Innehållsförteckning för April 19, 2021 från India Today

In the first week of March, with the daily cases of Covid-19 reduced to a trickle, officialdom was busy patting itself on the back for having conquered the virus, unlike many advanced countries. The euphoria did not last long. In just 24 hours on April 6, India crossed 115,312 infections, the largest number of daily cases after the United States and the highest since the pandemic began. On April 2, we recorded 713 deaths, our highest number of deaths in a single day. A little over a year after India imposed the world’s harshest lockdown to break the rising wave of infections, we seem to be back to square one. Hospitals are rapidly filling up and major metros have declared night curfews. In fact, what we are seeing is everything…

Sooryavanshi The Rohit Shettydirected action drama, made at an estimated budget of Rs 200 crore, has revised its release date three times already. Will it be fourth time lucky? Radhe SalmanKhan’s last Radhe post on Instagram read, “Eid ka commitment tha, Eid par hi aayenge”. With a surge in cases, does the promise still stand? Satyamev Jayate 2 T-Series has big hopes from this John Abraham-starrer, pitchingitagainstKhan’s Radhe in theatres. But will the high-billing clash of the titans take place as scheduled on May 13? Bellbottom The release of the first film Akshay Kumar shot after the 2020 lock-down is now up in the air given that Sooryavanshi, the actor’s other big release, has been postponed. ’83 The cricket drama around India’s maiden World Cup victory is slated to have…

ISRAEL 59%* Ensuring supply: Agreed to share health data of the vaccinated with Pfizer in return for enough vaccines Ensuring demand: Comprehensive local outreach helped overcome vaccine hesitancy Open to all: The vaccine is available to all over 16 BHUTAN 62%* Mass public awareness: From schools to offices, volunteers visited the public to enlist their support and help them reach the nearest vaccination centre All at one shot: Unlike its neighbours, the country waited till it had collected enough doses before starting its campaign. Within a week, it had vaccinated half its population UK 47%* Data-based monitoring: Data on age groups, gender, ethnicity and location of those taking the vaccines helped identify and address pockets of vaccine hesitancy Target-based phases: The first phase is on till April 15 and covers…

Security forces must travel via ridges and hillocks; it is more difficult to lay ambushes on high ground. Jungle tracks usually used by Maoists to lay ambushes Avoid villages that could have Maoist informers. Villages must be entered only after a security cordon is in place Large operations like the one on April 3 must be led by officers and coordinated by a senior officer with his HQ close to the spot ‘Route in’ and ‘route out’ of a Maoist area must be different to avoid ambushes Use of hand-launched drones for tactical intelligence around patrol areas. Military working dogs for early warning…

A total of 132 BJP leaders, including Union ministers, MPs, chief ministers and senior party people, have been campaigning in West Bengal while 15 leaders are camping in the state for the entire duration of the election. They will focus on 109 key constituencies (the state has 294). Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Gajendra Shekhawat are overseeing all crucial campaigns; Arjun Munda has been specifically asked to focus on tribal areas along with former minister Jual Oram; and shipping minister Mansukh Mandaviya is actively involved in the Jangalmahal area. RALLIES & ROADSHOWS SCHEDULED/ COVERED LEAD CAMPAIGNER NARENDRA MODI Prime Minister of India 20-25/ 12 TOP-TIER CAMPAIGNERS AMIT SHAH Union Home Minister 50-60 /24 J.P. NADDA BJP National President 68 / 16 YOGI ADITYANATH Uttar Pradesh CM 30 SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN…

ASSAM Seesaw over CAA Conflicting signals are emanating from the BJP and the Congress in Assam over the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). While top BJP leaders have shown commitment towards implementing the CAA, the issue finds no mention in the party’s manifesto. The Congress declared the repeal of CAA as one of its five poll guarantees, but a full-page ad by the party in a Bangla newspaper in the Barak Valley gives any such assurance a miss. Understandably so, as the CAA is widely supported in the Hindu Bengali-dominated Valley. It is also the reason why Sushmita Dev, the Congress’s most prominent face in Barak Valley, has never opposed the law in public. CAMPAIGN BLUES Three prominent Assam leaders have had their poll campaigns disrupted. Akhil Gogoi, chief of…

Though Anoushka Shankar’s social media is almost always relatable, there are moments when her pedigree shows. On February 25, for instance, she was at London’s famed Abbey Road Studios when she posted on Instagram. Providentially, she was recording in Beatles territory on George Harrison’s birthday. “Happy Birthday Uncle George,” she wrote. Like her, Harrison, too, had learnt to play the sitar from Pandit Ravi Shankar. Like her, he used the sitar to make music that belonged to both East and West, a genre Shankar calls “crossover music”. First, Anoushka and ‘Uncle George’ are counterparts. In 1971, when the Bangladesh Liberation War devastated the lives of countless new refugees, Ravi Shankar and George Harrison had together organised the historic ‘Concert for Bangladesh’. Fifty years on, news reports suggest that Anoushka, and…

