Innholdsfortegnelse for Monday, July 24, 2023 i India Today

From Maharashtra to the Mahabharata. The BJP’s coup in Maharashtra, in diminishing the NCP just nine days after the big Opposition meet in Patna, meant that the battle for the 2024 general election had truly begun. The BJP had won 303 seats on its own—353 with the NDA—in 2019. India’s savviest party is well aware it cannot scale such Himalayan peaks again just by usual electioneering. Altered equations make it imperative for the BJP to play no holds barred to achieve three goals: ensuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets a record third term, guaranteeing a majority on its own so as not to depend on allies, and opening up new territories. For this, it has identified six or seven key states rich in numbers and political capital. Consequently, they have…

Y. S. Sharmila, 49, the younger sister of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, is bracing to disband her YSR Telangana Party and join the Congress. The YSR family broke away from the Grand Old Party after it had rejected Jagan’s claims to succeed their father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who had died in a tragic helicopter crash in September 2009, as chief minister of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. But the homecoming may not be easy. While her mother is opposed to the plan, Telangana Congress chief A. Revanth Reddy and other party leaders are wary of her emerging as a power centre. Their advice? She should join the Congress in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.…

Those who work closely with Narendra Modi know nothing the prime minister says or does is random. The dot that every act of Modi marks is connected to a larger picture that at times is not evident either to colleagues or opponents. In the past nine years that Modi has ruled the country, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has imbibed in large measure the management style of its iconic leader. Combining that unique quality with a relentless (many term it ruthless) quest for power, the BJP—under the leadership of Modi and his deputy Amit Shah—has transformed itself into a political juggernaut. It is now arguably the world’s largest democratic party, one that operates with corporate efficiency, never resting on its laurels, and always learning from its setbacks. With less than…

↘ BHOGAPURAM AIRPORT Like Aerocity in Delhi, will have commercial office spaces, IT towers, a skill university and a robotics centre ₹14,634 CRORE Project cost of Adani Data Park. It can employ 25,000 people ↘ A six-lane, 464-km-long Raipur-Visakhapatnam expressway by 2025 ↘ Beach corridor from Kailasagiri to Bhogapuram, with 10 beaches identified as safe for swimming and water sports ↘ Renovation and promotion of heritage sites to showcase the region’s culture and history…

It was Holi that day. March 17, 2022. This corner of the Far East of UP too thrilled to the bee-swarm of colours that swept the rest of the Gangetic plains. In Chandauli, Ajay Kumar Gupta, 35, looked like the regular man on the block—the generic ‘uncleji’ to neighbourhood kids like Deepu and Pawan (names changed), both 15. Lured by good food and Holi mithais, they entered his house. Spiked drinks followed, or perhaps beer. Once they were sufficiently off-kilter, Gupta ordered them to undress; then to touch and fondle each other…and, gradually, to scale it up to all sexual permutations possible. They were unaware all their actions were being recorded. After the videography was done, Gupta forced himself on the boys while they kept screaming in pain. They were…

The OCSAE unit keeps checking for Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) on messenger services, livestreaming apps, cloud services and social media platforms besides suspect transactions via crypto and e-wallets It also has access to the Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database with over 4.3 million CSAM seized by law enforcement agencies worldwide In a blind case, investigators first try to parse any language or dialect that crops up in the video. Then they minutely examine objects in the video to zero in on the location Advanced cyber forensic tools can also reveal the precise GPS location where an image/video was shot, as well as its date and time…

Love is a Dog from Hell. The title of Charles Bukowski’s book of poems is brandished on the wall of an aspiring rapper in the new Netflix series, Kohrra. For Sudip Sharma, the show’s creator, it is also the guiding light of the investigative crime drama set in Punjab. The love in this six-episode series comes in many forms and hues; it’s messy, it’s challenging and it also kills. But at the core of the Punjabi-Hindi show is the patriarchy and toxic masculinity that lingers like a mist and the generational trauma it can cause. It leads to one of Sharma’s favourite lines in the show, “tussi bande hi zahar ho (all you men are just poison)”. For Sharma and the show’s two writers—Gunjit Chopra and Diggi Sisodia—the whodunit…

Ruskin Bond’s rani in his short story ‘The Room of Many Colours’ is a mysterious figure, sometimes preening, sometimes petulant. As with any Ruskin Bond story, the prose is simple and charming. Bond’s queen is nameless, unlike the other queens this story shares space with. She is also fictitious. Rani is one of 12 royals depicted in the slim anthology, The Book of Indian Queens. It’s a slender reminder that while Indian society and politics have been male-dominated, every now and then a powerful female figure comes along. As the introduction tells us, the word ‘queen’ is used loosely, and includes “all women who were rulers of royal birth—empresses, queens, regents, princesses, begums and so on”. Historian Abraham Eraly’s short excerpt from The First Spring: Life in the Golden Age…

