Innehållsförteckning för November 18, 2024 från India Today

In one of the most spectacular comebacks in American history, Donald Trump returns for a second term in January 2025 as the 47th President of the United States. It’s not an outcome punters would have betted on even a few months ago because Trump, twice impeached in his first term, was embroiled in some 34 civil and criminal cases, including one relating to an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. But he shrugged it all off by casting himself as an outsider being hounded by a system run by the entrenched elite, an assassination attempt being part of that. The mandate he secured in a superheated election hands him near-absolute sovereignty over the affairs of his country, with the Republicans also inching towards total control of the…

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is back in his tech-savvy avatar. Credited with transforming Hyderabad into a tech hub during his tenure as CM of undivided Andhra Pradesh from 1995 to 2004 and thereby earning the moniker “CEO” of the state, he is now leveraging technology to advance public service delivery as CM of the residual Andhra. His government’s latest initiatives include a strategic partnership with Meta to deliver government documents via WhatsApp, and the use of drone technology to ensure public safety, among other services. According to the October 22 memorandum of understanding (MoU), the government will, in the first phase, introduce the top 100 services via WhatsApp by November-end. Meta’s WhatsApp Business Solution and advanced open-source generative AI technologies like Llama will enhance operational efficiency. “This…

When Bengal’s leading lady preps the bhog for the state deity, it has to be a spectacle. On October 31, CM Mamata Banerjee hosted the annual Kali Puja at her home, personally managing every detail and cooking a grand feast. Her social media team kept the updates coming, including moments with her grand-niece Ajaniya, daughter of MP Abhishek Banerjee, which predictably drew swoons of online affection. Abhishek made an appearance too, stylishly masked behind dark glasses after an eye surgery. Industrial heavyweights, film and TV bigwigs, TMC stal-warts, they were all there. One can only hazard a guess, but Mamata’s prayers surely included pleas for some divine intervention to quell the protests her government’s been facing of late.…

IF GENIUS IS THE ABILITY to make the complex simple, then Donald Trump’s historic comeback as the 47th President of the United States can only serve as the best example of that. At his victory speech in Florida, Trump outlined his agenda quite plainly, but effectively. “The core is common sense,” he said. “We wanna have borders. We wanna have security. We wanna have things to be good and safe. We want a great education. We want a strong and powerful military and, ideally, we don’t want to have to use it. I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars. We will make America safe, strong, prosperous, powerful and free again.” At the end of his speech, he declared, “We make promises. We keep promises.” Few…

HARRY S. TRUMAN (1945-1953) The ‘Truman Doctrine’ sets US on new course, start of Cold War Desegregates military US involvement in Korean War (1950) High: Food aid to India as it faces famine Low: PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s non-alignment policy during Cold War strikes a sour note DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (1953-1961) Korean War ends; anti-Communist South East Asian treaty Organisation (SEATO) established in 1953 High: First sitting US president to visit India (1960); economic aid; India seen as counter-balance against China Low: Closer US ties with Pakistan as it joins Baghdad Pact, SEATO JOHN F. KENNEDY (1961-1963) Bay of Pigs: Failed attempt at regime change in Cuba Cuban Missile Crisis resolved with USSR (1962) High: Economic/military aid during, after war with China; $1 billion aid for Third Plan Low: Criticism of India’s takeover…

Management education in India has been on a transformative trajectory, evolving from a niche offering to being a critical component of the country’s higher education landscape. With over 3,200 institutions and hundreds of thousands of students enrolling each year, management courses have become a cornerstone for aspiring business leaders. In contrast to global trends, where applications to MBA programmes have dropped by over 8 per cent in recent years, India has witnessed a surge. More than 330,000 candidates registered for the Common Admission Test (CAT) in 2023, a 30 per cent rise from the previous year. Reflecting this incre ased interest, the intake at the top 100 business schools expanded by 15 per cent in 202324. As India grows into its role as a rising economic giant, the need for adept…

Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow (IIM-L), established in 1984, is the fourth oldest in the prestigious IIM family of management schools. It has scripted several firsts—in 2005, IIM Lucknow became the first IIM to set up a satellite campus exclusively for Executive Education at Noida and was also the first to start a two-year full-time MBA programme in Sustainable Management 10 years back. It also has a long-standing full-time MBA programme in Agri Business Management. Other than steadfastly pursuing excellence in management education, research, consultancy and training, it now aims to develop new ecosystems. For example, IIM-L has taken the initiative to manage new technology in medical sciences. It has decided to start a postgraduate joint degree programme called ‘Healthcare Management’ in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K). An…

In her latest book, Sumana Roy focuses on provincials through “dialects of thought and practice” ranging from personal history, writings (novels, letters, poetry, magazines, cards), films and television, to tourist guides’ tales that regale the holiday-maker. Through these stories from across India and the world, Roy “wanted to rescue people stereotyped for their smallness from a pejorative”. Divided into five parts—Postcards, Place, Pedigree, Poetic and Pran—the book examines provincialism and how it is perceived, mainly through books and writers. Each part encompasses a variety of ideas, observations and reminiscences which are structured into short essays. Thus, a piece on D.H. Lawrence also brings in Amit Chaudhuri’s Afternoon Raag, which leads to a meditation on the prevalence of pronunciation as a signpost of location. Some parts come across as mere reactions to…

CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member and veteran journalist John Brittas is aghast, taking strong exception to Union cabinet ministers sending official communication in Hindi, which he says contravenes the Official Languages Act, 1963. To register his protest, Brittas has written a reply in Malayalam to Ravneet Singh, the MoS for railways and food processing, which he later shared on social media. He pointed out that central government correspondence with southern MPs has traditionally been in English, but NDA ministers had been “deliberately imposing” Hindi on them of late. Count it as another strike for the north-south battles.…

FOR ALMOST SIX DECADES IN Mumbai, the slogan, ‘Avaaz kunacha? (Whose writ runs here?)’ has been met with a resounding reply—‘Shiv Senacha (the Shiv Sena’s)’—signifying the party’s dominance over the country’s financial capital and swathes of Maharashtra. This assembly election will answer a more pointed question—which Shiv Sena? In June 2022, Eknath Shinde and his 39 legislators split the parent party and toppled the Uddhav Thackerayled Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime to form a government in alliance with the BJP. The subsequent legal battle saw the Shiv Sena name and bow-and-arrow symbol being handed over to Shinde. However, the Thackeray brand, seen as synonymous with the party’s identity, stayed with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). The Lok Sabha election was supposed to settle the question of who ran the ‘real…

↘ Bypassing the CM: Seated in Delhi, AAP high command holds private meetings with Punjab cabinet ministers/MLAs, overlooking Mann ↘ Selecting candidates: Party’s official handle releases names of bypoll candidates; Mann takes two hours to congratulate them ↘ Strategic replacements: Chief secretary Anurag Verma ousted for high command’s choice, K.A.P. Sinha ↘ Finance oversight: IMF veteran Arbind Modi and economist Sebastian James appointed to oversee Mann regime’s fiscal management ↘ Cabinet purge: Two Mann loyalists among four ministers removed; replaced by five fresh faces ↘ Inner circle dismantled: Mann’s three key aides—Onkar Singh, Baltej Pannu and Navneet Wadhwa—shown the door. His choice for Wadhwa’s replacement swiftly overturned too ↘ Family influence curtailed: Security detail of wife Gurpreet reduced, governance interference checked…

