Innehållsförteckning för August 27, 2018 från India Today

Narendra Modi’s stunning victory in 2014—in which the BJP got a full majority on its own, the first time any party had done so in 25 years—changed the political landscape of the country. It held the promise of political stability and a decisive government. Many considered it a great boon for the country. However, as often happens, boons come with their own curse. In this case, it was hubris. The BJP ignored its allies. Oldest ally Shiv Sena is in a sulk in Maharashtra. The TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu walked out of the NDA this March, alleging unfair treatment and neglect. The Shiromani Akali Dal is upset. Their back-again ally in Bihar, the JD(U), is bristling. The NDA has remained headless since 2013 and alliance members have not met since 2015.…

Maid in Mumbai Deepika Mhatre has become something of a cult figure already. She’s transformed her experiences as a domestic worker in the city’s upper middle class apartment buildings into material for a fledgling comedy career. Mhatre’s slightly rushed, smiley delivery is disarming. You’re not prepared for the steel. “In the building where I work,” she says, “I’m very special. I have a separate elevator, separate dishes... ” It should be sobering. The ways in which we fail to respect people, in which we reinforce class and caste. But Mhatre’s not interested in shaming her audience, just in getting us to acknowledge our ridiculousness, to get us laughing at ourselves. And for that alone she deserves a career. For now, she continues selling cheap jewellery on trains to support her…

SNarayan is the archetypal ‘Tambrahm’, a brilliant IAS officer of the 1965 Tamil Nadu cadre who, following a series of key postings in the rural development and human resource development departments of the TN government, rose to be economic advisor to prime minister A.B. Vajpayee after serving as secretary to the government of India in several crucial ministries, ranging from petroleum to finance. This book, however, is confined to his contribution, and those of a myriad other upper-class/ upper-caste TN officers, to the dismantling of the overwhelming social and economic domination of their class and caste to realise the objectives of the revolutionary social reform movement initiated by the Dravidian government of C.N. Annadurai, on the basis of ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramasamy Naicker’s teachings, when the DMK won power in the…

Why is it that the government bends over backwards for 16-31 million folk who don’t even live in the country and ignores the 400 million MRIs who do live here? The recent amendment to the Representation of the People Act (RPA) by the Lok Sabha “to enable overseas electors to appoint a proxy to cast the vote in an election” has been hailed by quite a few people. The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the amending law notes: “This would considerably mitigate the difficulties presently faced by overseas electors in exercising their franchise.” While the government’s desire and eagerness “to mitigate the difficulties presently faced by overseas electors” is fine, what’s shocking is the complete lack of concern for mitigating the difficulties faced by electors physically present in India.…

EVERY PRIME MINISTER WHO HAS stood on the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day and unfurled the tricolour, as cannons boom and the band strikes up the national anthem, must have felt the gravity of the moment. Both as a symbol of free India as also the tremendous burden of expectations it enfolds. So must have Narendra Modi as he readied to address the nation for the fifth time from the 378-year-old Mughal-era monument. It must be both addictive and sobering to have the attention of the nation’s 1.3 billion people—the perks of power—and know that the actions you take will in some way impact their individual trysts with destiny. On August 15, 2014, when Modi delivered his first address as prime minister, he portrayed himself as the…

When the Narendra Modi-led government came to power, many expected it to put in place stringent measures to regulate election funding, a known source of corruption, and to keep crony capitalism at bay. New electoral bonds were introduced this January, which donors could buy from the State Bank of India, and political parties could encash via a designated bank account. But the donors would remain anonymous and the process therefore still opaque. The Law Commission, in its 255th report in March 2015, noted that over 75 per cent of donations to parties came from unknown sources. Of Rs 4,894 crore, only Rs 435 crore was through known sources of income, the rest being black money. Fifty-six per cent MOTN respondents feel there should be more electoral reform, up six percentage…

STAYING IN THE PUBLIC EYE sometimes has little to do with work. That explains why Priyanka Chopra, who hasn’t had a Hindi film release in over two years—the dud Jai Gangaajal being the last—shared popular actress honours with Anushka Sharma and Deepika Padukone. What Priyanka has managed to do is stay in the headlines, whether it was for being invited to the royal wedding of Meghan Markle with Prince Harry in May this year, or her many dates and holidays with Nick Jonas across the globe or quitting Salman Khan’s production, Bharat, 10 days before shooting commenced. That is not to say Priyanka is resting on her laurels as one of Bollywood’s most successful exports to the Western entertainment world. With TV show Quantico done and dusted, she stars in…

