The scientific argument for marrying outside your caste
When Indians begin looking for partners, the obvious go-to-market strategy is to ask for family recommendations and visit websites tailored for the community. This is typically followed by patrika and gotra matching. But as our scientific understanding of diseases and other heritable attributes increases, the question arises — is continued insistence on community-based marriages relevant, writes research fellow Shambhavi Naik.
A few months ago, the thought of people voting outside the grasp of their ideology or blind loyalty seemed improbable. But the 2020 Delhi election has shown a new voter behaviour that is willing to choose two different parties. Activist and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee looks at why there’s been a change.
5 reasons why Modi-Shah’s BJP lost to Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP in Delhi election
The best practices aren’t always winning practices. So discovered the BJP when it suffered another electoral loss with the Delhi election. Rama Lakshmi dissects the national party’s defeat and lists five reasons that undermined Amit Shah, often called modern India’s Chanakya.
Stone for stone, sword for sword — Raj Thackeray targets Muslims at Mumbai rally
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray targeted Muslims in an aggressive if incoherent speech on 9 February. He said the community needed to live within the framework of the country’s laws and not indulge in “activities that will affect their status”. “My country is not a dharamshala,” he said as he flitted between attacks on Indian Muslims and those from Pakistan and Bangladesh, reports Haima Deshpande.
First, western liberals, and now conservatives: Modi govt has left everyone disappointed
The Economist wasn’t the only magazine that was once upbeat about the prospects of India under its current leadership and has now turned pessimistic. India’s global image took a beating in 2019 and Indians must seriously examine what has changed, writes Husain Haqqani, director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute in Washington.
Govt repeats warning to new tech institutes — don’t try to sound like IIT, IIM, IISc
New guidelines from All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the apex body for technical education, has reiterated that institutes cannot choose a name that gives them the same abbreviations as premier government institutions like the IITs and IIMs, reports Kritika Sharma. The rules apply for the academic year 2020-2021.
Amit Shah’s performance as minister will now determine the success of Modi-Shah power pair
Following the Delhi election, Amit Shah now enters an unfamiliar and interesting phase of his political career — one that will be defined by his performance as a minister. With Modi, he now forms the most powerful and fascinating pair in our political history yet. In this week’s National Interest, Shekhar Gupta looks at how the power pair distinguish from those we have seen before, and will see in the future.