The 2024 India Today Group survey of the country’s business schools was conducted by reputed Delhi-based market research firm Marketing & Development Research Associates (MDRA). Based on the most recent data, this is the most credible and exhaustive rankings of India’s Best B-schools. It provides a comprehensive analysis of key areas, clearly highlighting which courses are best suited for different categories of aspirants. Three types of business programmes were ranked, each designed to cater to the unique needs and ambitions of various aspirant profiles. FULL-TIME MBA/PGDM RANKING A comprehensive list of B-schools, offering fulltime classroom management programmes (PGDM/MBA), established at least five years ago and with a minimum of three batches that have passed out till the academic year ending in 2023, was considered for the rankings. An objective…

As Prof. Varun Nagaraj, dean of the S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), appears for an interaction in his office at the institute’s sprawling campus in Andheri, Mumbai, one cannot help but notice a striking blue plaque that’s fixed on the wall behind him, which states its vision—to be recognised globally as an innovative and socially-conscious management school. And these are the twin guiding stars—innovation and social awareness—that the 43-year-old institute has kept in its sights while framing its programmes chiefly around them, so that they give students a comprehensive exposure to academics as well as the environment they are living in, helping them better cope with the rising demands of the world of business. SPJIMR’s flagship programme, the two-year post-graduate diploma in management (PGDM), focuses on four…

Ranking is based on objective data only. Only those B-Schools which submitted their objective data have been ranked. Institutes like IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Bangalore, ISB Hyderabad, etc. which did not submit their objective data on time or refused to participate have not been ranked. Only those colleges which fulfilled the below criteria were considered eligible for participation in ranking: i. Minimum three batches passed out; ii. Offering full-time postgraduate programme in management. All scores have been rounded off to one decimal place; this may result in rounding-off errors while adding the parameter-wise score. NP = Not Participated…

Just 11 months into power, and the Rajasthan chief minister faces yet another challenge at the hustings. At stake are seven of the state’s 200 assembly seats—Jhunjhunu, Dausa, Deoli Uniara, Khinvsar, Chorasi, Ramgarh and Salumber—that go to bypolls on November 13. When the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s Lok Sabha seat tally slid in Rajasthan from 24 to 14 amid a near10 percentage point drop in vote share this June, Sharma escaped much of the criticism. For, he had been at the helm for just three months when the model code of conduct kicked in and was involved neither in candidate selection nor in chalking out strategy. This time, however, a lot of the onus shifts to him. Even though the BJP announced six of its seven candidates when Sharma was…

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik, who was Odisha chief minister for 24 years, will now have just two constables to guard him. The BJPled government, which ousted Patnaik earlier this year, has slashed his security from Z to Y category. The move follows an earlier cut in the security detail at his residence, which had still left 23 guards on duty. Now the remaining personnel, pilot convoy and Patnaik’s official vehicle—he is still leader of the Opposition—will be withdrawn. Furious BJD leaders have slammed the BJP’s action, calling it “unprecedented and disrespectful” to the venerated 79-year-old leader. The formal order on the downgrade is still to be issued though. Kaushik Deka with Amarnath K. Menon, Arkamoy Datta Majumdar and Jeemon Jacob…

Telangana CM A. Revanth Reddy has been relentless in countering critics of his administration. Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s jab about the Congress government’s “fake promises”, Reddy declared that “Telangana is now rising” under his leadership, contrasting it with what he called a “decade of despair and gloom” under the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi regime. Reddy also added that he was eager to “correct misconceptions and factual errors” made by the PM and put out a list of the initiatives and relevant statistics since the party assumed office last December.…

As the air turned crisp in Hata village, East Singhbhum, a crowd sitting on red plastic chairs, nibbling samosas and sipping tea, had their eyes fixed on Arjun Munda, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran and three-term chief minister, about to make the day’s final speech at the inauguration meeting of the party’s campaign office. One person in the hall, however, seemed focused elsewhere—his wife, Meera Munda, the BJP candidate for Potka constituency. As Munda stood up, Meera leaned in and whispered in Bangla, “Ami aschi” (I’ll be going). Munda then turned to the audience: “If you permit, we’ll let the candidate reach another place.” With a bow, Meera exited with Menka Sardar, a former BJP MLA who lost the seat in 2019. and it’s not that Meera couldn’t have…

