Innholdsfortegnelse for April 16, 2018 i India Today

When I see the violent eruptions across the country caused by the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, I am reminded of the adage “the more things change, the more they remain the same”. We have been covering the plight and anger of Dalits since we carried our first cover story on them, ‘Wretched of the Earth’, dated October 15, 1978, and much intensive coverage since. Governments change, but reality hasn’t. The economic and social reality of Dalits remains one of deprivation. According to a 2010 report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the Prevention of Atrocities against Scheduled Castes, a crime is committed against a Dalit every 18 minutes. Every day, on an average, three Dalit women are…

An excerpt from David Reich’s new book, Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past, recently touched off a media and cultural firestorm in the United States. Appearing as an op-ed in The New York Times, “How Genetics is Changing Our Understanding of ‘Race’”, it had Reich stating that he is “worried that well-meaning people who deny the possibility of substantial biological differences among human populations are digging themselves into an indefensible position, one that will not survive the onslaught of science”. This was not unlike tossing a grenade into the public square. But perched at Harvard, as one of his generation’s most eminent human population geneticists, Reich will move forward unscathed. The reason is simple: Who We Are... is…

Fake News I Few ministers can have been made to look so incompetent so quickly as Smriti Irani this week, as her ministry sought to clamp down on the spreading of fake news. The order, the Prime Minister’s Office quickly realised, was bizarrely drafted, punishing journalists on the basis of allegations and hearsay and failing to even define what ‘fake news’ means. What support Irani did receive on Twitter reflected the way we currently seem to define fake news—any news we do not like, reported by those whom we do not like. This applies to both ends of the political spectrum. The PMO’s swift intervention has made it seem as if Smriti Irani took this rash decision herself. But the social media history of much of the government gives the…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day visit to the UK for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meet in London between April 18 and 20 will be high on optics—a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II and a possible bilateral meet with British PM Theresa May. But the most closely watched event will be an open house before a select audienceofdiasporicdesis.The‘BharatkiBaat,SabkeSaath’willsee a few hundred carefully screened invitees jostling to quiz Modi, live on global television. Sources say the PMO wanted an event to stand apart at the jam-packed CHOGM that 53 heads of government will attend.…

The Maratha Seva Sangh (MSS), which spearheaded 57 massive marches by the state’s politically influential Maratha community over the past 18 months, is today divided on the road ahead. Two factions are locked in a legal battle in a bid to control Sambhaji Brigade, the social wing of the MSS. The hardline faction led by Praveen Gaikwad favours maintaining the status quo, while the rival group, led by Manoj Akhare, wants to launch the Sambhaji Brigade as a full-fledged political party. The state charity commissioner is expected to deliver a verdict on the dispute in the coming weeks. Floated two decades ago by Purushottam Khedekar, a former state government employee (the Marathas, incidentally, comprise 12 per cent of state government employees), the Sambhaji Brigade had the stated objective of ‘creating…

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s proposal to create police commissionerates in Madhya Pradesh has expectedly pitted the state’s IAS and IPS cadre against one another as the move would mean transfer of magisterial powers from the IAS and subordinate revenue officers in the districts to police officers. At a law and order meeting on March 26, Chouhan proposed the new system, starting with Indore and Bhopal. He reasoned that the civil magistracy was overburdened with revenue work. When state chief secretary B.P. Singh suggested that the matter needed discussion, Chouhan reportedly said he had already made up his mind. Seizing the opportunity, senior police officials promptly drafted a proposal to notify police commissionerates in the two cities. Two days later, however, the chief minister appeared to have had second thoughts.…

The April 2 Bharat Bandh, organised by non-political Dalit groups, has revealed a new capacity for mobilisation among the historically oppressed community in the Hindi heartland. Their fight to protect their constitutional rights seems to have acquired a new dimension during Narendra Modi’s regime, dispelling the myths of his slogan, ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’. The Dalit crisis began when the BJP came to power in the Hindi heartland and western part of the country. While the prime minister claims an OBC (Other Backward Class) background, he has done little to secure educational or economic opportunities for the Dalits. This is because the BJP cannot run the government independently; the government machinery is actually run by the party’s mother ship, the RSS. The RSS and the BJP have spread their network…

The Draft Defence Production Policy, 2018, ticks all the boxes on paper. The transformational shift, from being assessed as a top defence importer for the next decade, to ‘make India amongst the top five aerospace and defence producers’, ‘reduce import dependency’, ‘achieve self-reliance’ and ‘export to friendly countries’ in seven years (by 2025) is overambitious. The government must really wield axes—politically, bureaucratically, financially, structurally, legally and intellectually—to achieve this intent. Our massively underperforming defence PSUs, Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) need a metamorphosis in ethos and culture. Otherwise, this policy will be worthless. Viewing it positively, it can happen if a leader of commitment, integrity and knowledge steers the policy. The government must find such a transformational leader—the next Kalam, Sreedharan, Kurien or Swaminathan.…

