Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2, 2018 i India Today

The general election of 2014 changed the political landscape of this country dramatically. For the first time in 25 years, a single party won a majority. The reason was the birth of a political colossus in the form of Narendra Modi. A charismatic leader and a revitalised party swept across most of India destroying rivals, following it up with wins in 12 out of 23 state elections since. The demoralised opposition saw a glimmer of hope after the BJP’s lacklustre performance in the prime minister’s home state of Gujarat. This was succeeded by the loss of two byelections in Rajasthan followed by the more recent loss of four major Lok Sabha byelections in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In all these states, the NDA was the ruling regime. The Uttar Pradesh…

@ShougatDasgupta Toxic Twitter It is 12 years since the first tweet. To ‘celebrate’ the anniversary, Amnesty International released a report on March 21 that described just how unhealthy an environment Twitter remains for women. They, alongside minorities, suffer disproportionate abuse and have little recourse even when the behaviour violates Twitter’s own guidelines. Death and rape threats are common currency. Women even stayed off Twitter en masse in October to protest sustained harassment and the company’s inability or unwillingness to do anything about it. Twitter responded to Amnesty’s report by claiming it could not “delete hatred and prejudice from society”. Perhaps not, but why allow it to thrive? Delete Facebook? A WhatsApp co-founder who left the company last year joined the call to #Delete-Facebook that’s gaining momentum on Twitter. Facebook spent…

On March 9, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi thundered at the India Today Conclave in Mumbai: “We will not let the BJP come to power in 2019.” To her detractors, that sounded like overconfidence at a time when her party has been reduced to ruling three states and one Union territory. Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains the most charismatic political leader across the spectrum, and aided by the mean election machine BJP president Amit Shah has built, the Bharatiya Janata Party has won 12 new states in the past four years. They have conquered new frontiers—Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Tripura. In contrast, the Congress could not even form a government in Manipur, Goa and Meghalaya, where it had emerged as the single largest party. It’s not just the…

The central government has allocated Rs 50 crore for tagging 40 million bovines with an Aadhaarlike unique number. The tag, to be installed on one of the ears, is made of polyurethane and will contain information on the breed of the animal, its age, and, if it has been subjected to it, the record of artificial insemination. In Madhya Pradesh, officials claim that the objective behind tagging is promotion of the species, which is why even buffaloes are covered under it. In the first phase in MP, all breedable, privately owned animals will be tagged while even female stray cattle will be covered, taking the number of total animals to be tagged to above 10 million. Jharkhand had launched a tagging scheme for cattle prior to the Centre’s announcement. The…

The dusty road that leads to Jagatpur village in north Delhi ends in a surprise. Winding through haphazard, unpainted brick tenements and open sewers, you come to a large green gate, beyond which cascades the sweeping green canopy of a resurgent urban forest . Tall grasses flail in the breeze and birds chatter from the undergrowth. A forest track meanders past a building complex and clumps of bamboo to a lake, where lilies grow along the banks and dainty birds like the red-crested pochard bob gently on the waters. The 157-acre Yamuna Biodiversity Park is a reminder of what the wilderness along the river once looked like, and the harbinger of an effort in cities across the country to reintroduce native trees and wildlife into urban areas. It’s also evidence…

It’s not every literary festival where you have to check out the foreign office security warnings before you attend. But then the literary festival that has just taken place in Lahore—where there were guards with machine guns at every entrance—was no ordinary one. I’d been to Lahore before and thought I knew my way around. But I confess I was hit with a bout of paranoia when my taxi driver struck off in the wrong direction from the airport and pulled into a lay-by to trade places with a younger and meaner-looking replacement. The vodka martinis I’d enjoyed on the incoming Emirates flight—celebrating an upgrade—weren’t helping. Was I now about to be abducted before I’d given a single talk on my new book, Nanda Devi? I should have stayed in…

WONDER WOMAN This entertaining and moving superheroine film is a reminder that sensitivity is an attribute all of us can do with a lot more of Amazon Prime BACHELOR GIRLS Mumbai’s growing tribe of single, independent women speak up on the prejudices they faced while house-hunting. If only Themyscira were real Netflix SEVEN SECONDS This unconventional crime series about a hit-and-run killing in Jersey City, New Jersey, is perhaps the most stirring treatment yet of the Black Lives Matter story Netflix…

