Indholdsfortegnelse for May 29, 2017 i India Today

Nobody can fault this government for not trying. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a fount of ideas and with his reformist zeal is trying to mould India into ‘ModiBharat’. This is the hardest-working government I’ve seen in the 42 years of the existence of the magazine and the most honest at the top. There has been such a flurry of initiatives launched by this government that it is difficult to keep track of their success. They are all in the right direction but there seem to be more grand announcements than successful implementation. One of the consequences of such an approach is that expectations are raised to an unattainable level. The 2014 election slogan of ‘achhe din’ continues to haunt this government. India is a vast and complex country, coupled…

Research released by the Pew Center shows India trailing China by some distance when it comes to Internet use. The Center defines an ‘Internet user’ as anyone who owns a smartphone. PM Narendra Modi has expressed great enthusiasm for his vision of a ‘Digital India’. And just last week, Oracle CEO Safra Catz spoke in glowing terms of a government that is “hungry for technology, and is empowering citizens by moving to a digital experience”. But the Pew Center’s figures (for 2016) make for sobering reading. 97% CHINESE OWNED AT LEAST A BASIC MOBILE PHONE IN 2016, COMPARED WITH 72% INDIANS 25% INDIANS OWN A SMARTPHONE, UP 10% FROM 2013 84% CHINESE INTERNET USERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA SITES, UP 21% FROM 2015 38% OF INDIANS WITH AT LEAST A SECONDARY…

Automation threatens lower-end jobs that are repetitive and need minimal human interference Layoffs in the IT sector are not as much of a concern at the moment as getting access to the right technical skillsets. The fact is that the growth of the IT industry is coming down, and if one were to go by the projection of industry body Nasscom, the growth rate in the current year is also expected to be lower, primarily due to geopolitical and other factors. In addition to this, there is a lot of focus on automation across the industry, as global corporations, from plane-makers to consumer goods firms, bet on the use of machines to further reduce costs and improve overall efficiency. So the way I look at it, automation may threaten lower-end…

7.5/10 THEN ARUN JAITLEY addressed an investor meet in New York last month on April 25, the response was lukewarm. “The India story is good but not very exciting, the authorities were a bit evasive about job creation, NPAs. Nothing really struck me as very exciting to kick off private investment,” said an economist who was there. And that perhaps sums up Jaitley’s future challenge. But back home, from a macro perspective, the Indian economy is in a sweet spot. The estimated 7.4 per cent GDP growth in 201718 is likely to be the highest among large economies. The International Monetary Fund describes India as the “bright spot” amid a global gloom. With a 3.2 per cent fiscal deficit and current account deficit down to one per cent, we seem…

IT’S A STRANGE BAROMETER but success or failure in India’s home ministry is often measured by levels of violence within the country. This is because internal security is among the ministry’s primary responsibilities. Rajnath Singh spelt out his counter-Maoist strategy, ‘Samadhan’, on May 8 at a meeting of states affected by leftwing extremism. It came three years into his term, but the meeting showcased Singh as a team player who lined up cabinet colleagues to articulate a security and development paradigm against extremism. A home ministry official points to qualities that have held Singh in good stead in North Block—‘means well, wants to get things done and trusts and delegates’. Singh has always articulated the middle path. Last November, he explained that ISIS radicalisation was not a threat because “people…

THE MEDIUM AND SMALL enterprises account for nearly 37 per cent of India’s GDP and are one of the largest employers (nearly 117 million people). But the share of MSME manufacturing output in the total has been on a steady decline since the high of 42 per cent in 2006-07. MSMEs continued to be marred by operational inefficiencies and infrastructure challenges. There is now a revival and rehabilitation framework in place for MSMEs in distress, and a credit guarantee trust fund has been set up to facilitate flow of credit in the system. An MSME database has also been set up. The RBI had raised concerns over the lack of supervision in the credit guarantee schemes. New government programmes like Stand Up India, Start Up India, Digital India offer huge…

THAT 42 CENTRAL PUBLIC sector enterprises (CPSE) are still functioning without a regular head describes the sorry state of the ministry. Anant Geete also doesn’t seem to have any plan for sick public sector industries other than their closure. The ministry has approved closure of eight such enterprises between September 2016 and March 2017. The PSE plight is highlighted by the fact that Maharatna company Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited contributes 85 per cent of the total turnover and 55 per cent of total manpower among all PSEs. But even with all this, Geete still sounds optimistic. “We are taking the ministry to new heights. You will start seeing the results soon,” was his answer to all our queries. Done ■Policy for capital goods sector, boost for production of hybrid/ electric…

TO DOUBLE FARMERS’ INCOMES by 2022, we need to get the food processing industry going.” With this in mind, Harsimrat Kaur Badal is devoting all her energies to the task. “Food parks reduce wastage and ease inflation,” she says. Overhauling the mega food park policy brought results. In 2014, just two of 42 allocated food parks, and 30 of the 100 cold chains were operational. Today, eight parks are open, four more await inauguration, and all 100 cold chains are in operation. India’s first National Food Grid Development Authority is in the works. Kaur’s biggest challenge and success, however, was getting the government to open FDI in multi-brand retail to sell food processed in India, even if it irked the RSS’s swadeshi ideologues. Done ■Cleared bottlenecks in policy for mega…

WHEN DHARMENDRA PRADHAN took charge, his ministry was widely accused of being under the influence of corporate players, confidential information was being leaked everyday and the web of fuel subsidies created inefficiencies, not to mention messing up the finances of state-backed oil companies. Today, the leaks have been plugged, corporate players are being kept at arm’s length and fuel subsidies are on their way out. “If I create a transparent environment in which decisions are made with speed or I plug leaks, I am not doing anything extraordinary,” he says. “Ministries should be run like this only.” His success in executing the Ujjwala sch eme is seen as a major factor in the BJP’s landslide win in UP. Besides running his ministry, Pradhan is also anchoring the BJP’s resurgence in…

