Innholdsfortegnelse for Monday, December 11, 2023 i India Today

It’s a strange irony. Go by the numbers, and Maharashtra seems endowed with a healthy tiger population. But look closely and you find a large number dying as well. Since 2018, the state has lost 151 tigers, a third of them to unnatural causes. Poaching and electrocution claimed 42 tiger lives, drowning and rail and road accidents killed another 16, a testimony to how linear projects dissecting tiger habitats pose an inherent risk for the big cats. Till October 26, Maharashtra has seen 36 tiger deaths. Four of these were on account of accidents, one due to poaching via poisoning and eight by electrocution. In 2022, the state lost 29 tigers, of which 18 died natural deaths, four each were lost to accidents and electrocution, and three to poaching. According…

The use of a ‘halal’ tag that certifies if a product is ‘permissible’ for consumption under Islamic laws is, ironically, not permitted in Uttar Pradesh anymore. While the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led state government says the ban is meant to crack down on the nexus that is exploiting religious sentiments to boost sales, the Opposition has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime of pushing yet another divisive agenda for political gains. It was on November 18 that the UP government ordered a ban on production, storage, distribution and sale of halal-certified products across the state, a day after the Lucknow police booked four organisations—the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Halal Trust, Delhi; Halal India Private Limited, Chennai; the Halal Council of India, Mumbai and the Jamiat Ulema Maharashtra—for allegedly issuing forged halal…

Every year, as the annual poisonous haze begins to descend on the National Capital Region, Sujata Sen whisks out her N95 masks and turns on air purifiers in every room, including in the loos. She has invested Rs 1.5 lakh on a system that regulates the air quality inside the house. Indoor plants soak up the rest of the stray pollutants hanging about in the air. Her fraternal twin Swapan couldn’t have been more different. Till last year, he would even exercise outdoors without a mask. He tried doing the same this year, but couldn’t. “I was walking in the first week of November and felt I couldn’t breathe,” he says. “My throat was dry and my chest tight.” The visit to the doctor didn’t bring good news. The 58-year-old…

As a thick, poisonous smog engulfed Delhi this November, like so many Novembers before, the air quality level in the national capital deteriorated to its worst ever in eight years. Doctors, too, began reporting an alarming rise in complaints of respiratory disorders. In desperation, the Delhi administration reached out to experts at IIT Kanpur to conduct an experiment that they had long been contemplating—of artificial rain. Using the technique of ‘cloud seeding’, it involves dispersing silver iodide into the atmosphere, which aids the formation of ice crystals in clouds and triggers precipitation. Its use is mostly in dispelling drought in an area, but Delhi wanted to try it—for the first time—to clean its air of pollutants. Fortunately, Mother Nature intervened and unexpected showers washed away the smog, restoring some of…

Mumbai joined Delhi this year in the dubious club of cities with dangerous air pollution levels, and took the cue from the national capital to shut down some construction activity and issue guidelines to fortify construction sites. Despite the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) banning garbage burning and warning crackdowns against the 6,000-odd construction projects in the city if they failed to follow the norms, the city’s AQI plummeted to 245, or ‘severe’ category, on November 13, the day after Diwali, celebrating which is deemed incomplete without bursting a few thousand crackers. Environmentalist D. Stalin, director of the NGO Vanashakti, however, attributes Mumbai’s air pollution to dust and particulate matter on account of “uncontrolled construction activity”. “(Constructions at) government projects are more guilty than private projects,” he charges. Excavated dirt at…

IF a city was a novel, this could be it: a piece of magic realism coming out of a lunch box. Think of it as a simple narrative device that holds within itself the Mumbai story. The biography of faceless millions who make up its brick and mortar, its moving human architecture, and innate genius. With a humble task and a name like ‘the dabbawalas’, a decidedly dowdy one that refuses any stylistic gloss, you would imagine the associated cast of characters to be lost in the heaving blur of humanity that made up the unchic suburbs, fading out to the vast and rough-hewn ruralia beyond. Sweat, grime, toil…and suburban trains packed like sardines. But then, you see them rub shoulders with the beau monde at Windsor Guildhall, when Prince…

Calling Bengaluru the rock music capital of India might evoke protests from fans in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Shillong, but the garden city just got an edge over the others, thanks to Bandland. Bengaluru will serve as the home of the new annual rock festival, the inaugural edition of which will be held on December 16-17 at the Embassy Riding School. Promoted and produced by BookMyShow Live, Bandland will feature four international and eight Indian acts that span long-running legends and present-day stars. British hard rock veterans Deep Purple and American alternative rock icons Goo Goo Dolls will headline a line-up that includes the US’s The War on Drugs and Australia’s Amyl and the Sniffers, both of which are currently festival favourites across the world. Among the Indian contingent are…

