Indholdsfortegnelse for November 9, 2020 i India Today

Referring to reforms, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is supposed to have once told somebody that “India is a long freight train which has to be turned carefully, otherwise it will overturn”. I can’t confirm whether he said it, but the analogy could not be more apt. The Indian economy is burdened with a legacy of populist and ideological policies confounded further by convoluted and superfluous regulations. Many of them not only fail to make economic sense but are also harmful to economic growth. Prime Minister Modi, in his six-year rule, has been undoing them, some even beyond the realm of the economy. He has laid great emphasis on improving living standards in rural India, where 70 per cent of the country’s population lives. He has promised to double farm incomes…

General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) Year: 2002 Allows sharing of classified information between US government and Indian state-owned firms Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) Year: 2016 Allows armed forces to refuel and resupply at each others’ bases Helicopter Operations from Ships other than Aircraft Carriers (HOSTAC) Year: 2017 Facilitates cross-deck landings by Indian and US choppers on each others’ warships Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) Year: 2018 Allows transfer of encrypted military information and communications hardware Industrial Security Agreement (ISA) Year: 2019 Annexure to GSOMIA; allows sharing of confidential information between private military industries of both countries Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Cooperation (BECA) Year: 2020 Allows Indian armed forces to access US geospatial data, particularly the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s information bank…

High visibility whenever there is a case of atrocity against the underprivileged, and display of empathy Has left her personal mobile number with nearly 5,000 workers who provide her ground feedback Equally vocal on social media, mounting an almost daily attack on the UP government on Twitter, expressed in Hindi Accessible to party workers, some of whom can contact her directly. They can also meet her without an appointment whenever she visits the state Devotes 8-10 hours daily to party work. Has been holding 5-6 video meetings even during the pandemic…

The US recorded 88,000 new cases on October 26, its highest daily Covid count yet Europe is adding over 200,000 cases daily now—in July the number was a manageable 15,000 cases The Netherlands had its patients airlifted to Germany as it ran out of beds recently About 10 per cent of medical workers in the Czech Republic are infected, leading to fears of a health staff crisis ahead About a fifth of Spain’s ICU beds are already filled up Belgium and Britain have seen their cases double in seven days Italy recorded 19,000 daily cases last week, the highest since the pandemic began Iran recorded its highest Covid count last week, making it the worst-affected in West Asia…

“The world is unliveable...but we have to continue. That’s the kind of everyday heroism we have to try and find in ourselves” Released in 1999, The Matrix made literal a well-worn philosophical belief—the world around us is only a simulation. In one of its most iconic scenes, Neo, a messiah for the internet age, is asked to choose between two pills, one blue and the other red. While the blue pill would allow him to forever live in blissful ignorance, the red pill offers realisation, an understanding of stark and uncomfortable truths, a chance to see how deep the rabbit hole of technology, control and consciousness really goes. Speaking to INDIA TODAY via Zoom, author Hari Kunzru confesses he was a fan of The Matrix: “The film puts our sense…

On the face of it, there isn’t a lot to Twilight in a Knotted World by Siddhartha Sarma. The author has taken an episode usually given just one line in school history texts and magnified it into something bureaucratic rather than the kind of magnificent tale you expect from a historical novel. So why you can’t put the book down for even five minutes without aching to return to it is quite a mystery. Twilight in a Knotted World is about colonial administrator William Henry Sleeman, famous for the elimination of ‘thuggee’, the fraternity of murderers that roamed India at a time when the only way to get from one place to another was to walk or ride. Gangs of these men assumed the various faiths, castes and jatis of…

Sunderland ’Til I Die (Netflix) Every week, the English Premier League throws up a manufactured controversy to keep its armchair fan-base piqued. In the process, the bigger picture is nearly always obscured. Sunderland and its importance in the lives of largely working class fans is that bigger picture. The 14 episodes of this documentary, with its plangent theme song, is a paean to hope and faith when stuck in the mire of failure. Take Us Home: Leeds United (Amazon Prime) Leeds United, like Sunderland, are a big club that fell on hard times. But after 17 years, Leeds are back in the big time. Already, in the nascent stages of the season, Leeds have graced the Premier League with their hustling, harrying, fast-breaking football. Narrated by Russell Crowe, this documentary…

