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Saturday, May 4, 2024
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Book Excerpts

How a Shakespear’s Rs 400 project saved Calcutta’s drainage system

In ‘The Shaping of Modern Calcutta’, Ranabir Choudhury writes about how the city’s drains were in shambles in the early 19th century and started affecting public health.

Kalam didn’t want to be called ‘power-hungry’. He refused a second term without consensus

In 'Kalam: The Untold Story', R.K. Prasad, who was the former president's private secretary from 1993 to 2015, shows us a vulnerable Kalam.

Technicians in villages to ophthalmologists in cities—Deep-tech startups can help them all

In 'Against All Odds: IT Story of India', S. Kris Gopalakrishnan, N. Dayasindhu, Krishnan Narayanan write about the history of India's IT sector over the last six years.

‘Sit down, write your resignation’—Manmohan Singh’s guru said before he swore in as PM

In 'When Ideas Matter', Bilal A. Baloch argues that elite ideas like concepts of the nation or technical diagnoses of socioeconomic development dominate policymaking.

Unafraid to oppose Ambedkar, Congress—Dakshayani Velayudhan was India’s 1st Dalit woman MLA

Achyut Chetan's 'Founding Mothers of the Indian Republic' explores the contributions of women leaders in the making of our Constitution.

‘Gandhiji, I have no homeland’—When Ambedkar said Dalits can’t depend on Congress

In ‘Ambedkar: A Life’, Shashi Tharoor writes that it was important for Ambedkar to stand apart from Gandhi on caste because he didn’t want ‘pious blessings and hollow platitudes’.

We conducted US’ 1st caste survey. Got slurs, saw Dalit silence, 1 group had existential crisis

In 'Trauma of Caste', Thenmozhi Soundarajan talks about the history of caste discrimination in the US and Equality Labs' experience of conducting the first caste survey.

Why some leopards become ‘crooked’ man-eaters—the conspiracies

In Crooked Cats, Nayanika Mathur says the intentionality behind the appearance of dangerous animals is often assumed, with the state accused of conspiracy to murder.

How the NDA charmed the Hindi belt through sympathisers in Hindi media

In Discovery’s show Man vs. Wild, PM Modi spoke only in Hindi. It received wide coverage in the Hindi media, despite the fact that host Grylls spoke only English.

‘Hillary, Tenzing followed my footsteps’ — Sherpa who paved the way to Everest with 25kg load

In ‘Sherpa,’ Pradeep Bashyal and Ankit Babu Adhikari write how the Sherpa community exists at the edge of life and death in Nepal.

On Camera

Stop targeting Galgotias University students. Focus on politicians instead

Going through their Instagrams and dissecting their ‘statements’ is not the astute political commentary you think it is—it is time for us to back off from targeting 20-year-olds.

High capacity usage, fresh borrowings & new orders — why FY25 could be a big year for pvt investment

Companies are borrowing more from banks and public. Economists say high capacity utilisation & growing new orders could set stage for renewed investment push by India Inc.

China builds road through Shaksgam Valley, India registers protest

New Delhi has, in past, too, objected to Chinese construction activities in Shaksgam Valley. Work in this strategic region gathered pace after the 2017 Doklam stand-off.

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.