The 29th edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival, to be held between December 5 and 12, is featuring multiple competitive sections for national and international feature-length films, short films, and documentaries. Leading the roster is the International Competition section. Carlos Daniel Malavé’s Venezuelan film One Way is an immigration drama tracking a mother caught in a social and economic crisis. Globalisation is also the theme of Spanish actor-turned-filmmaker Liz Lobato’s debut directorial project Land of Our Mothers, a farcical look at a village slowly getting sold away while its inhabitants prefer to look the other way to keep the community intact. Meanwhile, Asa Helga Hjorleifsdottir’s Icelandic film A Letter From Helga is in sombre contrast and follows a scandalous affair between a farmer and his poet neighbour in a…

Kunti is a labourer on one of the sugar plantations in Fiji, as is her husband. One day, she disappears from the ‘coolie’ lines leaving the family behind. A Sikh police officer based in Suva, the capital, is put on her case. Has the pretty young woman eloped, has she been kidnapped, or even possibly murdered? Nilima Rao’s A Disappearance in Fiji is a page turner, an impressive debut novel. The author describes herself as ‘culturally confused’, being ethnically Indian, born in Fiji and living in Australia from the age of three. This is a mystery novel, but it also pays homage to the country of her birth, where her ancestors arrived from India as indentured labourers to work in the plantations owned by Australians. Indentureship was a form of…

Few images outshine imagination more vividly than the painterly moodiness of Scottish skies—the dramatic landscapes and the smoky warmth of the Islay malts have earned the island its popular moniker of ‘Queen of the Hebrides. The rich, well-documented history dating back to the first century AD bears vivid testimony to the storied past of this jewel of an island that ranks fifth in size in Scotland among 700. The capital, Bowmore, is home to the first licensed Islay distillery, and was founded back in 1779. With a tiny population of 3,000 to enjoy the peaty nectar produced by nine distilleries across 600 square kilometres, it’s the perfect hilly haven for whisky worshippers. Over the past two decades, I’ve sampled and enjoyed whisky across many continents, countries, and cultures. However, savouring…

Transform your living room into a futuristic haven of comfort and entertainment with the latest and greatest gadgets that seamlessly blend cutting-edge technology with unparalleled style. From smart home devices that respond to your every command to immersive audiovisual experiences that redefine entertainment, these handpicked gadgets are designed to elevate your living space. Samsung QLED 8K Q700C TV Let’s face it; entertainment defines leisure these days so no living room is complete without a fabulous TV. The Samsung QLED 8K Q700C is a 65-inch flat television that boasts Quantum Matrix Technology that illuminates up to 33 million pixels, delivering a billion vibrant colours. Powered by the advanced Neural Quantum Processor, it can achieve stunning 8K and 4K picture quality through AI upscaling and features like Shape Adaptive Light Control. Q…

Sixteen days too late, but Diwali finally came for the 41 labourers who got trapped after a portion of the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel collapsed in Uttarakhand on November 12. It took over 400 hours of sheer resolve as rescue workers from multiple agencies, under the PMO’s constant vigil, provided logistics to drill through the 60-metre-thick rubble, while on the other side, the trapped men held on to hope and sanity. After a string of setbacks, it was by the afternoon of November 28 that rescue looked imminent as ‘rat-hole’ miners started burrowing through the remaining two metres of the debris using hand-held tools. Around 8 in the evening, the disaster response personnel eventually wheeled out all the trapped workers in quick succession (see How They Did It). “We were doing…

Perhaps the ghost of the Jheeram Ghati massacre will be finally laid to rest. A decade after the deadly political slaughter took place on May 25, 2013, and following a protracted legal battle, the Supreme Court on November 21 issued an order granting the Chhattisgarh police autonomy to investigate it. In doing so it overruled the opposition of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which had been probing the case, to the involvement of the state police in the investigation. The Bhupesh Baghel government had long asserted that the NIA probe had overlooked the conspiracy angle in the case, and the state police therefore be allowed to investigate the incident. On that fateful day 10 years back, heavily armed Maoists had ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders in the Jheeram Ghati…