CASCAIS, PORTUGAL Ancient city dotted with historic architecture Problem Flash floods, quakes, hectic urbanisation Best practice A ‘participatory budget’ involving citizens, especially young people, has sparked interest the world over POMPEII, ITALY Was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 Problem Funding shortage Best practice Crowdfunding by a network of non-profits, arts institutions YANGZHOU, CHINA 2,000-year-old historical sites of Tang and Song dynasties Problem Heritage versus urban development clash; lack of public funding; wetlands a dumping ground for waste Best practice Government-and-residents initiative; renovation of shanty towns, cleaning up of waterways JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Caves with 2.3 mn years old hominid fossils Problem Heavy demands on public infrastructure Best practice Set up ‘Improvement Districts’ that made the inner city safe and clean, attracting investment…

As a promoter, do you try to make Vijender Singh the best boxer he can be, or do you use his appeal to try to create a professional boxing market in India? The two agendas can co-exist, of course, but it’s fair to contend that there may be some dissonance here. So much so that one wonders if Vijender, he of 10-0 fame, has missed the bus. How long will he keep fighting no-name boxers for small-time belts? The facts: Vijender has beaten everyone he has faced so far. The seventh win, against Australian Kerry Hope, got him the vacant WBO Asia-Pacific Super Middleweight belt. He has held on to it, retaining it three times, while adding the WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title to his bag. Not bad at all,…

SPORT CLIMBING Sport climbing gets its first Asian Games break. Three climbers have been chosen for the event, including 18-year-old Bharath Pereira from Bangalore, a six-time junior champion and defending senior one. There will be three events—speed, speed relay and a category that combines lead, speed and bouldering KURASH The traditional martial art of Uzbekistan makes its debut. Two combatants try to score points by throwing their opponent to the ground. The Indian Olympic Association is sending a 12-member team WUSHU This Chinese form of martial arts is a combination of kicks, punches, stances, jumps, balances and more. India won five medals, including a gold, at the 2017 World Wushu Championships held in Kazan, Russia. One of the winners will be part of the 13-member squad DRAGON BOAT RACE Thank…

Sangeetha Sreenivasan’s Acidcentres on an addict, her twin sons and her lover—four people who live together in a Bengaluru flat but fall something short of a family. Kamala is the addict, forced into a near-incestuous marriage so that a family’s property could stay within the family. Her mother and uncle were the perpetrators of the act that she never seems able to escape. Her husband Madhavan was equally unwilling, committed to someone else, but ultimately not able to do the right thing. Husband and wife fall apart, more so after an accident leaves their child Shiva paralysed and his twin Aadi takes on the burden of care. Mother-guilt is a running theme in the novel, and Kamala dwells on it incessantly, imagining half-hatched offspring maimed by a mother’s misguided impatience.…

NATIONAL PROGRAMME on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) and tech company, IBM, have joined hands to offer a 12-week online course on blockchain architecture, design and use cases. The first-of-its-kind block-chain course in India will be available on the NPTEL website starting July and will focus on sharing both conceptual and application skill aspects of blockchain technology with students. They would be trained in key block-chain topics such as crypto primitives, consensus, permissioned block-chain and used cases as well as research aspects. NPTEL is offering 270 courses in the July-Oct 2018 semester. OP JINDAL GLOBAL UNIVERSITY AWARDED SECOND HIGHEST QS RATING QS I-Gauge, specialising in higher education rating in India, has awarded the diamond rating—the second highest rating in the QS ranking system to O P Jindal Global University (JGU), Sonepat.…

chennai.vit.ac.in Preparing students for the legal world, VIT School of Law offers subjects in niche fields such as humanitarian law and law of treaties. The university provides specialisations for LLB in corporate law, criminal and intellectual property law with options such as space law, media law and international trade law, beginning from the fourth year. With a flexible credit system, we get to choose subjects and professors for a semester. Separate sessions for each subject allow us to engage with case analysis, class projects and discussions. We are also asked to read research papers and articles before coming to the class. This is often coupled with lectures from practitioners, contributing to a complete understanding of the subject. For moot court competitions, we are guided throughout the preparatory period. NEW ON…