Tanuj Solanki’s new collection of stories, Diwali in Muzaffarnagar, moves easily from Mumbai to Delhi to Diu—but it’s the Uttar Pradesh town of the title that forms its throbbing centre. The book is an impressive follow-up to his 2016 debut novel Neon Noon, which was set in Pattaya, Thailand. Stories like the masterfully executed formal experiment “Reasonable Limits” and “B’s First Solo Trip”, which turns a laser-like gaze on the race, sex and class dynamics of a backpacker vacation, establish Solanki as an astute new voice. It’s the three stories set in Muzaffarnagar that are most memorable, enabling that “riot-prone-piece-of-shit town” to emerge as more than a name in the news-cycle. It’s not that Solanki is uninterested in its specific geography. In fact, the book could serve as an unerring…

First time author Rupa Bhullar’s book The Indigo Sun is inspired from life to a large extent and her own journey and experiences. A fan of Elizabeth Gilbert, US-based Bhullar talks about the character of her book—Maya, which signifies every woman’s state in life and the dilemmas faced. What inspired you to write The Indigo Sun? At a certain point, many of us find ourselves looking for answers as to what constitutes happiness and what defines success, how and where do you find these? Is it found in a successful career or a perfect partner, does it even exist in the world out there, will I ever find it? This book is a journey that sets out to uncover some of these answers. You can say it is based on…

WEB OF CHANGE 1 Build a support system for women. 2 In the patriarchal world, we tend to be harsh and judgemental with one another. This needs to change. 3 Redine cool. Cool currently is so macho. More women need to be allowed to just be themselves, that should be the new cool. I’ve been spending the last two years thinking about how a lot of what I do now is connected to where I come from,” says Preethi Herman, Country Head, Change.org. And it truly is. Growing up in a conservative Catholic community in Gudalur, Tamil Nadu, Herman had a rigidly policed childhood. “Till the age of 15, I’d never gone out of my house alone except to school which was less than half a kilometre from home. The…

STYLE QUOTIENT 1 Wear a lot of indigo. Blue goes with our skin, looks good, and is not too loud. 2 It is best to keep clothes understated, nothing too flamboyant. In 1983, Meena Bindra was a thirty-nine-year-old housemaker in Mumbai, with two sons in school and a husband in the navy. She had time on her hands and wanted to make a little extra pocket money. Her husband got her a loan for 8,000 from the bank, she found a tailor and printer and decided to indulge her flair for design and love for Indian clothing. “Maybe I always had a streak of entrepreneurship in me. I come from a business family,” says Bindra, now 74. In the early 80s, created a market for the readymade salwar kameez, a…

Entrepreneurship is a crucial driver of economic development and growth—unleashing the power of entrepreneurship can have a dramatic effect on a country’s economy. Despite this, women own and run only one-third of the small and medium enterprises in emerging markets. In some of the poorest countries, many sectors that are vital for their economic growth depend mainly on women. Yet one of the biggest barriers to expanding businesses is lack of finance—amounting to up to US $300 billion annually. In India itself, we have a $116 billion financing gap for women-owned micro, small and medium enterprises. India is also, however, the world’s largest petri-dish of entrepreneurial solutions—everyday, new ideas translate into promising opportunities to create market-based solutions. In many ways, it is a great time to be an entrepreneur. The…

Every city, quite like every human I know, has a personality that guides its behaviour and your experience of it. Based on Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) some cities could be INFPs (introversion, intuition, feeling, perception) or ENTJs (extroversion, intuition, thinking, perception) some expressive, some “aggro af ” or some, type B. I love discovering what gives a city its identity. ISTANBUL You know those people who are just so interesting that you become greedy to learn more about them? Meet Istanbul. Istanbul has lived well and continues to, with a youthful energy most millennial cities could only dream of. Binge on mezze in Beyoglu, visit third century monuments across the Bosporous, sip a power-packed coffee in Karakoy and eat pistachio ice-cream, all in one day. It feels like its seen…

I’ve never been squeamish about Holi, and I like my colours dunked in icy, splashy liquids, not dry powders that are tenderly patted on cheeks. However, I’ve always been aware that it’s best celebrated in a safe zone with family and friends. Out on the streets never! That’s because, as every Indian knows, Holi is also a euphemism for ‘Happy-Feeling-Up-Women-While-You’re-Drunk-As-A-Skunk Day.’ This year, the molestation of women took a new form, with semen-filled balloons hitting female passersby on Delhi’s streets. Soon after a horrified student from Lady Shri Ram College reported the incident, several other female students from Delhi University said they had been victims too. Filling balloons with semen seems to be the latest fad among frustrated Indian men with bad breath, body odour, dandruff, zits and zero social…

