CATEGORIES

“I had no choice but to grow up fast… …when my father died. At the age of 28, I had to run the businesses he had built”

As chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, he has transformed the conglomerate from a $2 billion business into a multinational behemoth spanning 36 countries and businesses as diverse as textiles, cement, chemicals, retail and telecom with an annual revenue of $46 billion

Gearing Up For The Vaccine

Since the very beginning of the pandemic, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has taken on a very hands-on role in the state’s Covid management efforts

A Sweet history

Author Lizzie Collingham traces the journey of the biscuit from being sustenance to becoming sweet treats

UNITED COLOURS OF ARMED FORCES

THE CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF AND THE DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY AFFAIRS COMPLETE A YEAR IN ONE OF THE MOST CHALLENGING TIMES. WILL INDIA GET THE INTEGRATED MILITARY STRUCTURE IT NEEDS?

THE ART. 356 DARE

Three attacks in three days, two of them fatal. BJP president J.P. Nadda’s convoy is attacked by stone pelters in South 24 Parganas; a BJP booth president is beaten to death in North 24 Parganas; another party activist is murdered in East Burdwan—all in a span of three days (December 10-12). If the news stories were playing up the possible imposition of President’s rule in Bengal, invoking Article 356 of the Constitution, it was by no means beyond the pale.

SAFFRON'S SOUTHERN SOJOURN

THE BJP CUSTOMISES PLANS TO BREAK INTO THE BASTIONS OF THE ENTRENCHED POLITICAL PARTIES

FIXING THE BANKING MESS

Public trust in India’s banks has been shaken by all the bad news about bank failures, misgovernance and a gargantuan Rs 9.4 lakh crore pile of bad debts. How to avert the impending catastrophe

THERE-WILL-BE-NO-COMPROMISE

In his first detailed interview after taking over as Chief of Defence Staffon January 1, GENERAL BIPIN RAWAT tells Executive Editor SANDEEP UNNITHAN about what his Department of Military Affairs (DMA) has achieved, the border standoffwith China, his plans to transform the armed forces, the road ahead and the resistance to change.

THE PROMISE OF CHANGE

Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan kicked off his party Makkal Needhi Maiam’s poll campaign on December 13 from the temple town of Madurai.

THE BIG STORY OF 'LOVE JIHAD' : LOVE AND HATE

A CONTROVERSIAL NEW LAW IN UTTAR PRADESH, OSTENSIBLY INTENDED TO HINDER FORC IBLE CONVERSION IN INTERFAITH MARRIAGES, ISSEEN BY MAN YAS A COMMUN AL TACTIC AND A THREAT TO BASIC CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

SALE TO TAKE WING?

Unlike in 2018, when the Centre’s attempt to find a buyer for the beleaguered Air India saw no takers, there are several bidders in the fray this time around.

A WAKE-UP CALL FROM THE WILD

One of the scores of camera traps inside Rajasthan’s Ranthambore National Park clicked a photograph early December that shocked both wildlife officials and activists. It showed a tiger struggling in a wire snare. The big cat was immediately tracked down by officials, tranquilised, rescued from the snare and released into the forest.

Rajinikanth Coming Soon

Superstar Rajinikanth, Thala­ iva (literally: leader) to the legions of his fans, turns 70 on December 12. Much is being made of the political timing of his latest announcement that his much-awaited political debut, frozen now for a while in ‘Coming Soon’ mode, is indeed, finally, coming soon.

From Within The Deep State

Traditionally, writers believe there is no such thing as fiction—a first novel generally tends to be autobiographical. Be that as it may, Asad Durrani, Pakistan’s foremost military intellectual, has produced a work of true grit, comparable with a spy thriller.

Why Punjab Is Angry

As the farmers of India’s premier agricultural state protest strongly against central farm reforms, the Opposition unites behind them to challenge the Modi government

WOOING THE TRIBALS

TRIBAL COMMUNITIES ARE BECOMING AN INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT POLITICAL DEMOGRAPHIC—A TREND ESPECIALLY VISIBLE IN MADHYA PRADESH

THE NAVY RUNS INTO A BUDGET BOULDER

The Indian Navy’s planned acquisition of a third Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-2) is at risk of running aground.

DON'T WRITE PUNJAB OFF

CAPT. AMARINDER SINGH, the chief minister of Punjab, spoke to India Today Group Editorial Director RAJ CHENGAPPA on December 8, the day agitating farmers called for a Bharat Bandh to protest against the Centre’s new agriculture laws. Excerpts

She's Funny That Way

Mallika Dua, soon to be seen in a new Hindi film Indooki Jawani, on being a woman in comedy and doing more nuanced roles onscreen

FILLING THE PATEL VOID

The search for a new version of the late Ahmed Patel is on in the Congress. But with the party out of power and a generational shift in the works, the post comes with huge challenges

DOLES AT THEIR DOORSTEPS

Not even her critics doubt Mamata Banerjee’s street-fighter cred—there is easy recall of many moments in her political career that offer evidence.

A SAFFRON SURGE

Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) had hoped to head off a late BJP surge by advancing elections to the 150-seat Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) by two months.

A PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE

After a Covid-curtailed monsoon session and with the winter session looking unlikely, India’s Parliament has lapsed into silence.

Farmer Protests: Why The Impasse

Since November 26, New Delhi has been under virtual siege by perhaps half a million farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, who are protesting three newly-minted farm laws, rammed through Parliament during its monsoon session.

Covid-19 Vaccine - Is It Safe? Will It Work?

As a number of vaccines come up in record time to combat the Covid-19 challenge, a closer look at the safety and efficacy of the various candidates in the fray

INDIA'S BILLION PROBLEM

AS INDIA PUTS TOGETHER ITS FIRSTEVER PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAMME TO VACCINATE ADULTS, THE COUNTRY OF OVER 1.4 BILLION IS BRACING ITSELF FOR A LOGISTICAL CHALLENGE

THE DIE IS CASTE

On her way to a rally in Khatra in Bankura district on November 23, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee made a halt at Bankia, a village of 116-odd Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) families.

THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH

On November 29, former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi addressed a gathering at Patna’s A.N. Sinha Institute, where he backed a full term for the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government in the state. “Iss sarkar ko koi gira nahin sakta (Nobody can pull down this government). There will be no mid-term poll in Bihar,” he declared during his speech at a memorial meet for the late Suraj Nandan Kushwaha of the BJP.

HOW REAL IS THE RECOVERY?

Although it was expected that the GDP growth numbers for the second quarter of this fiscal year would read far better than the dismal -23.9 per cent seen in the first quarter, the actual numbers came in as a surprise to many.

A WIN-WIN FOR METRO AND AAREY?

On October 1, when Maharastra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray decided to shift the controversial metro car depot from green zone Aarey Milk Colony in Mumbai’s western suburb of Goregaon to Kanjurmarg, an eastern suburb 7.5 km away, he had done his homework.