Innholdsfortegnelse for 12 May 2025 i India Today

With India and Pakistan going eyeball to eyeball after the Pahalgam terror attack, the threat of a military conflagration hangs over the subcontinent. This week, we focus on India’s Antagonist No. 1, General Asim Munir. Not only because New Delhi deems Pakistan’s army chief and de facto helmsman as the one who authorised the Pahalgam massacre. His thoughts and actions form a crucial variable. Unfortunately, despite proclaiming to be a democracy, the all-powerful nature of the army chief’s post has been a defining feature of Pakistan. After Partition, the new Islamic state followed its own twisted tryst with destiny. Of the 77 years it has been in existence, Pakistan has been under direct military rule for 33 long years, in three phases. But that number is misleading, because the army…

A FIVE-YEAR HIATUS IS NOTHING WHEN seen against the span of history. On May 2, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s dream capital Amaravati renews its tryst with destiny, returning from the realm of imagination to that of brick and mortar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who laid its foundation stone at Uddandarayunipalem on October 22, 2015, is again at hand as the greenfield capital goes into construction. There’s plenty on the drawing board. Naidu, chairing a huddle of the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) in March, sanctioned work for 59 development projects at a total cost of Rs 37,702 crore. Amaravati 2.0, visualised as “a smart city with stateoftheart amenities, efficient transportation systems and green spaces”, will see Rs 64,721 crore invested in its first phase, which has a…

BIRTH AND FAMILY Syed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah was born in Rawalpindi. His father, Syed Sarwar Munir, whose family had migrated from Jalandhar after Partition, was a school-teacher, and also served as an imam, delivering Friday sermons at a local mosque. Asim Munir studied at Markazi Madrasa Dar-ul-Tajweed in Rawalpindi. Later, he would earn the title of a Hafizi-Quran for having memorised all the verses of the Quran in their entirety. JOINING THE ARMY Munir did not join the elite Pakistan Military Academy but entered service through the Officers Training School (OTS) at Mangla in 1986. As the best-performing cadet (in photo), he won the Sword of Honour. His first posting was in the 23rd Battalion of the Frontier Force Regiment, an infantry unit. ACADEMIC RECORD In the army, Munir…

On April 8, when the Supreme Court delivered a landmark verdict in Tamil Nadu vs Governor of Tamil Nadu, it once again laid bare fundamental questions about India’s federal structure, the limits of guberna torial discretion and who ultimately decides when a constitutional office has overstepped its bounds. The apex court invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, which equip it to pass a decree or order to “do comp lete justice”. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, whose stint as governor in West Bengal regularly pitted him against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, promptly denounced Article 142 as a “nuclear missile against democratic forces”. The case in Tamil Nadu related to the 10 bills that had been pending with Governor R.N. Ravi since 2022. In a sweeping 415-page judgment,…

IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE DRUGS Immunosuppression medi ca tion like tacrolimus and cyc losporine suppress the immune system’s response to a transplanted organ, helping its acceptance by the body IMAGING FOR PRE-AND POST-SURGERY MONITORING Before surgery, ultrasound, MRI and various CT scans help surgeons monitor patients. Post-surgery techniques like Ultrasound-Doppler show the state of the transplanted organ MACHINE PERFUSION SYSTEMS These devices circulate fluids through organs to mimic the body’s blood flow, support organ viability during preservation and assessment NEW PRESERVATIVES New preservation solutions and techniques are being developed to minimise damage to organs during storage/transportation ROBOTIC SURGERY Enhanced precision and minimally invasive techniques for transplant procedures help in faster recovery and better outcomes AI DRIVEN ORGAN ALLOCATIONS AI algorithms can analyse complex patient data to optimise donor–recipient matching, identifying the best possible…

IT WAS A CONFLUENCE OF POLICY, PERFORMANCE AND PERSPECTIVE to chart Madhya Pradesh’s path to its next phase of growth. Held on April 25 in Bhopal, india today’s State of the States Madhya Pradesh First Conclave brought together politicians from across the spectrum, civil servants, academicians, industrialists, professionals, actors, hoteliers, a humorist, wildlife experts and subject experts. Over a series of sessions, speaker after speaker addressed the central theme—how to realise the state’s full potential and drive its next leap forward. Marking his 500th day in office, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav outlined his government’s priorities and the policy changes being introduced across key sectors to achieve the desired goals. First up, he highlighted efforts to shore up investments, including a shift toward local engagement through regional industry summits. Dwelling on the…

SHATTERED A Memoir By Hanif Kureishi PENGUIN ₹ 999; 322 pages On Boxing Day in 2022, the British-Pakistani writer Hanif Kureishi had a sudden fall while holidaying in Rome with his partner Isabella d’Amico. Kureishi had suffered a severe spinal injury that left him paralysed, unable to walk, feed himself or hold a pen. From an active 68-year-old father of three sons with a vigorous intellectual life, he became wholly dependent, undergoing slow, agonising rehab. Although his speech and brain remained unaffected, he was moved eventually to two hospitals in England. Over the course of a year, Kureishi began to dictate regular blog posts to Isabella, and his sons Carlo, Sachin and Kier, and post them online as The Kureishi Chronicles. Shattered is an edited version of those diaries, of…

