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Friday, November 21, 2025
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Book Excerpts

‘This song is sung by Lata Mangeshkar’: How the singer had to fight for song credit

In a conversation with Nasreen Munni Kabir that led to a book, Lata Mangeshkar had talked about fighting for credit for Bollywood’s playback singers and songwriters.

When Nitish Kumar took over 1 Anne Marg from Lalu-Rabri, his aides saw ‘occult practice’ signs

In ‘The Battle for Bihar’, Arun Sinha writes about Nitish Kumar’s struggle to move into his official residence as chief minister, and the reluctance of Lalu Prasad Yadav.

How a Mujahid group in Kerala is treating the terminally ill with Islamic dawa and activism

The book ‘Religion and Secularities Reconfiguring Islam In Contemporary India’ explores the relationship between Islam, civil society & the state.

What Nehruvians get wrong — the opposite of secularism is not Hindu Rashtra

In ‘A New Idea of India’, Harsh Madhusudan and Rajeev Mantri write that the flaw in Indian secularism today is that it can’t differentiate between State and society.

Are Chinese incursions ordered by local PLA heads or Beijing? Xi’s reforms hold answer

In ‘India's China Challenge’, Ananth Krishnan writes about Xi Jinping’s sweeping military reforms, and the complex relationship between the Communist Party and the PLA.

Think of the consumer as your boss’s wife when unsure about a brand’s marketing strategy

In ‘Pragmarketism’, Trupti & Arvind Bhandari write about how Indian brands must innovate, not renovate themselves if they wish to thrive in the long term.

When Ma Anand Sheela met Indira Gandhi to talk of ‘land woes’ and Osho’s ashram

In ‘Nothing To Lose: The Authorised Biography of Ma Anand Sheela’, Manbeena Sandhu writes about the struggle to get enough land for ‘Osho’ or Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s ashram in India.

Subhas Chandra Bose offered Jinnah the first PM post if he withdrew demand for Pakistan

In the book ‘Jinnah’, Ishtiaq Ahmed writes that Jinnah repeatedly dismissed as nonsense the idea that he was using the demand for Pakistan as a bargaining chip.

The three Khan films that started Indian middle-class men’s love for abs, pecs and biceps

In ‘Muscular India’, Michiel Baas writes that it took 3 movies and a magazine to popularise a new body ideal among Indian men. And it was very different from the pehlwan body type.

Land Cruisers and phones — How the UN spread the virus of consumerism in Bhutan

In ‘The Good Country Equation’, Simon Anholt writes about Bhutan’s dilemma of increasing foreign revenue without losing its socio-cultural and environmental capital.

On Camera

Trump’s 28 points for Ukraine add up to a no-go at peace

Two questions are pertinent: Why does the Trump administration keep making the same mistakes on the peace proposal? And what does a hurried peace plan mean on the ground?

At Charcha 2025: Local entrepreneurship, not just big IT, will drive next wave of distributed AI work

While global corporations setting up GCCs in India continue to express confidence in availability of skilled AI engineers, the panel argued that India’s real challenge lies elsewhere.

Tejas fighter aircraft crashes at Dubai Air Show, IAF confirms pilot’s death

This is the second such incident after a Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas had crashed into a hostel on the outskirts of Jaisalmer in March last year.

INDIA has a Congress-sized hole. And the fix begins with a little humility

Without a Congress revival, there can be no challenge to the BJP pan-nationally. Modi’s party is growing, and almost entirely at the cost of the Congress.