Redemption really came in the final segment of the show when Aamir Khan interviewed two remarkable rape survivors. In the two hours that it took to telecast the first episode of Star Plus’ second season of Satyamev Jayate, over five women and girls would have reported rape somewhere in India. In a country where a woman […]
Lounge Review | Satyamev Jayate Episode 1: The rape roadmap Read More »
Paid news undermines democracy. Yet, as a sting operation goes public, why aren’t we more concerned? You didn’t need a survey to predict the reactions. As TV channel News Express broadcast a sting operation that showed as many as 11 polling agencies willing to tweak results for a price, the reactions by political parties played
A ruinous law of omerta Read More »
AAP’s failure would be a severe setback to any future would-be reformer. And any success of its increasingly visible vigilante-style politics will send absolutely the wrong signal of a ‘success formula’ to rival parties. In Birbhum West Bengal, a village decides that the girl must be gang-raped as ‘punishment’ for falling in love with a
Keep a distance from the mob Read More »
Gloria Steinem, one of feminism’s most influential voices, on the state of the women’s movement, and her enduring connection with India. I am putting together Gloria Steinem’s first-ever pani-puri, and a great deal of care has gone into its making: cracking the puri, stuffing the filling and adding the chutneys with what I can only hope is a
Gloria Steinem | The galvanizer Read More »
The SP deserves to lose. That’s a small compensation for those who live under open skies in the Muzaffarnagar riot relief camps, scrambling to rebuild what is left of their lives. ‘Live communities don’t wait for five years.’ Akhilesh Yadav might want to heed these words attributed to his party’s mentor, Ram Manohar Lohia, speaking
Akhilesh’s apathy towards UP riots victim is bewildering Read More »
The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate should know that national pride lies in not wanting the world to look at India in admiration. It lies in making your country a better place for its citizens. The man who hopes to be India’s next prime minister is talking about national pride. It will be built on the
Narendra Modi should make real promises, solve real issues Read More »
Now that Rahul Gandhi has termed the ordinance on convicted lawmakers ‘nonsense’, it is pretty much dead in the water. What remains to be seen is whether the government will follow through by also withdrawing the Bill. A few days from now we will witness that annual ritual known as Gandhi Jayanti when politicians trot
Voters will be watching Read More »
In India we are leap years away from giving women a just work environment. The unlamentable fall of Phaneesh Murthy should have been a clear signal of zero tolerance by managements towards sexual harassment. The collective tut-tutting by the IT industry — ‘message to all leaders in business’, ‘right decision’ etc — should have come
An inconvenient truth Read More »
Elections in India are not decided by Twitter trends or ‘likes’ on Facebook. Thanks to Twitter, I’ve now learned a new word: Feku. Even as Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi addressed meetings in New Delhi, the first at the FICCI Ladies Organisation and the second at CNN-IBN’s Think India festival, the hashtag, ‘Feku’ (boaster, teller
The stage’s virtually set Read More »
We must say ‘no’ to insensitive advertisements featuring women. If we are to change the way the industry sees women, then that change comes from the effectiveness of the industry to regulate itself. The ad you won’t be seeing has led to outrage, the sacking of senior advertising executives and an apology by a Ford
Revoke this ‘creative licence’ Read More »
In death, people have ceased to be objective about late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. The life-size effigies strung up on lamp-posts were terrifying – at least to a child. In the late sixties/early seventies, they symbolised the South Indians who the Shiv Sena was determined to drive out of Bombay, as the city was
He has had the last laugh Read More »