WHAT IS PARTICULATE MATTER? Not always visible, it comprises particles of chemicals, soil, smoke, dust or allergens. Different in size, shape and chemical composition, these particles are defined by their diameter for air quality regulatory purposes. The tiniest of these particles (PM2.5) are 30 times thinner than a strand of human hair and can easily enter our bodies through our airways POLLUTION AND ITS IMPACT ON VARIOUS ORGANS HOW TO STAY SAFE Wear a well-fitted N-95 mask every time you step outdoors Avoid outdoor exercise, crowded spaces and malls Try to stay indoors as much as possible. Air filters might help but only if the room is significantly sealed of outside air Vulnerable people—those above 60, below five, or with comorbidities like heart disease or respiratory disease—should remain indoors with…

For a country as large as India, the sheer number of motor vehicles on its roads can be mind-numbing. We had 210 million two-wheelers and 70 million four-wheelers registered as on August 3, 2022. FY23 alone saw 22 million new vehicles, including 16 million two-wheelers and 3.6 million passenger vehicles. Vehicular emission is now the number one cause of pollution in many of India’s major cities. The exhaust pipes of vehicles emit a deadly cocktail of fumes and particulate matter that include dangerous oxides of nitrogen and sulphur besides air toxics such as carbon monoxide and benzene. To address the issue, India has since 2000 been following the Bharat Stage (BS) emission standards, modelled on the EU norms. The BS standards regulate tailpipe emissions of air pollutants. In April 2020,…

The problems are fairly well known and repeated often enough. The burning of paddy stubble by the farmers of Punjab to prepare the land for the sowing of the wheat crop for the rabi season has long contributed to haze hood, as it is known, over Delhi and its environs. It has its provenance in the directive, circa 2010, that Haryana and Punjab farmers delay the paddy sowing season by a month due to severe drinking water shortages during summer. The delayed sowing meant the kharif crop was harvested in November instead of late September-early October. By this time, the winds in the Indo-Gangetic plains begin to ease. What compounds matters is the bowl-shaped topography of the NCR and the low-lying Gangetic plains, which act as a sink for the…

Bengal’s all-consuming and undiluted love for football has an early milestone. In 1911, Mohun Bagan became the first Indian side to win the IFA Shield after defeating the East Yorkshire regiment. Footballing success thereafter generated fierce nationalistic pride, serving as a sporting adjunct of the freedom movement. In recent decades, the passion for football has come in useful for political purposes, too. Khela Hobe (the game’s on) became Mamata’s rallying cry in the 2021 assembly election, as broken foot and all, she led the Trinamool Congress to a magnificent win. She was certainly not the first to realise the demotic pull of the beautiful game, especially among the youth. Veteran leaders Jatin Chakraborty and Kshiti Goswami of the Revolutionary Socialist Party have had long associations with the three major football…

↘ Dabbawalas hail from specific locations in the Maharashtra countryside, and belong to the Maratha community ↘ The white Gandhi cap is a must for dabbawalas ↘ Each group of dabbawalas accounts for expenses like hire charges for bicycles, loss of tiffin boxes and cycles and then divide earnings equally. A dabbawala earns between Rs 14,000 and 18,000 a month ↘ The mukadam or overseer resolves any disputes among the men under his command. Else, these issues are raised before the Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association and the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust ↘ The trust controls four dharmashalas (charitable inns) at the pilgrimage centres of Bhimashankar, Jejuri, Alandi and Pandharpur ↘ According to a book by Shobha Bondre, underworld don Haji Mastan once offered to lend his name to…

The 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or the COP28, is being held in Dubai from November 30 to December 12. At this critical juncture, Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, secretary, ministry of new & renewable energy, and Ajay Mathur, director general, International Solar Alliance, discussed what India—having set some challenging renewable energy targets for itself—brings to the global table. THE BOLD TARGETS Bhalla: We have said that we would like to have 50 per cent of power capacity by 2030 from non-fossil fuels. The second commitment we have made is that the energy intensity of the economy would reduce by 45 per cent vis-a-vis the 2005 level by 2030. Apart from that, we’ve also announced that we would like to be energy independent by…

In 2020, the Narendra Modi government launched the National Infrastructure Pipeline, aimed at boosting India’s infrastructure with a capital outlay of Rs 100 lakh crore by 2025. The 2023 budget gave a huge boost to capital spending by providing Rs 10 lakh crore, a 33 per cent increase from the previous year. Three top experts, Vinayak Chatterjee of Infravision Foundation, Manish R. Sharma of PwC and L&T’s K.V.B. Reddy, assess the challenges ahead. BANG FOR THE BUCK Vinayak Chatterjee: After the last budget, INDIA TODAY had that roundtable with the finance secretaries and the people who made the budget. A very significant comment was made by the seniormost bureaucrat in the finance ministry. He said they have a confidential report—the government had found out that one rupee spent on infrastructure…

