CATEGORIES

DISTRESS SIGNALS

THE PANDEMIC RESULTED IN DEPLETED SAVINGS, SLASHED INCOMES AND JOB LOSSES LEADING TO ECONOMIC DISTRESS AND WIDESPREAD DISAPPOINTMENT WITH THE CENTRE’S MANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMY

ON A SLIPPERY SLOPE

YOGI ADITYANATH RETAINS HIS POSITION AS INDIA’S NO. 1 CHIEF MINISTER; KEJRIWAL AND MAMATA FOLLOW

BITING THE BULLET

RETROSPECTIVE TAXATION

STRICKEN REPUTATION

THE DEVASTATING SECOND WAVE OF THE PANDEMIC SEVERELY UNDERMINED PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN THE CENTRAL AS WELL AS STATE GOVERNMENTS

NITISH: AN ALLY AND A REBEL

BIHAR

UNABLE TO MAKE A DENT

DESPITE THE COVID WOES THAT BEFELL THE COUNTRY, THE MOTN DEEMS THE OPPOSITION’S PERFORMANCE AVERAGE AND SEES MERIT IN THEM UNITING TO TAKE ON MODI

Porn And Prejudice

Last month, the police made a celebrity arrest for porn trafficking. The accused, Raj Kundra, countered that the material he had been circulating was erotic, not pornographic.

WRITING FROM THE MARGINS

Nagesh Kukunoor broke out with Hyderabad Blues in 1998. More than two decades later, the filmmaker is still dodging predictable tropes while enjoying his day in the OTT sun

INDIA'S WONDER WOMEN

AGAINST DAUNTING ODDS, INDIA’S SPORTSWOMEN DID US PROUD, BUT THE OVERALL MEDAL TALLY WAS DISAPPOINTING. HERE’S A BLUEPRINT FOR WINNING MORE MEDALS IN THE FUTURE

HINDUTVA'S TRIBAL TROUBLES

On July 21, a video went viral of a saffron flag hoisted at the Ambagarh garrison ramparts being torn while it was being taken down.

MAKING OF A NEW LOOK BJP

THE PARTY TRIES TO SHED ITS ‘BRAHMIN-BANIA’ IMAGE WITH A YOUNGER LEADERSHIP TIER WHERE WOMEN AND BACKWARD CLASSES CAN BE PIVOTS OF FUTURE GROWTH

THE MEGA ORDNANCE MAKEOVER

CAN THE RESTRUCTURING OF 41 ORDNANCE FACTORIES INTO SEVEN NEW DEFENCE PSUs GIVE INDIA’S DYSFUNCTIONAL MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX A NEW LEASE OF LIFE?

CAN'T TOP THIS

WITH A STRING OF RELEASES ON OTT PLATFORMS, MANOJ BAJPAYEE IS EMERGING AS NEW BOLLYWOOD’S FIRST SUPERSTAR

Public Health's Private Problems

THE PERFORMANCE OF PRIVATE SECTOR VACCINATION CENTRES REMAINS UNDERWHELMING— DESPITE IMPROVEMENTS IN SUPPLY. WHAT CAN BE DONE TO SCALE UP THEIR NUMBERS?

THE GREAT WILD HOPE

India wakes up to the need for mitigation measures such as underground transmission lines and animal overpasses to curb wildlife mortality, even if it means driving up solar energy and highway costs

Line Of No Control

China expands its military aviation infrastructure on the tibetan plateau even as the indian army begins a great rebalance of forces—from the western border with pakistan to the northern border with china. The loss of trust and absence of protocols mean miscalculations could spiral into conflict

Taking Buddha to the World

By examining the impact of an 1879 Edwin Arnold poem, Jairam Ramesh has helped map the global inf luence of Buddhist thought

FINDING COMMON GROUND

On July 25, the Congress party’s official Twitter handle put out a tweet with a photograph of Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee and a little explainer riffing on Union home minister Amit Shah’s now famous “Aap chronology samajhiye” comment. Shah, of course, was implying an Opposition conspiracy to stall Parliament, but the meme was turning the charge on its head to suggest that the Trinamool Congress national general secretary was a victim of the Pegasus spyware during the 2021 Bengal election. The timing was no accident—Mamata was arriving on a five-day visit to the national capital the next day to hold discussions with Opposition leaders on possible strategies to take on the BJP in 2024.

THE DIRTY PICTURE

BUSINESSMAN RAJ KUNDRA’S ARREST IN AN ALLEGED PORN RACKET HAS BROUGHT INTO FOCUS INDIA’S LAWS ON PORNOGRAPHY, REIGNITING THE DEBATE OVER DEFINITIONS OF OBSCENITY AND EROTICA

BORDER BATTLES

The violent clash at the disputed Lailapur-Vairengte border between Assam and Mizoram on July 26, which resulted in the death of six Assam Police personnel, is a grim reminder of the simmering tensions among the seven Indian states collectively known as India’s Northeast. While inter-state border disputes are not new in the region, what makes this incident unique is the clash between the police forces of the two states and the alleged use of light machine guns by the Mizoram Police to open fire on Assam Police personnel.

THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN

Though Toofaan and Sarpatta Parambarai both released on Amazon Prime Video in July, the two boxing films fight wholly different battles

THE HIPPY'S DISCOVERY OF INDIA

A new documentary shows how poet Allen Ginsberg kickstarted the backpacker revolution

Q+A TELLING INDIA'S STORY

Much like his films, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s recently released autobiography, The Stranger in the Mirror, is also a grand narrative

STRUGGLING TO REGAIN CONTROL

Rahul is trying to change the rules of engagement in the party and build a new team. Will he succeed?

EASY ON THE EAR

TWO YEARS AFTER HE MADE IT TO BARACK OBAMA’S PLAYLIST, PRATEEK KUHAD IS LETTING A SENSE OF EASE DEFINE HIS LIFE AND MUSIC

A YEDI-MADE FORMULA

The BJP picks Yediyurappa loyalist Basavaraj Bommai as its new Karnataka chief minister with an eye on the 2023 state election and the crucial Lingayat vote

Bidding The Office Goodbye

The workspace as we knew it is a thing of the past. Flexible working patterns, work from anywhere and hybrid models of work are the new normal

The Pegasus Plot Thickens

The government staunchly denies allegations of having used foreign malware to snoop on private indian citizens. But the controversy has raised major concerns about violations of individual privacy and effective checks to prevent misuse of state power

Betting On A Drone Boom

The government eases drone laws to allow the nascent industry to take flight. Can india’s drone sector now hit the rs 3 lakh crore mark by 2030?

India's Population Policy - Myths And Reality

While reforms are much needed to control population growth, the big questions are: do coercive birth control measures work? Is the growing number of muslims a threat to hindus? Is india losing its demographic dividend? Here is a reality check