Innholdsfortegnelse for 8 August 2022 i India Today

Can the world’s fastest land animal feel free to run like the wind in an open-air experiment—in a carefully prepared new home? It’s the question that nags the minds of all stakeholders. Come August, as India celebrates her 75th Independence Day, a ‘coalition’ of cheetahs presently in captivity in Namibia are expected to be granted their freedom—more than 8,000 km away from their present habitat. On July 20, Bhupender Yadav, the Union minister for environment, forests and climate change, and Namibian foreign minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah inked the muchawaited MoU for the transcontinental transfer of cheetahs to India. The MoU covers other spheres of cooperation between the two countries too, but at this point the focus is on the core part of it: the ‘Action Plan for the Introduction of Cheetah…

EARLY LIFE ↘ Born on June 20, 1958, in a Santhal family in Rairangpur tehsil of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district as the only daughter in a predominantly male household, Droupadi was doted upon by everyone ↘ Her father, Biranchi Narayan Tudu, was a farmer and her mother, Singo Tudu, a homemaker. Having studied only till Class II, Droupadi’s father was keen that his daughter get an education, especially as his sons, Bhagat and Tarini, showed no inclination towards studying. Originally named Puti, she was given the name Droupadi by her teacher. EDUCATION ↘ Droupadi studied at the village school till Class VII. Having forgotten her compass in class once, she was given one by her teachers. Once she finished school, she returned the compass and geometry box so some other poor…

Locked down in Shillong for much of the past three years, Rudy Wallang and Tipriti Kharbangar—better known as blues-rock trailblazers Soulmate—had live-streaming as the only option to connect with their fans and promote their latest album Give Love, released in August 2020. Even the handful of occasions they got to travel last year, like a small live-streamed gig in Guwahati, were tense affairs, tainted a little by pandemic paranoia. Which is probably why Rudy Wallang sounds so happy when we talk about the five-city tour the band has just concluded. “It’s a good feeling to be able to play in front of live audiences again, to see people actually listening to us, and then meeting them afterwards,” says Wallang over the phone from Shillong. “Wherever we played, you could feel…

LO! PENINSULA This Imphal shoegaze/ dreampop trio embody the DIY dream, creating moody, distortion-drenched soundscapes reflecting a sense of alienation. Psychedelia filtered through new-wave’s ironic dourness. Their debut album AKA Lo! Peninsula comes highly recommended. TABA CHAKE Born in a small village in Arunachal Pradesh, this Mumbai-based guitarist and singer-songwriter blends twee, finger-plucked acoustic guitar with indie-pop melodies and tribal folk storytelling influences. He’s also a polyglot, performing with ease across five languages—English, Hindi, Nepali, Assamese and Nyishi. VIRIE Kohima-native Virie has been making waves with moody, dreamy pop songs that showcase her ethereal voice. Singles like ‘Aliya’ and ‘Feel Good’ hint at an artist who’s just about to reach her creative peak.…

Taking note of the over 16,000 monkeypox cases in 75 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) on July 23 declared the disease a public health emergency of international concern. First discovered in 1958, the virus was mostly confined to central and western Africa until the past few months when it spread rapidly around the world. Four cases have been reported in India so “Previous cases happened when people travelled to the endemic zone. The virus was of less concern when it was confined there, but now it is circulating in large numbers around the world,” says virologist Dr Gagandeep Kang. Some symptoms of monkeypox are similar to those of smallpox, though clinically less severe. During past outbreaks in Africa, the disease was reported to begin with flu-like symptoms, such as…

If the Trinamool Congress thought it had effectively shut the lid on the teachers’ recruitment scam that jolted the state a few months back, it was wrong. Less than 24 hours after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee told the massive turnout at the July 21 ‘martyrs’ day’ rally at the Esplanade in Kolkata that she wanted to see her “party become the only idealist party in the country”, her trusted lieutenant, high-profile TMC leader and minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the teachers’ recruitment scam on July 23. It was accompanied by lurid details: the ED, probing the money trail aspect of the scam being investigated by the CBI, found a huge cache of unaccounted cash—totalling Rs 21.2 crore—from the apartment of…

The tribes of India constitute a numerically small minority, just about 9 per cent of the total population. But their expanse is vast, and their cultural imprint on Indianness way deeper than the rest—with many of them seen as descendants of the subcontinent’s original inhabitants. Spread over the length and breadth of the landmass, mostly in forested and mountainous country, they are a heterogeneous set, varying greatly in language, culture, means of primary livelihood and state of development. Nearly 80 per cent of them are concentrated in nine states—Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. About 12 per cent live in the northeastern states, five per cent in the south and three per cent in the northern region. Of the 700-plus recognised tribes, only…

Ethnonyms like Bhil and others figure in the old Indian epics, where princely figures encountering the forests is a recurring trope. And genetic studies confirm what archaeologists always knew: human presence on the subcontinent is as old and stable as a grandfather clock. The word ‘Adivasi’, a conceptual bundle expressing rootedness and genetic continuity, is a recent coinage spun off from ‘aboriginal’, though. We interpret that maximally because the actual history stretches before us like an aranya of the epics, deep and mysterious. But science has of late been throwing fascinating new light on one aspect here. India’s ‘tribes’ can be found among all our four major languages families: Austro-Asiatic, Tibeto-Burman, Dravidian and Indo-Aryan. Bhili, spoken by our most populous Adivasi group, belongs to the last named—and is thus in…

