Indholdsfortegnelse for October 3, 2016 i India Today

On the afternoon of September 7, with beaconed cars doubleparked outside the secretariat annexe in the heart of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, a mischievous glint in his eyes, stepped out to address the media. In the 15minute interaction that followed, Akhilesh, 43, held forth on the future of his party five months ahead of his reelection bid. With a studied mix of benevolence and condescension, he described Rahul Gandhi— on a padyatra across the state—as a “good boy”, though the Congress vicepresident is three years older than him. He then stirred the pot further, saying that if Rahul spends more time in the state, if they meet more often, they could perhaps become “good friends”. In the backdrop of his six bigticket development projects chugging along at…

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is feared and respected among his comrades and in government. He led the Kerala CPI(M) for 17 long years without yielding an inch, never once deviating from his style of functioning. And if the four months since he took charge as CM are anything to go by, he continues to run the government in much the same way, unmindful of what others, including the media, think of him. Excerpts from a conversation with INDIA TODAY ASSOCIATE EDITOR JEEMON JACOB As chief minister, how do you rate your government’s performance so far? It’s a short period to rate any government, let alone mine. But we have laid out a roadmap for a comprehensive and sustainable development of Kerala. Our major concern is the slow pace of growth. We have…

It was around the beginning of July, and the CBI’s newly formed special investigating team (SIT), looking into the Vijay Mallya loan default case, were in Mumbai to meet a group of senior bank executives. These were the same officials from a bank consortium that had approved nea rly ₹ 7,000 crore in loans to the head of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines Ltd (KFL). For reasons best known to them, the officials were reluctant to accept that Mallya had any mala fide intentions vis-a-vis returning their money. For them, it was a case of “business failure”. At this point, the SIT asked them the meaning of ‘wilful defaulter’, a term the lead lender, the State Bank of India, officially used for Mallya in November 2015. The bankers had no…

Smoking is not kind to your lungs, and life insurers know this best. So, if you happen to be a 30-year-old male smoker, you’ll shell out approximately Rs 6,000 more a year as premium, on a cover of Rs 1 crore, than a non-smoker. Insurance for smokers adds to the underwriting insurer’s risk because of the higher mortality rate of tobacco users. Hence, the higher premium. It’s not wise to conceal the fact that you are a smoker while applying for life insurance. In fact, if the economics of insuring a heavy smoker weigh against the insurer, the application may simply be rejected. Here’s what you need to know: WHAT MAKES YOU A ‘SMOKER’? Questions in the application form are aimed at identifying the frequency of nicotine use by the…

Dream Sequins Shravan Kumar, 40 If there’s a god he worships most ardently, “it’s got to be the one in the finer details,” says Shravan Kumar, who has been styling the who’s who of the city for nearly two decades. Regulars find the outfits created at Kumar’s studio flawless in design and detail. An ode to weaves and weavers of India, Kumar’s creations are rendered on handlooms mostly. Sometimes there are rare kalamkaris or Mangalgiri silks, “that can outdo the softest of Dhakai muslins in the way they fall.” His latest collection that he featured at the Dubai Fashion Week comprises these besides several more handlooms from across India. “The clothes were inspired from various Indian royal lineages. We had lehengas paired with cholis and kancholis, Hyderabadi khara [dupattas, anarkalis…

“COCOA ISN’T GROWN IN BELGIUM OR SWITZERLAND. AND YET THESE COUNTRIES HAVE A REPUTATION FOR MAKING QUALITY CHOCOLATE. WE WANTED TO CHALLENGE THEIR MONOPOLY OVER CHOCOLATE MAKING” —GK SURESH, VP MARKETING, ITC FOODS BUSINESS “My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Forrest Gump, 1994 But if life were anything like box of chocolates from ITC’s chocolate boutique Fabelle, it would be a wonderful indeed. ITC Sonar’s Fabelle is the group’s second boutique in the country having opened first in ITC Gardenia in Bangalore. “Anything’s good if it’s made out of chocolate,” said comic actress Jo Brand. And we agree with her completely. What makes Fabelle special is that these chocolates unlike most of the ones made in boutiques in…

The four Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) fidayeen terrorists, who cut through the barbed wire fence of an administrative area of the Uri brigade headquarters on the night of September 17, were specifically tasked and equipped for a mass casualty attack. Each of them carried an AK-47 with a grenade launcher clipped under its barrel. They had over 50 incendiary grenades designed to set off fires. Their target was a fuel dump where nearly hundreds of 200 litre oil barrels were stacked. They contained diesel for trucks, petrol for the Maruti Gypsies of the 12 brigade based near Uri town and kerosene for cooking food in their high altitude posts on the Pir Panjal range. Near this dump, men of the 5 Bihar regiment lay asleep in their tents. At around 5.30 am,…