www.jgls.edu.in Law courses at Jindal Global Law School are crafted in such a way that they cater to the needs of every student, starting from public international law to private international law, corporate law to environment law. With highly qualified, internationally acclaimed professors on campus, visiting professors from universities such as Harvard and Oxford, and lawyers and judges from the Supreme Court and several High Courts, students are exposed to the best. The professors make lectures highly interactive and interesting. During my first year, every week, we were given a new case pertaining to the chapter being taught in class, and students were made to argue as lawyers and the professor would act as the judge in the matter. This helped us grasp proceedings of the court from a very…

While American TV series Suitsinspires a number of students to take up law, it fails to show them the real picture. Not just that, even the five-year full-time course also fails to do justice to the realities of the legal field. It therefore is the need of the hour to understand some of the shortcomings of legal education in India and how can they can be set right. PACKED WITH BOOKISH KNOWLEDGE The common perception is that studying law is tedious and involves reading of endless theory books, which are too complicated and lengthy. The problem is that despite their volume, they often fail to explain the real essence of the law, making it harder for students to decode information. In most of the law colleges, stress is only on…

There are thousands of books that can add something or the other of value to a lawyer. There are a number of different reasons why lawyers prefer to read certain books. For one, in order to understand the experiences of successful lawyers so that one can learn from their wisdom and incorporate that in their own life and practice and also for learning specific skills and techniques from non-law disciplines. Depending on where you are in your life and at what developmental stage of your practice, your reading list should change. However, there are some books that are of eternal value at any given stage of your career. HOW TO ARGUE AND WIN EVERY TIME The book is not so much about law as it is about communication. The author…

With increasing awareness about the importance of legal education, coupled with students looking beyond the conventional career choices of engineering and medicine, law entrances have become far more competitive. After all, a law degree opens up a range of options—from practicing in courts of law, working with corporate and law firms, legal process outsourcing, academics and research, judiciary and civil services to being part of international organisations such as the United Nations. Entry to good law schools is getting tougher by the day but an aspirant can crack CLAT (Common Law Admission Test)/AILET (All India Law Entrance Test) and other entrances including the National Law Universities—with ease if right steps are taken. UNDERSTAND THE EXAM Get hold of previous year entrance papers and evaluate their structure, analyse how the exam…

Having more than 210 million people in the world with intellectual disability, the attention given to them is few and far between. Simon Koh of Special Olympics, the sports organisation that provides training to individuals with intellectual disabilities, stresses on the need for special children to come out and have their own group. WHAT’S THE AGENDA FOR THE YOUNG ATHLETES PROGRAMME AND SPECIAL OLYMPICS? The idea is to allow special children, between two and seven, to play together in a fun and inclusive environment, and to end discrimination against them. The Young Athletes Programme benefits them by developing their motor skills, social and learning skills necessary for primary level education, along with fostering a sense of community between parents of children with and without intellectual disability. It acts as a…

YEAR OF ESTABLISHMENT 1994 HEADQUARTERS Bengaluru, Karnataka CORE FUNCTIONS An autonomous body for conducting assessment and accreditation of institutions of higher education GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE General Council and Excutive Council are two main bodies comprising the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Association of Indian Universities (AIU), universities, colleges and other professional institutions…

Our educational ecosystem isn’t particularly good at blending learning with working, or learning by working. Though we have introduced numerous programmes in our schools and higher education institutions that focus on practical learning by project work, group activities, competitions and hackathons—all appreciable initiatives, their very existence proves that we believe learning as a process is different from working. The way it should be is that one has to learn to work before beginning work. In an environment of transforming jobs infrastructure, it would be wise to accommodate broader learning processes such as apprenticeships or skilling programmes, leaving it on the student to decide the mode of learning one is most inclined towards. HIGHER EDUCATION CONUNDRUM A large number of candidates who opt for industry apprenticeship are doing so while pursuing…