IN HIS BUDGET 2017 speech, finance minister Arun Jaitley had indicated that the education sector would see big reforms. From focusing on learning assessment in schools, revamping the University Grants Commission (UGC) to setting up a national testing agency for conducting entrance exams, Jaitley set the agenda. But compared to 2013-14 (UPA rule), when education was 4.6 per cent of the government’s total expenditure, spending on the sector has come down to 3.7 per cent this year. Despite the new education policy being in cold storage, and no big-ticket reform in school and higher education, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar maintains that the education sector is firmly on the reforms path. “The main theme of reform in higher education is research and innovation,” he says. “Start-ups have been allowed to operate…

WITH SKILLING INDIA INTEGRAL to PM Narendra Modi’s model of development, Rajiv Pratap Rudy shoulders an enormous responsibility. His ministry is trying to put together a roadmap for skilling—curriculum, target groups, expected outcomes. India now has a comprehensive policy for skill development and entrepreneurship and an implementation plan with the National Skill Development Mission. “Skilling is in the ambit of education and all that is non-performing in that is my legacy,” says Rudy. “There is a huge perception battle with skilling. I am working on building an ecosystem, which was non-existent.” Under the National Skills Qualifications Framework, qualifications for 1,722 skills have been fixed. The ministry is constituting a national board through which students who didn’t clear 10th or 12th grade can get secondary or senior secondary school certificates on…

FOR NAIDU, THE BIGGEST achievement of his ministry is ushering in ‘bottom up’ planning. This has ensured participation of all stakeholders in launch of new urban missions. “Every municipality forms a plan in accordance with central guidelines and generates a certain amount of resources. This is paying huge dividends, as seen in the scale of approval of investments,” says the minister. The Smart City project has already gained some momentum and his next big claim is that under AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation), the government now have detailed action plans for all 500 cities. The Liveability Index of our cities and towns, RERA to clean up the real estate sector etc are other path-defining schemes launched by the ministry. But the ministry faces several tough challenges. Four…

5/10 IN THE BUDGET FOR 2017-18, five ministries— tourism, culture, sports and youth affairs, environment and climate change and social justice and empowerment—were allocated a total of Rs 16,104 crore, just 1.51 per cent of the Rs 10,62,751 crore allocated for various sectors. This number is some indication of the Modi government’s emphasis— or lack of it—on these ministries. According to a March 2017 report by the World Travel and Tourism Council, the tourism industry in India directly supported 25.3 million jobs, which is 5.8 per cent of the country’s total jobs In the World Economic Forum’s list on travel and tourism competitiveness this year, India has been ranked 40, a considerable jump of 12 places from 2015. It’s also the biggest leap any country has taken in that ranking.…

MIRA RAI is a world class trail runner who stormed into the limelight in 2015 A former child soldier for the Maoists, 29-year-old Mira Rai was convinced she had no future when the Nepal army rejected her during the post-war integration of rebel troops. That’s when she discovered trail running. Now she’s a household name in her homeland, and world famous among running aficionados. “I joined the Maoist army at 14,” says Rai, who won National Geographic’s 2017 Adventurer of the Year People’s Choice award. “To make it to the top without proper coaching and support is amazing!” In 2014, Rai had left her home in Bhojpur for Kathmandu. She was training for competitive karate when some runners she met while out hiking convinced her to enter the Himalayan Outdoor…

Deepak Unnikrishnan’s stylistically bold first novel, Temporary People, is an exuberant take on a milieu that the world of literature has mostly ignored. Mass immigration from the subcontinent to the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council states, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, began in the mid-1970s. Popular with South Asian professionals as familyfriendly societies with a veneer of First World comforts— including glittering malls, fast food and international schools—these places are now peopled mainly by such expatriates. And yet, Benyamin’s surreal and terrifying Malayalam bestseller Goat Days (2012) and a short story in Granta by Bangladeshi- British author Tahmima Anam (2014) are perhaps the only notable literary efforts to describe their world—a world in which migrants cannot become citizens and everyone is a disposable guest worker. Unnikrishnan’s…

The second most popular joke about Delhi, after the enervated but all-too-real quips about the lack of safety for women, is how its residents acquire an accent just by being in transit at an international airport. Writer and actor Diksha Basu, however, is a refreshing exception to this old chestnut. The 33-year-old, who spent her childhood moving between Delhi and New York, and could legitimately be expected to roll her r’s and curl her l’s, speaks effortlessly like a Dilliwali, unaffected by any identity or linguistic crisis. “It wasn’t your usual story of disappearing to America and coming back 10 years later when everything changed,” she says, fondly remembering a childhood next door to her grandparents, grateful to her mother and father for keeping the family firmly grounded in India,…

What’s trending this month Talking of Justice Seth Leila Seth made everything look easy, whether it was when she became the first woman to top the London Bar exam, the first woman judge of the Delhi High Court in 1978 or the first woman Chief Justice of a state High Court (Himachal Pradesh) in 1991. Known for her contribution to multiple law committees and critiquing judgements when necessary, the legal system has lost one of its finest jurists. Here are highlights from her career. Seth co-authored the report suggesting pioneering amendments to the Hindu Succession Act (2005) which gave daughters equal rights over inheritance. n As part of the Justice Verma committee report (2013), she recommended amendments to criminal law for speedy trials and stricter punishments for those who commit…

