Innholdsfortegnelse for 30 January 2023 i India Today

Rahul Gandhi is an unusual figure in Indian politics. He is a ‘Nepo Baby’ like many others, but the mantle of a political leader didn’t really sit well on him. He gave the impression that he had been conscripted into politics because of his distinguished lineage, one that boasts three prime ministers. Helped by his frequent foreign jaunts and the troll armies of the opposition, he was caricatured as a non-serious political dilettante. Ever since his early years, he has flattered to deceive. He arrived like a kind-hearted young prince awaiting a natural coronation, exuding a fresh charm that saw choruses of approval. But his claim to represent a force for the good was first deflated by the India Against Corruption movement against his party’s UPA-II government. The movement captured…

Since July, farmers were laying siege to a liquor factory in Ferozepur (right), accusing it of polluting the environment. The AAP government finally ordered its closure on Jan. 17 In October, a BKU faction laid siege to CM Bhagwant Mann’s house in Sangrur for three weeks to push for crop loss relief for farmers, among other demands In November, police lathicharged labourers led by Sanjha Mazdoor Morcha who were protesting outside the CM’s house to seek hike in wages In December, truckers demanding the restoration of their unions blocked vehicles from entering the state at the Ambala-Rajpura border on the busy NH-44 The New Year began with government-aided school employees up in arms over the denial of the Sixth Pay Commission benefits. Later, Punjab Civil Services officers went on mass…

In independent India, data about only SCs and STs was collected in the census. However, a headcount of backward class groups was recommended by the Kakasaheb Kalelkar (1955) and B.P. Mandal (1980) commissions During Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi rule, the assembly unanimously approved a Jan. 8, 2020 resolution seeking caste-based census. However, the Centre has refused to enumerate caste-wise populations other than SC and ST in the much-delayed 2021 census OBCs are estimated to be around 53 per cent of Maharashtra’s population (43.7 per cent Hindus and 8.4 per cent non-Hindus) The Maratha-Kunbis are claimed to be around a third of the state’s population and thus the largest caste cluster. They are recognised as OBCs.…

Amarjit Singh Dulat’s A Life in the Shadows: A Memoir is only in part about his life. He does discuss his career in the Intelligence Bureau (IB), then as head of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and, finally, post-retirement, as advisor on Jammu & Kashmir in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) till May 2004, when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-I demitted office. He also goes into his family background, early life, school and college, and joining the Indian Police Service. But the meat of the book is Kashmir. This is what holds the author’s greatest attention and he talks about his assessments of the role of the intelligence community in dealing with what happens to be India’s most intractable internal security challenge with all its external ramifications in some…

RAJASTHAN With the tussle between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot unresolved and anti-incumbency running high, the party is doing a good job of ruining its chances MADHYA PRADESH The tussle over the CM’s post saw Jyotiraditya Scindia depart to the BJP along with many Congress leaders, toppling the Kamal Nath government. The party hopes for a comeback based on anti-incumbency against the BJP KARNATAKA Strong organisation and anti-incumbency against ruling BJP work in Congress favour. But the feud between CM aspirants Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar could be the party’s undoing MEGHALAYA Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the Congress could not muster enough support to form the government despite emerging as the single largest party in 2018. All its MLAs have since defected TELANGANA…

The several thousand-strong audience that had come to attend the inauguration of the 28th edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) on December 15, 2022 was in for a surprise. During a song and dance recital, conceptualised by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the huge background screen beamed a picture of Lord Ganesha, accompanied by Amitabh Bachchan chanting a shloka—Vakratunda Mahakaya Suryakoti Samaprabha—in his familiar baritone. To many who had been present at earlier KIFF inaugural ceremonies, the paean to a Hindu deity was a first. It seemed out of place at an event where the retrospectives of films of such global film luminaries as Pier Paolo Pasolini and Michael Cacoyannis were to be shown. But, then, it was just another sign of the change in political messaging…

HOW OFTEN DO WE DWELL on the origins of the food on our plate? For instance, chingri malai kari, which literally translates to ‘prawns in a creamy curry’, gives one an impression that the prawns are cooked in a creamy, milk-derived concoction. In Karen Anand’s Masala Memsahib, the dish features in her section on West Bengal, yes, but here she writes that word ‘malai’ refers to Malay (Malaysia) from where the recipe supposedly drew its inspiration. She also writes about how Mulligatawny, the famous peppery soup from Tamil Nadu, traces its origins to the colonial era, from a time when Englishmen were beginning to warm up to Indian spices in their food. Mulligatawny, we learn, was also served at one of the banquets at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. It’s sociocultural…

