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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

PoV

National Creators Award idea proves Modi is influencer-in-chief

Receiving a National award for posting content, a profession you presumably chanced upon, and then being felicitated by the prime minister himself. What a massive win.

Women’s pleasure not precaution — Indian condom ads have become better over the years

They started with family planning and gradually evolved to show safe sex and now talk about female pleasure. Good to see ads where the woman is not a placeholder or overly sexualised.

Bollywood doesn’t know how to make biopics of ‘bold’ actors. Zeenat Aman right to worry

Movies about Praveen Babi, Silk Smitha have treated them as victims, and emotional trainwrecks. The missing ingredient in both cases was input from the actor or those close to them.

Jay Shetty’s fake origins don’t matter to his Instagram cult. They just want ‘meaning’

Most influencers are modern-day godmen and snake-oil salesmen riding on our insecurity and peddling fake dreams. Jay Shetty is just the latest to be called out.

Online creeps are ‘crushing’ on Aaradhya Bachchan. It’s bordering on paedophilia

The comments on social media show how it’s become normal to sexualise children. Comments like ‘maa se beti crush updated’ to another asking why she didn’t dress like this before.

Laapataa Ladies is gentle feminism but a strong reply to films like Animal

The revolution in Laapataa Ladies isn’t over-the-top. It unfolds in the realm of the ordinary and is even flawed at times.

K-pop industry needs a Taylor Swift revolution—openness on failed romances, mental health

An NYT article on singer Goo Hara’s life cut short by suicide angered K-pop fans. But it has reignited a necessary conversation that otherwise surfaces only when a K-pop star takes the extreme step.

Stray dogs don’t ‘charge to kill’, ‘plot to poop’. So-called menace is a human-made problem

Hate to mention the obvious, but stray dogs are animals. They do not think like humans, they don’t know logic, they aren’t operating with a conscience. They are simply trying to survive.

Pankaj Udhas made the ghazal relatable, away from its high-culture Urdu citadel

Pankaj Udhas’ melancholic voice resonated with the grief-filled hearts of many North Indians. With a drink and chakhna in hand, or at a Mughlai food restaurant, his ghazals provided comfort and solace.

Suspending IFS officer for Akbar-Sita naming controversy shows how vulnerable Forest Service is

It sends the message to every forest official that their jobs no longer depend just on addressing environmental concerns, health of wildlife; it also depends on naming of animals.

On Camera

Indian shipping sector is vulnerable to geopolitical unrest. Build local, invest in air cargo

With the ongoing conflict at the Red Sea, India needs to take a long-term view of the PLI scheme and its ambition to emerge as a hub of shipping containers.

Complaints to RBI ombudsman up 68% in FY23, banks biggest cause for customer grievances

Data shows large public sector banks received highest number of complaints in absolute terms, but fared better than several private banks when looked at on complaints-per-branch basis.

IAF activates Emergency Landing Facility in Andhra Pradesh, first in peninsular India

Su-30 & Hawk fighters demonstrated the facility's operational readiness. ELFs come in handy during emergency landings, help speed up disaster relief operations.

CAA comes not with a bang, but with a whimper. Without NRC, it will fade into academic debate

For BJP, CAA was strategic move that did not quite work out because those it would benefit could’ve been accommodated under existing laws, and new entrants would remain excluded.