Actor Mumbai “Not knowing your abilities can result in a fascinating journey of self-discovery” No matter how brilliant you are there’s always someone somewhere better than you. Never ever say that you have arrived because that sows the seed of your disintegration.” This is one of the many words of wisdom that Mahesh Bhatt shared with his youngest child Alia Bhatt. It tells you of an actor, who even as she earns universal praise with each performance, is adamant to stay grounded. Alia had a fantastic run in 2016 starting off with a small, potent part in Kapoor & Sons. Then came the shock-and-awe performance as the vulnerable foul-mouthed, dazed but determined Bihari woman in Udta Punjab. She sealed it with Dear Zindagi, in which she beautifully internalised the complexities…

Chairperson, Thermax Limited Mumbai “Turn misfortunes into strengths” One is constantly shifting between those roles that one is so used to doing— daughter, wife, mother, career woman. Partly it is the script that we have grown up with, the feeling that these different roles and lives need to be lived. And, at the end of the day, there is immense satisfaction in realising one can do well in all these roles, gaining acceptance and affection. Fortunately, I grew up in a home where both my brother and I were treated equally; there weren’t any pre-determined roles for either of us to fit into. It was from my mother I understood the importance of balancing work and life. Early in my career, I saw my mother coping with loss and grief.…

CEO, Standard Chartered Bank India Mumbai “Gender diversity is just smart economics” As of March 31, 2016, 25 per cent of the BSE-listed companies and 11 per cent of the NSE-listed companies did not have a single woman on their board, despite the regulations. I feel, as a country, we have made great strides (about 40 per cent of the banking assets in the country are now controlled by women) but still have a long way to go. The change we want to see will come when organisations not only work towards more recruitment, but also better retention of women. Gender diversity is just smart economics To quote Sheryl Sandberg, “We stand on the shoulders of the women who came before us, women who had to fight for the rights…

“MY MOTHER GROOMED ME TO FULFILL HER DREAMS” HEMA MALINI, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT AND ACTOR “POLITICS IS ONE PLACE WHERE CHANGES WILL SHOW GREATER IMPACT ON THE SOCIETY” MEENAKSHI LEKHI, MP “I AM NOT A VICTIM, I AM A SURVIVOR. SAA IS MY SURNAME NOW, FOR STOP ACID ATTACK” LAXMI SAA, ACID ATTACK SURVIVOR “AFTER ADOPTING THE PAST LIFE THERAPY, MY EMOTION SICKNESS VANISHED” TRUPTI JAYIN, PAST LIFE REGRESSION THERAPIST “DOING THE ‘BRAVEGIRL’, HARD ROLES WAS MY WAY OF GETTING THEM TO NOTICE ME” TAAPSEE PANNU, ACTOR “WHEN ALL MEN AND WOMEN ARE BORN OUT OF A WOMAN, HOW CAN A WOMAN BE IMPURE?” TRUPTI DESAI, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST CONSIDERED T “WE MUST FIGHT STEREOTYPES ON WHAT’S NORMAL FOR THOSE WITH DISABILITY” DEEPA MALIK, PARALYMPI “SEXISM IS LIKE ENGEL’S FALSE…

The WannaCry ransomware was a derivative implementation of an exploit developed at the cost of the US taxpayer holding hostage mostly users of pirated and/ or outdated software across the world. Let us first understand how the US taxpayer ended up subsidising this global criminal operation. The National Security Agency of the US government, like the intelligence and military agencies in most other nation states with an offensive cybersecurity programme is amassing zero-day vulnerabilities. Zero-day vulnerabilities are vulnerabilities in software that have not been disclosed publicly. The vulnerability targeted by WannaCry was for years of strategic importance for the NSA. They had built an exploit called Eternal Blue to remotely take over and control computers running Windows XP to Windows 2012. In the big picture, through amassing hundreds of such…

Q. On growth and key achievements A. In India, we had a leaky legacy problem. During the boom period, the banks lent indiscriminately and now they don’t have money left to support growth because of the NPAs. I think judged in this background there are 4-5 important things that the government has done. The pace of structural reforms has been the fastest ever in recent history. The present government has shown that there is no finish line. There were those who predicted that with demonetisation growth will fall over 2 per cent, but nothing of that sort happened. So every critique has been proved wrong. We have restored the place for honesty and integrity in India. The middlemen are on the run. The government has eliminated discretion, things move on…

THE FIRST TWO YEARS of the Narendra Modi government seemed like a series of unending picture postcard moments as New Delhi engaged the three world capitals that matter the most— Washington, Beijing and Islamabad. One, a distant strategic partner, and the other two, neighbouring strategic challenge and security nightmare. So there was Prime Minister Modi and President Barack Obama, meeting an unprecedented eight times; Modi sharing a swing with Xi Jinping on the Sabarmati riverfront; Modi hugging Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad and visiting his mother at the family home in Raiwind. The Modi government’s third year, in some sense, has seen a sobering of sorts, after the first two where India’s diplomacy showed renewed vigour and where even relations with Pakistan and China seemed to hold limitless possibilities. That has…

AT A PUBLIC FUNCTION in Mumbai last September, road transport minister Nitin Gadkari cracked up the audience. “Our slogan achhe din (good days),” he told them, “has become a galey ki haddi (a bone stuck in the throat) for us.” Gadkari, who heads the ministries of road transport, highways, shipping and ports hinted at the burden of expectations on his government. This year, his ministry fell short of its ambitious target of building 41 km of roads every day. But even the 22 km per day they built was twice the speed of road construction under UPAII. Indeed, NDAII has set a blistering pace of work in transport infrastructure. Highways are being laid much faster than they were three years ago, construction contracts are being awarded speedily, public sector ports…