NIFT DELHI TO CONDUCT NATIONAL SIZING SURVEY COMMENCING A RESEARCH STUDY under the Ministry of Textiles, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Delhi, is all set to develop a standardised size chart for the ready-to-wear industry keeping Indian body measurements in mind. The research will entail measuring 25,000 people in the age group of 15-65 in six cities—Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Shillong using 3D whole body scanners. The institute will also have extensive consultations with the apparel industry for this research activity.…

Domestic air travel registered impressive growth in February this year compared to the same period last year. These numbers come just as the fleets of two popular domestic carriers have been partially grounded because of repeated engine failures. While the number of planes and the routes they serve are relatively small, some industry experts are suggesting there may be a small rise in air fares over the next couple of months as a result of the grounding. In general, fares have been lower as competition for domestic passengers has increased with several airlines offering promotional pricing and one-off deals. India is among the world’s fastest growing travel markets, with the Sydney-based Centre for Aviation estimating that India will overtake Britain as the world’s third largest travel market by 2025. Questions…

India won a tri-nation T20 series in Sri Lanka in the most exciting way possible with a last-ball six from Dinesh Karthik against Bangladesh in the final. At 32, Karthik is now being talked about as potentially India’s new finisher in the game’s quickest format. And though everyone around Karthik lost their heads, the man himself stayed cool. Taking to Instagram the day after his heroics, Karthik wrote: “Probably one of the best nights of my life. Nothing comes close to crossing the finish line for your country.” Probably? 29 RUNS SCORED BY KARTHIK OFF JUST 8 BALLS TO WIN THE FINAL. INDIA NEEDED 34 FROM 12 BALLS 5 RUNS REQUIRED OFF THE LAST BALL, SO KARTHIK NEEDED TO HIT A 6—AND HE OBLIGED 17 RUNS REQUIRED OFF THE LAST…

If the current dispensation has its way, our future generations will be total misfits in an increasingly scientific and technological world The annual Indian Science Congress is not a place where original, path-breaking research is discussed. However, in the past few years, it seems to have become a forum where some jaw-dropping claims are made. At the 105th session of the Indian Science Congress, Union minister for science & technology Harsh Vardhan claimed that Stephen Hawking had “emphatically said on record that our Vedas might have a theory which is superior to Einstein’s theory of E=mc2 ”. Evidently keen to share this revelation more widely, he later tweeted words to the same telling effect. Of course it didn’t matter that the recently deceased cosmologist had said no such thing, as…

Rahul Gandhi Congress president What works for him: As a pan-India party, the Congress has an impact in every state. He is acceptable to Akhilesh, Tejashwi, Sharad Pawar and Stalin Downside: Mamata won’t accept his leadership; TRS, TDP want to stay away Mamata Banerjee West Bengal CM, TMC chief What works for her: Has already reached out to BJD, TRS, AAP, DMK and even NDA deserters Shiv Sena and TDP Downside: Her base is limited to West Bengal. If SP or BSP goes past her tally, the equation will change Chandrababu Naidu Andhra Pradesh CM, TDP chief What works for him: Is a good negotiator; acceptable to most third front leaders Downside: Congress and NCP unlikely to accept his unpredictable ways. He prefers to play the kingmaker rather than playing…

Best known for The Salaryman’s Wife and other novels featuring amateur sleuth Rei Shimura—which take place in contemporary Japan— Sujata Massey turns to 1920s’ Bombay in her new novel, A Murder on Malabar Hill. Her protagonist, Perveen Mistry, the only woman solicitor in the city, is inspired by Cornelia Sorabji, the British empire’s first woman lawyer. Excerpts from an interview with Deepanjana Pal Q. Why set the novel in Mumbai? India’s first two women lawyers—Cornelia Sorabji and Mithan Tata Lam—hailed from Maharashtra. So I felt my lawyer needed to be a Bombay woman. Also, Mumbai is a great zone for a writer. Q. The book is set in a male-dominated world, but they are very much the supporting cast. Tell us about the leading ladies? I love to write strong…

Q. How did you break the ice with the kids, many of them first-time actors, in the cast? I didn’t meet them before the shoot. We didn’t want them to get too familiar with me. The story evolves wherein you see the discord and then the comfort. We tried to do that organically. Q. You play a teacher with Tourette syndrome. How did your approach to this character differ from your approach to the character youplayedin Black? When I met people who suffer from hearing and speech impairments or were visually impaired, not once did I feel they wanted sympathy because they didn’t think they had a disability. It’s the same with Nainain Hichki.Thereisnotmuch awareness about Tourette’s in India.With Hichki, Ihope that changes. Q. Yourfilm Hichki says that ‘there are…