Q. You’ve played the antagonist a few times, including in your latest film Jaat. What does it really take to be an effective villain? There is no difference with playing the hero or the villain. While I am used to doing a lot of prep for my roles, with this one, almost 90 per cent of the job is looking the part. Usually, the audience cheers for the hero but with Jaat, I have got so much love for Ranatunga (his character) that I am amazed. Q. You recently said that you want to direct more… I was an accidental director (on Swatantrya Veer Savarkar) but I then found that I have a flair for it. All my life, I’ve been co-conspiring with my directors for my part at least.…

We are far from understanding diabetes, it seems. Last week, a new type was recognised—well, re-recognised. Known previously as malnutritionrelated diabetes, the WHO had first put it on its list of diseases in 1985, and then dropped it in 1999 due to lack of research. Now, the International Diabetes Foundation has found work done by leading researchers, many of whom are from Christian Medical College in Vellore, compelling enough to accept it as a form of diabetes. It has a new name that validates it: Type 5. Published in 2022 in the journal Diabetes Care, the research showed how its processes differed from the common Type 2, which is linked to insulin resistance caused primarily by obesity. Here, what’s at play is very poor secretion of insulin. “The exact cause…

GENERAL AYUB KHAN (1958–1969) After a coup against Pre sident Iskander Mirza, Ayub, as army chief, imposed Pakistan’s first martial law. He centralised power, pushed for secular modernisation with a “controlled democracy”. He advo cated stateguided cap italism, achieving fast growth but worsening inequality. Unleashed the 1965 war against India, which is seen as inconclusive. GENERAL ZIA-UL-HAQ (1977–1988) After overthrowing Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a coup, Zia Islamicised Pakistan’s polity and military, and wove Islamic law into govern ance. His economic model relied on fore ign aid, mainly from the US and Saudi Arabia. In return, he nurtured a jihadist infrastructure to thwart the Soviet inv asion of Afghanistan. Ties with India remained hostile. GENERAL PERVEZ MUSHARRAF (1999–2008) The mastermind of the Kargil War, Musharraf came to power overthrowing PM…

THE LAW ↘ All bills—except a money bill—require the assent of the governor to become law ↘ Under Article 200 of the Constitution, a governor can exercise any of the four alternatives—to give assent, withhold it, return the bill to the assembly for reconsideration, or reserve it for the consideration of the President THE PROBLEM ↘ Since no timeline is prescribed for governors to decide on a bill, Raj Bhavans exploit this ambiguity to sit on bills indefinitely THE REMEDY ↘ SC has now ruled that governors cannot wield a veto or a pocket veto over the passed bills ↘ They cannot first return a bill to the assembly and then refer it to the President, it must be one or the other; referral is allowed only under clearly defined…

In death, Janmesh Lenka saved two lives. On March 1, when the 15-year-old was declared brain-dead at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AI-IMS) Bhubaneswar, his parents made the courageous—and compassionate—decision to allow his organs to be used for transplants. Lenka’s liver was retrieved and transported to the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) in Delhi, where it was given to a child with end-stage liver failure, while his kidneys were transplanted into an adolescent at AIIMS Bhubaneswar itself. “These procedures were impossible to do a decade ago…there is no denying the advancements made in transplant technology,” says Dr Sanjeev Lalwani, professor of forensic medicine at the JPN Apex Trauma Centre in AIIMS Delhi. An equally complex procedure was performed on a 10-month-old boy from Karur in Tamil Nadu, at…

Q ON HIS 500 DAYS IN OFFICE While 500 days seem a long time for seeing the impact of some decisions, I feel a proper assessment of long-term decisions can be done after five years. Q ON THE EXTENSIVE TOUR TO GET INVESTMENT IN MANU-FACTURING INTO THE STATE The purpose of my foreign trips was to study their models for investment and the opportunities people of MP can have in those countries. Q ON THE NEWLY UNVEILED INDUSTRIAL POLICY There are incentives for industries that are labour-intensive, and such units can be given land too. Q ON THE STEPS TAKEN TO MAKE INVESTING EASIER We’ve made collectors responsible for all permissions, by creating an industries cell so that all permissions can be secured at one point. Q ON ORGANISING REGIONAL…

Nine years back, with his acting career in doldrums and his father Harry Baweja having suffered a stroke, Harman Baweja found himself facing a choice which was both a challenge and an opportunity—step up and take the reins of the family-run film studio. In 2025, he is finally reaping the fruits of it as the marital drama Mrs., featuring Sanya Malhotra, produced and co-written by Baweja, became a streaming sensation, amassing 500 million views since its release in February, as per ZEE5. Validation has come his way, as has the expectation to deliver another sleeper hit. Baweja has the pandemic to thank for his career-defining moment. “I’d be writing 12 hours a day, and at one point my sister would be like ‘who are you writing all this for?’ A…

