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Wednesday, May 1, 2024
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Ground Reports

Mohammedan football club is the toast of Bengal. How new owner, coach pulled it out of despair

For the 133-year-old football club from West Bengal, the I-League victory has come after a long wait of two decades. The resurrection of Mohammedan SC is the quintessential underdog story. It’s almost as if Ted Lasso had entered Kolkata.

Centres shut, funds misused, no placements — Skill India needs a refresher course

As the employment issue comes up in the ongoing Lok Sabha election campaign, India’s skills and apprenticeship programme is once again in focus.

Sahitya Akademi is promoting Ramayana, Modi policies. But also queer & Dalit writers now

A number of cultural institutions have come under the scanner for shrinking autonomy and fluid identities in Modi's India. For some writers, Sahitya Akademi is the last remaining frontier.

Red lipstick, macroni dinner, and the smell of aspiration in this OBC family in UP

A resident of village Maita in UP’s Unnao, Ramu was the first one among his family to get a free cylinder, PM Kisan support, an Ayushman card, as well as a toilet.

History, heritage, hustle—Bengali filmmaker Prataya Saha’s 5-min movies on big cities go global

Prataya Saha’s short films have become hot favourites at international festival circuits like the Oscars, BAFTA, and the New York Asian Film Festival.

Surinder Sonia made Chamkila famous but Imtiaz Ali’s film reduces her to a footnote

Amar Singh Chamkila glosses over the fact that Surinder Sonia was a powerful figure in Punjab’s pop culture milieu in the 1980s.

Portable MRI, water from air—Indian deep tech startups thriving with incubators, govt funding

Uravu Labs makes water from air, Saaf Biogas makes zero-emission gas & Voxelgrids has built the first made-in-India MRI. Innovation thrives in intersection of academia, entrepreneurship, and govt funding.

Muslims say law and order has improved in western UP. ‘But voting for BJP against our imaan’

Muslims under the Yogi Adityanath govt 'feel secure' when stepping out of the home at night, and acknowledge that incidents of snatching, looting, and molestation have reduced. But voting is a different issue.

Purvanchal’s migrant workers are desperate & poor. But they are determining India’s politics

Purvanchal's workers travel with hopes and hardships on ‘migrant trains’, leaving their families behind. Their labour fuels the economy and their vote shapes the political landscape.

Tired and invisible—India’s mental health caregivers are now forming support groups

The Mental Healthcare Act says that a patient can’t be forced to get admitted to a hospital and that they have the right to refuse treatment –except in severe cases. However, it remains silent on what the caregiver should do in such cases.

On Camera

Furore over dancing girl shows Kashmir’s toxic politics of vice and virtue still holds power

Kashmir's long jihad pitted the region's Islamic identity against India’s modernity-suffused vice. The social media commentary unleashed by the dance shows these beliefs are far from spent.

After throwing Vodafone Idea a lifeline, govt sees value of its stake in the telco jump 32% in a yr

Govt became shareholder in VI last yr after it approved company’s plans to convert Rs 16,000 cr of interest liability it owed govt into equity. Price of Vodafone stock has risen post FPO.

Conventional military force no more deciding factor, says Army chief. Calls for self-reliance

Army is pursuing 45 niche technologies identified for military application & 120 indigenous projects are underway to develop & absorb these niche technologies, Gen Pande says.

Frontrunner is letting the challenger define this poll campaign. Modi still hasn’t found a big theme

A theme has not yet emerged for BJP & people see lack of a contest, which makes it unexciting. For all these reasons, 2024 is turning out to be an unexpectedly theme-less election.