Divine would like to get one thing clear. Gully Boy, Zoya Akhtar’s upcoming Hindi film about Mumbai’s hip-hop scene, is not a biopic—though it draws on his experiences and those of fellow Mumbai rapper Naezy. “[It has] some incidents from our lives, like how [Ran-veer’s character] discovers hip-hop and how he gets into the scene,” says 27-year-old Divine, whose real name is Vivian Fernandes. Divine’s actual life story will be told in a documentary currently being made by Red Bull Media House, which also produced the video for his new single One Side, from his upcoming debut EP. It makes for a great yarn. As chronicled in songs such as Mere Gully Mein and Farak, Divine grew up in the gullies and chawls of Kurla and Andheri East, where he…

In Blood, Sweat and Pixels,JasonSchreier goes behind the screen to unveil how developers create video games, zeroing in on 10 games and 10 sets of developers ranging from a start-up team called Obsidian that’s flirting with bankruptcy to the massively successful Naughty Dog. The recurrent theme, like the title implies, is the turbulent process of development. Obsidian Entertainment is about to go broke when it taps a new source of cash via Kickstarter. The indie farminggame Stardew Valley takesitscreator some five years to complete. The makers of Dragon Age: Inquisition grapple with multiple technical disasters. Each of these efforts results in a game that fans are crazy about. The oneexceptionis Star Wars 1313,whichdespite all the blood and sweat was never released. Schreier valorises the “crunching” hours these creators put into…

The great American novel is now a massive international hit YA [young adult] book with film rights and merchandising,” an agent tells a struggling writer in the recent Netflix comedy series Friends From College. It’s a disparaging statement, but a true one: the “young adult” or YA novel is hotter than ever. Thanks to the bestselling We Were Liars, E. Lockhart is a giant of the genre. But her follow-up to that 2014 smash, Genuine Fraud, lacks the emotionally resonant writing of the critically acclaimed Liars. As in her first book, a somewhat unreliable narrator recounts the story of Jules and Imogen—two orphans, one rich and the other poor, enmeshed in an intense friendship reminiscent of The Talented Mr Ripley. While the setup is compelling, the convoluted jumping from flashbacks…

FUSS-FREE FASHION PILGRIM Summer fashion is all about breathable cotton and Pilgrim has been making cotton fashionable in the city since 2012. Started by Priyanka Haridas, 35, who quit her IT job to try her hand at design, Pilgrim is popular for its dresses, pants, jackets and skirts that are traditionally tailored in soft cotton, khadi and linen. “When you buy at Pilgrim, you are making a conscious decision of purchasing an authentic and unique product that is well-tailored and is fun to wear too,” says Haridas talking about the brand's USP. AT No 44, Church Street, near KC Das DETAILS pilgrim.net.in PRICE 1,000 onwards ROOTED IN TRADITION THE JEWELRY PROJECT The Jewelry Project, one of the city’s oldest jewellery design houses is here with collections that will add…

Launched in 2015, the ‘Smart Cities Mission’ has been a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But, according to the parliamentary standing committee on urban development, progress has been very slow. The committee’s report, presented in the Lok Sabha on March 9, examined six so-called ‘flagship’ government projects, from Smart Cities to Swachh Bharat and the National Urban Livelihood Mission, and discovered that less than a quarter of the available funds had actually been utilised. According to the government, though, funds are only considered “spent” when projects are completed, so the low numbers don’t account for the amount of work under way. Critics, however, suggest the prestige projects are simply cash-starved, and while the promises have been big, the deadlines, just a year or two away, will not be…

Perhaps in response to criticism of his Rajya Sabha tenure, perhaps as an act of noblesse oblige from a cricketing god, Sachin Tendulkar signed off six years as a member of the Upper House by donating all the money he had received in salary and allowances to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. Much of the criticism of Tendulkar, and other ‘star’ Rajya Sabha members, centred around his poor attendance and his apparent lack of interest in posing questions. But he has used his allocated money to further projects dear to his heart, and that deserves recognition. Besides, the effectiveness of parliamentary sessions in both houses is open to question, so maybe attendance is not the best gauge for performance. 90 LAKH SIX YEARS TOTAL SALARY AND ALLOWANCES THAT TENDULKAR…