Q. Tarla Dalal was one of the first cooks Indians saw on TV. What’s your memory of her? I feel she normalised being on TV for the average Indian woman. She was this cute, affable lady, who had a vibe to her. I remember her cookbooks being in the house and my mother referring to them, whether it was to make Chinese, Italian or mango ice-cream. There’s a scene in the film when Tarla gets the copy of her first cookbook. I was like “Oh my god, we had this book”, and this is me now. I feel the little me manifested it. Q. Your father has run a successful restaurant in Delhi for decades. How much of your relationship with food seeped into playing Tarla Dalal? Sharing food is…

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AMIT SHAH Union Home Minister ↘ Has been monitoring the state’s law and order situation since the violence erupted on May 3 ↘ Despite his three-day visit in May end and regular interactions with stakeholders, Shah has not been able to bring on board the state government, militant groups and civil society bodies from both sides—Meiteis and Kukis—to even begin a dialogue ↘ He is stuck between two extreme demands from both sides. While CM N. Biren Singh wants revocation of the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with Kuki militants, the Kuki groups have set Biren’s ouster as the primary condition to begin peace talks N. BIREN SINGH Chief Minister, Manipur ↘ A Meitei, he has been accused of siding with his own community. Kukis allege he has been intentionally…

RPGIS sets to be the first & only IB PYP school in eastern India, aiming to bring the very best educational experience, shaping the minds of future generations and creating an indelible mark and transformative change in every young mind the school nurtures. At the heart of our commitment to delivering an unparalleled educational experience are the exceptional faculty at RPGIS. Led by the visionary guidance of Principal Hema Chennupathy, winner of the GLSC Edu Icon 2023 Award, along with Academic Director Varsha Agarwal Rodewald, Head of School Mark Fox, and Chief Administrative Officer Riad Rojoa, who define what it means to be one of the finest international-grade schools in India. The RPGIS core values serve as guiding principles, encouraging students to actively engage, question, and explore within and beyond…

While the shift in political loyalties and alignments in Maharashtra is enough to put a seasoned somersault artist to shame, the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has used the occasion to launch a signature campaign called ‘Ek Sahi Santapachi’ or ‘A signature to express frustration’. As part of it, huge flex boards were put up at busy junctions across the state for citizens to register their protest with a signature. Also among them was an RSS worker in full uniform in Mumbai, a moment that has gone viral on social media.…

This January, a message went out from Google to an email account far away from Chandauli. “It looks like this account has content that involves a child being sexually abused or exploited,” it read. “This is a severe violation of Google’s policies and might be illegal. If you think your account was disabled by mistake, submit an appeal as soon as possible.” It was no mistake, of course. Except that J. Victor James Raja, a 35-year-old PhD scholar, usually preferred foraging for those of similar inclination on more penumbral zones of the internet, though not excluding niche social media apps like Grindr and Blued. This time, he had uploaded the video on a website run by an international gang. But it had also ended up on Google Cloud while he…

↘ The Digital Child Exploitation Team of New Zealand, investigating a complaint about a cloud storage link associated with Mega.nz, finds an embedded subfolder that contains five CSAM video clips ↘ Interpol’s Crime Against Children Unit based in Singapore refers this link to the CBI ↘ The CBI tracks 141 email IDs—102 belonging to Google/Yahoo and the remaining 39 to other domains like protonmail—located in India that had accessed and downloaded the clips through the link ↘ The CBI homes in on 66 persons, after identifying mobile numbers linked to these email IDs or via IP addresses ↘ The agency raids 61 locations in 21 states and UTs across India. CSAM videos found on the mobiles and other devices of 33 out of those 66…

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U.R. Ananthamurthy (1932-2014) was a promising young academic working for his PhD in England, on leftist English fiction, when he pushed aside his dissertation to begin writing a novel—in his mother-tongue Kannada. Set largely inside an agrahara (i.e., an ultra-orthodox Brahmin neighbourhood), the novel radically interrogated the hollow but still hallowed practices concerning sin, sex, untouchability and death rites. Translated by A.K. Ramanujan under the original title Samskara (1965), the novel was instantly acclaimed as a classic of modern Indian literature. Ananthamurthy went on to write all his creative works in Kannada, while he deployed his perfect bilingualism in many of his essays written in English. Even more effectively, he delivered in English unscripted lectures of astonishing originality and felicity. When he was invited to deliver the Radhakrishnan memorial lectures…

It is an anti-climax for Sachin Pilot’s supporters. In a surprise turn of events, the rebel Congress leader from Rajasthan has backed down from his long confrontation with his arch nemesis, chief minister Ashok Gehlot. Until as early as May, Pilot had charged up his supporters with his Ajmer-Jaipur yatra against the Gehlot regime. He had even threatened to launch a state-wide agitation if his demands were not met. Cut to now. Pilot is a changed man. “Gehlot is trying to take everyone along,” he said, just days after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leader Rahul Gandhi and general secretary K.C. Venugopal held a meeting of about 30 leaders from Rajasthan in Delhi on July 6. Pilot also said, “Gehlot is elder to me both in experience and age” —…

