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Tuesday, July 22, 2025
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Around Town

Modern Urdu poetry is ‘absolutely merciless’. It changed after Babri

Oral historian Sohail Hashmi into a new wave of dissent in Urdu poetry at a Delhi workshop earlier this month. ‘It’s asking important questions, raising serious issues.’

Central Vista museum committee ‘met only once’ since 2022. No clarity on artefacts’ destination

Tasneem Z Mehta, managing trustee and honorary director of Mumbai’s Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, called it a good project in need of more professional management.

What can fix Manipur crisis—emotional connect, not govt orders. Kukis, Meiteis talk in Delhi

'If only these conversations could reach the ears of the current establishment...but sadly, that will never happen," said a Manipur resident at the discussion held by non-profile WISCOMP.

Chettinad festival is already boasting results. Money, movie shoots & more conservation

The festival’s organisers were inspired by the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. They want to put Chettinad on the international map.

Korai mat, Toda cloth—museum shows how Tamil Nadu’s rural women took handloom business online

One of the artisans, Fathima, who would earn between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 a month selling Korai mats the traditional way, now makes Rs 30,000 after taking the business online.

Indian art abroad struggles to come home—tax trouble, red tape, and endless wait at customs

The government’s recent decision to revoke a customs duty exemption on Indian art was the central topic of a panel discussion at DAG in Delhi this week.

Indian artists must get ready for a new freedom movement. Ashok Vajpeyi’s rallying cry

Poet Ashok Vajpeyi delivered the lecture ‘Our Arts: Our Society’ in memory of Kapila Vatsyayan, the grand matriarch of cultural studies and a preeminent practitioner of the arts in India.

New book looks back at the Ranga-Billa case. How was it shaped by post-Emergency India?

In his book Fallen City, Sudeep Chakravarti explores the impact of the crime that came to be called the Ranga-Billa case on post-Emergency Delhi.

Urdu Drama Festival reveals state of theatre—unpaid talent, lost scripts, sexual abuse jokes

The Urdu Drama festival aimed to promote the language. Thespians also raised concerns about the challenges they face— particularly the gap between the stage and writers.

Motilal Nehru opposed Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit’s affair with Syed Hossain. Even Gandhi intervened

TCA Raghavan’s ‘Circles of Freedom’ chronicles the story of three young Muslim men and two fierce women whose paths intertwined during the struggle for Independence.

On Camera

Bihar mimics 19th-century American South. Citizenship is now weaponised to exclude voters

Disenfranchisement by institutional fiat is profoundly undemocratic. The effect of the ECI's new documentary process in Bihar will tilt the scales in favour of the BJP.

India-US set to ink mini trade deal soon, reach understanding on agricultural & dairy products

Mini deal will likely see no cut in 10% baseline tariff on Indian exports announced by Trump on 2 April, it is learnt, but additional 26% tariffs are set to be reduced.

Not just AK-203, India & Russia to jointly manufacture AK-19 and PPK-20 for domestic use and export 

India-Russia JV is also racing to deliver 7,000 more AK-203 assault rifles by 15 Aug. These are currently being made with 50% indigenisation and this will surge to 100% by 31 December.

Strategic partner one day, tactical nightmare the next: India’s learning Trumplomacy the hard way

Public, loud, upfront, filled with impropriety and high praise sometimes laced with insults. This is what we call Trumplomacy. But the larger objective is the same: American supremacy.