THE GLAMOUR ROOM If author Amin Jaffer’s book, Made for Maharajas: A Design Diary of Princely India that details how Indian royals built the world’s finest luxury houses is anything to go by, the Indian bath has been courting glitz and extravagance for a long time now. Kohler teamed up with Krupa Zubin and Zubin Zainuddin of ZZ Architects to perfect glitzkrieg. They call it Sublime Luxury and it has an ambience of warm, understated luxury. Here, the crystal chandelier brightens the champagne gold mosaic on the pedestal for the standalone sink with a gold-finish faucet. The intelligent WC is the ultimate in comfort with an integrated LED nightlight, hands-free lid opening and closing, and front and rear wash modes that provide warm water for cleansing. By RIDHI KALE PRODUCT…

“[I]F SOMETHING UNTOWARD [HAD] HAPPENED YESTERDAY, OR IF IT WERE TO HAPPEN TOMORROW, THEN DO NOT JUST HOLD THAT ‘UNIDENTIFIED GUNMAN’ RESPONSIBLE... THE REAL CULPRITS ARE THOSE SPOKESPERSONS OF THE RULING PARTY AND THE PRIME TIME ANCHORS AND TV CHANNELS WHO HAVE SPREAD CANARDS ABOUT ME, BRANDED ME ANTI-NATIONAL BASED ON LIES AND VIRTUALLY INCITED A LYNCH MOB AGAINST ME. THIS HAS SPECIFICALLY MADE MY LIFE EXTREMELY VULNERABLE. ” Student leader UMAR KHALID, who alongside fellow JNU scholar Kanhaiya Kumar, became a lightning rod for the anger of ruling party politicians and supporters, was the target of an alleged assassination attempt on August 13. In a long Facebook post, he connected the attack on him with the murders of the likes of journalist Gauri Lankesh. As the police investigate the…

What does it mean for India to be the world’s sixth largest economy when per capita income suggests too many people are still mired in the most abject poverty? Even NITI Aayog vice chairperson Rajiv Kumar has conceded that inequality must be tackled. But Vijay Goel, minister of state for statistics, recently told Lok Sabha that per capita income had grown over the past four financial years compared with the four years previous. India fares poorly when per capita income is considered, whether nominal or adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP); as a measure, it shows us as competing less with France, the UK or even China than with the likes of Indonesia and Vietnam. Even Bangladesh is ahead of a much richer India on some human development indices. 79,882…

The India Today Group-Karvy Insights Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll was conducted by Karvy Insights Limited. A total of 12,100 interviews were conducted (68% in rural & 32% in urban areas) across 97 parliamentary constituencies in 194 assembly constituencies in 19 states—Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Different starting points were selected in each assembly constituency, and a fixed number of interviews conducted in each starting point following a rigorous right-hand rule of household selection. The fieldwork for the Mood of the Nation poll was conducted between July 18, 2018 and July 29, 2018. All interviews were conducted face-to-face using a standard structured questionnaire, which was translated into regional languages.…

WHEN THE DRAFT NATIONAL REGISTER FOR CITIZENS was announced on July 30, there was confusion within the BJP. Should the party claim credit for the ambitious exercise mandated by the Supreme Court? Or should it follow the cue of Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who was busy reassuring the four million people in the state whose names did not figure in the NRC that they need not panic, as they still had two months’s time to appeal. Most partymen were unsure whether to cash in on the development or stay clear of it lest it backfire on them. It was at this point that BJP national president Amit Shah seized the initiative, spelling out exactly why the NRC was an important exercise. He called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi, convinced…

VIRAT KOHLI ISN’T JUST India’s most loved sportsperson. He is also one of the most inf luential youth icons, which explains why he earns an estimated $120,000 for a branded Instagram post, making him the only Indian to feature in the list released by Instagram scheduling tool HopperHQ in July. While 29-year-old Kohli has few challengers, leading the team overseas in Tests continues to be the Indian captain’s sternest challenge. He also just lost his number one position in the ICC Test rankings to former Australian captain Steve Smith after a forgettable personal outing at Lord’s. That said, in team India’s sub-par performances abroad, Kohli has been a saving grace. Indians can’t get enough of cricket, which explains why Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who led Chennai Super Kings to their third…

Q. Because of the timing, the media has treated your memoir as a book about Imran Khan. What are we missing amid all the talk about “explosive revelations”? It is a book about a woman who starts off a sheltered life unprepared for what life will throw at her, but manages to survive it all with a smile. There is the story of domestic violence and challenges of being a single parent that no one is talking about. Q. It’s tempting to see this kind of “tell-all” book as vindictive. What are your feelings about Imran today? I’m not a vindictive person. Our break-up was not because of personal disagreements. I had a problem with the way he acted behaved as a politician and promoted corrupt people while I was…

