Indholdsfortegnelse for December 17, 2018 i India Today

When it comes to India and Pakistan, cricketing analogies are inescapable. More so when Pakistan’s most successful cricketer, Imran Khan, is now prime minister. In recent days, Khan seems to have bowled his famed reverse swing at us over the issue of the Kartarpur corridor and Indian diplomats seem to have misread the ball. The issue is fairly simple. The Gurudwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, roughly four kilometres from the international border, marks the spot where Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, passed away over four centuries ago. The gurudwara built on the spot is revered by Sikhs worldwide. It was Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who in 1999 during his historic bus trip to Lahore first mooted the idea of giving Indian pilgrims access to Kartarpur. His proposal received a…

Christian J. Michel, 57, extradited to India from Dubai on December 4, is the keeper of many secrets. The CBI named him in its FIR in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal, and believes he is key to putting together the pieces in the 2010 deal with the Italian firm Finmeccanica (now, Leonardo). Meanwhile, the NDA government, which has been at the receiving end of the Congress’s attack over crony capitalism in the Rafale deal, has some ammunition to fire back. This could explain the high-level gears that moved swiftly to bring him to India after a Dubai court rejected his appeal against extradition last month. Michel, a British national, was arrested by UAE authorities in February 2017 on an extradition notice sent by the CBI. This July,…

They might not see eye to eye politically, but Thackeray cousins Uddhav and Raj are on the same page when it comes to seeking vote banks. On November 30, Uddhav’s Shiv Sena backed the demand for five per cent reservation for Muslims, a stunning volte face considering the Sena’s role in the 1992-93 Bombay riots as well as a deviation from party founder Bal Thackeray’s insistence on quotas exclusively for the poor. Two days later, Raj spoke from the platform of the Uttar Bharatiya Manch, an organisation of north Indian migrants, whom his party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, had targeted just a decade ago. Thackeray told the gathering that the clashes in the past took place because the migrants disrespected local culture. All’s fair, it seems, in love, war and…

To bump up its visibility in West Bengal ahead of the Lok Sabha election next year, the BJP plans to take its more than month-long rath yatra through all 42 parliamentary constituencies in the state. Starting from Cooch Behar in north Bengal on December 7, in the presence of party national president Amit Shah, the ‘grand procession’ is to culminate into a massive show of strength in Kolkata. Curiously though, the West Bengal administration has been sitting on the BJP’s application seeking permission for the yatra. BJP leaders say they will press ahead with their plans nonetheless. “We are going ahead, with or without permission,” says BJP state general secretary Debasree Chaudhuri. The party, however, has also sought the Calcutta High Court’s intervention. And while her government has yet to…

1 Fully implement the SAARC convention on suppression of terrorism 2 Come aboard on improving road, rail connectivity as SAARC nations have agreed 3 Resolve the many pending major bilateral trade agreements; grant India MFN status 4 Ensure the 2003 ceasefire agreement on the LoC. Agree to talks on Kashmir 5 To counter Kartarpur, Indian High Commission must liberalise visa policy, force Pak to respond 6 Work out modalities of visa-free regime at Kartarpur; prevent misuse by extremists 7 Relook options on LoC routes to open up movement, trade between two Kashmirs 8 Improve Munabao-Khokhrapar rail link to connect Jodhpur with Karachi 9 Start work on Pakistan’s logistics network on the border for trade 10 Speed up judicial process for convicting 26/11 perpetrators and curb terror groups in Pakistan…

I COULD END THE DEFICIT IN FIVE MINUTES. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3 per cent of the GDP, all sitting members of the Congress are ineligible for re-election,” Warren Buffet, the maverick investor, famously said. A ballooning fiscal deficit and sliding growth are every government’s nightmare. Data can make or mar reputations. In India, as the economy grows and diversifies, the problem of capturing the growth story in numbers has left policymakers flummoxed. GDP revisions are the norm, as are various other data revisions, including of industrial growth and trade, which form the basis of GDP calculation. Such revisions seldom create a stir, except when they impact past data and put a former government in dimmer light—as we…