In August, Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Calcutta signed an MoU with the government of Tripura to help it design a pharma logistics hub and school development policies, amongst other things. The deal is the latest in a series of partnerships that the ace B-school has forged in the recent past. In 2023, it had organised a five day management trainee programme in collaboration with the government of West Bengal for newly elected panchayat members. The collaborations are testament to the institute’s continuous endeavour towards bolstering its future. IIM-C students are also a key part of this journey. The institute runs two full-time residential courses—Business Leadership in Manufacturing and Business Analytics—in association with other educational institutes and government bodies to create leaders of the future. For the former, it has partnered…

On the vibrant, green hilltop campus of the Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode (IIM-K), butterflies flutter about freely. Just as caterpillars metamorphose to take flight, students here evolve, nurturing dreams and building skills that prepare them to soar globally. Nestled in the remote Kunnamangalam village of Kerala’s Kozhikode district, IIM-K has in its 28 years developed a strong reputation as one of India’s leading business schools. Founded in 1996 through a collaboration between the Indian and Kerala governments, the institute began with 42 students and has since grown to a vibrant community of 1,300 students and 169 faculty members. Today, it is a premier business school, serving corporations worldwide. IIM-K director Dr Debashis Chatterjee attributes the institute’s rise to what he calls the “3 Ds” of success: Digitisation, Diversification and Diversity. Digitisation…

One of the most erudite and creative of Indian artists, Krishen Khanna at the age of 99 is as animated and active as ever. He moves around, albeit in a wheelchair, and paints regularly. When asked how he feels at this stage of his life, he says he feels he is lucky that he doesn’t have any illness. Barring a left hip replacement surgery that was performed this May after a fall, he seems to have no other problem. While this slowed him down a little, it also made him work in a concentrated manner. If there is any regret at all, it is about the absence of his colleagues, most of whom are no longer alive. “I’m quite short of friends and I miss them. They all stayed with…

This November, the historic Gwalior Fort will—for the first time—host a performance art event with more than 30 Indian and international artistes across various mediums such as classical music, dance and opera. A ‘Street Cart Named Desire’ is part of the fourth volume of Panorama Editions, an international art salon curated by Sarah Singh. Based in New Delhi and New York, Sarah is an award-winning artist and filmmaker whose multidimensional practice features moving images, text, photography, theatrical stagings, set and costume design, painting and drawing. “This is not an Indian adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play, but a collage of performances that explores the theme of desire in different ways,” says Sarah. “There’s nothing explicit because that’s not even interesting. Instead, desire can be explored through, say, the passion of…

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes”—Marcel Proust Ladakh is now a cliché of landscape photography; the grand slopes and vistas pockmarked by Instagram pins spread into a yawn of familiarity. That Ahtushi Deshpande manages to take the eye into fresh visual discoveries in an over-photographed terrain is the compelling reason to traverse through Speaking Stones, her self-published book on the petroglyphs, the ancient rock etchings of Ladakh. Unknown to the gaze of tourists is a spread of numerous (about 600) rock sites scattered throughout Ladakh, with intricate prehistoric carvings that are breath-takingly detailed traces of a living culture. The carvings, etched into the deep brown patina of the rocks to reveal a lighter brown shade, range from prehistoric depictions of…

Q. Does playing your own age on screen make a difference in any way? This is the first time I’ve done that. I was 28 when I played a 65-year-old in Saaransh. In this film, my character at heart is 28. It feels like a full-circle moment. I was 68 when Akshay Roy [writer, director] came to meet me with this script. My character’s age was always 69, much like shops that price items at 99. Q. Did the role challenge you? It absolutely did. I didn’t know how to swim and, in the film, Vijay does a triathlon, of which swimming is an integral part. I told Akshay that I’d like to learn, because I didn’t want them to use a double. I was afraid, but I managed to…