Think Ahead Changing management trends S VENKATA SESHAIAH Professor and Director, ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad Mobilising the resources According to a report by McKinsey & Company, more than one-third of work will be automated and dominated by machines in near future. The method of training management students therefore should be devised in a way that it meets the requirement of machine learning. Today, in the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) world, having subject knowledge is not sufficient. Business schools should work towards preparing students to develop team management skills, creativity, versatility and time management to compete effectively in the global market. Follow case study approach methods B-schools need to adopt the case study format and expose management students to real-life situations. The learning outcomes of such a teaching methodology…

www.university.apeejay.edu School of Legal Studies at Apeejay Stya University (ASU), Gurgaon, gives students first-hand experience of the real world of law and its functioning right from the first year. This is done by holding moot court sessions every week. ASU grooms students to be good advocates and also evolve as better human beings. The liberal arts programme that the university offers has fulfilled my aspiration to pursue law with journalism. The weekly moot court sessions have honed my communication skills. Moot courts at ASU have an organic development, starting with simple stimulations of one hour that are gradually extended into a moot trial with a jury of staff members and finally into competitions with other law institutes. At ASU, we are allowed to study and research recent cases which helps…

shobhituniversity.ac.in With an emphasis on providing a practical approach, Shobhit University offers specialisations in corporate, criminal and constitutional laws for LLM, three-year LLB and five-year integrated programmes such as BA LLB (Hons), BBA LLB (Hons) and B Com LLB (Hons) in business, corporate, constitutional and criminal law. As methodologies for effective teaching includes seminars and open discussions, the university also encourages research-intensive learning, and has a library comprising more than 90 lakh online books and journals. The university has a mandatory internship in each semester for undergraduate and postgraduate students. With the support of the training and development cell, students have been selected by judicial services, multinational companies and law firms. THE DIFFERENCE The institute has established a Centre for Law and Good Governance with an aim to bridge the…

My interest in law began when I was pursuing political science from Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University. Law and politics are interrelated and it was then that I became intrigued by the subject and wanted to take it up as a career. I developed a keen interest in Intellectual Property Right, specially trademarks while studying law and therefore chose it as my specialisation. IPR is extremely fascinating as it is a result of human creativity and is constantly evolving. IPR is very intriguing and to know its full potential and further to get an overview of this particular field, it is important to pursue internships in specialised intellectual property law firms. Internships help to set a direction and give an insight to how IP enforcement take place. In order…

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO CHOOSE LAW AS A CAREER? The field of law had always been appealing to me and I felt that it is something that would suit me, and give me opportunities to be a better human being. So, after my Class 10 results, at the time of selecting the subjects—I had commerce with mathematics—I got in touch with my senior in school aspiring for law too, who advised me to enrol myself for coaching and introduced me to the several law entrance tests. HOW TO PREPARE FOR CLAT (COMMON LAW ADMISSION TEST)? A rational, realistic and systematic approach is must when preparing for law entrances. Strong and weak areas should be identified and one needs to work on mastering them. Divide your time studying for the…

“INSTITUTIONS NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE REALITY AND PLAN FOR GAP BRIDGING STRATEGIES” The world is changing and so are the needs of the modern day industry. And this requires a modification in the approach and teaching methodology of educational institutions. The curriculum, the learning outcomes, the academic processes and the ambience need to change as well, and the institutions need to prepare students to be ready for the current job market. WHAT ROLE CAN THE GOVERNMENT PLAY IN BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SKILLS AND COURSES TAUGHT IN INDIAN UNIVERSITIES AND NEEDS OF THE JOB MARKET? Making students employable is the responsibility of all three stakeholders—educational institutions, industries and government. Educational institutions need to understand the reality and plan for ‘gap bridging’ strategies and be ready to execute those. Industry being…

When Rajesh V Shah was appointed chairman of the board of governors of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in 2017, there was none of the apoplexy surrounding his predecessor, former cricketer Chetan Chauhan—who departed to become sports and youth affairs minister in Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet in Uttar Pradesh. For many reasons. Shah is co-chairman and MD of Mukand Limited, is the proud owner of a Charles Correa-designed home in Mumbai which is a showcase of the best work of 300 artisans, and comes from a family with deep connections to Mahatma Gandhi. It was on the Mahatma’s insistence that his grandfather and Jamnalal Bajaj took over Mukand Steel and ran it together, an arrangement the two families continue to honour even now. Shah is possibly one of the finest…