There are “no David Attenborough-style nature documentaries” at the All Living Things Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF), says co-founder and director Kunal Khanna. Instead, there will be films on Russian scientists transporting large woolly beasts to Siberia, dwindling orca populations, and space trash. The fourth edition of ALT EFF will screen 62 films, from December 1 to 10, online and offline across India. Thirty-nine films are Indian premieres. Since its inaugural 2020 edition, ALT EFF has come a long way from being a digital endeavour. “Films on environment and climate change solutions are becoming more prominent as you can see with the reception for All That Breathes, The Elephant Whisperer and My Octopus Teachser, all of which won Oscars since 2020,” says Khanna. “Our festival is 50 per cent about…

Writer-director Zoya Akhtar’s oeuvre includes a tale about strugglers in Bollywood (Luck By Chance); follows the journey of an aspiring rapper from the Mumbai slums (Gully Boy); a dysfunctional Punjabi family aboard a cruise ship (Dil Dhadakne Do) and three friends on a road trip in Spain (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara). Her latest, The Archies, though is not just her first period flick but also recreates the youngest, most idyllic world. Based on the popular American comic book series, The Archies, which drops on Netflix on December 7, is set in 1960s India where Riverdale is a hill station that’s home to the Anglo-Indian community. It celebrates the innocence of youth as well as its resilience and more significantly friendship. And it does so with songs, which build a mood…

While India has always been the exotic poster child for wellness, it’s emergence on the beauty and skincare map has almost been a wild card entry, with the pandemic proving almost serendipitous in its precipitous ascent. Ironically, even though India’s tryst with beauty potions is a hallowed tradition with a merry mix of household ingredients and store cabinet skincare solutions, the organised industry lacked product variation as well as a variegated price spectrum, as also attractive packaging. Today, a shift towards incorporating the use of modern formulations and global packaging have sealed the deal for emerging beauty brands, which have been proliferating like mushrooms on a grassy knoll in the monsoon. It all began with “Make in India”, a project Lakme started with cosmetics suited for Indian skin types. The…

600 APPROX. N0. OF PEOPLE ENGAGED IN RESCUE WORK AT THE SITE 60 METRE WIDTH OF THE RUBBLE THAT HAD TO BE DRILLED THROUGH ABOUT THE TUNNEL ↘ The 4.5-km Silkyara-Barkot tunnel will provide all-weather connectivity between Gangotri and Yamunotri under the Radi pass, as part of the Char Dham Highway Development Project ↘ It will effectively reduce the 25.6-km snow-affected stretch of NH-134 (Dharasu-Barkot-Yamunotri road) to 4.5 km, resulting in a travel time of just 5 minutes, a tenth of the 50 minutes that it takes to cover the distance at present ↘ Before the collapse, 56 per cent of the project was completed, with May 14, 2024, as the deadline. The new deadline is yet to be announced THE RESCUE TEAM ↘ PMO: Former advisor Bhaskar Khulbe remained…

Bihar has shown the way. Announced the intention, and acted on it. On November 15, Andhra Pradesh launched a pilot of its caste census, ostensibly to assess the numbers of castes and sub-castes in the state and tailor welfare measures accordingly, but also to drum up support for the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) ahead of the 2024 general election. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy declared that the census will “empower the backward castes and ensure social justice in the state”. The actual survey will start on December 9 and the results out by January-end. The elaborate grama/ward secretariat system that YSRCP has established in AP for grassroots administration should make the conduct of the census a swift affair. The pilot project is under way in five secretariats—Srikakulam,…

As the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan draw to a close, the future of the 18 MPs that the BJP fielded, four of whom were Union ministers, has become the subject of intense speculation. Three of the Union ministers—Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste—are from MP, where the ruling BJP and challenger Congress are in a close contest. Every seat counts, and that will require the ministers to stay put in the state, whether to form the government or to strengthen the party’s hands in the Opposition. If the BJP wins, expect a tussle over the chief ministerial chair. With the Lok Sabha election less than six months away, the central leadership may induce a temporary truce, but the party is certain to have…

DELHI ● Vehicular and industrial emissions keep the national capital’s air quality toxic round the year. It has 643 motorised vehicles per 1,000 people. Ahead of winter, stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana worsens the pollution MUMBAI ● Mumbai has the advantage of the sea breeze that disperses the toxic air. But over time, infra projects and construction have led to wind stagnation and dust pollution. Around 6,000 projects have been warned of action if they don’t fall in line KOLKATA ● Industrial pollution and elderly vehicles are the chief causes of pollution in the eastern metropolis. Govt estimates suggest there are over 2 mn 15-plus years old motor vehicles plying in the city PATNA ● In October, the Bihar capital was India’s second most polluted city. It has over…