Political circles in Madhya Pradesh were all primed for a clash between the Gandhi siblings, Rahul and Priyanka, and Jyotiraditya Scindia during the state bypoll campaign. Scindia quit the Congress in March, with 22 other rebels in tow, bringing down the Kamal Nath government in the state. As it turns out, the Gandhis won’t be touring the state. And Scindia, who hasn’t spared Kamal Nath or Digvijaya Singh in his campaign, hasn’t uttered a word against Rahul or Priyanka. The Gandhis, too, have maintained radio silence. Meanwhile, another good friend, Sachin Pilot, will be campaigning for the Congress in Gwalior, Shivpuri, Morena and Bhind on October 27 and 28. Political differences don’t come in the way of dynasts, it seems.…

In August 2019, she sent six AICC secretaries to all districts in the state to scout for prospective candidates for district and city Congress presidents In the next three months, she met these 1,500 candidates in Delhi, Lucknow and Raebareli and shortlisted three names for every post She then sought suggestions on the names from secretaries, former MPs, MLAs and senior leaders She also met all the district presidents she was going to remove and explained why changes were being made In November 2019, she released the first list of district presidents, setting in motion the exercise of appointing district and city presidents and forming district and city committees Downsized the state Congress committee from over 500 members to 50 and gave each member specific responsibility. For instance, every secretary…

Shed complacency: Even if cases are on the decline, it is too soon to assume that the virus has been eliminated. It takes only a handful of people to send the numbers spiralling again Restrict mobility: Students, returning to campus after the end of the summer break, are being blamed for Europe’s second wave. India must continue reasonable restrictions on travel Stick to small gatherings: Experts have repeatedly warned of the dangers of large gatherings becoming super-spreader events where even a single carrier can infect multiple people, precipitating a chain of infections Continuous testing: Diagnosis is the best bet for quick treatment and isolation Quick tracing: New studies note that for contact tracing to be effective it must be done quickly so that the infected individuals are quarantined before they…

The narrator of Susanna Clarke’s book, a young man whose name might be Piranesi, speaks to us with endearing directness. He lives alone, he says, in soaring marble halls, surrounded by clouds, tides and beautiful statues. His closest companions are the skeletal remains of 13 people. But wait, he’s not entirely alone. There’s an “Other”. Indeed, that man is the one who bestowed the name Piranesi upon the narrator. The Other is similar in age and appearance, but he is not always present and he is not very nice. There are birds too, and seaweed and fishes. The seaweed must be dried to be used as fuel, the fish must be caught for food. PIRANESI’S struggle to maintain control over the chronology of events becomes the book’s central thread of…

The Gangster’s Gita by Agni Sreedhar, a former gangster from the Bengaluru underworld, who since his reformation has gone on to receive many literary awards, does not take the easy route of offering neat redemption or predictable comeuppance. What sets it apart from many such undertakings which aim to provide a glimpse into the criminal underworld is how accessible it is. The translator’s note mentions how the author wished for the book’s English translation to be as simple as the original in Kannada. This is ascribed to Sreedhar’s apparent distaste for prolix text and his fascination for concise authors such as Albert Camus. This fascination does not end at brevity. Much of the book, which is a short but engaging retelling of Sreedhar’s discomfort with the task of taking out…

To celebrate 15 years of his label, Manish Malhotra decided to create a collection that deviated from what he is best known for—glamour. “All the sequins and the glitter is in my design DNA, but I wanted to go into a world that I have always been interested in but never had the time to delve into,” says Malhotra. The sartorial ways of the Mughal and Persian dynasties served as inspiration for Malhotra’s collection ‘Ruhaaniyat’, which opened the first digital edition of the Lakme Fashion Week on October 21. Malhotra began work in 2019, travelling to the Calico museum of Textiles in Ahmedabad and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, for research, apart from Udaipur, Jaipur and Delhi. The end result is an expansive range which he believes…