SIZE MATTERS Designed for compact spaces, Blueair’s new air purifier, JOY S is based on HEPA silent technology which removes 99.97 per cent of air pollutants. It works to remove dust, allergens, volatile organic compounds, smoke, bacteria and virus down to 0.1 micron in size. PRICE 14,999 AT www.blueair.com FOR A QUICK FIX Tefal calls its new three-in-one hand blender Quickchef. Why? The slim and sleek machine has a 1,000-watt powerful motor for quick chopping, blending and whisking. It also comes with 10 variable speed options, an 800 ml beaker, a 500 ml chopper and a whisker. PRICE 5,599 AT www.tefal.in smart living Whirlpool’s new free-standing PowerClean Pro dishwashers make cleaning the dishes a whole lot easier. They clean and dry a full load of dishes within an hour. Using…

He sobbed like a little boy. Told me he was experiencing an excruciating pain like that of losing his father,” Somnath Chatterjee’s personal secretary for three decades, Swapan Roy, was recalling how the veteran Marxist leader felt when the party expelled him in July 2008. It was a pain he would never overcome. A member of the CPI(M) for four decades, ten-time Parliamentarian and former Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee was a Communist, heart and soul, till the last breath. “I mourn the passing away of Shri Somnath Chatterjee,” tweeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi on August 13, as the news of Chatterjee’s death broke. “He was an institution.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also quick to offer his condolences. Chatterjee, he said, “was a stalwart of Indian politics. He made…

I came upon my first Naipaul novel, A Bend in the River, as a seventeen-year-old in 1980s’ Dhaka, purely by chance while browsing the family bookshelf. I was fairly well read in Bengali literature for someone my age, but my acquaintance with world literature was still nascent. I’d encountered a few classics—Tolstoy and Maupassant, Maugham and Hemingway, but nothing more contemporary than that. In this context, Naipaul’s opening words came at me like a brick through glass: “The world is what it is, men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.” Here was a directness and immediacy that I didn’t know I could expect of literature. Until then, literature to me was entirely about other people, far away. I wanted it to be…

Union textiles minister Smriti Irani launched former R&AW chief Vikram Sood’s book, The Unending Game, in Delhi. “What is the Union textiles minister doing at the launch of a spymaster’s book?” Irani asked, and went on to answer the question. “Well, they had to find the biggest troublemaker in Lutyens’ Delhi,” joked the minister who has kept a low profile after several controversies and an exit from the I&B ministry in May. What she clearly hasn’t lost is her sense of humour.…

EVER SINCE BIHAR CHIEF MINISTER Nitish Kumar switched sides from the UPA to NDA in July 2017, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee has pipped him to become the nation’s No. 1 chief minister. The feisty Mamata, who offers fierce resistance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s might, has won the best performing CM thrice in a row, including in August 2018. Since the MOTN is a subjective study of voter perception across the country, the No. 1 status is more a reflection of political popularity rather than a test of governance. As a result, Mamata, with the second highest Lok Sabha MPs (38) after the Congress Party (48), has emerged as the second most popular leader after Congress president Rahul Gandhi. With her giant killer reputation—she ended…

What is this tamasha going on? Everything has become a joke. You can make a comedy show out of it.” Supreme Court Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta had just found out that there were still the same number of polluting industries around the Taj Mahal as there were 20 years ago. With this discovery on July 26, at least one point was confirmed: that the management of the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ), the 10,400 sq. km. area demarcated to protect 40 monuments from pollution, including the Taj Mahal, was a “flop”. For the past one year, Justices Lokur and Gupta have been chipping away at a thousand and one details, to arrive at that one key question on July 30: “Who is in charge of the Taj?” At…