GANGTOK A REGAL BOND TO REMEMBER The Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok, is organising a specially curated exhibition, An Extraordinary Friendship, in May of nearly 300 photographs, documents, films and artefacts celebrating the friendship between Sikkim’s last Chogyal, Palden Thondup Namgyal, and the Dewan of Sikkim, Nari K. Rustomji, who first met at the ICS probationary training camp in Mussoorie in 1942. The exhibits, primarily from the Rustomji Archives, detail important milestones in Sikkim’s history, like the construction of iconic government buildings, the 2,500th Buddha Jayanti celebrations in 1956, Nehru’s visit en route to Bhutan in 1958, the 1965 coronation of the Chogyal, etc. The exhibition is a testament to an extraordinary friendship which set Sikkim up for development and modernity in the 1950s. NEW DELHI Caravaggio Comes to India…

↘ The Indus system has six major rivers ↘ The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960 allocates primary rights over the three eastern rivers—Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej—to India ↘ Under the IWT, primary rights over the western rivers—Indus, Jhelum and Chenab—are with Pakistan 168 MAF TOTAL ANNUAL FLOW IN THE INDUS SYSTEM (MAF=Million acre-feet) WHAT INDIA CAN DO TO PUNISH PAKISTAN ↘ After suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, India can refuse informationsharing on water flow, potentially triggering floods in Pakistan ↘ In the long term, India can divert more water from the western rivers by expediting 13 big hydel projects like Ratle and Pakal Dul and reviving Tulbul/Wular project ↘ Flow from eastern rivers can also be further restricted by commissioning pending Malwa and SYL canals ↘ Reduced, disrupted or uncertain water…

The Pakistan army chief General Asim Munir is not just in the eye of the storm clouding the subcontinent, he is the storm himself. It is no coincidence that he was the head of the notorious Pakistani spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence or the ISI, when it orchestrated the vicious Pulwama terror attack that saw the deaths of 40 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force on February 16, 2019. Six years on, Munir, now de facto supremo of Pakistan, is once again in India’s crosshairs as the alleged mastermind of the Pahalgam terror attack in which 25 tourists and one local were gunned down in Kashmir’s alpine haven on April 22. As the Modi government readies a military riposte to the worst civilian massacre in the Valley in two…

Source: NOTTO CORNEA A corneal transplant, also known as keratoplasty or corneal grafting, replaces a damaged or diseased cornea with a healthy one from a deceased donor. It’s used to treat vision loss, relieve pain and for severe infections or damage to the cornea KIDNEY A healthy kidney from a living or deceased donor is placed into a person with kidney failure. It is the treatment for end-stage renal disease. One kidney from a living donor can be used; both can be used from a deceased donor 57,806 13,426 ₹ 5 lakh to ₹ 15 lakh Survival rates in India: One-year survival rate is around 95-99 per cent for both living and deceased donor transplants 200,000 (approx, national list awaited) 27,394 ₹ Rs 40,000 to ₹ 1.5 lakh Survival rates:…

When Ananth Mahadevan set out to make a straightforward biopic on the 19th century social reformers Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule, the first time it would be told in Hindi, little did he know he’d find himself in hot waters with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The board’s examining committee came up with a series of amendments, which included changing mentions of Mang, Mahar, Shudra and Kunbi to lower caste and tweaking a line from “teen hazaar saal puraani” (3,000 years old) to “kai saal puraani” (going back several years). Mahadevan was taken aback. “Just today I saw a headline in the Times of India which mentions Kunbis in big bold letters,” he said. “If you can allow that in other forms of communication, why not cinema?” Phule’s certification…

Between November 3-5 last year, Dehradun played host to the 2nd Crime Literature Festival of India, three days of literary events and panel discussions centred around crime writing. In addition to writers of crime fiction, there were also Bollywood mainstays like the filmmaker Prakash Jha, journalist Sunetra Chowdhury (whose book on Tihar Jail was adapted into the Netflix series Black Warrant), folks involved in the Amazon Prime crime series Mirzapur, etc. The festival was a reminder of how crime fiction is dominating bookshelves across the country. In recent years, Indian crime fiction has seen a notable uptick in both quality and quantity. Even a cursory glance at the ‘new releases’ section at bookstores will tell you about the genre’s rude health in India. Penguin Random House India, for example,…

When Smita Singh moved to Delhi in 1998, little did she know that her experience would drive her to create Khauf. “I lived in a working women’s hostel, and the danger and isolation that women coming from small towns faced every single day, the fear of being followed, being watched, the feeling that your space is never truly yours, was our constant companion,” says Singh. In fact, it is the exact alley that Singh would have to survive to reach her hostel in the Qutub Institutional Area, that makes a spooky appearance in Khauf. The series follows Madhu (Monika Panwar), leaving behind her traumatic past to seek a new life in Delhi, where she moves into a haunted hostel. Elsewhere, a creepy healer (Rajat Kapoor) is trying to prolong his…