Indholdsfortegnelse for July 17, 2017 i India Today

This week Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Israel on a historic visit but the headlines were stolen by a neighbour India has recently had a fraught relationship with. Using its signature move of encroaching by building infrastructure, a more assertive China has been advancing its claims of late over several disputed territories, most notably in the contested South China Sea where Beijing is building islands. The latest episode of this reimagining of the world came to light on June 16 when the People’s Liberation Army’s road construction entered Doklam, a narrow plateau that abuts the trijunction where India, China and Bhutan meet. The dispute over the land between China and Bhutan is not just about the size of the 89 sq. km territory in Doklam: it is a plateau…

On July 4, Narendra Modi became the first Indian PM to visit Israel. As if to emphasise shifting foreign policy and relationships, Modi is not stopping in Palestine, though India did host the Palestinian president in May and continues to express support for the Palestinian cause. Military cooperation between India and Israel goes as far back as India’s war with China in 1962. Arms trading remains the foundation, with India being Israel’s largest client. The perceived sharing of security concerns has drawn the countries even closer. $4.2 BILLION VALUE OF TRADE BETWEEN INDIA AND ISRAEL IN 2016, UP FROM $200 MILLION IN 1992 $2 BILLION VALUE OF THE ARMS DEAL SIGNED IN APRIL, THOUGHT TO BE THE LARGEST IN ISRAEL’S HISTORY #3 ISRAEL’S RANK AMONG COUNTRIES INDIA BUYS WEAPONS FROM,…

@ShougatDasgupta Darth Modi Ordinarily the prime minister’s address to a roomful of chartered accountants, even about GST, might not have got much social media attention. Except, Narendra Modi finished his speech and strode about the stage, waving to the crowd, while blaring in the background was the distinctive pomp of the Imperial March from Star Wars, aka Darth Vader’s theme. Perplexed, people on social media wondered if it was a prank. Others pointed out that Modi has previous connect when it comes to Star Wars, signing off at Central Park in 2014 with ‘May the Force be with you’. Modi is a savvy operator, aware at all times of his audience. But this one played into the hands of critics, those who already think of Modi as an imperial overlord…

Ajit Jogi is not a tribal.” The ruling by the Chhattisgarh tribal welfare department’s high-powered committee (HPC) is raising political temperatures in the state. It is also bound to have other consequences for the state’s politics, with the former chief minister’s new party—the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC)—making tribal identity its central electoral plank in keeping with Jogi’s identification with the community. Acting on the HPC’s report, the Chhattisgarh government has cancelled Jogi’s ST certificate. Jogi says the ruling is “politically motivated”, and is using the Raman Singh government’s move to claim that his party, and not the Congress, is the ruling BJP’s main adversary in the state. Jogi says he plans to challenge the state government’s decision in court. The issue of Jogi’s tribal identity has been pending a resolution…

SILIGURI CORRIDOR A precariously narrow stretch of Indian territory connecting the country‣s northeast to its •mainland‣ DOKLAM India and Bhutan see this as Bhutanese territory. China claims the trijunction of borders should be south of this plateau CHUMBI VALLEY The historic highway between Lhasa and Bengal— and a vulnerably narrow strip of territory that China would like to expand WESTERN SECTOR China holds 38,000 sq. km in Aksai Chin that is claimed by India MIDDLE SECTOR Basis of alignment largely agreed along watershed but some areas of difference, including Bhutan trijunction and Barahoti pastures in Uttarakhand EASTERN SECTOR China claims 90,000 sq. km in Arunachal, especially Tawang, over links to Tibet…

It was May 24, 2016, a day after his birth day and CPI(M) strongman Pinarayi Vij ayan was finally realising a long cherished ambition—becoming chief minister of Kerala. Things were looking up, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) headed by his party, the CPI(M), had an absolute majority and long-time bete noire and party veteran, ex-CM V.S. Achuthanandan, had finally been sidelined. A year down the line, though, things are not as certain as they were. For a man so set in his ways, Pinarayi has had to back down more times than he would have liked. He has found out that he cannot always depend on the people he had trusted. Their shortcomings have damaged the image of his government. But at age 72, when most politicians give thanks just…

THE STORY IS LADY ORIENTED, their fantasy above life.” When the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) made this observation about Lipstick Under My Burkha on January 25 this year, denying it certification in the process, writer-director Alankrita Shrivastava knew she had a battle on her hands. In February, at a screening for the revising committee in Mumbai, CBFC chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani said that it was not one scene or dialogue, but that the “whole film was a problem”. “It’s a very strange thing that a government body, in the year 2017, can say ‘we’re not going to certify your film because it is from the female point of view’,” says Shrivastava. “It was a wake-up call for me. It was not just about my film. You can’t set this…

