News and Views

When 14 farmers were killed in police firing in East Midnapore’s Nandigram on 14 March 2007, the politics of West Bengal, by then in the loosening grip of the CPI(M)-led Left Front regime, was set to change forever. But ten years on, CM Mamata Banerjee, it appears, has forgotten her promises about Nandigram, writes Chandan Nandy.

India’s shooting contingent boasts of stars such as Jitu Rai and Heena Sindhu, but there are three teenagers that will be part of the team at the Commonwealth Games in 2018.

Pistol shooters Anish Bhanwala (Haryana) and Manu Bhaker (Haryana) and rifle shooter Mehuli Ghosh (Bengal) will be travelling with the 27-member team to Gold Coast.

Here’s a look at the three junior shooters ahead of the big tournament which begins on 4 April.

Pass the ‘Finance Baton’ to the Ladies!

Firstly, shake off that patriarchal mentality that finance is the sole purview of the male head of the family. Welcome to the 21st Century. Women can read maps and do numbers. Look around. They head some of India’s top banks. Christine Lagarde has been heading the World Bank for over seven years.

Dispel the notion that the male member is the sole repository of fiscal jurisprudence. Sit down today and have a chat with each other. Pass the baton. It’s anyway much safer in the woman’s hand.

There should be no shame in losing power after 25 years in government but CPM’s defeat in Tripura is being treated as death blow to Left parties in India. More than the CPM’s defeat, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) victory in Tripura that is surprising and historic.

In the previous elections, the BJP had gotten merely 1.5 percent of the votes, and this time it is going to form the government with two-thirds majority. This marvel should be commended. While this is proof of the BJP’s organisational strength, it is also testament to the fact that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah’s hunger for victory is unmatched in Indian politics today.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi paid a two-day official visit to Nepal from 4-5 March to congratulate his counterpart KP Sharma Oli for his recent appointment as the new PM of Nepal after the historic provincial and state elections. This was the first official visit by a Pakistani PM to Nepal after a gap of 24 years.

It was an ordinary Saturday. I had decided to watch a play at south Delhi’s Okhla area, which was mysteriously named ‘The Emporium at the Edge of Certainty’. Little did I know it was an ‘immersive experience’, one that would involve audience participation.  The purpose of the experience was to facilitate spontaneous interactions between the actors and audience members. This is typical to the ‘Stanislavski method’ of acting or the immersive method, in which the actors play off of the audience’s reactions. 

This is what sets apart an immersive theatre production from a regular play.

BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit’s President Sat Sharma faced such tough questioning from a young television journalist on the morning of the BJP-PDP rally, ie, on Sunday, that he walked away mid-question (The BJP rules in coalition with the largely Valley-based People’s Democratic Party). That news clip lowered the general impression of the party – which was already under question.

The Cabinet has given its nod to the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill that is likely to be introduced in the second leg of the Budget Session.  The Budget Session of Parliament began on 5 March. We spoke to Ruchira Gupta, Founder President Apne Aap, to know her thoughts on the bill.

A day before Women’s Day is not the best time to announce a contract list in which the lowest paid male athlete earns double the highest paid female one. And so even while making a landmark improvement for women’s cricket, the BCCI finds itself on the wrong side of grawlix-laced ire on social media.