Former Union finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia seems to have become the most sought-after government official in Gujarat these days. Appointed advisor to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel within a fortnight of the latter assuming office in December 2022, he is credited with several of the government’s key decisions in the past six months. However, it was his appointment last month as chairman of GIFT City and two other state PSUs that has brought him to the forefront. Adhia’s heft in the power corridors is rising, rivalling that of K. Kailashnathan, the CM’s chief principal secretary. Like Kailashnathan in the past, Adhia now is referred to as the ‘SuperCM’.…

RAJASTHAN 25/24 (59.1%) THE CHALLENGE Even as Congress is embroiled in a power tussle, BJP till now has not been able to put up a united face BJP’S GAME PLAN Rallies by top central leaders to highlight achievements; deny ticket to lawmakers who face anti-incumbency TELANGANA 17 / 4 (19.5%) THE CHALLENGE The ruling BRS stands strong; a resurgent Congress could push BJP to the third place BJP’S GAME PLAN Contain infighting, focus on select assembly seats like in north Telangana and around Hyderabad; join hands with BRS depending on state results MADHYA PRADESH 29/28 (58.5%) THE CHALLENGE With Shivraj Chouhan at the helm for most of the past two decades, anti-incumbency is a big challenge. So are the internal feuds in BJP BJP’S GAME PLAN Field strong candidates who…

IN recognition of the increasing importance of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones over the modern battlefield, and after years of deliberations and analysis, the Indian armed forces have decided to acquire 31 MQ-9B High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAVs manufactured by General Atomics of the US. This was announced in the India-US joint statement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US in June. The MQ-9B has two variants—the SkyGuardian and the SeaGuardian, its maritime variant. India will acquire 15 SeaGuardians for the Navy and 16 SkyGuardians—eight apiece for the Indian army and air force. Ten drones are expected to be procured as readymade units, while the remaining 21 will be assembled in India. The deal—estimated at $3.07 billion (over Rs 25,000 crore) by the US—will be executed…

52 CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE MATERIAL CASES PROBED 133 TOTAL OFFENDERS CAUGHT 60 NO. OF VICTIMS IDENTIFIED 14 DIRECT ABUSERS APPREHENDED (By the CBI’s specialised unit set up in 2019) These scenarios might, at first sight, seem like trailers of an OTT series devoted to fringe deviants and their twisted lives. But scenes like these are playing out all over India, with no particular bias with regard to geography or class—and rather too frequently for the phenomenon to remain unknown, unnamed and unremarked-upon. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) logged 149,404 cases of crime against children in 2021—16 per cent higher than in 2020. Of these, 53,874, or 36 per cent, were registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (PoCSO) Act, 2012. As many as 33,348 of those came under Sections 4 and…

WHAT IS ONLINE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE? ↘ Sharing of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) over the internet ↘ Engaging a child in online chats about sexual acts ↘ Asking a child to expose or perform sexual acts online WHICH LAWS ARE USED AGAINST THE OFFENDERS? 1 PROTECTION OF CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL OFFENCES (POCSO) ACT, 2012 SECTION 14: Using a child for pornographic purposes; carries at least a 5-year jail term; at least 7 years for subsequent convictions SECTION 15: Storage of pornographic material involving a child; 3-5 years jail term; 5-7 years for repeat offenders PREVALENCE* 536 CASES 540 VICTIMS 2 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) ACT, 2000 SECTION 67B: Publishing / transmitting electronic material depicting children in sexually explicit act or inducing them for online sexual relationship; up to 5-year jail; 7 years for…

Anil Kapoor loves an audience. Seated at the JW Marriott in Juhu, Mumbai, with two bowls of fruits placed in front of him, Kapoor looks for a reaction as he shares an amusing anecdote about filmmaker-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra or talks about how a recent Instagram post of his was appreciated. He gives no impression that he is 66 years old. His fitness regimen and age-defying abilities are a source of much amusement on social media where, in a clever pun, he is referred to as “Baal kalakaar [child artiste]”. The actor is flattered with his popularity among those even younger than his 30-something kids. “It’s a huge compliment, but I am not delusional,” he says, aware of the fleeting nature of internet fame. His own kids, all of whom…

I “I don’t call it modern Indian cuisine anymore. If people outside India don’t know what authentic Indian food is, how can we narrate our story?” says chef Himanshu Saini. Riding high off Trèsind Studio’s win on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, it has been a great streak for the chef, including recognition in Dubai’s Michelin Guide, MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants list, etc. Keen to put India on the world culinary map, Saini is keener on doing it right. Eager to replace the greasy image of curries with a refined gourmet touch, he goes the extra mile to juxtapose tradition and technique. The culmination is a two-hour immersive degustation experience that promises seasonal produce and a redefined perception of Indian food. The menu at Trèsind Studio spans all four…