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While taking a walk in the sprawling Tsinghua University complex in the spring of 2013, a woman in her early 30s smiled at my Chinese host and me. This icebreaker on that March afternoon, when Xi Jinping had just assumed the role of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, led us to a small conversation. The young woman was an Indophile and had even received an offer to teach Mandarin in India but her visa was held up for over eight months. During our brief conversation she spoke of her desire to visit Bodh Gaya and the temple towns of Tamil Nadu. I am inclined to believe that the real losers in the security fear-induced visa problem are Indian students and the government, which inadvertently pushes away a potential cultural and goodwill ambassador. Flash forward to India in 2020, where anti-China sentiment has reached fever pitch over clashes in Ladakh between the Indian and Chinese armies that led to 20 deaths of Indian military personnel. In a country where some people ...

Video application TikTok has said that it will challenge in court the United States government’s decision to ban it and accusing it of being a national security threat, AFP reported on Sunday. On August 6, US President Donald Trump had signed an executive order, giving Americans 45 days to stop doing business with TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance. On August 15 , he gave ByteDance 90 days to sell its assets in America. TikTok said it will challenge the August 6 order. “To ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and that our company and users are treated fairly, we have no choice but to challenge the Executive Order through the judicial system,” TikTok said in a statement. TikTok has repeatedly denied that it is a threat to national security. The video app did not say which court it plans to approach, Bloomberg reported. The company said that it tried to work out a solution to address American concerns for almost a year. On August 5, Zhang Yiming , the founder of By...

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On Independence Day Mint Lounge published a list of 50 Indian books written in English post 1947. Although the piece included an editorial note explaining what kind of books were not included, and encouraged readers to write in with additions, the list sparked criticism from writers, readers, and literary critics from North-East India on social media, who argued that the complete absence of books from the region was inexcusable. As a researcher of Assamese modern writing, my interest was piqued immediately. I realised that while the list was an innocent initiative, a lack of representation, however, points to a systemic erasure of the North-East from the national imagination, which in extreme form is institutionalised through legal mechanisms like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. So, what does it mean to read or write North-East Indian literature? The primary obstacle to this question lies in the category of the “North-East” itself. Before one gets to the literary issues, thou...

A first information report has been registered against the chief executive officer of the Mysore Zilla Parishad for allegedly abetting the suicide of a government doctor on coronavirus duty in Mysuru district on August 20, PTI reported on Saturday. Dr SR Nagendra had said in a note that he took his own life because of harassment by fellow doctors. Doctors in Mysuru have begun a strike, seeking action against those responsible for the suicide. They have accused Mishra of pressurising the doctor to meet targets of conducting coronavirus rapid antigen tests in Nanjangud taluk. They alleged that the officer abused Nagendra and he died as he was unable to take the humiliation beyond a point. The accused has been identified as Prashant Kumar Mishra. An FIR has been filed against him under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code, relating to the death by suicide of Nanjangud Taluk Health Officer Dr Nagendra on August 20. Section 306 of the IPC prescribes a punishment of up to 10 years in pris...

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday issued the Standard Operating Protocol, or SOP, for international travel on non-scheduled commercial flights under the Vande Bharat Mission and air transport bubble arrangements, the Hindustan Times reported. India had banned international flight travel in March, in an effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus. The SOP said that people who want to travel to India on Vande Bharat Mission flights should register themselves with the Indian missions in the country where they are residing, along with other details required by the Ministry of External Affairs. However, people traveling to India on flights operating under air bubble arrangements need not register. Since July, India has established air bubbles with the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the Maldives. The government is negotiating such arrangements with 13 more countries – Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahra...

Mortuary work is an essential service because humans are mortal. But who works for the dead, what are the technologies involved and what does history tell us about them? The public inattentiveness towards mortuary work is pervasive. Even archival documents of colonial India, reflecting histories of caste prejudices, are silent on mortuary work. When I started my research on the technologies of burials and cremations in colonial India, I met D Sahoo, the special in-charge (or “SI Babu”, as he is fondly known) of Sirity Cremation Ground in Kolkata. He gently laughed at this archival omission: “Obviously the books don’t tell you anything about us.” Instead, Sahoo and his colleague Pradip Kumar Gain carefully outlined a methodology for my research: “Be our witness. You can compare our present with the past, and then write the history.” Between 2017 and 2019, I spent about 180 hours in different cremation grounds and morgues in Calcutta to understand the craft of cremation, trying to ga...

Rural districts in India have accounted for over 50% of new coronavirus cases in July and August, according to a research report by State Bank of India. Based on a district wise analysis of Covid-19 cases, the report states that of the top 50 districts where the maximum number of new cases have occurred in August, Andhra Pradesh comes on top with 13 districts, of which 11 are rural. Next is Maharashtra with a total of 12 districts, of which six are rural. The World Health Organisation last fortnight expressed concern that Covid-19 is moving “efficiently” between urban and rural India. In this interview with Scroll.in , Dr Yogesh Kalkonde , neuroimmunologist and public health practitioner, working in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district talks about the state of rural health systems and what to expect as the virus penetrates deeper into rural and peri-urban areas. What is your understanding of the scale and speed of spread of Covid-19 in rural Maharashtra? Cases are now being reported f...