Nitish Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan: Nitish has found a soulmate in Paswan. Paswan’s brother is in his cabinet and the CM is also all set to offer a bonanza for the Paswan community. Grapevine: Nitish needs the Dalit votes after Jitan Ram Manjhi went over to Lalu’s camp. Shatrughan Sinha and Lalu Prasad Yadav The BJP MP and film star openly declared support for the jailed former Bihar CM who he once targeted. Grapevine: Unlikely to get BJP ticket in 2019 the star may be looking at an RLD seat. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Upendra Kushwaha The junior HRD minister recently called on Lalu at AIIMS, New Delhi. Grapevine: Reportedly peeved at being sidelined within the NDA, Kushwaha may align his one-man RLSP with the RLD next year. Sandeep…

With just over a month to go for the assembly elections in Karnataka, they are already lining up for a piece of the action—daughters, spouses and sons-in-law of politicians across the party spectrum could make this election a sort of ‘family affair’. Incumbent chief minister Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra, former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s son B.Y. Vijayendra, former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s grandson Prajwal Revanna and former Union minister S.M. Krishna’s daughter Shambhavi are all very likely contenders. Ex-chief minister Veerappa Moily’s son Harsha Moily, however, has been forced to prematurely withdraw from contesting, following his controversial tweet alleging money power in the selection of candidates. Although dynasts aren’t new to Karnataka’s politics, this is the first time that sons and daughters are in the mix in such huge numbers.…

State education minister C. Raveendranath has got himself into a pickle with his statement in the Kerala assembly that 123,630 students enrolled in government and ‘aided’ schools had chosen not to mention their religion or caste. Predictably, the numbers stirred up a raging controversy with several schools in the minister’s list challenging his figures. Among these were some 3,030 students from the Muslim-dominated Kasargod district, with 427 from the N.A. Model Higher Secondary School. School chairman N.A. Abubaker is incensed, saying all 783 students enrolled for the current (2017-18) academic session filled out all the columns on the admission form, including on religion and caste. Insisting that all five Kasargod schools on Raveendranath’s list were wrongly included, Abubaker wants an inquiry into how the government released this “fake data”. Even…

Countries create capabilities for a strategic edge. The costs may be affordable but not necessarily the lowest Intent and execution are key to creating a vibrant defence industrial base in the country. Historically, in all of India’s strategic programmes in space, nuclear and defence, success has come about through a public-private partnership. This approach was a key highlight of the strategic missile programme accomplished by Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme. The MoD’s draft policy continues to exhibit a proclivity towards OFB, DPSUs and DRDO and does not even have a nominal reference on a level playing field for the private sector. It ignores how the PPP programmes of hundreds of tierised vendors in the MSME sector have created strategic depth. It also fails to…

n Chouhan’s associates claimed at the event that the CM had clicked 25 lakh selfies with the people of the state n Chouhan narrated how he got harassed by “pehelwan” youngsters who used to shake hands with too firm a grip. “I never roll down the windows of my car now. At times, some pehelwan types hold my hand as the car keeps moving on and they do grip too hard,” he said. n Chouhan said he was sleeping in his Delhi home on 7, Pant Marg the day the BJP announced that he would be made CM. Seeing the breaking news on TV, his wife informed him about his elevation. The first person to congratulate him was Bhupinder Singh Hooda, his neighbour in Delhi who later became Haryana CM. n…

Good cinema can transport you to a whole new world. Evoking that same feeling with real-time entertainment is a different and a more challenging ballgame. Jaipur-born theatre practitioner Shruti Sharma knows how to accomplish it. Having worked on Zangoora, the long-running musical at the Kingdom of Dreams in Gurgaon, and with director Vikranth Pawar on Disney India’s musical Beauty and the Beast (2015-16), she is well-versed on how huge sets, colourful costumes, splendid lighting, vibrant score and an energetic cast that can sing, dance and act can combine to create a memorable spectacle. She hopes to “create magic on stage”, literally, with Aladdin, which premieres at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai on April 20 and runs until May 6. Picking Aladdin wasaneasy choice given how the…

THE MECHANISM From the makers of the hit Narcos series, this ambitious Brazilian series dramatises “Operation Car Wash”—a bribery and money-laundering probe involving the state-owned oil company Petrobras. Netflix SNEAKY PETE Against the odds, this little-hyped but well-made series about an ex-con (Giovanni Ribissi) who steals the identity of his cellmate to become a crook-catching bail bondsman was renewed for a second season this spring. Amazon Prime BARRY Reminiscent of Elmore Leonard’s Get Shorty, this new comedy follows a hit man (Bill Hader) from America’s Midwestern “flyover” country to Los Angeles, where he joins the local theatre scene. Hotstar…

