Larsen & Toubro chairman SN Subrahmanyan’s advocacy of a 90-hour work week is deeply problematic on so many levels that it merits examination beyond the usual 24-hour social media cycle. In a video on Reddit apparently during an employee interaction the 64-year-old was asked why the multibillion-dollar conglomerate was making employees work on Saturdays. “I […]
Why L&T’s SN Subrahmanyan needs to talk to more women Read More »
Fill in the blanks:
Why was she wearing ____ ?
Who told her to go to _____ ?
Wasn’t she being too adventurous in ____?
The latest horror story out of Jharkhand has inflamed social media—not so much because of the violence of the crime, but because the woman is a foreign national who has spoken about her ordeal on a now deleted Instagram post, her bruised and battered face for all the world to see.
Here’s what happened. On the night of March 1, the woman travelling on a Spanish passport along with her husband, was attacked in Dumka, Jharkhand. According to the first information report (FIR), the woman has said she was gang-raped by seven men (at the time of writing all seven have been arrested along with one more) and her partner was beaten, assaulted and robbed. They were found by a night police patrol and taken to a hospital where the woman told the doctors she had been raped.
India, we have a rape problem. What are we doing about it? Read More »
Sri Lanka’s first woman architect is , sadly, largely forgotten Truth be told I had not heard of Minnette de Silva. Goeffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka’s lionised and feted architect, yes. His influence can be seen in not just his own former country estate in Lunuganga but in buildings such as the new Parliament house. But
Remembering the life and work of Minnette da Silva Read More »
India is one of 36 countries where it is not a crime to rape your wife. Well, if your wife is younger than 15, then even the law says intercourse with her is rape. But that is the only exception. Now, even this exception is under judicial scrutiny as a two-judge bench of Justices C
Marital rape: Ball’s in the court Read More »
A still from The Great Indian Kitchen The cash really began rolling in after 1983 when Kannaian Naidu got a job in Saudi Arabia. His wife, Kamsala would be staying back with their three children in Neyveli, Tamil Nadu. As a single-parent, she had her work cut out and Kannaian assured her he would send
A home-maker’s worth: Madras high court puts a value Read More »
(Source: UNICEF) India’s improvement by eight places, or 1.4 percentage points, to 127 out of 146 countries is a result mainly of the recognition by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which conducts the annual rankings, of women’s participation in local governance where 33% of seats (50% in some states) are reserved for women. Last year, India had
Iceland still #1 for women. India at 127 Read More »
I am on the phone with the wife of one of my oldest friends, let’s call her ‘A’. It’s April 2020, I remember this because we’re marooned in our homes (and we’re the lucky ones who aren’t trudging back home on foot) just days into the nationwide lockdown that began on March 24. ‘A’ tells
How India’s raja betas are using weaponised incompetence to wriggle out of housework Read More »
The stabbing and bludgeoning to death (I’ll spare you the details) on Sunday night of Sakshi, a 16-year-old girl in Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy, allegedly by 20-year-old Sahil Khan, a man she had earlier been in a relationship with, raises many, many disturbing questions. Chief amongst these is: What could possibly breed this level of rage
Murder in public view: Five questions Read More »
At 60 she learned to cycle. At 62 she became a long distance runner, running 50 km+ distances. And at 64, she took her first solo holiday to Kashmir. Pushpa Bhatt, now 67, says she has a “good 25 years ahead” to go to places she’s never been. In the past, she’s travelled alone on
The irresistible charm of solo travel Read More »
(Source: Amazon Prime) Perhaps the only thing more chilling than the fact that so many girls have gone missing from their homes in the TV series Dahaad is the utter indifference of their own families. There is a complete lack of curiosity about their whereabouts and well-being. Why? Because “she-ran-away-and-brought-dishonour-to-the-family-name-so-she’s-dead-to-us”. Written by Reema Kagti, Zoya Akhtar and
The mystery of the girls who go missing Read More »
The 36-year-old rape survivor in the Muzaffarnagar riots. (Image Source:Raj K Raj/HT Photo) When the riots broke out in her village in Muzaffarnagar that day on September 8, 2013, her husband had taken their elder son who had a fever to the hospital at Shamli. She was alone at home with their three-month old baby boy.
The survivor’s tale: The unacceptable price of justice Read More »
For some weeks now, India’s top court has had marriage on its mind. One five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud is hearing why the LGBTQI+ community should be (or should definitely not be, depending on your perspective) granted marriage rights at par with other citizens. Another five-judge bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishen
Marriage on our minds Read More »