AVISHAI REMEMBERS DOV AS A PERPETUAL VICTIM OF BULLIES A horse walks into a bar, begins an old Jewish joke. The barman then turns to it and says, ‘Why the long face?’ In Israeli writer David Grossman’s Man Booker Prizewinning A Horse Walks Into a Bar, the ‘long face’ belongs to the protagonist, Dov Greenstein, a 57-year-old stand-up comic in a basement club at Netanya, a coastal town near the West Bank. One evening, he proclaims he is planning to enact the ‘mother of all shows’. In the audience is Avishai Lazar, Dov’s childhood friend and the narrator of the book. A former judge who retired due to his inability to control his anger, Lazar has been persuaded by his old friend to turn up at this performance, even though…

Making and breaking records is an everyday affair for shifu (master) Shi Miao Jin (pictured below, in orange). Having already set 16 world records, shifu Jin recently set a new bar—and a Guinness world record—for ‘the most full-contact knee strikes achieved in one minute with one leg’: 97. However, what’s even more surprising than his list of achievements is his birth name: Prabhakar Reddy. One of only three Shaolin Temple warrior monks from India, the 36-year-old Reddy, who claims to have trained more than 60,000 people from around the world at his Nellore, Andhra Pradesh-based kung fu academy, starts his work day at 3.30 am. His students range from a 65-year-old martial arts enthusiast to his five-year-old son, and include women looking to learn basic self-defence as well as advanced…

Israel’s hardheaded retaliation to aggression has long been seen as a model to emulate. But for them it is a survival imperative, not an ideological choice Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel on July 4, 2017, is, of course, historic. He becomes the first Indian premier to visit the country since its creation in 1948. For decades, even as the relationship strengthened, there was a curious hesitation in New Delhi to publicly acknowledge its significance. India vacillated for more than two long years before it recognised the Israeli state, and it was only in 1992 that the Narasimha Rao regime established full diplomatic ties. Indeed, India’s policy towards Israel has long been hostage to its fear of annoying the ‘Muslim world’—in particular, Arab nations who were openly commit ted…

Looks like it’s over for the Pranab Mukherjee-Mamata Banerjee mutual admiration society. Once she called herself the biggest fan of Pranab da, and backed a second term for him. Now the West Bengal chief minister has retired hurt after the President expressed his approval for demonetisation as well as GST, both issues that Didi has vociferously opposed. Miffed, Mamata skipped the June 30 bicentenary celebration of Bengali newspapers in Kolkata where the First Citizen was the chief guest and was expected to heap praise on the GST. She chose to send panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee instead. Till Debt Do Us Part Maharashtra might have grown its debt from Rs 2.7 lakh crore in 2014 to Rs 4.3 lakh crore now in the three years the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government has…

1988 Rajiv Gandhi pays visit to China The first visit by an Indian PM in 34 years begins the normalising of ties after the 1962 war. Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping calls for shedding differences on the boundary dispute, pending a solution 1993 First post-1962 war border pact On maintaining ‘peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control’ (LAC). Both sides to recognise the status quo and settle the boundary issue by ‘peaceful and friendly consultations’ 1996 First agreement on ‘confidence- building measures’ Lays down the framework for cutting troop deployments along the LAC, curbing military exercises near the border and setting rules for settling face-offs between the two sides 2005 Agreement on political parameters Calls for ‘meaningful and mutually acceptable adjustments’, ‘package settlement’ in western, middle and eastern sectors.…

Care Today Fund is proud to inform the readers of india today that one of its partner NGOs, the Society for Himalayan Agriculture & Rural Development (SHARD), in implementing TV Today Network’s CSR funded project, bagged the prestigious Uttarakhand Raajya Swachhata Gaurav Sammaan (State Sanitation Distinction Award). The award was given in recognition of their contribution to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan initiatives. Care Today Fund entered into a partnership with SHARD in April 2016, for a project to construct 105 household toilets with bathing spaces in Daida, Usada, Huddu, Bangroli, Kanda and Semla villages in Ukhimath Block, Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand. In spite of the many logistical challenges that are common in hilly regions, extensive community support enabled the completion of the project within one year and…

MERI BETI SUNNY LEONE BANNA CHAAHTI HAI Opening with quotes on freedom from George Washington and Ayn Rand, Ram Gopal Varma’s first short film manages to be both corny and preachy, with all the production values and over-the-top acting of a Hindi TV serial. So bad it’s good—but not for the full 11.29 runtime. On Youtube. AMERICAN PLAYBOY This 10-episode documentary/ re-enactment series chronicles Hugh Hefner’s journey from nobody to sleazy James Bond to dirty old man, yet nonetheless manages to be a gassy puff piece. Unlike Hot Girls (next), there’s no introspection here, making this insipid offering even more irrelevant than Hef himself. Like the magazine, not even nudity can save it. On Amazon Prime. HOT GIRLS WANTED: TURNED ON A follow-up to the 84-minute Netflix Original Hot Girls…