ON CREATING A SUPPORT ECO-SYSTEM PRIYA NAIK, 38 Founder and CEO, Samhita Social Ventures, Mumbai Corporate Social Responsibility Consultancy 1 Collaborate and innovate Social issues are complex and people have limited resources at their disposal. Be creative in your approach to resource allocation, collaboration, processes, hiring and problem solving. 2 Inspire and lead To create a powerful solution, you need to get the best out of the people you work with, such as advisors, employees and clients. To marshal these varied people and perspectives, encourage them with your work and your story. 3 Have a sense of humour The very issue that motivates you can also tax you. Having a sense of humour keeps challenges from leeching your energy. 4 Be committed to the people you want to help For…

WORDS OF WISDOM 1 Whatever you do, be fully present. 2 Always have a hobby. 3 Give something back to society—I want to see more women in aviation. 4 Treat each day as a new day. 5 Never refuse a good bargain, especially if it’s property. When Radha Bhatia, 71, was growing up in Meerut she didn’t even know what a travel agent did. As one of two daughters of a businessman, she did a post graduation in psychology from Raghunath Girls’ Post Graduate College and taught for four years at her alma mater, Sophia Girls School. “I needed a few years to enjoy my life,’’ she recalls now. Indeed, marriage to Vijay Bhatia brought her to Delhi and responsibility, for running a household with a young sister-in-law and an…

RULES OF MANAGEMENT 1 Prioritise each day. Make yourself available to the issue or challenge that needs your attention whether professional or personal. 2 The sooner you start working towards the goal, the sooner will you gain knowledge, experience and will to overcome fears. With roots of entertainment running in her family for past four decades, Rishika Lulla Singh has been associated with the world of movies since childhood. A postgraduate from UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, US, she has been the CEO of Eros Digital since November 2012, and has seen the company’s transition from a film studio to a digital content platform over last two-and-a-half years. The company has tripled in growth since then and about 25 per cent of Eros Group’s overall revenues now come…

When Frances McDormand, in her acceptance speech after winning the Oscar for Best Actress, called out to all the female nominees to stand up and share that moment with her, I cried. In that moment there was such deep solidarity. It made me think of the fact that there are such few women behind the camera, but also that when we get together we can be such a powerful force. And if we don’t stand up and change the status quo, it will never change. I’m thrilled that she left us with two words to ponder over. Inclusion Rider. Inclusion Rider means that when somebody signs a contract, they can ask for a guarantee that the cast and crew of the film are more diverse and more representative. I know…

Wraps and rolls are versatile. They are convenient, easy to carry, non-messy, and perfect to add different, often missed out ingredients such as multiple veggies, fruits, herbs and seasonings. High in fibre, they are smart ways to combine carbohydrates and proteins to ensure the benefits of both. No wonder then that they are part of every cuisine around the world, from Indian kathi rolls, to Mexican burritos, from Turkish shawarmas to Vietnamese cold spring rolls. Avocado Salsa Delight 300 calories per serving Heat 1tsp oil, add 1/2 spring onion, thinly sliced; cook until tender. Add 1/4 cup sweet corn and cook till done. Now add 1/2 avocado, peeled, cut into small pieces and stop till it softens a bit. Season with 1 tsp lime juice, salt and pepper. Add 1…

ROSHAN SHRINIVAS CHUMBALKAR 19, First-year student, RMD Sinhgad School of Engineering, Pune Designed a prototype of a solar-powered bicycle Roshan Shrinivas Chumbalkar came up with the idea of designing a solar-powered bicycle while he was on a break after his Class 10 exams. “It has always been my dream to build something using solar energy. As time went by, I was inspired to build a solar-powered bicycle that could change the way people commute short distances,” he says. After joining RMD Singhad School of Engineering, he had a better understanding of how solar energy works, which helped him to develop the bicycle. The cycle which he uses to travel to nearby places weighs 14 kg along with two solar panels fixed at the rear-end. “The bicycle gets charged with the…

NPU PRESIDENT SCHOLARSHIP Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), China, is inviting NPU President Scholarship applications for international students. The scholarships will be awarded for pursuing bachelor’s, master’s and doctor’s programme offered by the university. The application fee is 100 USD ( 6,493). The last date for submission of applications is June 30. Check details at nwpu.edu.cn NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY VICE-CHANCELLOR’S EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIP Newcastle University, UK, is offering Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Scholarship for meritorious international students applying for full-time undergraduate programmes. As many as 14 scholarships will be awarded. The deadline for second round of applications is April 27. Check www.ncl.ac.uk…