SEPTEMBER 12 After the Allahabad High Court upholds its order for a CBI probe into illegal mining in the state, Akhilesh sacks two tainted ministers: mining minister Gayatri Prajapati and Panchayati Raj minister Rajkishore Singh. This despite Prajapati’s close links with father Mulayam and uncle Shivpal SEPTEMBER 13 Akhilesh sacks UP chief secretary Deepak Singhal, deemed close to Shivpal, after he ridicules Akhilesh at an Amar Singh party. Mulayam replaces his son with Shivpal as state SP chief. Akhilesh responds by stripping Shivpal of all key ministries, especially the lucrative PWD department SEPTEMBER 14 Shivpal supporters reach his residence in Saifai, and Mulayam summons his brother to Delhi. Akhilesh blames ‘outsiders’ for rift in government, alluding to Amar Singh. Suggests he will not back down SEPTEMBER 15 Akhilesh’s uncle and…

It was always a bit risky. Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) don’t always work out. Profit and public service make for strange bedfellows at the best of times. On the other hand, there is clear evidence that commercial enterprise is rather good at delivering the kind of effici ency that democratic processes can only dream of. And so, in June last year, when Rajasthan’s state cabinet, under Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, chose to employ the PPP model to revitalise the state’s moribund primary health sector, the reaction was predictably mixed. But first, some context: The last national census (2011) pegged Rajasthan’s population at about 68 million, with 75 per cent classified as ‘rural’. The birth rate was in the region of 25 babies per 1,000 people. Put another way, about 1.7 million…

When Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) launched its public issue of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) in August, it was subscribed 6.3 times on the first day itself. The company received subscriptions of Rs 12,645 crore when the issue size was just Rs 2,000 crore. This year, NCDs are the flavour of the season for companies looking to raise funds. Their growing popularity reflects the desire among investors to go for the higher interest ratebearing instruments, at a time when interest rates on bank deposits are no longer attractive. If you haven’t hopped on the bandwagon yet, not to worry—there are many NCDs in the pipeline. Here is a quick guide to NCDs. WHAT IS AN NCD? Non-convertible debentures cannot be converted into equity shares at the time of maturity. They typically…

You are young and your health is good. In any case, you have an insurance policy to deal with hospitalisation. You feel secure, as you should. But one day, you find yourself being admitted to a hospital, and undergoing an expensive surgery. “Thank god for the insurance policy,” you think. The insurer, however, rejects your claim citing the ‘pre-existing illness’ clause. This is not even a very rare occurrence. While some claims are rejected due to specific exclusions in the policy, others could just have fallen prey to a technicality. Here we talk about one of the most common reasons that insurers reject claims—pre-existing illnesses. WHAT ARE PRE-EXISTING ILLNESSES? In insurance parlance, these are medical conditions that existed before the health insurance policy was purchased. According to the Insurance Regulatory…

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne Little Brown Pages 352 Price Rs 899 Five years ago, the poster to the final Harry Potter series film was emblazoned with three small words: It All Ends. Four supplementary readers, several theme parks, merch galore, a dozen video games and the pottermore.com website later, ‘it’ has clearly far from ended. And now, there’s a play. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opened on July 31, 2016, at Palace Theatre in London’s West End, with the script simultaneously released as a hardback book. In the interests of full disclosure, I am a diehard HP fan, and have read all seven books at least a dozen times. Normally, the announcement of a new book in the series—the…

1 RESTAURANTREVIEW / CAYENNE Palate Pleasers What’s most likeable about the all-day diner, Cayenne, is the view of the bustling road below from the glass windows—that is if you were to completely ignore the scrumptious buffet with a range of unconventional dishes on offer. The string of surprises begins with the soup itself. Rather than a broth in a bowl, the Makai Shimla Mirch Shorba was served in the form of corn dumpling in a bowl on which the soup was poured hot. The buffet is perfect for a quick meal but if you’d rather spend time here, choose from an exclusive selection of global cuisine. A must try is their Tapenade Gratinated Sea Bass done up with saffron chive sauce or the Ragu Fungi Orechiette pasta for those with…