“KING CAN DO NO WRONG. YOU ARE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT... SPEAK IN HINDI WITHOUT FEAR OF COMMITTING GRAMMATICAL MISTAKES” The vice-president and chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Venkaiah Naidu, sought to encourage the use of Hindi by even those parliamentary colleagues unfamiliar with the language, by advising them to relax, to not worry about errors. He was chairing a committee to promote the use of Hindi in the upper house. Naidu has in the past referred to Hindi as a “powerful” tool to unify Indians. What’s not so clear is who in Naidu’s scenario is meant to be king, Rajya Sabha members particularly, or any fledgling Hindi speaker stumbling over his sentences?…

Having gone missing in Iraq in 2014, 39 Indian construction workers were declared dead by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on March 20 in the Rajya Sabha. Murdered by ISIS terrorists, the bodies were discovered in a mass grave in Mosul and confirmed as Indian through DNA testing and other tell-tale signs, such as Sikh kadas among the remains. Most were from Punjab, with a handful from Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. The bodies arrived in coffins at the Amritsar international airport on April 2, received by distraught relatives, able now to begin the grieving process after years in limbo. As is apparent from this photograph, the media presence was intense. According to the government, there was no record with the Indian embassy of the men’s presence in Iraq…

The practice of multiple sets of question papers was abruptly discontinued in 2018, perhaps to avoid the spiking of marks. Had it continued, the effects of the leakage would have been limited There has recently been much debate in the media over our examination system. The reason, of course, is that some Class 10/ 12 papers of a national board were leaked and some 2.8 million students will have to appear for examination at a later date. Turning this into a political issue serves no purpose. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has earned the reputation of conducting Class 10/ 12 and other professional examinations across India and abroad impeccably for decades. It is not only a national board but to some extent a trendsetter for other state boards…

Self-reliance in defence production has been a major but elusive goal of Indian defence policy in the past six decades. Despite an elaborate defence manufacturing and R&D system built up in the public sector through DRDO, DPSUs and OFB, the degree of self-reliance has hovered around 30 per cent, with major weapons systems and platforms continuing to be imported. The 2018 policy, however, does not set out any parameters for measuring the progress towards self-reliance. The target of increasing the value of domestic defence production from Rs 55,894 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 1,70,000 crore by 2025 implies a compound growth of about 30 per cent per annum, which in turn implies corresponding growth in the defence budget rather than the miserly 5-10 per cent per annum increases in the…

The erotic 10th century Khajuraho sculptures built by the Chandela kings contrast sharply with the serene Sanchi stupa erected by Emperor Asoka (3rd century BC), yet both the Hindu and Buddhist structures symbolise Madhya Pradesh’s monumental historical legacy. Equally powerful is the state’s literary tradition: the classical Sanskrit poet Kalidasa’s Meghadootam was a serenade of love for the beauty of prosperous Ujjain under King Vikramaditya just as the modern-day novel, A River Sutra, by Gita Mehta, is an ode to the holy river Narmada, lifeline of MP. Bhopal’s Bharat Bhavan has lorded over Hindi literature since 1982 with its array of avant garde poets, novelists, artists and theatre personalities. Meanwhile, the rugged rock-cut Udayagiri caves, the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Raisen district, the ornately built Jahangir Mahal in Orchha, the…

“Hindi films don’t try to break the stereotype as far as a woman is concerned” Having played spirited matriarchs in Bareilly ki Barfi! and Shubh Man-gal Saavdhaan, Seema Pahwa is a stiff contender for the title of the coolest on-screen mom. But the 54-year-old actor chafes at being repeatedly cast as a mother worried about marrying off her daughter. “Hindi films don’t try to break the stereotype as far as a woman is concerned,” she says. “Why can’t a womanruna chai tapri,be a judge or a police officer? Even in this day and age we think of a woman as a mother,abuaorchachi.”In contrast, theatre encourages experimentation, says this veteran of the National School of Drama Repertory, Little Theatre and Sambhav groups in Delhi. This month, Pahwa takes to the stage…

Q. At the recent Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival Conversations, you joked that English, Augustis the only book of yours that people have read. Has your big hit become a cross to bear? No, no. It’s marvellous that people still remember the book after 30 years. Also astonishing and touching. I cannot complain. What I meant is, that is by far my best-known book. To be fair, I have also met the occasional freak who’s read them all ! Q. You mentioned reading Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Anandamath recently. Is that part of a new commitment to the classics? I read very slowly in Bengali. After my parents died, I realised there’s no one I can speak Bengali with. So now I speak Bengali only with my dog and the maid at…