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, and make illegal migrants, who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians and have entered India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, eligible for Indian citizenship. The amendment was apparently motivated by reports that a number of Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals belonging to these minority communities were compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or the fear of it. The Citizenship Act, 1955, bars illegal migrants from acquiring Indian citizenship. An illegal migrant is a foreigner who enters the country without valid travel documents, such as passport and visa, or enters with valid documents but overstays beyond the permitted time period. Illegal migrants may be imprisoned or deported under the Foreigners Act, 1946, and the…

WITH HIS FIRST HINDI-ENGLISH MOVIE, ACCLAIMED DIRECTOR GURVINDER SINGH IS OUT TO SHED THE TAG OF PUNJABI FILMMAKER IN THE almost surreal mountains near Bir in Himachal Pradesh, the frantic activity of a film crew is a stark contrast to the sleepy locals. The first-timers are nervous. One of them loses it, and National Award-winning director Gurvinder Singh whispers to him, “No shouting on my set.” A journalist acting in the film asks to change her crumpled suit, and Singh asks her if people always wear sharply pressed clothes. Khanaur (Wood) is Singh’s first Hindi-English film. Addressing the plight of the rural Himalayas—rich in natural resources but so stricken by poverty that its people are migrating to the plains—it’s a dramatic departure from his Punjabi films Anhe Ghore Da Daan…

Q. When did you decide you wanted to write on Andal? When I was 27 and experiencing serious depression, when I’d just read the poems to myself, the words blurring, when it felt as though my own vocabulary had seeped out of my veins. I did not imagine then I would write this book. But, in 2014, I had a dream in which Andal told me to write a novel on her. I did not think of it as a divine vocation, but the strange speed at which I wrote the book makes me less sceptical. Q. Where did history stop and fiction begin in your novel? “In 2014, I had a dream in which Andal told me to write a book about her.” In Andal’s poetry, she describes herself…

Q. Now that you’re turning 75, how do you look back at the five decades spent behind the camera? There is a sense of satisfaction and gratitude. All those who I have photographed gave me a lot more than what I hoped for. And god has always been kind, he has always contributed to my pictures, sometimes by opening the skies for the precise kind of light I wanted and many a times telling my subjects to give ‘that’ expression. Q. How do you look at the state of art today? Most young contemporary artists are doing just anything in the name of experimentation without realising their responsibility—to portray contemporary reality and imagine a future based on that. Just bringing on the options offered by the computer or producing repetitive…

The city of Mumbai has been well encapsulated as muse and inspiration by many. She makes yet another appearance in designer Samant Chauhan’s new store, which shows deep influences of the city by the bay. The store, his second after Delhi, is located opposite The Taj Mahal Hotel in Colaba and reflects the architectural style and aesthetic of the neighbourhood during the Colonial era. The 700 sq ft space makes ample use of restored teakwood and brickwork, while adding nostalgic touches like Colonial-era switchboards. Chauhan’s latest collection Do Not Allow Me to Forget You was also unveiled at the new store. The collection, centred around Bhagalpuri silk and handwoven clothes, is inspired by the designer’s memories of the city and you find snatches of Mumbai visuals like steelwork sunsets, orange…

This book is an insightful but uneven critique of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign and security policies. It is perceptive because Bharat Karnad quite accurately describes the principal factors that propelled Modi into office in 2014 and the hopes that many in the electorate had reposed in him. It is also problematic because his criticisms are often much too sweeping and shot through with his own idiosyncratic preferences. At the very outset, Karnad correctly argues that Modi had represented a potential break from India’s recent lacklustre past under the previous regime. Modi seemed to embody a clean image, a leader who was decisive and would bring about the much-needed reforms across the board. Few, if any, of these promises, Karnad argues, have been realised. Worse, stemming from his ideological convictions…

