Innholdsfortegnelse for Monday, September 25, 2023 i India Today

On September 1, Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), made a statement in Guwahati that got less play than what followed. He called upon the people of the country to stop using the name ‘India’ and switch to ‘Bharat’. No one may have noticed because it was hardly a novel remark. Right from its inception nearly a century ago, the RSS has made no secret of its preference. But even some of its adherents may have been surprised at the alacrity with which the Modi government took the cue. Two days later, a formal dinner invite from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to G20 guests described Droupadi Murmu as the ‘President of Bharat’. Then, at the summit events, Prime Minister Narendra Modi very conspicuously sat behind a placard…

Distress is mounting in Karnataka’s farmlands. Pointing to his two-acre plot where his maize crop continues to wither, A. Manjunath, a farmer, laments that whatever harvest he gets will be fit only for fodder now. In July, when an erratic Southwest monsoon picked up in the hinterlands of Mysuru, it had brought hopes of raising a normal crop. Preparing the farm and sowing it had cost Manjunath Rs 15,000 an acre. If things had gone well, he could have grown 15 quintals of corn per acre. “It’d have fetched nothing less than Rs 25,000 an acre. Now, I won’t even get Rs 5,000.” Ironically, even as he says this, a faint drizzle descends from the overcast sky in his Ambale village. It can’t save Manjunath’s crop. The dry spell in…

Senior Karnataka Congress leader B.K. Hariprasad was slapped with a show-cause notice by the party’s disciplinary panel as he took another dig at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his second such outburst in as many months after being left out of the state cabinet. “Wearing a Hublot watch and a panche (dhoti) with khaki shorts inside doesn’t make one a socialist,” Hariprasad said at a public meeting, without naming anyone. But the Hublot wristwatch was an obvious reference to the controversial gift the CM declared as a state asset during his first term in 2016.…

Project Cheetah, dubbed as the first intercontinental translocation of a large wild carnivore, completes one year on September 17. It was on this day in 2022 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi released eight African cheetahs flown in from Namibia into enclosures at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh—marking the culmination of decades-long efforts that saw much deliberation and judicial interventions. The past one year, however, has only triggered further debate over whether the ambitious project is a success or a failure. Reason: the cheetah fatalities. Of the 20 big cats translocated so far—12 were brought from South Africa in February—six died between March 27 and August 2. The cause of death ranges from renal or cardio-pulmonary failure to neck injuries (due to radio collars) resulting in septicemia. On August 13,…

One of the earliest references in Malayalam to the term ‘India’ that I have seen is in the late 18th century travelogue Varthamanapustakam. Written by the priest Paremakkal Thoma Kathanar, it is a detailed account of an eight-year-long journey from Kerala to Rome, via a variety of places, including Portugal. What is striking in that text is that there is a clear understanding that the entirety of the geographical region which traded with the countries of the West like Portugal was ‘India’, especially as there are astute observations about the terms and conditions that bound commercial activities of the time, regulating relations between countries. A century later, we find multiple references to ‘India’ in O. Chandu Menon’s Indulekha, a text that is often hailed as the first modern Malayalam…

On September 5, 2023, #Bharat was the most tweeted and the longest-trending topic on Indian social media. The day began with intense speculation that the Modi government was about to cancel one of the two constitutional names of the country, India, to privilege the other, Bharat. But what was hailed as a gesture of decolonisation, a return to authentic naming traditions, soon took an unexpected turn: a speculative suggestion surfaced that Pakistan may claim the name ‘India’ if India chooses to abandon it. This mere whiff of a rumour was enough to spark mirthful internet memes laced with disbelief in equal measure. Why would India’s neighbour and foe court an identity it had once rejected? It was indeed an improbable scenario, a satirical conjecture of what would be one of the…