“IF it’s going to swim upstream, it will happen quickly,” texted Mr F, who also called “it” a “bravery item”. He should know. He met those breathtaking, blustery hills long before Salman Khan and his tribe Mechuka’d their way up to the Lost Frontiers of Arunachal Pradesh. The “it” in question was no upstart carp with Olympic ambitions, but a light, bright, raw fish soup that sometimes carpe-diemed through unsuspecting mainland gullets. Except, it was too late. I was in Namsai and nose-deep in a bowl of brilliance, slurping my way through pasa, a Tai Khampti delicacy that has since become a cold favourite. The point is, even the best of us, who have—intentionally or accidentally—discovered the joys of eating at indigenous kitchens around the country sometimes find ourselves at…

Just four months into its second term, the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is in fire-fighting mode over an unseemly tussle involving a slew of ministers and top figures in the bureaucracy. Several cabinet ministers have complained and Dinesh Khatik, Dalit leader and MoS in the Jal Shakti department, set off some extra panic by sending in his resignation (later retracted after the BJP top leadership intervened). State BJP leaders blame it on the “free hand” Yogi has given officials, who often overrule even the ministers in charge. The issue started with a clash between Brajesh Pathak, the deputy CM and health minister, and Amit Mohan Prasad, additional chief secretary (ACS), medical and health. On July 4, Pathak sought a report over the transfers made in the department…

In Parliament, private member bills are introduced only on Fridays. Except some of the most talked about private member bills have failed to see the light of day because those proposing them have gone missing on Fridays. BJP’s Kirodi Lal Meena listed the Uniform Civil Code Bill in 2020. But it has not yet been taken up as the 70-year-old leader is never around on Fridays. Ditto with Places of Worship Bill, moved by BJP Rajya Sabha member Harnath Singh Yadav, 81. Most MPs skip Friday sessions to travel for weekend social functions. There has been a demand to shift private member bills to Wednesdays.…

As Droupadi Murmu stood up to take the presidential oath administered by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana on July 25, a hush descended on the power-packed audience that included the prime minister and over a dozen chief ministers assembled in the Central Hall of Parliament to bear witness to this moment in history. Once she was sworn in as the 15th President of India, though, the hall, with life-sized portraits of national icons, former presidents and prime ministers looking on, reverberated with the sounds of loud clapping and chants of ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi would later describe it “as a watershed moment for India, especially for the poor, marginalised and downtrodden”. Indeed, it was. The journey of a shy, quiet Santhali girl from the rustic settings of…

CONRAD K. SANGMA, 44 Chief Minister, Meghalaya, Garo tribe An alumnus of St Columba’s School in Delhi and with management degrees from Wharton and Imperial College London, Conrad K. Sangma seamlessly combines his tribal identity with a ‘mainstream’ persona. The son of former Lok Sabha speaker, the late P.A. Sangma, he has been trying to build up his NPP, or the National People’s Party, as a representative voice of the Northeast. “EARLIER, THE TRIBALS FELT ALIENATED. TODAY, TRIBAL YOUNGSTERS ARE CONFIDENT, COMPETITIVE AND RARING TO SHOWCASE THEIR CAPABILITIES” PABIBEN RABARI, 38 Entrepreneur, Rabari tribe Brought up in poverty in Gujarat’s Kutch, Pabiben Rabari i was a homemaker before she decided to concentrate on the intricate embroidery of her Rabari tribe. After she invented a new form of stitch work, Hari…

There’s a silent chapter in Indian history—or perhaps a whole library. Some of the fiercest resistance to British colonial power came from the tribal communities. Wave upon wave of armed uprisings, strung over some 150 years—from the Chuar rebellion in Bengal (1771-1809), and not ending with the post-WW-I Kuki uprising. If the bows and arrows of the Kurichiyas aided Malabar’s Pazhassi Raja in his long guerrilla war against the East India Company (1793-1806), the Bhils of Rajputana rose up in 1818, and a series of Ho and Munda unrests led up to the Kol rebellion of 1831. The great Santhal Hul of 1855 was the big one, overshadowed only by 1857. The names of its protagonists, Sidu and Kanhu Murmu, or that of a stray Tantia Bhil (left)—bandit to the British,…

In the music video for the Tetseo Sisters’ 2019 hit ‘Hiyo’, the four Chakhesang Naga siblings stand in the centre circle of a misty football field, garbed in white traditional dress. Straight out of K-pop, a pitch-shifted vocal melody repeats a simple phrase in Chokri as the sisters perform elegant folk-dance moves. Bright synths shimmer, the production dripping with contemporary-pop gloss. However, the beating However, the beating heart of ‘Hiyo’ is the earthy vitality of its inspiration—a traditional Naga work song that weaves its beauty out of the simple rhythms and harmonies of communal labour. ‘Hiyo’—like much of the Tetseo Sisters’ recent music—is a masterclass in how to bring folk in conversation with contemporary music, without losing the purity of emotion of the original. The four sisters—Mütsevelü (Mercy), Azine (Azi), Kuvelü…