“ If BJP forms the government in Telangana, Owaisi will have to run away just like the Nizam was compelled to run away from Hyderabad ” YOGI ADITYANATH, speaking at a rally in Telangana last week, fired another of his communal, historically inaccurate barbs. His target: Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who had taken the Uttar Pradesh CM to task for responding to a video of Congress leader Kamal Nath asking for 90% of Muslim votes with the line: “Keep your Ali, Bajrang Bali is enough for us.” Speaking of Bajrang Bali, Adityanath also described the monkey god last week as a “forest dweller, deprived and a Dalit”.…

“The new series is more broad-based and better reflects the Indian economy. It’s globally more comparable. Most experts, including those who headed the CSO, have opined that this better represents the real state of the economy.” “They are a bad joke. Actually they are worse than a bad joke. The numbers are the result of a hatchet job.” “It’s a clear shift that the NITI Aayog got involved in the generation of the new series. One gets the suspicion that it was not done by professional statisticians.” “Frequent and drastic changes in data can send conflicting signals to investors.”…

Aanand L. Rai’s Colour Yellow Productions has had an eventful year—and it’s not over yet. The director-producer is gearing up to release his sixth feature, Zero, on December 21, following a flurry of films he produced with other directors. The tally is impressive enough to warrant repeating. While working on his own film, Rai produced Anurag Kashyap’s Mukkabaaz and Manmarziyaan, Rahul Shanklya’s Nimmo, Mudassar Aziz’s Happy Phirr Bhaag Jaayegi and presented Rahi Anil Barve’s Tumbbad. Meanwhile, Zero is his biggest and most ambitious film to date, featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif, and also using cinematic hijinks to shrink its hero in size. “The emotion and reception of the ‘I Love You’ coming from a 4.5 feet tall man is different,” he says. “I have just raised…

Disaster movies are virtually unknown in Bollywood. Director Abhishek Kapoor believes he knows why. “Our concept of a big film is to have a big star,” he says. “We tend to make small stories and overproduce them. We don’t go after the big idea.” Hisnewfilm, Kedarnath,whichhits cinemas December 7, is an exception, a bold move following the box-office failure ofhislastfilm, Fitoor.He’dembarkedon a trip to Vaishno Devi (in Jammu) to digest that disappointment when the idea struck him for a romance set against the backdrop of the cloudburst in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand, and the resultant 2013 floods. It was the sight of Muslim porters carrying Hindu pilgrims on their backs through the arduous terrain to take them to god that led to the epiphany—and the interreligious romance at the film’s core, he…

Escape at Dannemora, now streaming on Hotstar, is more striking for its failures than successes. Director Ben Stiller can’t seem to decide if he’s aping Joel and Ethan Coen or mimicking Mike Leigh. The betwixt and between result is neither funny nor moving—though it’s packed with strange-looking people and grating accents. The bare bones of the story are promising enough. A female prison guard becomes romantically involved with two inmates and helps them escape. But like The Great Escape or Escape from Alcatraz, that premise comes with a problem of its own: we know going in what’s going to happen, so the action has to resonate emotionally. Like the Coen brothers’ Fargo, Escape at Dannemora is based on a true incident involving downmarket criminals in rural America. Tilly’s (Patricia Arquette)…

THERE ARE SOME PLATES THAT YOU CAN commit to memory because they open your taste buds to a new flavour, a nuance, a texture. Dining has been one of the biggest beneficiaries since the axis of luxury tilted away from products to bespoke experiences. Detailed itineraries are often plotted based on the best restaurants in a region and the Michelin star continues to draw those looking for a slice of what qualifies as gourmet. In the last issue of the year, Spice celebrates the bounty of produce, the joy of shared meals and the forging of bonds over drinks that are nursed well into the night. Our cover story could not have been done at a better time as it highlights a growing trend of Indian chefs winning accolades overseas.…