Till recently, Purulia was just one of the 21 districts in West Bengal, known for the Chhau dance—a form that celebrates martial arts and acrobatics that originated in the region. With greater connectivity by road and train, the district slowly gained recognition for its pristine beauty, untouched green hills and picturesque lakes. For the avid traveller, the region is an unexplored terrain, one that promises serenity and a getaway that guarantees to rejuvenate each sense in the body. A gem in the crown of Purulia’s mystic allure are the Ajodhya hills that are enveloped in thick mist all year round. Though pretty well-connected by trains, the best way to make the most of the picturesque views that Purulia offers is by the road. Start off at the break of dawn…

THE AREA Bowl-shaped and bordered by the LoC on three sides. The side where att ack was carried out is just 6 km from the LoC. The 12th Brigade Army HQ is in the fortified border town of Uri. The first village on the Pakistani side, Chakothi, is 20 km away THE TARGET Administrative unit around 60 metres from 12 brigade HQ. At the time of attack, the 10 Dogra battalion was in the process of moving out and 6 Bihar battalion was replacing them 1 Four militants armed with Under Barrel Grenade Launchers (UBGLs) and global positioning system (GPS) sneak in behind the army’s administrative unit around 5.30 am LAPSE: Militants cross the heavily guarded LoC and breach fence despite heavy army patrol 2 They cut through the barbed…

It has been more than two months since the rape and murder of a 14-year-old in the village of Kopardi in Ahmednagar district, Mah arashtra. Three Dalit men were acc used of the crime —the violence of which was shocking, reminiscent of the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi in December 2012—and not only are the statewide, caste-based reverberations still being felt but are also building in intensity. Earlier this month, around 300 Mar athas, Maharashtra’s dominant community and the one to which the tee nage girl belonged, gathered in Ahm ednagar to plan a march in the city on September 23. They raised Rs 1 crore in two hours to fund it, as much an example of the community’s anger as its financial clout. On the same day, in the same…

Funds accrued through arbitrage—by buying a certain quantity of a particular stock in the cash market and simultaneously selling it in the futures market—can be an excellent source of fixed income. In the futures market, the future price has to be the same as the cash market price on the expiry date. The difference between the cash market price and the futures market price thereby becomes riskless profit for the arbitrageur. Over the past three- and five-year periods, arbitrage funds have delivered over 8 per cent returns. WHAT DO RETURNS DEPEND ON? The fund manager uses the strategy of cash futures arbitrage to predict the change in spreads between the cash market price and futures market price. Spreads are determined by the market’s bullishness or bearishness, earnings announcement and expectation,…

CROWD SOURCED Which online purchases are most influenced by opinions aired on social media? Source: Social Times, September 2016 net ninjas Grand Slam When Leander Paes spoke to the press about being sidelined for Rio 2016, both Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna responded online. Mirza tweeted, “The ONLY way to win with a toxic person, is not to play!” Bopanna wrote: “The usual ploy to stay in the news by slanging fellow players in media.” Your serve, Paes. web wow A Helping Drive Joyal Bindhu’s post thanking the Tamil Nadu police for keeping him safe during the recent chaos in the state got 23,000 ‘likes’. Noticing that Bindhu’s car carried a Karnataka licence place, the police escorted him out of danger and to the border. webwin Dog over Man Millions…

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK Sunny Pawar has been winning hearts abroad, both of audiences and critics, with his performance as the young Saroo (Dev Patel) in Lion. The Mumbai-based Pawar, with no acting or English-speaking skills, was only five when he pipped over 1,800 kids to win the part. “He was the kid I had [imagined for] the story,” filmmaker Garth Davis was reported as saying. HOW WAS THE WEEK? Awesome TEAM PINK Shoojit Sircar, Ritesh Shah and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury made a plea for women’s rights Awful KAPIL SHARMA Called out the BMC’s corruption, only to be accused of illegal construction himself BACK BIG Popular Manganiyar singer Mame Khan is back, showcasing his vocal flair on the big screen. The folk artist features on three tracks of Mirzya…

Nearly thirty years ago, the little known American Motors (AMC) claimed bragging rights for being the first to come up with the concept of a cross-over sedan, with a car named the Eagle. Handling advantages of a monocoque construction— where the chassis is a part of the body—were to negate the ill-effects of high Centre of Gravity and raised suspension. This innovative idea however was short lived. The Eagle, like the Subaru Outback (another such creation) evolved into station wagons which gained more popularity. Volvo, it seems, thought about playing with reverse psychology. The S60 is the same as the V60 wagon available in international markets, except for the obvious— different body styles. So when the V60 got a “Cross Country” variant, we are guessing that somebody in Gothenburg had…