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Thursday, April 25, 2024
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Book Excerpts

No IPS officer should head RAW, chief should be PM’s choice — Indira Gandhi told RN Kao

RN Kao made R&AW one of the best intelligence outfits in the world. But from very early on, it was a victim of bureaucratic apathy and peer jealousy.

Why most elite married women of Delhi prefer gurus over temples or gods

A conspicuous aspect of the cult of the guru among Delhi’s rich was the global reach and international character of the guru himself.

Believe it or not — Amitabh Bachchan’s baritone voice was rejected by All India Radio

Mrinal Sen's Bhuvan Shome not only launched the ‘art’ cinema movement, but it also launched the career of Amitabh Bachchan — ironies never cease to exist.

In wrong place at wrong time: Forgotten story of Operation Blue Star’s ‘Jodhpur detainees’

375 unarmed men, women & children were found in Golden Temple when Army entered on 6 June 1984. They remained in Jodhpur Central Jail for the next 4–5 years.

How Rediff On The NeT first created a template for the Hindu Right online in the 1990s

Rediff was, arguably, the first Indian publication, online or otherwise, to unapologetically feature three very strong Hindu Right-wing voices of the time.

How as a young boy, Hariprasad Chaurasia came to choose music over wrestling, flute over sitar

The story goes that one day, the priest, who often saw the young Hariprasad singing bhajans with the others, asked him to sing solo. And this is what followed.

China is intelligently feeding PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ dream

From the automobile industry to solar power, China is making its presence felt in India. And it shows on its FDI records.

Mysore’s chief engineer built a dam long before Nehru wanted a modern ‘temple’ in India

The Krishna Raja Sagara Dam project was politically & financially overwhelming. Visvesvaraya once threatened to quit if the Maharaja of Mysore didn't approve it.

Why this MIT student’s paper on Indian liberalisation threatened trade economists

In Good Economics for Hard Times, Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee write about the link between liberalisation and inequality in India.

Chess player memory is a myth. This is my trick before matches, writes Viswanathan Anand

When I was younger, I could recall every chess game I played. Now, I often don’t have complete memory of a game I played a week ago.

On Camera

Imtiaz Ali obsesses over vulgarity, misses Chamkila’s cultural resistance against purity

Peter Manuel's ‘Cassette Culture’ showed the booming Bhakti music during the '80s and '90s when Anoop Jalota, Gulshan Kumar achieved success by singing the sanitised Bhajans.

Economists vs statisticians — the battle being fought over the soul of India’s GDP data

Economists say there are weaknesses in India’s GDP data. But statisticians claim the accusations are based on flawed understanding, saying while GDP has problems, the economists are looking in the wrong places.

India and Japan hold 10th round of consultations on disarmament, non-proliferation, and export control

The two sides also discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in outer space security, conventional weapons, and export control

These 6 states are key for Modi’s ‘400 paar’ target. They’re also where Opposition can stop him

While this contest looks so predictable in large swathes of our political landscape, it is also more keenly contested than 2019 in some states.