Shatrughan Sinha’s son Luv Sinha had a brief but unsuccessful attempt at Bollywood stardom. Two forgettable films later, he is following in his father’s footsteps to plunge into the same second career—politics. Luv is the Congress candidate from Bankipur in Patna for this assembly election. The ‘Bihari Babu’ calls his son ‘Bihar Putra’ or son of the soil. Now only if the people of the constituency will see the light. —Sandeep Unnithan with Rahul Noronha, Amitabh Srivastava, Romita Datta and Anilesh S. Mahajan…

Gulabo Sitabo (Amazon Prime) Budget: NA Acquisition cost: ₹65-70 cr Dil Bechara (Disney+ Hotstar) Budget: ₹25 cr Acquisition cost: NA Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (Netflix) Budget: ₹25-35 cr Acquisition cost: ₹45-50 cr Laxmmi Bomb (Disney+ Hotstar) Budget: ₹70-80 cr Acquisition cost: ₹110-115 cr Coolie No. 1 (Amazon Prime) Budget: NA Acquisition cost: ₹75 cr Estimated figures from trade sources…

THE WINNERS MOUNTAIN DESTINATIONS MUNNAR Pinarayi Vijayan Chief Minister, Kerala WILDLIFE DESTINATIONS RANTHAMBORE NATIONAL PARK, SAWAI MADHOPUR HERITAGE DESTINATIONS JAIPUR Ashok Gehlot Chief Minister, Rajasthan ICONIC LANDSCAPES STATUE OF UNITY Vijay Rupani Chief Minister, Gujarat BEST STATE GOA ADVENTURE DESTINATIONS DUDHSAGAR WATERFALLS & TAMBDI SURLA WATERFALLS TREK BEACHES & COASTAL DESTINATIONS AGONDA BEACH Pramod Sawant Chief Minister, Goa FESTIVAL DESTINATIONS DURGA PUJA Mamata Banerjee Chief Minister, West Bengal IN these difficult times, with India battling both the Covid pandemic and a plummeting GDP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has prescribed atmanirbharta (self-reliance) as a principle by which India could regain her feet. Many have agreed that this principle could well benefit the nation. In that vein, another suggestion made by the prime minister—this one on August 15, 2019, at the Red…

While the country suffers under notions of a certain machismo,of56-inchchests, bahubalis and pseudo-anchors peacocking in military fatigues, another kind of male culture has spread among young men in India. In Muscular India, Michiel Baas takes us into a world that has been hiding in plain sight, focusing on the milieus of men’s fitness training and body-building in urban gyms. Baas’s book reveals a whole different set of societal ligaments working under and around the bulbing of bicep and shudder of six-pack. Across 10 years, Baas explored the phenomenon that was let loose when Shah Rukh Khan took off his shirt in Om Shanti Om. “Salman Khan was always known to be a muscular type,” says Baas, “but when Shah Rukh did it, it set off something quite different.” As we…

Before obsessive sports fans were fed this relentless diet of crowd-free sport, we had to make do, as heroin addicts make do with methadone, with documentaries on streaming sites. Most recently, Amazon Prime’s All or Nothing sports documentary series, which has branched out from its detailed, often fascinating profiles of American football teams to a similarly forensic examination of the New Zealand All Blacks, the world’s most dominant team in possibly all sport, and more recently the English Premier League clubs Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. JOSE MOURINHO (left), celebrity manager of the Tottenham Hotspur; and LUCAS MOURA, the team’s star player The Spurs series has been available for the last month or so, and INDIA TODAY had an exclusive opportunity to speak to Spurs star Lucas Moura who scored…

Q. How does it feel to have a Barbie modelled after you? It feels great that I am only the second Indian to get a one-of-a-kind honorary Sheroes figurine modelled after me. From the wheatish complexion and the messy pony tail to the prosthetic leg, they have replicated it very well. It’s important for young girls to experience inclusion in their play time in early childhood. Q. Are you back to training on court? I have a facility near my home in Ahmedabad where I practise with my brother following the social distancing protocols. The training hasn’t yet begun for outstation players in Hyderabad [at the Gopichand Academy]. We also don’t have any tournaments until March. I have picked up running. It helps me in my movement and game. Q.…