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By now, filmmaker Bejoy Nambiar is all too familiar with what clicks and doesn’t on streaming platforms. He has made a short for an anthology (Netflix’s Navarasa), co-directed two series (The Fame Game, Sweet Kaaram Coffee) and had one direct-to-digital film release (Taish on ZEE5). “Those were like my baby steps towards how long format works,” he says. For Kaala, his second series of 2023, which released on September 15 on Disney+ Hotstar, he found himself performing the additional roles of showrunner, cowriter and producer. The volume of work, he says, took its toll. “But, eventually, it is all worth it,” adds Nambiar. Marking audio label and film producer T-Series’ foray into web series, Kaala is on paper a thriller but one that has multiple tracks going on—there’s a cat-and-mouse game…

It’s a complex phrase whose meaning can change depending on who you ask. It is variously seen as denoting: 1) the Hindu code of life, 2) the entirety of Hinduism, expressed in the only way it refers to itself in the classical texts, or 3) merely its more orthodox Brahminical strand, aloof from the devotional practices of the common people. But an incendiary remark comparing ‘Sanatana dharma’ to “dengue, malaria or corona” and calling for its eradication has sparked a major row. “In certain matters, mere opposition isn’t enough, we should work to end it” — that was Tamil Nadu youth welfare and sports minister Udhayanidhi Stalin before he launched into the controversial statements at a conference of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers in Chennai on September 2. The symposium,…

Last year, India joined a growing list of countries exploring digital versions of their currencies. It is now planning to broaden the scope of its pilot project in the digital rupee. According to the US-based think-tank Atlantic Council, as many as 130 countries, representing 98 per cent of the global economy, are now exploring digital versions of their currencies, with almost half in advanced development, pilot or launch stages. Where does India stand on its pilot programme and what are the benefits of the digital rupee? A few FAQs: What is the digital rupee and when was it launched? The digital rupee (also referred to as e-rupee) is India’s version of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched the digital rupee as a pilot…

British prime minister Rishi Sunak’s romantic photograph with wife Akshata Murthy notwithstanding, the couple’s visit to the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in Delhi led to a furore in Gujarat. Reason: the couple chose to pay obeisance to Swaminarayan, a 19th-century ascetic believed by his followers to be a manifestation of Krishna, instead of Hindu deities worshipped for centuries. The sect is already in a face-off with other Sanatana Dharma sages, who had earlier protested against a plaque installed at a temple in Gujarat’s Botad, which showed Hanuman bowing down to Swaminarayan. The plaque was removed, but the duel continues.…

The spectacular success of the G20 summit has done India proud. But the dinner hosted by the ‘President of Bharat’ and the use of Bharat (instead of India) on the invite has triggered a controversy on whether this was proper and whether the word India will soon have an expiry date. On September 18, 1949, the Constituent Assembly debated on what the name of the new republic would be. The initial draft of Article 1 read: India shall be a Union of States. There was no reference to Bharat. H.V. Kamat and others suggested replacing India with Bharat, Bharatvarsha, Hind or Hindusthan. This proposal was put to vote and defeated. The amended and final version read: India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States. The lengthy debate led…

After opposition parties adopted the acronym INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders attacked it as an indication of the Opposition’s colonial mindset. Followed by RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, they asked people to use “Bharat instead of India” to instil a sense of “national pride”. Thus started the name-change game plan of the RSS/BJP. They are now trying to project it as part of their decolonisation agenda. Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s final adoption of the name ‘India’ in the Preamble of the Constitution — “We the people of India” — has priority over the way it was used in Article 1: “India, that is Bharat”. Why did he prioritise India over Bharat as the name of the country, though both were used in the…