Zak Crawley said his fledgling career “almost flashed before my eyes” as he completed a maiden Test century that put England in a strong position on the first day of their series finale against Pakistan at Southampton on Friday. Crawley’s commanding 171 not out was the centrepiece of England’s 332/4 at stumps after captain Joe Root won the toss. Jos Buttler (87 not out) proved a fine, free-scoring ally to Crawley during an unbroken stand of 205. Crawley came in early, with England struggling at 12/1 after the loss of Rory Burns. But the 22-year-old batsman, in just his eighth Test, got off the mark with a boundary and rarely looked troubled during what was just the fourth first-class century, and highest score, of his career. During the drawn and weather-marred second Test at Southampton, Crawley said he “massively wanted” to score an England hundred. And after Friday’s stumps he told Sky Sports: “When I was about 91, I was really nervous. Jos didn’t think I was, so I must have be...

The year 2020 has been an exception but, it would not be a stretch to say that in the recent past the amount of men’s international cricket played around the world was perhaps at an all time high. Top cricketers are constantly playing one format or the other, shuttling across countries for tours (or leagues) and in all that time, they do the bare minimum of media work. One does not get to hear too many patient interviews from the top players – pre-match and post-match conferences are the most one can hope for and those are, at their best, fragmented and, at their worst, rushed and cliched. But in January 2017, during England’s tour of India, former England captain Nasser Hussain and an excellent team at Sky Cricket managed to give the cricketing world something rare: a technical peek behind the run-machine that is Virat Kohli . To understand where Kohli was, in terms of his own form at that point, you only have to look at his numbers from 2016. The Indian captain averaged more than...

Sevilla won the Europa League for a sixth time as Diego Carlos’s overhead kick deflected in off Romelu Lukaku 16 minutes from time to beat Inter Milan 3-2 in a thrilling final in Cologne. Carlos and Lukaku’s evening had got off to a very different start as the defender hauled the Belgian striker down and he converted the resulting penalty to put Inter in front after just five minutes. Two Luuk De Jong headers turned the game around for Sevilla, but Diego Godin quickly levelled in a four-goal first half. However, Italy’s wait for a first European trophy in a decade, and Inter’s nine-year trophy drought, goes on after Lukaku could not stop Carlos’s spectacular strike on another famous Europa League night for Sevilla. Antonio Conte’s men will have a case that the Sevilla defender should have been sent off after just three minutes as Lukaku accelerated past him with ease on the counter-attack and was hauled to the ground by the Brazilian, who conceded an early penalty for the third co...

The National Education Policy 2020 announced on July 31 has re-triggered the debate on mother tongue instruction at the primary stage. While educationalists point to numerous studies that show the advantages of learning in the mother tongue at the early ages, English continues to find support from a large section of Indians as the preferred medium of instruction. The widespread Anglophilia of Indians (not surprisingly) can be traced to the expansion of English education in the colonial era. During the early conquest of India by the East India Company in the 18th and early 19th Century, British, Danish, German, and American protestant missionaries had set foot in India to proselytise. At the time they realised that “schools were both the cause and the effect of proselytisation and that educational and missionary work had to be undertaken side by side”. Thus they chose education as their medium for proselytisation, with English as the medium of instruction. However, they faced barri...

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi on Friday formed an expert team to examine actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s autopsy report, PTI reported. The Central Bureau of Investigation, which has taken over the actor’s case, had approached the institute for help earlier in the day. The team has five members, according to the news agency. Another report, however, said that the team has four forensic experts . “We will look into the possibility of murder,” AIIMS Forensic Department Chief Dr Sudhir Gupta, who will lead the team of experts, told the news agency. “However, all probable angles will be thoroughly examined.” Gupta added that his team will also examine the anti-depressants that were given to Rajput. Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai on June 14, in what the Mumbai Police said was a case of suicide . On Wednesday, the Supreme Court transferred the investigation into the actor’s death to the CBI. The top court also directed the Mumbai police to transfer ...

You expect Nisha Susan’s collection of short stories to dazzle you and even throw you a little off balance right from the opening story, not only because of her past record and continued presence as a sensitive journalist and activist, and incisive social commentator, but also because the cover of her debut collection of short stories, The Women Who Forgot to Invent Facebook and Other Stories , offers a tantalising glimpse of the swank and swagger of the women inside. On the day of the book launch, the author posted an animated image of the illustrated book cover featuring a woman winking and whistling, before settling for a self-satisfying hmm, even as the Hindu trinity and a whole heap of temples trembled on a giant headdress set smugly on her head, zero discomfort betraying her wide-eyed expression. On opening the book, you discover that the collection thrums with the same raw energy and calm confidence that you see on the cover. In these stories, set largely in urban Bangalore ...

