columns

Perhaps no other case exemplifies judicial delay as much as the Uphaar fire that claimed 59 lives and left 103 injured in 1997. Now in its 18th year, the case has undergone the tortuous route of magisterial probe, CBI inquiry, adjournments and 344 hearings in the first seven years alone. HT Image Jaya Bachchan declares […]

For most American Muslims, discrimination is a reality of their lives with 43% reporting discrimination in the last year alone. The discrimination comes not just from ignorant red-necks but from those in positions of influence and leadership. This is what an American Muslim looks like, says the man on CNN. The man is talking about

At around the time that TV was breathlessly covering the 3.7 million people rally in Paris, there was considerably less attention on the protests in India against Tamil writer Perumal Murugan, whose novel Madhurobhagan was under attack, and who announced his retirement from writing, Namita Bhandare writes. HT Image There are no Charlie Hebdos in

It’s not a coincidence that the attack comes at a time when right-wing muscle flexing continues. But the PM has refused to utter a single word of disapproval, writes Namita Bhandare. First columns of the year should herald new beginnings. But for me the year begins on a note of disquiet. And nothing exemplifies this

The Central Board of Film Certification’s job should be to issue age appropriate certification, not play a public morality nanny with scissors in hand at the slightest whiff of sex, politics and religion. A nation of Perpetually Hurt Sentiment has no shortage of moral minders, writes Namita Bhandare. For a party that talks of less

We know that caste and untouchability persist in India. What we don’t know is the extent. Certainly, our politicians’ overt play of the caste card has ensured that their vote-banks stay intact, writes Namita Bhandare. HT Image The editor, a liberal man, is taken aback by my question. “I don’t hire people on the basis

Unfortunately, for all our talk about ‘respecting age’, we regard wrinkles and grey hair with a measure of horror. When we talk of our demographic challenge, it is inevitably about ageing, writes Namita Bhandare. My mother fell, again, the other night. She didn’t tell me about it until the next morning and when I reached

At this point, Haryana is poised for change, not just in government but for a new deal and a new direction for its women. It certainly deserves a chief minister who is more empathetic and better informed. Not one who sounds like an echo chamber of the khap panchayats in his state. BJP-leaders-offering-flowers-to-Manohar-Lal-Khattar-after-he-was-elected-as-the-New-chief-minister-of-Haryana-after-press-briefing-at-UT-guest-house-in-Chandigarh-on-Tuesday-Gurpreet-Singh-HT At this

By placing the onus on individual participation, Narendra Modi is challenging every citizen. Can we actually stop to pick up and clean up our own mess, asks Namita Bhandare. In the darkened Goa multiplex, the cheers and whistles from the audience are what usually follow when Salman Khan rips his shirt off on screen. But

A festival tells those who are not of our religious persuasion who we are and what moves us. Why do we fast or dance. Religion at its best embraces, not excludes which is precisely why we need to invite and not dis-invite those who don’t practise our beliefs If the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has its

As a heaving, aspirational India expands its cities and towns, space for walking seems to shrink proportionately. It’s a lesson that is being learned the hard way as nature brutally reasserts its supremacy, writes Namita Bhandare. HT Image In the middle of a mall-obsessed, real estate-hungry Singapore, I am rambling through a rainforest. Located within

Love jihad propaganda inflames communal passions and leads to hardening stands in an already polarised environment, made more fragile by social media and viral rumours, writes Namita Bhandare. News reports on national shooter Tara Shahdeo’s marriage to Ranjeet Singh Kohli, or Rakibul Hasan Khan to use his real name, do not make for easy reading.