AIR INDIA DID WELL this year to offload unruly politician Ravindra Gaikwad, a move that had Ashok Gajapathi Raju’s backing. If only he could offload the airline’s accumulated losses of Rs 48,000 crore. AI, however, is only one area of concern. The understaffed Directorate General of Civil Aviation—it has one inspector for four aircraft whereas smaller countries like Malaysia have 1.5 regulators to one aircraft—is another. This even as India became the world’s third largest air travel market with over 100 million passengers last year. A 2017 report by Martin Consulting notes that while India is fairly compliant when it comes to licensing operations and airworthiness, it lags on aviation legislation, accident investigation, regulatory organistional setup and aerodrome infrastructure. Done ■National Civil aviation policy in June 2016 ■Regional connectivity scheme…

FERTILISER SUBSIDY ARREARS OF around Rs 35,000 crore (by March 2017) have been the biggest challenge for Ananth Kumar. With the government delaying payment, the industry has to bear about Rs 4,000 crore annually as interest cost. Kumar has written to the finance minister for special banking arrangement of Rs 20,000 crore to clear old dues. On the plus side is the plentiful availability of urea, with the country fast becoming self-reliant on this front. Inter-ministerial meetings have also been held to revive ailing fertiliser units, and adding 75 lakh tonne of additional annual production capacity. In pharmaceuticals, the decision to open 3,000 medical stores under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana to make generic medicines available is a welcome step. However, the prime minister’s call for doctors to prescribe…

IT MAY BE A climbdown from his earlier stints as Union minister, but this is one of Ram Vilas Paswan’s best runs. With a bit of handholding from the PMO, his ministry is close to finalising the guidelines for the amended Bureau of Indian Standards Act, digitising records of food subsidy beneficiaries, drafting changes to the Consumer Protection Act, all this while zealously monitoring commodity prices. Paswan says he’s “passionate about making the consumer king”. To that end, he came down on dual pricing of packaged food, barring eateries from levying a service charge, fixing the liability on celebrities for endorsing ‘misleading’ products . His push for Aadhaar-linked public distribution in states resulted in the cancellation of 23 million fake ration cards. The next big thing, he says, will be…

PIYUSH GOYAL’S FISCAL reforms of power discoms are yielding result—27 states and UTs signed on to the UDAY scheme, forcing states to take on 75 per cent of the debt on distribution companies’ books, in return for a commitment to good practices in power procurement, distribution and billing. His efforts to push 227 million LED lamps cut energy demand by an additional 2 per cent. “We worked on a 3S principle: skill, speed and scale,” he says. “This allowed us to achieve the jump in coal production and unlock the power sector.” The coal production jump he is referring to is the turnaround in Coal India’s production graph. In the past three years, output has climbed to 554 million tonnes from 462 mt in 2013-14. Coal India is now finding…

SHE IS THE ULTIMATE multi-tasker, never afraid of controversies. Under her leadership, the woman and child development ministry has shifted focus from chalking policy to bringing change on the ground. Several key policies have become law in her tenure, benefitting women and children across the country. Maneka is viewed as a tough administrator who speaks her mind and doesn’t mind picking up the phone and calling up people to get work done. “The National Alliance Against Child Abuse in cyberspace that is in the pipeline will make a difference to the lives of countless children,” she says. “Mahila E-haat is another game changer as its gives teeth to local women artisans. We are collaborating with Ama zon for this and the deal is likely to be inked any day now.”…

SHRIPAD YESSO NAIK IS known in the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) ministry for transparency and accessibility. Beyond that, his record is just about average. Lacking vision, his ministry hasn’t got much to show that can match the Modi government’s overall performance, except the UN proclaiming June 21 as the International Day of Yoga. The ministry’s coordination with the NITI Aayog on the new AYUSH policy leaves much to be desired. Acharya Balkrishna, MD of Patanjali Ayurved, says: “Little is moving in the ministry. Not much progress has been made on the suggestions I gave on improvements in the AYUSH sector, including reforms in ayurveda education.” Ayurveda expert Narendra Bhatt adds: “The ministry has to move beyond symbolism.” But D.C. Katoch, advisor in the AYUSH ministry,…

TOMAR HAS BEEN FOCUSED on furthering the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Centre allocating Rs 2 lakh crore to gram panchayats for social infrastructure projects in villages. The National Water Quality Sub Mission has been launched to improve water quality. Rural roads got a big push with 130 km of roads reportedly being built daily in 2016-17. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and its filtering mechanism to ensure only the needy get the benefits, the weeding out of 5.2 million fake MNREGA cards of bogus workers are other achievements. Done ■WaterApp which helps track new water projects, delivery points, water sources ■Geo-tagging 10 mn MNREGA assets Pending ■The National Rural Livelihood Mission yet to fix scaleable economic activity for 35 million women ■MNREGA digital payments still a challenge…

HE’S PROBABLY THE MOST enthusiastic of PM Modi’s ministers. Spearheading the flagship Digital India Mission, there’s been no stopping the man— linking Aadhaar to individual bank accounts, or deploying UID for direct transfer of subsidies, or connecting a third of India’s 225,000 villages via broadband—all done in three dizzying years. A mindboggling 78,000 km of optic fibre cabling is what it took to link the villages and allow for direct payment of subsidies, saving an estimated Rs 50,000 crore annually by plugging corruption. Digital innovation consultant Debjani Ghosh, evidently an admirer, says “Prasad is skillfully building the ecosystem for Digital India with stubborn motivation.” In his other portfolio, Prasad is pushing for prompter justice by speeding up the appointment of judges. The ministry has also set up a free legal…