“RESEARCH ACTIVITIES CAN BE INCREASED ONLY IF GROSS EXPENDITURE IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IS RAISED” What are the key features that give a university an edge over others? It is important to alter the learning process. Universities have to fundamentally change their teaching-learning method so that the creative mentality of students can be enriched. Continuous evaluation system, Choice Based Credit System (CBCS), and the participatory method of teaching can be helpful in this context. But reforms should be introduced only after proper infrastructure is created. An interdisciplinary teaching-learning mechanism needs to be developed so that research scholars do not remain confined to their specific academic interests. Instead they become inclusive citizens and agents of social change, contributing to making of India a better place to live in. What should be…

COLOUR ME Pretty GUNEET VIRDI, 39 Is make-up every woman’s forte? It could be, but not everyone is blessed with the skillset to execute that perfect double cut crease and razor sharp highlighting. Guneet Virdi firmly believes that make-up is no longer a bastion of the vain woman. Foundation, mascara, lipstick—it is now every woman’s confidence boosting arsenal, and Virdi’s clients can’t get enough of her. A student of the London School of Makeup, Virdi was obsessed with eye palettes as a teenager. What sets her apart is how she deals with her clients. “I make it a point to understand what they have in mind before sharing my vision with them. The client will never be happy if we’re not on the same page,” says Virdi. Muse Aishwarya…

“Arvindji, take my advice, make a list. It’ll be easier to apologise to people, one after the other. Or have an apology affidavit prepared: ‘To whosoever it may concern...’” Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had some gentle fun at the expense of his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, currently in the process of apologising his way out of a couple dozen defamation lawsuits. It’s uncertain, though, if an apology is on its way to Chouhan’s BJP colleague, finance minister Arun Jaitley. What seems more certain is that AAP and Kejriwal have fizzled out—firebrands to damp squibs in less than a single term in office…

“THE PARTY HAS LOST CREDIBILITY BECAUSE OF THIS ALLIANCE,” SAYS A SENIOR PDP MINISTER THE ENSUING STATE OF instability in Jammu & Kashmir is a matter of serious concern,” Omar Abdullah told National Conference workers in Srinagar on March 16. The former chief minister was reacting to the unceremoniously swift sacking of Haseeb Drabu, the state’s finance minister, who was also widely acknowledged as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party’s point man to engage with the Centre. Though ostensibly removed for his controversial comments to a gathering of diplomats in New Delhi, where he sought to emphasise the ‘social’ aspects of the Kashmir problem over its ‘political’ dimensions, there is more than the party will let on. The move, some analysts say, is Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s attempt to salvage the…

The far wall in Tejashwi Yadav’s office in Patna bears a framed photograph—his father Lalu Prasad Yadav deep in conversation with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “These are pictures from watershed events in the past,” he explains. Tejashwi, 28, is evidently now a more astute politician, more in control of his emotions than either his father or elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav. And he’s proving his mettle. The recent bypolls—in Araria (Lok Sabha), and Jehanabad and Bhabua (assembly)—analysts say, could cement the path for Tejashwi’s rise in Bihar. Even without Lalu to guide him—he’s doing time in a Ranchi jail—Tejashwi comfortably led the party to success in Araria and Jehanabad. The Rashtriya Janata Dal nominee, Sarfaraz Alam, won Araria by 55,000 votes, and Sujay Yadav took Jehanabad in central Bihar by…

THE POST-SECOND WORLD WAR international order put in place by a victorious United States is being steadily hollowed out by its own chief architect. Key pillars of the order are being dismantled relentlessly by President Donald Trump. His making America great again is driven by a vision at the heart of which is a deep sense of grievance among Americans who feel shortchanged by globalisation and beset by an acute sense of anxiety about the future. This has led to the paradox that Trump personifies. There is an aggressive pursuit of US security and economic interests, but those interests are being defined in much narrower terms. There is a rejection of multilateral constraints on US action and an insistence on reciprocity in interstate relations. In the initial stages of the…