The ‘ocean of green’ one marvels at in the countryside makes most ecologists deeply uneasy. In Farmageddon, Philip Lymbery wrote of the devastation caused by industrial farming. In Dead Zone, he challenges the cry of agribusiness and the proponents of GM crops that we must produce more food, by any means, no matter how destructive to our environment. Not so, says Lymbery; there’s enough food and more, and much of it is wasted. Each chapter, headed with a name of a key species, is a case study of the environmental consequences of monoculture and uncontrolled livestock rearing. He begins with the palm plantations of Sumatra, where shrinking forests have brought elephants into human settlements, often violently. In his chapters on English and North American ecosystems, he charts the consolidation of…

India has more young people than anywhere in the world. It is a statistic that at once represents potential and peril. A large population of young people is economically valuable in theory, but India will struggle to generate jobs for the millions entering the workforce every year. If job creation is proving a huge challenge, of even greater concern is India’s failure to provide a reasonable quality of primary education. Are young Indians being armed with the means to succeed? 252 MILLION Indian children from 6 to 15 years old, says ministry of human resource development 1.03 BILLION India’s working age population in 2030, according to the UN 96.9% Children up to 14 enrolled in school in 2016, according to NGO Pratham’s Annual Status of Education Report 9.9% Of girls…

Invariably compared with his Uttar Pradesh counterpart, Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat may not possess Yogi Adityanath’s belligerence, but the 56-year-old former RSS pracharak has proved he’s got the gumption to stand up to ‘bullying’ from Delhi. “I knew fighting corruption would be my biggest challenge,” says Rawat, who took charge of the state just over a hundred days ago. And as if on cue, less than a week after he was sworn in, he was confronted with what is now commonly referred to as the ‘NH- 74 scam’—allegations of misappropriation of funds in the acquisition of land to widen a 300 km stretch of highway between Haridwar and Bareilly. “Shocking,” says Rawat, describing the preliminary probe findings that between 2013 and 2016, several hundred crores of National Highways…

If Mamata Banerjee has her way, university and college elections will no longer be the raucous, sometimes violent occasions they are in West Bengal. The chief minister is seriously considering a ban on student wings of political parties participating directly in elections to student bodies. State education minister Partha Chatterjee says all government- run and government-aided institutions will henceforth emulate St Xavier’s University’s ‘apolitical’ model for student council elections. Xavier’s, like other reputed institutions, including Lady Brabourne College, Loreto College, IIT Kharagpur and Shibpur’s Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, doesn’t permit elections among student political organisations. Polls are contested between student societies like the Bengali Literary Society, Hindi Literary Society and Theatrical Society. It’s a drastic shift in Bengal, where the student wing of the party in power…

INTELLIGENCE SHARING With US and Japan, to enhance maritime domain awareness and track position of Chinese submarines P-8I POSEIDON Maritime game-changer. Can detect subs at extended ranges; eight aircraft acquired from US in 2012-2015, four more being acquired GUARDIAN DRONE The Trump administration has cleared the sale of 22 drones. Used for maritime surveillance; will free P-8Is for antisubmarine warfare Weaknesses ASW HELICOPTERS No new acquisitions since 1987; number of operational helicopters in single digits; only 20 per cent of helicopters available for tasks SUBMARINES Numbering 13, average age 25 years, many close to retirement; indigenous N-powered attack sub programme has begun but is a decade from induction ACTIVE TOWED ARRAY SONARS Attached to warships and used to detect submarines; yet to be inducted…

Quantity of water to be diverted: 1,020 cubic mm 47,000 hectares to be irrigated in Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Hamirpur and Jhansi districts NWDA has assessed 75% dependable yield at Daudhan as 6,188 cubic mm Downstream commitment from Daudhan is 1,375 cubic mm for MP and 850 cubic mm for UP, as per an inter-state agreement between the two states The cost of the project was estimated at about Rs 9,000 crore 10 years ago. In the next 10 years, it is expected to go up to Rs 18,000 crore…

Noida-based Garima Avtar, 40, is one of a handful of female rally drivers to have participated in almost all of India’s major motorsport competitions, including the Indian Rally Championship, the Raid De Himalaya, Desert Storm, the Mughal Rally and the Autocross and Speed Sprints. Now, she’s getting ready for a new adventure: leading a unique expedition of 20 female drivers to the inhospitable Spiti, in Himachal Pradesh, in September this year. “The expedition is not meant to be a joy ride,” she says. GARIMA AVTAR has participated in almost all of India’s major motorsport competitions “It is aimed at boosting confidence among women,” adds Avtar, who says knowing how to deal with inhos pitable road conditions will give participants the courage to explore the beautiful Indian countryside from behind the…

Designer, on making it big Q: It’s not easy for a middle-class boy to break into the fashion world. How did you do it? A: I have loved sketching since I was very young and always dreamt of designing beautiful garments for movies. Meeting like-minded people such as Dharmesh Darshan, Ram Gopal Varma and Karan Johar helped. Q: You didn’t study fashion in college. Did that ever pose a challenge? A: I miss education, especially today, when we are exploring new avenues for the brand. Not having formal design knowledge only means most of my technicality has been based on learning on the job. Q: You’ve worked with all the big names. Who was the easiest/ who would you never style again? A: I don’t think there is anyone that…