FROM INTRODUCING E-VISAS TO recognising tourist circuits and launching a vernacular interface for international travellers, Mahesh Sharma has offered a significant promotional boost to the industry. “We have sanctioned Rs 4,800 crore for theme-based circuits under the Swadesh Darshan Yojana; Rs 488 crore has been allocated for spiritual tourism,” he says. “It will take us about a year to complete these projects.” The ministry’s drafting of a new tourism policy has been welcomed by Aditi Chanchani, director of Equations, a non-profit organisation that studies the impact of tourism on local communities. At the same time, she is not entirely pleased with the ministry’s approach. “The ministry sought contributions only from formal stakeholders.... There is no acknowledgement of people whose homes and backyards are promoted as tourism destinations,” she says. As…

The hero of Marathi drama Lathe Joshi is a man of few words. A skilled welder, his work is his passion, not only defining but also consuming him. When machines render his services useless, Joshi struggles to adapt. So begins a nuanced character study of a gloomy hero whose silence speaks volumes. Led by a beautifully internalised and restrained performance by Chittaranjan Giri, chemical engineerturnedfilmmaker Mangesh Joshi’s debut film observes how change, a constant in our life, gradually breaks the spirit of a man. After winning accolades at the Pune and Bangalore International Film Festivals and screening at festivals in Russia, Mexico and South Africa, the film plays in the capital at the Habitat Film Festival (May 1928). Machines, explains Mangesh Joshi, are not the antagonists in his film. Lathe…

1 On sexism “My grandfather, my mother’s father, was a real feminist. I remember going to their house on weekends and he would go and buy stuff he knew me and my brother loved and came back and prepared it for us. It wasn’t something we all had to put him up on a pedestal for. But of course, we do still live in a sexist society. We see men being praised for tasks that women do everyday. There’s a greater dialogue about it and it’s a larger conversation.” 2 On writing “I go from the characters up. I think that’s the crucial thing as a writer— observing and to be able to step away and fade away into the background and watch people. When I meet people, I like…

ANUJA CHAUHAN Author bangalore “Everybody professes love for our soldiers, but it’s opportunistic love” Bangalore-based writer and former ad woman, Anuja Chauhan has built up a formidable cast of spunky women, from Zoya of The Zoya Factor to Jinni of Battle for Bittora. Long before Hindi cinema discovered that single young women could have both spark and sass, Chauhan was toiling away in the wasteland often described as chick lit—a term used loosely for any woman who happens to write on women and liable to set anyone’s teeth on edge—to produce fiction both meaningful and fabulous. Chauhan, in her fifth book, has created yet another independent, feisty woman Tehmina Dadyseth, which young actresses in search of sensible roles should immediately pencil into their packed diaries. But more than that, she…

Banker & Singer Mumbai “I have my own struggles and my own beautiful story to tell” There are times when I wish a day had more than 24 hours because there’s so much to do. But I will not cut down my roles—as a mother, wife, banker, singer, activist, despite the challenge of time. After my husband became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and we moved to Mumbai in 2014, life has naturally become busier. Music is my passion and I do riyaaz every day, it helps me de-stress. So far, I’ve sung for around 14 Hindi and Marathi films. Banking is another thing I haven’t neglected despite my social commitments. Even now, I make it a point to go to work (at Axis Bank— where I’ve just completed my…

Sportsperson Hyderabad, Dubai “Never let anyone convince you that you are not good enough” I think as a woman, I have it in my DNA to multitask. But more seriously, each of these jobs, of a sportsperson, a celebrity, a philanthropist, a wife, a daughter, and a sister, is of supreme importance to me, and hence, I don’t feel the strain in finding out time to try and succeed while donning different roles. Finding the perfect balance between the many worlds that I inhabit is not a battle for me. I try to do the best I can and be as true to myself as possible while I do it and trust that everything will take care of itself for the better. But, it isn’t easy by any means and…

Chairman, Madura Microfinance and Founder and Chief Scientist, Sapien Labs, US “Find your sense of purpose and ambition and go after it” It was in boarding school, when I was 10 and wandering off wherever I wanted to go, that I tasted independence for the first time. I suppose that is useful for most things later in life, although not so much in school where I was a bit delinquent and spent more time tracking sea turtles, learning to catch snakes with the Irula tribals and climbing coconut trees than studying. In 2005, I was working on my postdoctoral research in neurosciences at National Institutes of Health, US, when I unexpectedly got involved with microfinance. My father, K M Thiagarajan founded Bank of Madura and later sold it to ICICI…

@ShougatDasgupta Mishra Swoons Who would have thought a week of near-constant press attention coupled with a hunger strike could be bad for your health? Kapil Mishra, who appears determined to pin every crime in India on Arvind Kejriwal, fainted before the assembled press. Some online suggested Mishra might have done better to watch videos of people fainting before attempting his own amateur effort. To be fair, Mishra did look peaky as he stood up after yet another passionate condemnation of Kejriwal. Brandishing a copy of a cheque, having accused AAP of failing to disclose funds and threatening to drag Kejriwal to jail by his neck, Mishra could barely raise a wan smile for photographers before swaying and crumpling gently into the arms of those around him like a swooning princess.…