1. ONE WAY to preserve the Taj Mahal is to constitute a private-public committee of six to eight people, which will work solely for the preservation of the monument. The committee can comprise retired government officials, businessmen and academicians. Measurable key performance indicators or KPI milestones can be set so as to track the progress of the work done by this committee. —AnkitaMehrotra, mehrotraankita@gmail.com 2. NO NEW thermal plant should be allowed in the Taj Trapezium Zone. A thermal power project of 1,200 mega watts is coming up in the district and this can cause further damage to the Taj. INDIA TODAY can press for a study on its adverse impact on the Taj so that it is converted into a gas-based power plant. This issue…

In the wake of Netflix’s hit series Narcos, which in its first season chronicled the birth of the Colombian cocaine trade and rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, there has been a flurry of shows about drug trafficking. Narcos is in its fourth season. El Chapo (Netflix), the story of Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaqin Guzman, who has exported more than 500 tonnes of coke to the US, is in its third season. Queen of the South (on Hotstar here), based on the novel by Arturo Perez-Reverte, is in its third season. Ozarks (Netflix) is gearing up for season two. The Cocaine Coast (Netflix), about the coke business in Spain in the 1980s, just dropped. Then there’s John Singleton’s Snowfall (Hotstar), the story of how cocaine came to the black ghettos…

Believe Me by J.P. Delaney The author of The Girl Before is back with another nail-biter. This time, it’s a drama student-turned-prostitute who runs into trouble—as one of her johns becomes the subject of a murder investigation. The Friend by Teresa Driscoll Sophie leaves her four-year-old son with her new friend in this new thriller from the author of the mega-bestselling I Am Watching You . Trusting people. Big mistake. The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton Fatal Attraction gets a much-needed update in this obsessed-stalker thriller. Note to self: if your lover gets a job with your company to be close to you, be afraid. Be very afraid.…

With thousands of students aspiring to crack the national level law entrance exams such as the CLAT (Common Law Admission Test), conducted by NLUs (National Law Universities) on a rotational basis, and LSAT-India (Law School Admission Test) among others, it is clear that law is one of the most sought after career options in India after engineering and medical. At present, there are 19 NLUs spread across the country such as those in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata to name a few, bringing a paradigm shift in teaching methods and research in the field of law. While there have been quite a few government institutes such as the Government Law College, Mumbai, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, Delhi and ILS Law College, Pune, around, private players have also emerged in…

www.srmuniv.ac.in Offering over 40 law subjects, School of Law, SRM Deemed to be University, is geared towards training students to ensure that they graduate not as a regular ‘new lawyer’ but an experienced practitioner. This is achieved by their meticulous system of providing education and organising frequent visits to courts and jails. As a final year law student, I feel High Court judges who come to assess moot court sessions give valuable feedback that helps us learn better. SRM offers specialisations in election law, human rights, humanitarian law and criminology and provides a holistic experience that makes aspiring lawyers fit to be placed in top law firms. Extracurricular activities such as the culture fest, the tech fest and the Model United Nations go hand in hand with an expansive teaching…

kls.kiit.ac.in The infrastructure of KIIT Law School (KSL) is among the best in the country. The college library, spread across three sections reading, journal and lending and has more than 10,000 books from various authors in addition to an electronic database. KSL believes that being technology-savvy is an indispensable part of the education process. So, students are given laptops immediately after admission with 24-hour Internet facility. The law school encourages students to participate in moot court competitions and our college has won the Bar Council of India (BCI) moot court competition in 2017, the highest moot court competition of India. Besides this, the college also organises regular seminars, conferences and guest lectures on all trending and burning law issues to keep students aware and updated. CLASS APART One of the…

LATEST LAWS Get offline access to every Bare Acts and statutes you will need via one single app. Comprising latest news, articles and legal updates, the app is your go-to library for accessing the Constitution, Indian Penal Code or the Code for Civil Procedure. FREE LEGAL DICTIONARY-FAIRFAX The app offers clear, in-depth definitions to over 58,000 legal terms. Along with this, one can read about important cases, movements and personalities. FREE BAR & BENCH Through this app, you can stay informed about what’s happening in the field of law, about updates specific to the Supreme Court and High Courts. Bookmark stories, listen to interviews and explore different opinions. FREE LIBRA LAW Manage and organise your appointments, court hearings and billing details with this planner designed for lawyers and attorneys. The…