1 WHAT ARE THEY AND WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE NOTE Electronic cigarettes, vapes, e-hookahs, vape pens... they are all battery-operated devices used to inhale an aerosol. They can look like tobacco cigarettes, like pens, oversized lipsticks or USB drives. There are more than 500 e-cigarette brands currently in the market. Most e-cigarettes consist of a cartridge with solution (containing nicotine, flavourings), a heating element (atomiser), a power source (battery) and a mouthpiece. Puffing activates the heating device, which vapourises the liquid in the cartridge. You inhale the vapour. 2 THE MYTHS AROUND E-CIGS MYTH: E-cigarettes are safe REALITY: It’s not known what exactly there is in the cartridge MYTH: E-cigarettes don’t have nicotine REALITY: E-cigarettes deliver nicotine through vapour rather than smoke, but the nicotine is still derived from tobacco.…

Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar’s Do We Not Bleed? Reflections of a 21st Century Pakistani reads like an explainer, lifting the veil on Pakistanis for Indian readers. The title could as easily have been ‘We’re not all Terrorists: But We are all Human, and many of us are Women’. The book is a collection of essays, stories, profiles and interviews, covering the themes of patriarchy, women and minority rights, social taboos and much else. The variety of content leads it to suffer from an identity crisis. The section on the author’s family and friends reads like a memoir, while the sections on ‘honour’ killings and minority rights are more akin to long-form journalism. The hodgepodge of styles and subjects gives the book the same whimsicality of the Lahori coffee parties the…

British actor Celia Imrie’s third novel, Sail Away, begins as an adventure novel and develops into a murder mystery. Unusually, its two protagonists are both over 60. One-time TV star Suzie Marshall and newly homeless Amanda Herbert meet aboardacruiseship,the Blue Mermaid. Victim of a swindle that emptied her bank account and caused a role as Lady Bracknell in a Zurich theatre’s production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest to evaporate, Marshall has taken a last-minute gig aboard ship—where the young man blamed for the Zurich fiasco joins her, insisting he’s innocent. Also on board is a mystery man who seems to be the real culprit. As the setup suggests, their stories intersect with Amanda’s, who has opted for the cruise instead of a cheap hotel after her purchase…

NO, It is no empowerment There is no emancipation in skinny, starving girls, swaying their body in front of the world. It is culturally as well as morally regressive. The worth of a woman should not be measured by the size of her waist, her weight or the people who find her attractive. A show in which she becomes a piece of flesh and bones involves no honour and dignity. Munish Qureshi, Delhi NO, It paints women negatively Beauty pageants have a clichéd structure, postulated to be about beauty as well as brains. Nonetheless, it becomes an exclusive space, limited in its outlook towards women. It not only reinforces the male gaze, but also denies women an intellectual space. Women in such contests are only stereotyped as a prototype of…

There’s just the slightest trace of an American accent that indicates the nearly three decades she has spent working for IBM, one of the world’s most iconic companies, with operations in 170 countries and a brand valuation of over $75 billion. But it’s the confident set of her shoulders and her firm enunciation that truly sets her apart. At 58, Vanitha Narayanan is at the peak of her profession, Chairman of IBM India (IBM prefers this to the gender-neutral chairperson), where it has moved beyond its core competence of servicing telecom into banking, financial services and insurance, industrial, healthcare and retail segments. Not bad for a woman who began her working life in America as a store clerk in the home linen department of Joske’s, a department store in Houston,…

THIS IS HOW IT WORKKS 1 Our organisation structure is flat where every employee is encouraged to speak and share ideas. 2 Systems are in place; everything is well documented. Anu Acharya is no stranger to the accolades she’s been winning for her work. The CEO of self-funded start-up Maymygenome, a genomics company, aims to “touch 100 million lives” in India through improved healthcare by helping people and physicians understand an individual’s predisposition to certain diseases. “We make up for 20 per cent of the world’s population but have only 0.2 per cent of genomic data,” says Acharya who earlier led Ocimum Bio Solutions, a genomics outsourcing partner for discovery, development and diagnostics, since 2000. The long days spent in hospital with her father further shaped her concept and Acharya,…

Nisha Bains, 42 FOUNDER, PURGANICS, MUMBAI www.purganiclife.com Moving back to India after spending a large part of her life in the US, Nisha Bains found that there was no Indian company offering a solution for feminine hygiene products. This is what drove her to work on a high quality range of safe, certified organic products for women. The Mumbai-based entrepreneur rewrote the sanitary napkin story by creating a line of all-natural and hypoallergenic products. “Realising the gap in Indian marketplace in terms of organic menstrual products, Purganics, was launched in 2017, a self-funded feminine hygiene products brand that manufactures 100 per cent cotton-based and biodegradable sanitary products,” says Bains. The challenging task for her was to educate the unaware consumers of the hazards posed by existing products and why they…