MARRY IN MAY... First it was his prohibition drive that helped Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar win over the women in his state. Now it is his call to boycott dowry-seekers that is resonating with women. Last week, a bride shooed away her groom after his family asked for a gold pendant following the exchange of garlands. There has been an incident each in Muzaffarpur, Buxar and Rohtas this May where brides have asserted themselves on the day of their wedding. This is one social revolution Nitish is watching carefully. Coat of Taint How do you handle a complaint against yourself? Ask Kerala Vigilance Director Loknath Behera (right). A complaint has been filed in the vigilance court against an order he’d issued as Ker ala DGP asking that only Dulux…

5.5/10 AS THE MODI GOVERNMENT entered its third year in May 2016, internal security seemed to be well and truly under control. This was chiefly because two of its biggest internal security challenges— militancy in Jammu and Kashmir and Maoists in central India—had been tackled. It would seem sustained deployment by the nearly 1.2 million-strong central armed police forces, as big as the Indian army, had helped put a lid on the situation. Just how fleeting that moment was has become clear this year. The Kashmir Valley in particular is on the boil again, suffering a cycle of militant violence and civil protest not seen in seven years. The new phase of civil unrest began last July, after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter triggered…

THE PAST YEAR HAS been a testing one for Swaraj’s ministry. The Modi government’s third year offered a reality check to the giddy start, where even relations with Pakistan and China seemed to hold limitless possibilities. That said, Swaraj, like her predecessors, hasn’t had a prominent role to play in crafting foreign policy as PM Modi, like his predecessors, directly calls the shots on foreign policy, drawing on the Prime Minister’s Office and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, as well as Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar. Yet Swaraj hasn’t been content to merely sit on the sidelines. She has carved a unique public diplomacy role for herself and burnished her reputation as a citizens’ minister. From coming to the aid of tens of thousands of Indian workers laid off in Saudi…

NIRMALA SITHARAMAN CAN AFFORD a smile nowadays. For, in 2016, India outclassed China after many years as the world’s FDI leader, bringing in $63 billion to China’s $56 billion giving a major push to the Make in India campaign that comes under her ministry. The country hasn’t sustained the initial momentum, though, as a slew of factors, including a caution on investments as global demand slowed and India’s inability to fix its ease of doing business parameters, played spoilsport, leading to mixed results. The export turnaround has come as a breather. After a two-year low, Indian exports registered a spurt in the fourth quarter, touching $274.65 billion in 2016-17. Manufacturing too has inched up. Sitharaman has been able to facilitate a few investments into the country, as well as help…

BANDARU DATTATREYA’S MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT is still the introduction of the Universal Account Number (UAN) in 2014 and connecting it to the Employees Provident Fund Organisation. UAN acts as an umbrella for the multiple IDs allotted to an individual and ensures transparent and efficient services. His ministry has amended several laws like the Child Labour Amendment Act, Bonus Amendment Act, Maternity Benefit Amendment Act, Employee Compensation Act and Payment of Wages Amendment Act. Administrative reforms include increasing minimum wages across sectors and starting the Shram Suvidha portal. In the works is distilling 44 labour laws into four labour codes. But employers are not pleased with the pace of labour reforms. Done ■Launching the UAN in October 2014 ■Restructuring the EPFO, which was pending for 18 years Pending ■Ensuring compliance with bilateral…

THREE YEARS AFTER PM Modi vowed to rejuvenate the Ganga, there is little to show on the ground. But Uma Bharti isn’t worried. “I’m more concerned about doing it properly,” she says. She has, however, got the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) national authority status. Ninety-nine stalled irrigation projects have been kickstarted and are set for completion by 2019. Plans have been drawn up for aquifer mapping of eight states; Rs 6,000 crore set aside for groundwater development. The ILR (inter-linking of rivers) projects, however, are yet to take off, with the Ken-Betwa way behind start date. Done ■Getting National Mission for Clean Ganga national authority status ■Reviving 99 defunct irrigation projects Pending ■Missing deadline for cleaning Ganga ■The inter-linking of rivers projects are yet to take off, with…

4/10 ON THE DIN OF good economics and growth imperatives, the voice the marginalised seems to have got lost. When the Narendra Modi government came to power three years ago, riding on a wave of big promises and even bigger goals, it was hoped it would spread its largesse to sectors in desperate need of an overhaul. But the government’s social sector policy has been confusing at best, with some budgetary push of late but most of it falling short of target. Areas such as health, education, women and children, skill development and environment have been largely ignored or given cosmetic facelifts. Figures show most of the increased spend in sectors does not even cover inflation. At best, the allocations are helping the government play catch-up halfway through its tenure.…

J. P. NADDA’S MOST STRIKING contribution is the new National Health Policy 2017 that aims to address the prevailing and emerging healthcare challenges in the country given that our health spend in still under 1.5 per cent of the GDP, amongst the lowest in the world. The infant and maternal mortality rates have declined steadily. Mission Indradhanush, which seeks total immunisation, has covered 21 million children so far despite lagging behind similar campaigns in Pakistan and Bangladesh. In the absence of a regulatory authority that appreciates newer technologies, little has been achieved in fostering innovation in healthcare. Nadda’s priority is health for all. “My biggest challenge still is retaining doctors in public facilities,” says the minister. Done ■Ushered in national health policy and new mental healthcare law ■Free quality antenatal…

6.5/10 NCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN a keystone in policy making for the Modi government. From according infrastructure status to affordable housing to offering concessional loans to the passage of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) to vastly improving rural connectivity, the focus has been the end-user. Such a determined push has the potential to create unforeseen economic impact. Like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for low-cost housing, which could unleash a Rs 83 lakh crore wave of investment in housing over the next seven years, says CLSA India Pvt Ltd. “Our government has invested Rs 4 lakh crore on urban infrastructure, four times the amount approved under 10 years of UPA; 8.75 lakh affordable houses for the urban poor have been approved so far,” says M. Venkaiah Naidu,…