India has a difficult choice ahead of it. While advanced nations are pushing for phasing out coal altogether as a fuel source in order to keep global warming under check, India can’t turn the tap off easily. Coal-generated power meets 75 per cent of the country’s electricity needs currently. At present, India has 267 thermal power plants that generate over 230 GW of power, of which close to 200 GW is generated from coal-fired plants and the rest from oil and gas. The Union power ministry has announced that another 18 thermal power plants (of which 17 will use coal as fuel) are coming up in different parts of the country to meet the nation’s burgeoning electricity requirements. This even as India reiterated its commitment at the ongoing COP28, the annual…

At a time when the revdi versus welfare debate was raging, the Congress decided to rechristen its welfarist promises and call them ‘guarantees’. The Grand Old Party went on to win the election in Karnataka on that steam. Six months down the line, the question everyone’s asking is: how are they faring? For, on their perceived success or otherwise depends the Congress’s appeal in the four big states going to elections this winter—Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and neighbouring Telangana. The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government’s flagship scheme, the Anna Bhagya, ran into rough weather soon after it was announced in June (see Blanket Coverage?). Promising an additional five kilograms of rice to the central allocation of 5 kg to every ration card-holder, the scheme seemed destined for stillbirth when the Centre stopped…

“Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s emphasis on the rule of law is the reason why we are a leading state in infrastructure development. Secondly, there is transparency, which has increased people’s confidence in the government. That’s the reason expressways, each requiring acquisition of 8,000-10,000 hectares, are being built in two-three years”MANOJ KUMAR SINGH Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture Production Commissioner, Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh The new Uttar Pradesh is full of new hope and confidence, says the state’s Additional Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh, who is also UP’s Agriculture Production and Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner. BUILDING CAPACITIES Uttar Pradesh accounts for around 35 per cent of access-controlled expressways in the country. Within a year, the Ganga Expressway will be ready. We have the second-largest network of roads, the…

STRANGER THINGS, (Netflix) There are monsters, a girl with superpowers, bad scientists, a good cop, adorable friends and more in this show, which has inspired a cult-like following now. That it is set in the 1980s and includes plenty of pop culture references from the period has only added to its charm. LOVECRAFT COUNTRY (Amazon Prime) A black man travels through racially segregated America of the 1950s in search of his father, only to find his journey routinely hindered by terrifying monsters and ruthless white men. MIDNIGHT MASS (Netflix) Mike Flanagan has created an impressive roster of horror fare for Netflix (The Haunting of Hill House, The Fall of the House of Usher), but this by far might be its most engrossing watch. It cleverly shows how religion is the…

It’s celebration time! I write from Paris, where the air is so thick with excitement that I can slice it and plop it into my champagne flute. And raise a toast. A toast to eternal youth, to three grand dame hotels that distil history with elegance and yet throb with the vibrance of youth. These hotels are not just places to stay, but enchantments spanning centuries; much like Paris, which is my first love. She seduces slowly and sensuously. She lingers with a languorously haunting beauty and then surprises with a vigorousness that slam dunks adrenalin into high gear. For the past two decades, I’ve not only stayed at this trio of rocking grand dames, but filmed my TV show in each one too. From filming chef Christophe Michalak bake…

One of Patek Philippe’s most enduring company slogans: “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation,” was introduced when the company launched its “Generations” campaign in 1996. Trust the Swiss to know a thing or two about the power of legacy, and how to honour and preserve it. But the idea of inheritors turning conservators is not limited to the rarefied world of haute horology alone. All of Switzerland prides itself on its legacy and joins hands to preserve it for future generations. In fact when it comes to leading the way towards a sustainable future, the Swiss are generations ahead of the rest—marking it the Swisstainable way. Not only are they champions at recycling, but also boast impressive water and air quality…

Calling the GLC an important car for Mercedes-Benz would be an understatement. It is the German luxury brand’s top-selling vehicle worldwide and is hugely popular in India as well. Its first-generation model, which sold 13,000 units in India, has now made way for the second-gen GLC, which aims to offer an even more elevated luxury experience. The 2023 Mercedes GLC, while retaining the essence of its predecessors, steps forward with a design that speaks to the modern lifestyle enthusiast. The car’s aerodynamic profile—now more efficient with a reduced drag coefficient of 0.29—hints at a balance between aesthetic appeal and functional prowess. In the front, the GLC features a combination of newly integrated LED headlights and a larger Mercedes emblem set against a bumper with a skid-plate design, adding a hint…