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There’s quiet contemplation in rituals; in preparing that perfect cup of tea. The British came, saw, stayed and quietly passed on their tea fetish to Indians who fell in love with the idea of perfection in a cup. Over the years, while pockets of the country have grown some of the finest tea the world has sipped, Indians are still tentative about being seen as tea forward. The over-brewed, extra-sweet tea varieties found at small, local dhabas as one travels the country have been replaced by a refined sensibility and tea growers and retailers today sniff out the best brews and are unafraid to experiment as they travel around the world. NO 3 CLIVE ROAD Radhika Chopra was not brought up in India but her father and grandfather were, and…

Nostalgia and food always sit well on a plate, especially if they are shared plates similar to the kind familiar older generations. Ziya, The Oberoi Mumbai outpost conceptualised by Michelin star chef Vineet Bhatia, offers a new shared plates menu that is a loving ode not just to simpler times but one that celebrates Mumbai as a melting pot of people and flavours. Aptly christened Taste of Mumbai Tiffin, it marries authenticity with timeless recipes served with unexpected pairings and presented with Bhatia’s unique brand of quirk and originality. The result: a unique celebration of diversity. The Taste Of Mumbai Tiffin hopes to deliver this diverse taste of the various contributing communities to your plate in a set menu at Ziya. From Koli shrimp fry or Koli masala bhindi, inspired…

Celebrating its 15th year in India, Louis Vuitton relaunched its Delhi store in a spanking new and bigger avatar. The duplex store reflects the international spirit of the brand while embracing local elements. The façade of the store features Louis Vuitton’s signature Damier print. The interiors are designed to be open and filled with abundant light. Unique to New Delhi, the interiors use original fabrics from India and carpets from Jaipur and Nepal extensively. A handpicked collection of vintage Parisian furniture and objet d’art’s also embellish the store. The second floor of the store hosts the Appartement, a first of its kind concept in India. Designed as a two-room apartment, it is an exclusive space for clients to preview collections in a private manner. Where DLF Emporio, Vasant Kunj, New…

Campaigning in Telangana, PM Narendra Modi described dangling the prospect of increased quota for Muslims as a kind of betrayal. “Is it not an insult to the Constituent Assembly,” he asked, “is it not an insult to B.R. Ambedkar?” It was a complaint, critics pointed out, made without a hint of irony, when dangling the prospect of reservations before various communities has become a national pastime. As Asaduddin Owaisi pointed out, why can Marathas, Gujjars and Jats be promised reservations but not Muslims, especially when it’s not about religion but about socio-economic need? The Maharashtra government has passed legislation granting reservations to Marathas. It was followed by some proposing that since 70 per cent of the Brahmins were “below the creamy layer”, they, too, deserved reservations. Reservations were envisaged as…

The G-20 summit was born in the crucible of the 2007-08 global financial and economic crisis. It brought together 19 of the pre-eminent and influential developed and developing economies of the world and the European Union as a principal organisation for international economic coordination. It became the steering committee for managing the global economy and international financial markets, acknowledging the significant diffusion of economic power away from the small club of advanced capitalist economies, represented by the G-7. India’s inclusion reflected its growing profile as a major emerging economy. The G-20 was most effective in tackling the crisis through coordinated actions such as adopting stimulus measures, avoiding competitive currency devaluations, trade protectionism and capital controls. However, as the crisis has receded into the background and the global economy has shown…

PewDiePie (real name: Felix Kjellberg), a lanky Swede whose shtick and its astonishing popularity is inexplicable to anyone over 20, has been locked in a one-sided ‘war’ with Indian record label T-Series to become the YouTube channel with the most subscribers. PewDiePie still has more subscribers than T-Series, whose content is music videos and film trailers across multiple channels. A generally good-natured rivalry did descend to juvenile name-calling and casual racism but PewDiePie put out a video asking his followers to cool it. He also embarked on a campaign to raise 150,000 pounds for “Indian 9-year-olds”, an inside joke after one YouTube critic suggested that was the age demographic of his audience. The money is earmarked for the NGO Child Rights and You (CRY), and is the latest in a…