THE CHOPPER AIR MEDICAL SERVICE for cut-off areas in the Northeast is typical of Singh’s vision. Now under Singh’s initiative, which he calls ‘DONER at your doorstep’, a DONER secretaries’ meeting is held every month by turns in a NE state capital. Then at least one central minister visits an NE state capital every fortnight, thanks to Singh’s coordination efforts. Plus, he has introduced use of satellite images for physically verifying the developmental project roads to stop pilferage of grants from Delhi. And Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya are to be connected to the rail network. Done ■Has taken the Centre closer to the region with ‘DONER at your doorstep’ and infra projects ■Has launched a portal for pensioners Pending ■Work on sports university in NE that PM promised in 2014…

IN THE PAST THREE years, India has continued its notable progress in the fields of science and technology. “The goal was to make the whole more than the sum of its parts,” Dr Vardhan says, reading off a list of achievements since he took charge in November 2014. He’s particularly proud of the ethanolfrom- biomass plant, now being scaled up by oil companies. Another green initiative on trial in Delhi’s Barapullah Drain uses biotechnology to treat flowing sewage. Under the National Supercomputing Mission, launched in 2016, Vardhan reveals plans for a supercomputing grid for which the first batch of six systems will be up and running this year. And a cyber-physical systems program is developing capacities in artificial intelligence, deep learning and robotics to make India future-ready. There’s a whole…

MAJOR REFORM CARRIED out by the ministry of social justice under Thawar Chand Gehlot was the scrapping of the National Commission for Backward Classes, and its replacement by a National Commission for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes. “During the UPA regime,” said Gehlot, when asked how the ministry for social justice changed after the Modi government came to power, “the ministry had no identity and people were not even aware of its work. Under the Modi government, the ministry has become alive and active, and has gained recognition worldwide.” Gehlot’s ministry can also claim credit for the passage of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, as well as significantly increased protections for members of scheduled castes. Another new initiative by his ministry was the launch of the Rashtriya Vayoshri…

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Price: Rs 699 Pages: 640 HOW THE INDIAN PARLIAMENT ATTACK ALLOWED BIN LADEN’S ESCAPE FROM TORA BORA AL QAEDA SUPREMO OSAMA BIN LADEN MAY HAVE believed an unseen force was protecting him. He survived close calls fighting the Soviet troops in Afghanistan but was never in as much peril as when sheltering in the caves of Tora Bora with the core of Al Qaeda leadership, three months after 9/11. By December 2001, the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan lay in tatters, att acked by vengeful B-52 bombers from the air and the Northern Alliance and US special forces on the ground. Bin Laden was caught between the hammer of US special forces and their Afghan allies fighting their way up towards his mountain cave redoubt and the…

With stellar writing and vivid imagery, Hope Jahren gives us the girl, the lab and everything else that the title promises. She writes of her childhood in the vast landscapes of Minnesota, in a family that nurtured a curious mind but neglected the warm dialogue that should have come with it. It was a time and society in which women and scientists were mutually exclusive groups. Even so, there was Hope—a female scientist who learned to hear the sound of corn growing. The picaresque chapters about her life and her discoveries are interspersed with shorter ones about seeds, roots, leaves and wood. Jahren has a gift for metaphor and for the use of telling statistics. She makes readers’ eyes well up with tears at the perfect cubes that are salt…

When we meet at her home, Manisha Koirala is still recovering from a late night wrap of The Kapil Sharma Show, which she took part in to promote her upcoming drama, Dear Maya. Best known for her work in the 1990s, including films such as Bombay, 1942 A Love Story and Dil Se, she realises that, these days, “promoting a film is equally important”, even more so if yours is a small, independent film directed by a first-time director—in this case, Sunaina Bhatnagar. “I feel it is all a little overwhelming,” Koirala says with a smile. “But I know that I’d better buck up and move according to the tide. I’m learning.” This year will be Koirala’s most prolific since she was cleared of cancer three years ago. Her releases…

AARUSHA HOMES They have 17 properties across Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. Rents range from Rs 3,500 to Rs 14,000, and include utilities like a foosball and table tennis table, gym, carrom board, library and community TV. No overnight guests. But staying out all night is fine if you inform the management. ZIFFY HOMES Gurugram-based Ziffy Homes has more than 100 properties across Delhi and the NCR, with prices ranging from Rs 8,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. The rent includes most utilities as well YOUR SPACE Your Space has about 70 residents living at its Greater Noida facility, and is looking to expand to Mumbai and other parts of the NCR soon…

Q: Sonata revolves around three women past their 50s who are friends. Women make good friends because... A: Well, heterosexual women definitely do because they avoid the pitfalls of a couple. Lesbian women could do if they don’t have lovers’ spats. Jokes aside, I think friendship between women is like a sisterhood. Q: You speak with an accent in Sonata. What accent is the most fun putting on? A: The ones I find the easiest are Anglo-Indian and Tamil accents. Q: Your daughter Konkona says she wasn’t allowed to watch DDLJ as a child... which books and films were you denied because they were deemed too frivolous? A: We weren’t allowed comics because they would make us lazy. Or any serialised novels that came out in magazines. Q: A film…

NO Empower women, rather I think it’s more important to train the existing personnel rather than forming a new squad which will need fresh resources. We need to focus on empowering women personnel and increasing their numbers instead of introducing new squads Yashila Sharma, Delhi YES Fight for the cause I get that it is the cops’ responsibility to ensure that women are not harassed on the streets, but if there are other people who want to help, they should be allowed. We know that there are not enough police personnel and having extra protection is kind of liberating. I don’t think that stopping harassment and molestation should be the responsibility of just the crime branch. everyone should take this up and we can change the situation. Ashima Garg, Dehradun NO Change…