Centre on Friday dismissed any scope of further postponement of NEET and JEE Main 2020 examinations, says Times of India . The exams are scheduled to be conducted in the month of September. After the clearance from the Supreme Court, the Centre said that the exams will be conducted as per the schedule. Amit Khare, Secretary, Higher Education, Ministry of Education clarified that the as per the Supreme Court directions, the Centre said that the year cannot be wasted and the SC orders will be complied with. Regarding the request from parents and students for postponement, he said that the centre has been receiving lakhs of requests to make sure that the exams are conducted in September, according to the report. Supreme Court had given clearance for the conduct the exam and said that the life must move on. It also said that NTA will be taking all precautions for the COVID-19 and any further delay would waste the year for the students. National Testing Agency (NTA) also has issued stan...

The Ministry of Railways on Friday said that it has cancelled the tender to manufacture 44 semi high-speed Vande Bharat trains. The decision came a month after a Chinese joint venture emerged as the only foreign bidder for the project. There were six other contenders for the project. “Tender for manufacturing of 44 semi high speed train sets (Vande Bharat) has been cancelled,” the Ministry of Railways said in a tweet. “Fresh tender will be floated within a week as per Revised Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) order.” Tender for manufacturing of 44 nos of semi high speed train sets (Vande Bharat) has been cancelled. Fresh tender will be floated within a week as per Revised Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) order. — Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) August 21, 2020 A Chinese joint venture firm named CRRC Pioneer Electric (India) Private Limited had emerged as the only foreign player to provide electrical and other supplies for 44 train sets of 16...

Every city is defined by landmarks and quirks of nature. For many people, Mumbai is associated with its coastline, characterised by a variety of sea faces – rocky promontories, patches of mangrove, sandy stretches, rocky and shingle beaches, creeks, tidal pools,mudflats, salt pans and even coral beds. The city’s coast is rich with historical sites. There are forts built by a variety of rulers and shrines that are considered sacred by people of the city’s many faiths. Today, the city’s western shoreline, on which many of the landmarks that define “home” for Mumbai’s residents are located, is being altered beyond recognition by the Coastal Road project – a 29.2-km eight-lane freeway that aims to connect Kandivali in the north to Marine Drive in the south. Estimated to cost Rs 1,316 crores per km, the Coastal Road, critics of the project have noted, will disrupt the livelihoods of several fishing communities and threaten marine life in the intertidal zone. What has been largely overl...

There’s a bit of irony in a place named Shantiniketan – Bengali for “abode of peace”– making headlines for turmoil and unrest. However, that is what happened at the Visva Bharati University on Monday, when a mob vandalised part of the campus as a reaction to the Vice Chancellor’s attempt to build a boundary wall around the ground that hosts two of the university’s – and the town’s – biggest festivals. Visva Bharati was established by Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore a century ago as part of a unique experiment to have classes not indoors but outside in nature. Tagore’s institution is also critical for the cultural and economic life of the city of Bolpur – which houses the university town of Shantiniketan – since it hosts two major cultural events: the Poush Mela (a winter fair) and Basanta Utsab (a spring festival of colours). In July, however, Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty announced that the fairs would be cancelled, sending shock waves through West Bengal given how important...

The Congress on Thursday said that “law has to be applied in an even-handed, fair and balanced manner” in the contempt case involving lawyer Prashant Bhushan, the Hindustan Times reported. At a virtual press conference, Congress leader and advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the concerns raised by some people after the Supreme Court convicted Bhushan of contempt of court for a series of tweets were not frivolous. “They cannot be dismissed off hand and deserve a lot of careful thinking because they include former judges of that very court, they include precedence and they include the basic spirit of the Supreme Court that its chest is larger than any chest in India, and its shoulders being wider than any shoulder in India,” he said. Following the judgement, more than 3,000 members of civil society including former judges, retired bureaucrats, journalists and lawyers had criticised the Supreme Court’s order . Over 1,800 members of the bar have also criticised the Supreme Court’s d...

Food delivery service Zomato has been lauded, both in India and internationally , for introducing a “period leave” policy for women. While the move is to be welcomed as a positive development in addressing the stigma that is often associated with menstruation at the workplace and Indian society at large, the question arises as to whether companies like Zomato should have the discretion to grant women period leave at all. While much of the language used by Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal in the statement introducing the policy is inclusive, his “word of necessary advice” for female employees stands out: “These leaves should only be availed if you are really unable to attend to work… Do not abuse these leaves or use them as a crutch to take time out for other pending tasks. Take care of yourself – regular focus on fitness and diet has a positive impact on every bit of your physical and mental health.” The italicisation of the word “really” indicates that the threshold for availing per...