CATEGORIES

Cryptocurrency: Back To The Crypt?

For a newborn sector, finding a stable turf on which to grow can be a complicated affair when the world itself is in motion. Cryptocurrencies and the traditional economic system present exactly such a duality—paired in a difficult tango.

Yogi 2.0: New Caste Equations

Elections, and the politics surrounding them, are not a finite event. They don’t just come once in five years. Every day is a step towards the next one...even the first day. When Yogi Adityanath took oath for his second term on March 25, in a grand ceremony at Ekana stadium in Lucknow, the way he rearranged his team offered a classic example of that. Caste equations and the imperatives of regional balance, keeping in mind the Lok Sabha election in 2024, were the decisive factors in the ministerial choices—some of which had the stamp of New Delhi.

A NEW GATEWAY TO THE CAMPUS

BOARD RESULTS WILL NO LONGER DECIDE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS. BUT CAN THE COMMON ENTRANCE TEST LEVEL THE FIELD FOR STUDENTS FROM DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS?

THACKERAYS IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Anger flowed in rather rich metaphors in the Maharashtra assembly on March 25. “Put me in jail. I am not Krishna, but can you say that you are not Kansa?” a visibly agitated Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray told the somewhat stunned gathering of legislators. “If you want to come to power, do that. But don’t do all these vicious things to come to power,” he added. It was a rare emotional outburst for a normally sedate politician. What makes Uddhav so angry? His own words contained the clue: graft charges, hovering over his people like an ominous cloud.

GOING UP IN FLAMES

A MAJOR WORRY FOR EV OWNERS IS THE RISK OF THE BATTERY CATCHING FIRE. WITH RECENT REPORTS OF SOME ELECTRIC SCOOTERS COMBUSTING, THIS PROBLEM IS NOW FRONT AND CENTRE

THE ALLURE OF ALIA

SHE ALWAYS KNEW SHE WAS BORN TO BE A STAR. NOW, THE WORLD KNOWS IT TOO. ALIA BHATT HAS ARRIVED, AND HOW

THE DAKMASTER NEXUS

Two months ago, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was working on an altogether different plan— aspiring to be numero uno on the non-BJP side in Indian politics, displacing the Congress. The Trinamool Congress’s foray into Goa, her confabulations with key Opposition figures, her party’s statements against the GOP, all of it presaged an ambitious expansion strategy. So a strike on her turf was only to be expected. Two gruesome murders and a carnage within the span of a month— between February 18 and March 21— have offered that opening to her rivals.

THE MELTDOWN IN SRI LANKA

FACED WITH A SERIOUS ECONOMIC CRISIS, THE ISLAND NATION HAS BEEN FORCED TO LOOK OUTWARDS FOR HELP WHICH, IN TURN, IS BURDENING IT WITH HIGH EXTERNAL DEBT

What Ails Our Med Ed?

Professionally Stranded Medical Students From Ukraine Expose The Larger Crisis In Medical Education In India Where Limited Seats, Intense Competition, Prohibitive Cost And Lack Of Faculty Thwart Rising Aspirations

Is A Fourth Wave Coming?

The third wave of Covid infections might have ended with minimal impact, but doctors warn against complacency. A fourth wave is inevitable, the experts say

UP Elections 2022: The Lessons Of Loss

The BJP’s win has emboldened voices in their own parties against Akhilesh Yadav, Jayant Chaudhary and Priyanka Gandhi, signalling the urgency of thinking anew

“FORM A TRUTH COMMISSION AND HANG ME IF I AM FOUND GUILTY”

Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files portrays the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Dr Farooq Abdullah in a bad light, without naming him. A deeply upset and angered Abdullah spoke to Group Editorial Director (Publishing) Raj Chengappa about his version of events, the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley and the closure the community needs. Excerpts from the interview:

THE BELEAGUERED DECACORN

The story of Paytm, once described as one of the biggest start-up stories in India’s financial services sector, appears to have become a cautionary tale of everything that could go wrong after an IPO.

REFRESH AND REVIVE

Let spring in with these home textiles. Not only will it give your interiors a much-needed facelift, it will make your space shine.

Plane Ambition

AFTER LOSING A NEW AIRCRAFT WORTH Rs 67 CR. AND SPENDING Rs 23 CR. IN LEASING, MP WANTS TO BUY A Rs 120 CR. JET

How to Win Despite Losing

Pushkar Singh Dhami may have lost the election but retained the big prize at the Uttarakhand BJP legislators’ meet.

EXODUS THE TRUTH

Why did they flee? Who was respon sible? Where are they now? What needs to be done?

Breaking the Gandhian Knot

The poll debacle stirs calls for change in the Congress. The rebels and others want unbiased organisational elections and an ‘accountable leadership’. Will the Gandhis give way?

ENVIRONMENT VS REALTY

On March 15, in the state assembly, Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao announced his intention to repeal a 1996 government order— GO111—which creates a 10-km-wide buffer zone around the Himayatsagar and Osmansagar reservoirs outside Hyderabad.

AN OPEN PLAN

This apartment in Ahmedabad fuses two different design styles to give rise to a sun-kissed, light and airy home

A TIGER IN EVERY FORT?

When the CBI on March 11 arrested Balya Bawaria, last of the accused in two cases of tiger poaching in 2003-04 in Sariska, it brought back memories of big cats being wiped out from the tiger reserve in Alwar, Rajasthan.

A STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP DEEPENS

Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida’s two-day visit to India, the first in-person summit since prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan in October 2018, has succeeded in further consolidating the Special Strategic and Global Partnership in a year that marks 70 years of diplomatic ties.

A Tech-tonic Shift

The Audi Q7 facelift is a modest luxury saloon that wouldn’t break a sweat in the outdoors

A QUESTION OF METTLE AND ORE

On March 21, 11 days after the BJP won 20 of the 40 assembly seats in Goa (one short of a simple majority), the party ended the suspense and announced that incumbent chief minister Pramod Sawant would continue to lead the state government.

Punjab: New CM, Old Problems

CM Bhagwant Mann and aap broke the shackles in Punjab politics. Can they do the same for the economy and the people of the state?

Hiab Ban: Upholding Bigotry?

Hijab Controversy

The Lady And The Yogi

Who Is The Mystery Man Who Gamed The Bourses And Made The NSE Director His Willing Proxy?

Government Jobs - The Hunger & The Mess

A lacklustre economy is driving millions of indians to seek scarce government jobs, but the recruitment process remains daunting and chaotic

WOOING WOMEN

MADHYA PRADESH

When Populism Begins to Pinch

WEST BENGAL