What do you call this country of Amars, Akbars and Anthonys (or, if you want the Tamil equivalent, Shankars, Salims and Simons)? Ask director Shankar, and he’d say… what’s in a name! His 1996 blockbuster was called Indian in Tamil, Hindustani in its Hindi avatar, and in Telugu, it became Bharateeyudu. Most of Indian cinema would agree with Shankar that the state matters, not the name. Shah Rukh Khan makes a Chak De! India (2007). He also made a Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000). Aamir Khan became Raja Hindustani (1996), while Lagaan (2001) had an extended title of ‘Once Upon a Time in India’, and another period epic called itself Thugs of Hindostan (2018). Anil Kapoor’s invisible superhero was called Mr. India (1987), while around the same time, on…

A helical clover bridge sounds like a sleek thing right out of some First World xanadu. This one, built at a cost of Rs 42 crore, is in Rajasthan’s Kota, but it soars and twists balletically too, for about a kilometre, except that it lands a few metres from where it started. Even more mystifyingly, it soars over nothing: there’s no crossing or rail track or any form of obstruction underneath. Just a few minutes away, along the Chambal, a new riverfront was inaugurated with great pomp on September 12—a costly façade laid end-to-end over three kilometres of natural rock and soil like a pink stone shroud, leaving not even parts of the riverbed, let alone a scrap of greenery. In its place have come up 26 spanking new ghats…

We all have heroes we look up to. Inadvertently, we start to imitate them—the way they dress, their mannerisms, behaviour and so on. There is nothing wrong in aspiring to be successful or to take inspiration to grow like successful people. There is a lot that one could learn from observing others so that they do not commit mistakes that some of these successful people may have committed. When it comes to investing, there is a lot that new as well as seasoned investors could learn from stalwarts who have been successful investors. Copycat or coattail investing is well known. It is the strategy of replicating the investment ideas of successful and famous investors or investment managers. However, following the investment strategy adopted by a famous investor need not necessarily…

Get set to see Australian chef, restaurateur, and TV personality Gary Mehigan as you’ve never seen him before. Whether he’s donning a mundu to row in a Kerala boat race during Onam or joining the Sumi tribals of Nagaland in a war dance during the Hornbill Festival, he’s building bonds and understanding the deep connections between the flavours and fervour of the various momentous occasions that make our country special. As the peripatetic presenter of National Geographic India’s brand new series India’s Mega Festivals, Mehigan brings his incredible energy and irascible wit to the screen in an explosion of colour and culture. The first season, which premiered on September 6, features six festivals—Onam, Holi, Hornbill, Eid, Durga Puja and Ganesh Chaturthi—while he and the team are already working on season…

The installation of smart electricity meters in Jammu & Kashmir has become an uphill task for the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha-led administration with public resentment growing against the move, especially in Hindu-dominated Jammu region. A day-long shutdown on August 26 to press for the withdrawal of smart meters was followed by a blockade on September 1—this time for the removal of a toll plaza on the Jammu-Pathankot highway. The protests, led by the region’s apex trade body Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), along with civil society groups, lawyers and political parties, disrupted life in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongholds of the Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur and Reasi districts. These street protests, say observers, have the potential to upset the saffron applecart in J&K, if and when it goes…

The newly appointed Andhra Pradesh state BJP president D. Purandeswari has put paid to the plan of another party leader, Rajya Sabha member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, who had set his eyes on the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat, nurturing it for over two years. Then with the Congress, Purandeswari won the Visakhapatnam seat in 2009. After defecting to the BJP, she lost two successive elections from Rajampet (2014) and Visakhapatnam (2019), but now seems to have edged out Rao in the fight for the party ticket from her traditional seat.…

After opening its doors to women on warships and its combat units—first as officers and then as sailors/other ranks—the Indian Navy is now sailing towards reducing ‘gender stereotyping’ by adopting gender-neutral language in its official communication. The navy believes that after the induction of women in all its branches, both as officers and as Agniveers, there is a requirement for adopting gender-neutral language in all official correspondence, policy documents and internal communication. According to figures provided by the ministry of defence in Parliament, 7,093 women personnel are serving in the Indian Army at present, followed by 1,636 in the Indian Air Force and 748 in the Navy. Taking a cue from the European Parliament’s guidelines for gender-neutral language in 2008 and 2018, the naval headquarters has come out with a…