Q. How do you remember your father? My father Jan Nisar Akhtar once said to me that beta (son), it is easy to write in difficult language, but it is very difficult to write in easy language. You can write in simple language only when your thoughts are clear. Q. Tell us about your daughter Zoya Akhtar and son Farhan Akhtar. In her film Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), Zoya got all the dialogues written by someone else but the dialogues of a dog by me. Why would she think that no one can write a dog’s dialogues better than her father? I didn’t ask out of fear, what if she says…? Similarly, for Farhan’s film Rock On!! (2008), the song Meri Laundry Ka Ik Bill was written by me. That…

FROM THE STATES | KARNATAKA How Congress, BJP are wooing women in assembly poll-bound Karnataka By Ajay Sukumaran While Priyanka Gandhi announced a Rs 2,000 monthly allowance for women, the ruling BJP declared financial assistance to housewives from low-income families https://bit.ly/3Xcb8v7 SPOTLIGHT | MAYAWATI Why Mayawati ruled out BSP alliance with any party for polls By Prashant Srivastava The BSP supremo says her party will contest assembly polls this year and the 2024 Lok Sabha election on its own merit https://bit.ly/3CWmQC4 FROM THE STATES | TELANGANA Why Telangana chief secretary Somesh Kumar was told to report to Andhra within 48 hours By Amarnath K. Menon The Telangana High Court order, on the Union government’s petition, is adverse for bureaucrats lobbying to change state allotments https://bit.ly/3GP764W DIET | WINTER FESTIVITIES Food…

Though West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee insists that January 5 is her birthday only on official record and not the actual one, gifts don’t stop coming her way on the day. The prime minister sends greetings too. This year, Didi had a surprise gift sender—ex-India captain Sourav Ganguly. The gift was date palm jaggery sweets. On January 16, the two also met at Nabanna. Many wondered if this was a prelude to a political innings, especially as Dada was denied a second stint as BCCI chief while Union home minister Amit Shah’s son Jai Shah continues as secretary.…

“I’ve found that a combination of diets works best for me. Time is also scarce, so I find it easier to diet on my own without a nutritionist. I went from 136 kg to 105 kg in 2020 simply by controlling how much and what I eat”HITESH KUKREJA, 48 DELHI Fashion businessman Navya Agarwal, a 32-year-old MBA student from Bengaluru, had to take a year off studies after an internet-inspired diet went wrong. For four months, she ate only vegetables and eggs. The aim was to cut out all gluten, which Navya mistakenly believed to mean carbohydrates, forsaking even rice, which is naturally gluten-free. “One day, I fainted from exhaustion,” she says. “I felt tired and stressed and couldn’t study for a year.” It took her a year of close…

INSATIABLE My Hunger For Life By Shobhaa De HARPERCOLLINS INDIA ₹699; 304 pages IN maturity, writers often acquire a certain hard-earned insouciance, the kind that cannot be readily taught or mimicked—and God knows Shobhaa De has had a legion of imitators. Across the 75-year-old writer’s long and distinguished career, people have tried to copy her style. Journalists have tried and failed to capture the bite and pizzazz of her best columns. Novelists have tried to channel the candour and the optimal salaciousness of her best fictions. It’s tough to beat the original, however, and De’s latest, a book of loosely structured autobiographical vignettes called Insatiable (published by HarperCollins India), proves that all over again. In these pages, one finds De meeting a wide array of people, several prominent writers, artists…

London’s St John Bread & Wine, founded by chef Fergus Henderson of Nose to Tail Eating fame, is not known for a menu bursting with masalas. But while head chef Farokh Talati capably oversees its elegantly rustic, British-inspired plates of meats and veg, he has also been exploring his own family’s Parsi food through popup dinners, and now his first cookbook. Conceived during the pandemic, Parsi: Recipes & Tales from the Ancient Culture is a charming, personal introduction to the cuisine by someone who discovered it from the outside-in. Based on family dishes gleaned from Talati’s trips to India (he was born and grew up in the UK), as well as his own experimentation, Parsi includes over 150 recipes. Not all of them are traditional, but they feel at home…

Any hope that BJP MP Varun Gandhi may join the Congress was firmly laid to rest by cousin Rahul when he said they followed different ideologies. “I can meet him, hug him, but can’t accept that ideology,” Rahul elaborated. Earlier, there was a buzz that Varun may join the Bharat Jodo Yatra. During its Uttar Pradesh leg, an old speech of Varun’s went viral, in which he says he has no issue with the Congress and believes in those who talk of uniting people. Though some in the UP Congress think the party desperately needs a firebrand leader in the state, one Gandhi—Priyanka—is already in charge of the state. So what next for Varun if he leaves the BJP?…