SOUTHERN SPLENDOUR Located at an altitude of 1,850 metres above sea level, this home by Studio Lotus lies in the blue mountains of the Nilgiris and is embedded within lush green estates of tea and coffee, fruit orchards and botanical gardens. The design approach aims at minimising damage to the site’s ecology. GOAN FLURRY The Si-Oul project is the brainchild of Kriss Real Estate. They teamed up with SAV Architecture to come up with a trio of residences—Sol, Lua and Terra—in Goa’s quaint village of Siolim. The homes are inspired by diverse design heuristics, including the Bauhaus movement and the works of Geoffrey Bawa. THE HILLS ARE ALIVE For architect Gautam Bhatia of Gautam Bhatia Navin Gupta Architects, a solution to pollution, overcrowding, pandemic and lockdown was creating a home…

Anyone who has researched Indian film history knows well the frustration of discovering that much of what they have to work with is hearsay and that countless important documents are forever gone. Given this, one’s first response to The Longest Kiss—a detailed account of two decades in the life of Devika Rani, pioneering actress and studio head—is to be glad for its existence. Though Devika lived till 1994, the period covered here is mainly from the late 1920s—when she met and fell in love with the actor-producer Himanshu Rai, with whom she would establish Bombay Talkies—to the mid-1940s, a few years after Rai’s death, when she married the Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich and quit the industry. This period, a pivotal one for Hindi cinema, included her stint as one of…

YASHRAJ MUKHATE Mukhate tasted massive success with his hilarious musical remixes from trending internet dialogues including, “Rasode Me Kon Tha” and “Tuada Kutta Tommy, Sada Kutta Kutta?” DOLLY SINGH Singh has racked up more than a million followers with her brand of situational, daily-life humour, featuring recognisable types and topical themes VARUN THAKUR Thakur’s returning character of Vicky Malhotra, a Lokhandwala struggling actor, is a pitch-perfect satire that has propelled the stand-up to even greater internet popularity…

Over 75 million people have received one dose of vaccine, and around 10 million people have been fully vaccinated with two doses (as on April 7, 2021). The concern now is whether these shots will be enough to protect against the new variants that are emerging in India COVISHIELD What is it? Covishield has an engineered version of adenoviruses that infect chimpanzees to carry the gene responsible for the spike protein of the novel coronavirus. Adenoviruses are common viruses that typically cause mild cold or flu-like illnesses How easy is it to change?: An announcement by AstraZeneca, the company that developed the vaccine, says a booster dose to tackle any variants could be available by autumn 2021 if needed CURRENT EFFICACY Early China variant: At India’s current dosage interval of…

The five zones have been carved on the basis of Lok Sabha constituencies (Bengal has 42)—and one observer has been appointed for (all assembly segments under) each LS constituency These observers are local MPs and top office-bearers from the BJP’s other state units, and have been tasked with meeting representatives of various social and religious organisations Candidates for each assembly seat are being assisted by the local district chief and the office-bearers, who work together to take messages to booth-level workers and the Panna Pramukh…

“MUKHTAR HAS BEEN A CANNY OPERATOR, ALMOST NEVER IMPLICATING HIMSELF IN ANY OF THE MURDERS HE HAS COMMITTED”Brijlal Former DGP, Uttar Pradesh The Banda district jail on Police Line Road has seen a flurry of activity in the past few days. Even DIG (Jails), Prayagraj range, P.N. Pandey, was camping here, ostensibly to strengthen the jail’s security system. The preparations were for mafia don-turned-neta Mukhtar Ansari, 63, who arrived here in the wee hours of April 7, after travelling 900 km from Ropar Jail in Punjab escorted by a 150-strong police patrol. His relocation followed a Supreme Court order on March 26, which backed the Uttar Pradesh government’s plea that he be brought back to the state. Ansari should be familiar with the place—he was in Banda jail for 21…

Has Rahul Gandhi found a stand-in for poll strategist Prashant Kishor? Most Congress leaders are upbeat about the party’s return to power in the Assam assembly election. Their confidence stems from the feedback provided by DesignBoxed, a digital campaign management company run by Chandigarh-based Naresh Arora. The 10-year-old firm had earlier handled the Congress campaigns in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, shaping the party’s manifestos in these states and running digital campaigns. In Assam, it came up with the ‘five guarantees’ idea, which seemed to have found traction among voters. Interestingly, the Congress, which often attributes lack of funds for its electoral defeats, has reportedly coughed up Rs 25 crore as payment to Arora’s firm for Assam. Samajwadi Shakuni Last year, estranged Samajwadi Party relatives—party chief Akhilesh Yadav and…