A change of guard in the Maoist leadership has prompted Chhattisgarh’s security establishment to step up the vigil, anticipating fresh attacks by the rebels. Officials say 63-year-old Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju’s recent elevation as the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) central committee, could well provoke a major incident, if only to mark the occasion. Expected for some months, Basavaraju’s ‘promotion’ was announced in a press communiqué from the CPI(Maoist) central committee spokesperson Abhay last month. The press note also said that 74-year-old M. Laxman Rao, the previous general secretary, had decided to step down because of his failing health. Also known as ‘Ganapathy’, Rao had headed the party since 2004. Hailing from Jianapatta village in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, Basavaraju is an engineer…

Frequent Flier Telangana Tollywood actor-turned-politician Vijayashanthi made some 40 helicopter landings, which is more than any other ‘star’ campaigner pitched against the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi. It was almost like the party-hopping she has been known for. She won the 2009 Lok Sabha election as an acolyte of K. Chandrasekhar Rao, only to join the Congress in 2014. That’s not all. She started out with the BJP in the late 1990s. Digital Dare Telangana Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu was locked in an angry tweet-for-tat with KCR after the latter taunted him for teaming up with the Congress. “Did I stop him from making a Dalit chief minister?”, tweeted Naidu. “Did I stop him from Telangana’s development? He should tell.” Predictably, KCR’s handle has been silent on the ‘promises…

October 27 Malik alleges list of 582 selected candidates in J&K Bank was changed to accommodate kin of politicians and party workers during PDP-BJP regime. Later, he and the bank chairman deny it October 27 A month after clearing Reliance General Insurance Company to provide insurance to 350,000 government employees, scraps contract saying it was “full of frauds” November 21 Orders dissolution of the legislative assembly the very day Mehbooba stakes a claim to form a government with the NC and Congress November 22 State Administrative Council which Malik chairs declares the J&K Bank a PSU accountable to the state legislature November 24 In Gwalior, says Delhi would have wanted him to instal Sajjad Lone as CM November 28 Controversially repeals the Roshini Act December 4 Insisting that the word…

Q. What’s the motivation behind the new GDP series? Its release so close to the general election makes one think that the data could be politically motivated. A. This is something economists and researchers had been demanding for the past two years. Former chief statistician of India, T.C.A. Anant, had said that the back series will be released by 2017, but the process took longer owing to coverage, methodological and other challenges. When the CSO (Central Statistics Office) approached me about the work they had done, I suggested they get it validated by senior statisticians. I approached the series as a professional economist. While I was at the Centre for Policy Research, I was a vocal critic of the old series. I had a two-hour-long meeting with Anant on it,…

Ironically, some of the greatest vignettes of music, literature, poetry and art have either been inspired by grief or have accessed pain as muse. At Swarovski Crystal Worlds in Wattens, the exquisite new art space created by one of the most famous contemporary Japanese artists, Yayoi Kusama, is the Chandelier of Grief art installation. The work of art is part of the artist’s Infinity Mirror Rooms series and includes a space format that involves mirrors arranged in myriad ways. The central element of the work is a rotating Swarovski crystal chandelier placed to maximum effect in a room full of mirrors. Surreal to an extent that boggles the mind and toys with the concept of reality and illusion by creating an endless space, this sensual and spatial experience has an…

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The sky is a winter blue, creased with highlights of a glorious sun. The forest forms an interesting canopy as you hit the trail and travel almost a kilometre in before you arrive at a clearing which has been set up to perfection. Vials of plant extracts and bottles of finished products jostle with raw ingredients like turmeric root, ginger, coconut oil, licorice and pomegranate skin pounded to a fine power; this is the ideal setting at The Oberoi Sukhvilas (on the outskirts of Chandigarh) for brand Aveda to launch its hair care range in India. For a company that is 40 years old and relies heavily on ancient ayurvedic wisdom to formulate its products, the move to debut in India was a well-calibrated one. Aveda, which is part of…