It is believed that a degree in law is for those who do not get bogged down by courtroom battles and incessant debates in black robes. But that’s not the reality. The spectrum of law extends beyond crime and punishment and touches upon every aspect of life. A SAFE BET FOR FUTURE LAWYERS India’s legal profession is the world’s second largest with more than six lakh lawyers in over 500 legal practices. India and other Asian countries have become attractive destinations for North American and European law firms and are emerging as important investment opportunities for global law firms and traditionally-run firms. The Indian legal industry is on the brink of change as clear distinction is emerging between the firm’s management and ownership. Firms of the future are expected to…

Law is a vast realm in which there are multiple fields, many of which require specialisation. At the same time, a student must keep in mind that the ‘core’ areas of law such as jurisprudence, constitutional law, Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), Indian Penal Code (IPC), evidence, contract law, torts and property law are such that without a stronghold in these ‘basics’, any attempt to ‘specialise’ will fall flat. CORPORATE LAW Students need to develop the knack, temperament to slog for long hours and learning to work within short deadlines. In a law school, one must build strong English-speaking and writing skills along with legal research and drafting skills. A company secretary course, for instance, while doing law can prove to be handy. Salary at…

1 DEVELOPING AN EXAM TAKING STRATEGY THREE WEEKS BEFORE THE EXAM. By this, I refer to the order in which one will attempt the paper. I formulated my pattern as follows—attempting general knowledge and legal first followed by English and Mathematics in initial 90 minutes, leaving logic for the end. 2 ENSURE A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP FROM AT LEAST TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE EXAM. There is no need to study all night if you have the concepts clear. A good night’s sleep will keep you relaxed. 3 PREPARING PROPER NOTES FOR WEAK CONCEPTS. I made some quick revision notes for English vocabulary, current affairs and mathematics which I went through on the day of the exam. 4 KEEPING A COOL HEAD WHILE ATTEMPTING THE PAPER. Many people tend to get…

WHAT ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF NAAC’S (NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL) REVISED FRAMEWORK WHICH CAME INTO EFFECT LAST YEAR? The assessment and accreditation criteria doesn’t change very much. In fact, there are 17 criteria which are of international standard, some of which include research output, faculty student ratio, infrastructure and new courses, so the template to judge the quality of an institution more or less remains the same. What we have changed though is the system of assessment—the way we do it. The revised framework is technology-enabled that will help us receive relevant information on the institutions and we will verify that information. We have been getting feedback in the past from several institutions that visiting NAAC officials or from any other agency leads to misinterpretation of information and doesn’t…

What should an aspirant consider and evaluate before deciding on a sector to work in? In my experience, there are five key questions to consider—is the sector poised for growth? Are there sufficient number of organisations to work in? What is the hiring outlook? Are there options to gain experience in diverse roles over a long career? And would I, as a professional, have the opportunity to make an impact? If one were to do a detailed analysis of various industries based on these factors, the financial services industry would score extremely high. SECTOR’S GROWTH PROSPECTS With a GDP of $2.6 trillion, India is world’s sixth largest economy as per International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Economic Outlook - April 2018. Various reports, including those by the IMF, suggest that at…

As experiences go, soaking in a beautifully crafted tub with lukewarm water that like the memory foam in your mattress takes the form on your body as you watch the dew collect on the leaves of plants outside, effortlessly tops the list of all-time favourite dream baths. Stepping into interior designer and founder of Casa Paradox, Raseel Gujral Ansal’s master bathroom is a lot like finding the luminous diamond that emerges from the pleated folds of the earth. It’s definitely worth the wait (you have to wade through treacherous city traffic to reach here) and is easily the jewel in the crown of her Chaand Bagh farmhouse in Delhi. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows, a large vanity, a shower cubicle decorated with inlay, bright green chairs, jaali work and a pink chest…

HIGH ON QUALITY Not only do they have dedicated furniture design and manufacturing facilities, they also use only high quality materials and this makes Rentickle stand out. “With the entire range available on the website, one can conveniently order at the click of a mouse and enjoy free home delivery, complimentary maintenance and free pick up once rental tenure is over,” says Vineet Chawla, co-founder, Rentickle. SLEEPING PARTNER “We have dedicated teams who are completely devoted to hygiene, quality control and refurbishment,” says Chawla, adding, “In case of products such as mattresses which are very personal, we do not redeploy used ones and dispatch only brand new mattresses at all times, irrespective of the tenure.” PRICE “We offer a range starting as low as 99 per month as rentals. While…