ANAHITA DHONDY Chef Manager SodaBottleOpenerWala, Delhi ON CONQUERING THE FOOD SPACE AS A CHEF AND FINDING HER OWN NICHE IN A MALE-DOMINATED INDUSTRY Tip 1 Enjoy your profession This stands true for any industry. Once you start enjoying your work, be it a man or woman, nobody in the world can stop you from getting to the top. Tip 2 Be strong Mentally prepare yourself for long strenuous hours and labourintensive days in the kitchen. Tip 3 Be passionate about food Speak food, breathe food, create food and eat food. Post some yummy pictures on social media to share the flavours with the world. Tip 4 Be a team player Create a team which respects you for not just being a female boss but a team player. Work together and…

Legal consultant Founding Partner, AZB & Partners, “Guilt comes as part of the success package” Success to me, from a professional perspective, has meant having the respect of my peers, being secure in the knowledge that whatever I did was correct and done without sacrificing the integrity of my advice for any external reasons, that I was able to institutionalise an organisation, nurture young talent and be a good mentor for a future set of leaders. But striking a balance between my professional and personal life has never been easy. I had three children in quick succession between 1986 and 1990. I founded my own firm in 1984 and so that was also the period of time when I was at my most manic at work. Frankly, I don’t think…

Actor Mumbai “I want to be working till I die, till my hands and limbs are working” She belongs to one of Bollywood’s most celebrated families but Kareena Kapoor Khan has earned her laurels on merit. Whether it is playing Geet (Jab We Met, 2007), still the gold standard for spirited young woman on (Golmaal films), being the passionate desi Desdemona (Omkara, 2006) or the brazen sex worker (Chameli, 2003) Kapoor Khan knows how to bring her A game. It’s not that choices (Kambakkht Ishq, 2009) and bizarre rejections (Goliyon Ki Rasleela...Ram Leela, 2013) but she has managed to hold her thespian credentials intact in a subpar film (Ki & Ka), and demonstrated how she asserts maximum impact in Udta Punjab. From gracing magazine covers with her baby bump to…

Director, Apeejay Surrendra Group Morocco, Delhi “Women can’t have it all. We need to compartmentalise our responsibilities at different times.” She might be shuffling her time travelling across three continents looking after various verticals of the family-owned business (Apeejay Surrendra Group), or busy expanding Oxford Bookstore across the country (one in Delhi and another in Kolkata)— still Priti Paul feels connected and at home the minute she is back at either of her three aesthetically designed abodes in Morocco, London, and India. Donning several hats with ease, that of a businesswoman, a wife (to Morocco-based hotelier, Jaouad Kadiri), a mother to three young boys, a daughter, a sister, a good team leader with a futuristic vision, and now an author (her book ABC Desi just got published), Paul is grounded…

NAYANIKA BHATLA & GAZAL BAWA 25, TexTile and Graphic desiGners, idaM, noida IDAM was born in 2015 out of car ride discussions, to and from their college, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi. Nayanika Bhatla is a textile designer while Gazal Bawa is a graphic designer. “We want to bridge the gap between the modern and the traditional,” says Bawa THE USP “Our hand-drawn sketches and doodles that we convert into prints for all our furnishings. Each textile is unique as it has a story behind it,” says Bhatla On RETail Bed line, table linen, rugs and kitchen linen from ₹1,000 to ₹5,000. TOP TiP “Mix and match your bedding; more the cushions, more the warmth,” says Bawa. SONA REDDY 33, architect, Sona reddy Studio and creative head, room therapy, hyderabad After working…

“I DEDICATE THE AWARD TO MY DAUGHTER, GURMEHAR FOR BEING A PACIFIST AND HOPING THE WORLD CHANGES FOR THE BETTER” RAJVINDER KAUR INDIA TODAY MOTHER OF THE YEAR “I FEEL PROUD OF MAKING THE PRODUNOVA VAULT FAMOUS IN INDIA” DIPA KARMAKAR, ATHLETE INDIA TODAY SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR “MUSCLES DON’T HAVE A GENDER, DO THEY?” SANYA MALHOTRA, ACTOR INDIA TODAY ACTORS OF THE YEAR “I WANT TO DEDICATE THIS AWARD TO MY LOVELY GIRLS WHO INSPIRE Ria ShaRma, FoundeR, maKe Love not ScaRS, INDIA TODAY WOMAN IN PUBLIC SERVICE S RE ME EVERY DAY” RS, “EVERYONE FACES CHALLENGES WHEN THEY START OUT IN ANY FIELD” JASLEEN ROYAL, MUSICIAN INDIA TODAY RISING STAR OF THE YEAR “BEING LESBIAN AND RUNNING A BUSINESS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL” RADHIKA PIRAMAL, MD, VIP INDUSTRIES INDIA…

During the third American Presidential debate last year, Donald Trump interrupted Hillary Clinton as he uttered the words “such a nasty woman” into his microphone, confirming once again, that sexism is alive and well. But soon after Trump muttered, women mutinied. The hashtag #IAmANastyWoman spread like wildfire as fierce, feisty females across the world took to social media (and the streets) to subvert this age-old phrase used by bosses and boyfriends, husbands and haters to undermine their ability to express themselves loudly and proudly. To shut down the oppression of powerful, intelligent, and sometimes just emotional voices that came from half the population. And here we are today. It’s 2017 and anti-Romeo squads are everywhere, but women are trying to make sure sexism is not. They are raging and rallying…