What do you think of the Bharat Jodo Yatra by the Congress? It’s a great exercise by the party for mass connect 29% It has created a buzz, but the party doesn’t have the organisational muscle and leadership to win elections 36.8% It’s a re-branding exercise for Rahul Gandhi 13.1% It will make no difference to the party 9.2% It’s a great effort and I personally want to join the yatra 4.2% Others/DK/CS 7.8% Who, among the current Opposition leaders, is best suited to lead the Opposition alliance? How would you rate the performance of the Congress as an Opposition party? All figures in %; DK/CS: Don’t know/Can’t say…

1983 Janata Party president Chandra Shekhar embarked on a 4,260 km, 190-day-long Bharat Yatra from Kanyakumari to Rajghat to highlight the alleged misrule of Indira Gandhi 1990 Lal Krishna Advani launched the Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya to consolidate support for the Ram temple 1991-92 Murli Manohar Joshi, then BJP president, went on a 46-day Ekta Yatra from Kanyakumari to Srinagar for national unity 1997 BJP leaders took out a Swa rna Jayanti Rath Yatra to celebrate 50 years of India’s Independence. Travelling 15,000+ km, the yatra covered 21 states over 59 days 2003 A three-month long padayatra covering 1,475 km in undivided Andhra Pradesh helped Congress leader Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy win the assembly election next year and become CM 2012 TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu covered nearly…

KEY INVESTORS Reliance Jio Infocomm, PayTm, Samsung, Pepsico, Ultratech, NIDP (Hiranandani Group), Adani Enterprises, Sify Technologies. NTT global and STT global (data centres) INVESTMENT EXPECTED ₹17 LAKH CRORE Investment target for Global Investor Summit 2023 ₹7.1 LAKH CRORE Via 149 MoUs generated from foreign tours (investors from 16 countries) ₹5 LAKH CRORE MoUs signed after Yogi’s Mumbai visit STEADY GROWTH Projects worth Rs 2.09 lakh crore facilitated through three ‘ground-breaking’ ceremonies July 29, 2018 81 projects worth Rs 61,800 crore July 28, 2019 290 projects worth Rs 67,000 crore June 3, 2022 1,406 projects worth Rs 80,000 crore JOBS GENERATED 796,312 Opportunities created during Yogi’s rule since 2017 702,415 Employment generation expected from GIS 2023 Source: Official UP government numbers…

THE NEED FOR ENERGY From taking a breath to using your brain, the human body relies on energy to function. This energy primarily comes from carbohydrates (which are broken down into sugar), but also through fats and proteins. When we eat more calories than needed, the body converts the excess into fat to store for later use. This way, there is always enough stored for times of crisis when food might not be available. GOING ON A CALORIE DEFICIT When you start burning more calories or eat less than what’s needed, the body does two things to burn fat: 1. The brain signals fat cells to release their fatty acid molecules, which are then broken down and used as energy. The empty fat cells are discarded as urine, carbon dioxide…

Ayoung woman and man decide to start working together in Paris in the early 1930s. Both are Jewish—she’s German, he’s Hungarian—both are leftists, and they begin to explore the possibilities of using photographs and writing in tandem to report on the momentous events unfolding around them. They decide that their names, Gerta Pohorylle and Endre Friedmann, are too cumbersome and they arrive at a pen name—they decide to call themselves ‘Robert Capa’, with Gerta, now calling herself ‘Gerda Taro’, representing ‘Capa’ as an agent when selling their work to the newly launched picture magazines. The invention of the Leica 35mm camera has now taken off, allowing people to take photographs with these small cameras rather than the cumbersome large format ones prevalent till then. Gerta/Endre/Capa take their Leicas and head…

At Chemould Prescott Rd. Until Feb. 17 Atul Dodiya’s Dr. Banerjee in Dr. Kulkarni’s Nursing Home and Other Paintings 2020-2022 is a dazzling series inspired by cinema and transforming flickering frames into an homage with resonances of lobby cards and affectionate reference to the history of art, both pop and popular. Chemould Prescott Rd. Until Feb. 25 Rithika Pandey’s Birth of Forgiveness is plainly an act of reconciliation with pain and loss, her images combining visions of nature, fecundity and wounds with a vocabulary of folk art and mythology suffused with bahrupiyas and strange fruit. Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai Until Feb. 25 Nityan Unnikrishnan’s Every Day is an Admission of Guilt presents more of his acerbic and arrestingly detailed paintings. The continuing evolution of his palette and imagery is a…