The G20 dinner invitation sent out by the President’s office mentioned only Bharat (President of Bharat), and has fuelled a fierce debate. The nameplate in front of the Prime Minister at the G20 summit also proudly displayed the name Bharat instead of the usual India. Since the Constitution assures that India is Bharat, the President and the Prime Minister of Bharat are on the right side of protocol or rather erred on the right side. While the government is not offering any reasoning for the name change, the Opposition seems to have been caught on the wrong foot. By no stretch of the imagination is the Modi government the first to use the name Bharat instead of India. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been traditionally using Bharat in its…

Before the G20 summit in New Delhi began, there was, as Shakespeare put it, a tide in the affairs of men. The global order lay fractured. Divided by the Ukraine War. Split over how to tackle the adverse impact of climate change. Torn asunder by a pandemic that ravaged lives and economies. Disunited on how to conduct world trade. Bisected by the tech haves and have-nots. Dissected into income groups and development indices. The cleavages were deep and glaringly stark. But amidst all this gloom and doom, the most powerful grouping of world leaders had a choice. To paraphrase the Bard, taken at the flood, it could pull the world towards harmony, healing, hope and prosperity. If not, then with the Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi…

Seven years after the dominant Maratha community first launched a series of silent morchas (protest marches) for their demands like reservations in jobs and education, the issue has returned to haunt politics in Maharashtra. Since 2016, around 58 ‘Maratha Kranti Morchas’—some of them having hundreds of thousands of people joining them—were organised in Maharashtra and neighbouring states. The agitation turned violent in 2018, further beleaguering the then Devendra Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena coalition. There was speculation that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which has a strong base among the Marathas and was then in the Opposition, had fuelled these protests to corner Fadnavis, a Brahmin. However, the Maratha protests saw counter-mobilisation by the non-Marathas, especially by the upwardly mobile other backward classes (OBCs), who felt that the Marathas…

There is something about income tax savings and life insurance. The two have been synonymous for decades to the extent that scores of income taxpayers have for generations looked at life insurance as a tax-saving instrument. The government has in recent years worked towards addressing this anomaly by curtailing the tax-free status enjoyed by policyholders on the maturity of insurance policies. In 2021, high-value ULIPs were made taxable and earlier this year, the budget proposal indicated similar restrictions in tax-free status for non-ULIP life insurance products. However, the detail lacked clarity on how to view this aspect of taxation on insurance policies. In August, the CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) issued a 17-page guideline to explain how this change will come into effect and what kind of non-ULIP life…

By opting for the co-pay facility, you agree to bear a specific portion of your medical expenses and thereby reduce the premiums on health insurance With increasing healthcare expenses, the cost of health insurance is also on the rise and can impact your finances even if you have health insurance. There are several aspects of health insurance that one needs to understand to utilise the policy to its fullest. One such key feature is the co-pay facility in medical insurance. Co-pay is a proportion of the allowable claim amount that you, as a policyholder, bear at the time of a health insurance claim settlement. Think of it as your contribution each time you face a health insurance claim. Co-payment varies depending on the health insurance plan and the type of…

The aroma of nigella seeds crackling in hot mustard oil wafted in from the kitchen as my cook prepared the tampering for masoor dal. Sitting at my work desk, leafing through The Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Cuisine, it piqued my curiosity to know more about this essential spice in every Bengali kitchen. Glancing through the alphabetically arranged ‘List of Entries’, I found it indexed as Entry#175, Page 258. Nigella, as it turned out, is known by many misleading names such as kala jeera, black onion seeds or black sesame, which have no bearing on its origin or properties. The short entry on nigella prompted me to check out the ‘Spice Box’ entry that detailed the Bengali five-spice mixture panch phoron, of which nigella is a key component. This nine-pager entry,…