have a national footprint. The UCC has been part of the BJP manifesto since 1998. Nearly two decades later, the saffron party seems to be inching towards implementing the contentious agenda. Having a common set of laws governing marriage, divorce, adoption and succession…

With the summer of 22 upon us, even hotter than before, India's air-conditioning industry stalwarts are on a rollercoaster ride to meet the galloping consumer demand to cool things down. It's worthy of note that across the industry the winds of change are sweeping away the cobwebs of apathy to the environmental hazards; now, even more strenuously, leaner greener solutions are in the pipeline in response to the growing concerns of health and climate change and the need for mindful lifestyle choices for environmental sustainability. GREENING OF INDUSTRY ON THE MOVE India's air-conditioning industry has been making radical adjustments to address this enhanced person-Environment connectedness, by setting the pace for reimagined, greener cooling options for consumers. In response to the government's intervention policies, such as the ban on imports of…

Q. PM Modi and your ministry are pushing hard to unleash the potential of natural and organic farming. What all have you done so far? A. PM Modi has strongly batted for natural farming. This has raised awareness for this form of agriculture in the country. Last year in December, at Gujarat’s Anand, the state’s governor, Acharya Devvrat, made a strong presentation in front of thousands of farmers. Natural farming, under the ministry’s Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), is now done in farms spread over 5 lakh hectares. States like Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh alone have 3 lakh hectares of these farms, followed closely by Madhya Pradesh. The satisfaction is that the awareness about natural farming is increasing. Consumers, too, are getting more health-conscious; that is increasing the…

“Adventure tourism is being given a big thrust. More than 30 sites are being developed—each will have facilities for camping adventure activities, nature trails, birdwatching, stargazing, boat rides and water sports. This includes lesser-known destinations like Kolli Hills and Jawaddhu Hills. The national kite surfing championship, the first of its kind, was held recently in Tuticorin. Snorkelling and scuba-diving are now being offered in Gulf of Mannar and Rameswaram. A state-of-the-art 3D mapping sound-and-light show at Arjuna’s Penance in Mahabalipuram will be a new attraction this summer. With diverse beach-front activities and water sports, the Mudaliyarkuppam Island is also a summer highlight.” DR B. CHANDRA MOHAN, TOURISM SECRETARY, TAMIL NADU “While our focus has been to develop tourist amenities and destinations for visits throughout the year, there are certain activities…

Website: https://www.aramness.com How to get there: Aramness Gir is located right on the boundary of Sasan Gir, Gir National Park, Gujarat. The resort is a 7-hour drive from Ahmedabad, but you can also shorten your drive time by flying into Rajkot (3-hour drive), Porbandar (2.5-hour drive) or Diu (2.5-hour drive) Tariff: Doubles from Rs 75,000 per night Ideal time to visit: April to June is ideal for game viewing, as visibility in the park increases substantially, and with temperatures rising to 35-40 ℃elsius, wildlife gather around watering holes more frequently. The mild weather from October till March helps one make the most of all available outdoor activities…

WHETHER THE WORDS ‘RAGING BULL’ REMIND YOU OF Martin Scorcese’s searing biographical sports drama about a middleweight boxer, or the automotive legend Lamborghini’s—the takeaway is performance and power. Now, in a world’s first, Lamborghini has embraced a radically altered design universe by auctioning a super sports car linked to an exclusive NFT. The car will be the last of the celebrated Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae lineage, a milestone vehicle for the marque which will be electrifying its entire range of performance cars 2023-2024. Rumour has it that the NFT and the Last Aventador were purchased together at Sotheby’s for US$ 1,603,125 on April 19. If Lambo’s NFT has recalibrated the creative vocabulary of the automotive industry, luxury fashion house, Gucci’s Italian creative director, Alessandro Michele is transforming the way young…

Who would have guessed that a momentous scene from one of the most iconic films would end up predicting the future? Of course, we are referencing the matinee moment when a cash-strapped Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind, takes her mother’s forest green velvet curtains and patterns a dress out of it. Cut to the 21st century, and it isn’t just innovation but intent that is driving couturiers homeward. The desire to be the best dressed, whether in fashion or décor, outweighs season or reason. So, we turn to story tailors who weave whimsy and wonder into fabrics and furnishings. This is perhaps why fashion design has been courting interiors for quite some time now. In the West, design houses such as Armani, Versace, Kate Spade, Ralph Lauren and…

Classic version Printed silk hardcover |10 x 13 in – 25 x 33 cm | 400 pages | over 350 illustrations | $95 – €95 – £70 | Available in French and English from February 2022; Large format collector’s edition Limited edition of 500 numbered copies presented in a poplar wood presentation box | 40cm x 48cm x 8cm | $1,900-€1 900-£1,390 | Available in French, exclusively in Louis Vuitton stores and on the website Documenting history’s enclaves is always fraught, especially if the subject is iconic enough to dress the dreams of desire. The challenge, therefore, is to objectively walk the tightrope between veneration and vindication. When it comes to a brand like Louis Vuitton, whose storied legacy is second only to its frenetic popularity, the showcasing becomes even…

The Glenlivet You know you are doing something right when visiting kings want a sip of the notoriously famous single malt, when you can count Charles Dickens among your fans, when the competition first threatens you but then also starts adding your brand name to theirs just to improve their chances of sales. The crowning achievement came in 1884, when The Glenlivet (the original) was officially allowed to prefix ‘The’ to their name, a mark of differentiation and, by extension, of superior quality, a simple three-letter addition that would set them apart from the crowd, forever. The ‘Unhurried’ malt, as the founder would have affably called it, was always made painstakingly in the quiet and quaint Livet valley. George Smith was the first holder of a legal licence to distill…