On April 4, Akshay Kumar announced on social media that he had contracted Covid-19. A day later, 45 crew members from his upcoming film, Ram Setu, also tested positive in Mumbai. It is not the start the producers were looking for after the mahurat at Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya. Ram Setu is among the many films hit by the surge of Covid cases in the metropolis. Shoots of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Mr Lele and Gangubai Kathiawadi were also halted after their respective leading actors tested positive for Covid. The livelihoods of hundreds of daily wage labourers and technicians deployed on sets will, once again, be affected. “When an actor falls sick, the whole film shuts down,” says B.N. Tiwari, president of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE). “But…

What is it? Covaxin is an “inactivated” vaccine developed by chemically treating novel coronavirus samples to make them incapable of reproduction. This process leaves the viral proteins, including the spike protein of the coronavirus, which it uses to enter the cells, intact Protection against variants: In theory, it provides more protection against the new variants: Since the existing variants of concern have critical mutations in the spike protein, inactivated virus vaccines, which use all the proteins in the virus to generate an immune response, could offer better protection against the variants A three-dose vaccine?: On April 2, Bharat Biotech received approval for a third dose of its vaccine to phase 2 trial participants, six months after their second dose. It will help demonstrate if a three-dose vaccine could give longer…

After a stellar show in the 2019 general election, winning 18 of 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the BJP emerged as the principal challenger to CM Mamata Banerjee’s TMC in West Bengal. In the run-up to the assembly election, which got under way on March 27 and enters its fourth phase on April 10, Union home minister Amit Shah had said, “Unishe half, ekushe Saaf (halved in 2019, eradicated in 2021)” about the TMC’s diminishing influence. The BJP has been trying to stoke and fan Hindu nationalist sentiment and has to that end—and to counter Mamata’s brand of regional sub-nationalism—variously invoked Bengali icons like Vivekananda, Aurobindo, ‘Netaji’ Subhas Chandra Bose and Syama Prasad Mookerjee, among others. Shah, along with BJP national president J.P. Nadda, has been beefing up…

The absence of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra, the two star campaigners of the Congress, from the West Bengal assembly election scene has raised questions about the party’s strategy in the state. Elections to the 294 assembly seats in Bengal are being held in eight phases. By April 10, polling would be over for 135 seats in the first four phases. Yet, no member of the Gandhi family has addressed a single rally in the state so far. This is in sharp contrast to the party’s campaigns in the other three states going to polls—Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu besides the Union territory of Puducherry. While Rahul spent most of his time in the past two months in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Priyanka addressed rallies in Assam, Tamil Nadu and…

■ The big case now against the mafia don is a triple murder in 2009 in Mau. Contractor Ajay Prakash Singh a.k.a. Munna was killed by bike-riding assailants. Later, Prakash’s associate Ram Singh Maurya and gunner Satish were also murdered. The trial is in the final stages ■ In 1991, Awadhesh Rai, brother of Congress leader Ajay Rai, was murdered in Varanasi. Hearings have been fast-tracked in the case at the special MPMLA court at Prayagraj. Four other cases under the Gangster Act are also pending against Mukhtar at the special court ■ Mukhtar’s sons Abbas and Umar have been accused of illegally occupying ‘enemy property’ in the Hazratganj area of Lucknow. The case, registered in August 2019, involves forgery, conspiracy and illegal possession of land. The HC has stayed…

THE CAPSULE CURE The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in a renewed distrust of public transport in its existing form. That’s where ‘Capsule for Automated Transit’ (CAT) comes in. “CAT, a prototype personal rapid transit, features automated pod vehicles operating on a network of specially built automated guide-ways (on ground/ elevated). CAT moves small groups (one to four commuters) in AI automated pods on fixed guide-ways that are arranged in an extensive network topology,” says Akshat Bhatt, principal architect, Architecture Discipline, a multi-disciplinary design studio. The perks of CAT are that commuters can board a capsule immediately upon arriving at a station and move nonstop toward their destination. BACK TO WORK Since offices have been hit the hardest, the need for making them safe for employees has become paramount. “The most…

India’s first modern artists, born before Independence, faced a near-impossible challenge. They sought to attain modernity at an international not a parochial level, but at the same time were required (and some sincerely wished) not to forfeit their Indian identity. They ran the gauntlet between those critics who accused them of selling out and those who dismissed them as provincial. For Sayed Haider Raza, the dilemma had a geographical twist. Given a chance to visit Paris as a young man, he stayed on and made France his home for the next 60 years. He visited India frequently, but finally returned only in 2010, six years before his death. Despite his émigré status, India clearly mattered profoundly to him, as a source of both identity and inspiration. But how to express…

Q. For every Mumbai Saga and Chehre, there are independent titles like Tigers and Harami in your oeuvre. The general rule is that once you have a brand, you satisfy the audience by giving them more of the same. Actors fall into that trap. When I did Shanghai (2011), people said ‘why are you putting on weight to do a film like this?’ But it is my job to play different parts. I will always do films that give me a chance to get into the depth of a character. Q. These films don’t always work at the box office, though. They don’t have to. Independent films give me a chance to hone my skills as an actor. I can bring a more invigorated state of mind into a commercial…