CATEGORIES

SLOW DRIVE IN FAST TEST LANE

India has one of the lowest testing rates in the world. Will new, locally made kits change its programme?

Salve on a Splintered Chain

Coronavirus could have blighted harvests, but state intervention has helped

Losing By An Own Goal

To hound out the Gastlers, who use football and education to empower girls in remotest Jharkhand, is a crying shame

Finally, The Old Fall Guy

The Nizamuddin ‘hot spot’ allows trolls to target Muslims for spreading the virus

DIY Cure? Don't Do It

Rumours of panaceas for COVID-19 abound. But some might do more harm than good.

The Banks Are Alright. Sort Of

Debacles like Yes Bank reveal its weak spots, but the system is neither broke nor broken. And it may get better.

ECovid-19 Lockdown: The Economy And The Virus

Life. It's life itself that is affected, profoundly so and almost at a genetic level. And that means at every other extended level of human experience. Emotional and psychological, to begin with, and from there to what we go out about doing with our daily lives. Earning our bread, trying to survive - or thrive.

From Valentine To Quarantine

Indian bourses tanked over 37% in 25 sessions amidst sharp jump in trading volume and turnover

Heartland Heartburn

Caught between aspirations of loyalists and new entrants, Shivraj Chouhan will have to walk the tightrope as he assumes charge as MP chief minister

Our Violating Society

A screed of horrific rapes; a litany of justice miscarried. More than the closure offered by executions, society needs an overhaul.

A Case in Point

Judicial independence needs a fresh look in the context of jurisprudence of checks and balances.

Viral Shots - Life In The Time Of Coronavirus

Life in the time of coronavirus, as seen by our photographer Tribhuvan Tiwari

Coronavirus - Goliath The Germ

Imagine the whole of humanity - indoors. Instead, butterflies fluttering across wide open roads in an Indian metropolis, blue skies over China, clear water and swarms of fish and swans back in Venice's canals! The new global mantra - stay at home - is having quite an unintended consequence. The world is seeing its arteries declogged after a long, long time, like a smoker who has just quit. But utopia will have to wait. The sense right now is of an impending apocalypse. It's sheer panic, and not love, that was making the world go round - or rather, stay still - on the Ides of March 2020. From Eiffel Tower to the Taj Mahal, from Euro2020 to the IPL, there was just one buzzphrase: 'flatten the curve'. The bio-tsunami breaking over our globalised landscape has emptied malls and pubs, hacked down the population density at bustling tech parks and divided humanity between conscientious self - quarantiners, manic hypochondriacs, and plain and simple maniacs who run away from isolation wards.

Stock Market Crash - What Next?

As the market bleeds, options are limited for the spooked investor

Top Gun Pandian

CM Naveen Patnaik’s most trusted aide calls the shots

Diary

“We are Indians, we can’t help ourselves,”

The Sleep Is Showing, Your Honour

Country’s apex judiciary is caught napping as the executive goes about curtailing civil liberties of dissenters and opponents

States Cry Halt

With 12 states opposing a proposed exercise to update the National Population Register (NPR), this could be the first time India’s decennial census exercise may face some disruption.

CHANGING GEARS

EV’s may be the flavour of the month, but, as the cover of this section suggests, the SUV onslaught is showing no signs of abating whatsoever.

SGT UNIVERSITY - Crossing bridges of success over the years

SGT University, Gurugram, considered one of the best private Universities in North India is spread over 70 acres of land and is surrounded by a serene lush green environment. Situated at Chandu Budhera on the outskirts of Gurugram, it is less than five kilometres from the Delhi border at Daurala.

Can a central law be a national law with so many states against it?

A septuagenarian, Captain Amarinder Singh helms one of the most stable Congress-led ­state ­governments today. Unlike other states where internecine power struggles perennially undermine or threaten ­incumbent chief ministers, Singh administers his state without much opposition. He has his share of detractors, but none have succeeded in ­measuring up to the CM who once served in the Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army. Having completed three years of his current term as CM, Singh is now firmly ­focused on the ­remaining two. He spoke to editor-in-chief Ruben Banerjee about the challenges that confront him and the Congress.

Tech-Tonic Shift In Times Of Corona

China’s massive technology network is joining forces with the state machinery in combating a killer epidemic that has no known cure, or vaccine

Curse Of The Corona

Disaster movies sometimes seem not so far-fetched after all. We have not been short of judgement day prophecies of various hues in recent times. But this can be the scariest morality tale of them all: a mystery virus threatening humankind. The reality is more banal in its causative chain, but fear of the unknown is very much its part --- and justly so. As the novel coronavirus explodes like clusterbombs across the plane — over 80 countries have been hit, with nearly one lakh infected -- where does India stand? It's a 'known unknown'. We only know that we do not know.

‘I'm not in the race for Bihar CM, nor will I lead any electoral front'

The AAP government’s recent nod to Delhi Police to go ahead with the prosecution of Kanhaiya Kumar in a 2016 sedition case has triggered a debate, bringing the youth leader back into the spotlight. The decision came only a day after the 33-year-old former president of the JNU students’ union addressed a big rally in Patna as part of his statewide campaign against CAA-NRC-NPR in poll-bound Bihar. In an exclusive interview with Giridhar Jha, Kanhaiya talks about the sedition case, his defeat from Begusarai in last year’s general elections, and whether he is ready to head an alternative front ahead of the next assembly polls in his home state. Excerpts:

WHISPERS ON WHITE NIGHTS

The irruption of visiting sportsmen in Gulmarg is but a brief interlude. Since last August, it has lain in snowy silence, to which it is fated to return.

Playing On Your TV: Girls Aloud

The youthful Indian women’s team that took the field in the T20 World Cup turned a new corner in their game: brash, clinical, exhilarating

YES, YOU ARE IN QUEUE

The crisis in Yes Bank had been apparent for years, but regulatory oversight was lacking

‘Himachalis are honest, tough… patriotism runs in people's veins'

Shimla is bitingly cold, but Jai Ram Thakur, 55, exudes the sort of personal warmth that defines a quintessential organisational man. Pitchforked to the chief minister’s chair in Himachal Pradesh after the BJP’s chosen CM-candidate lost the elections, Thakur has been at the helm and consequent limelight for little over two years. Over steaming hot coffee, he spoke to Editor-in-Chief Ruben Banerjee about his achievements, disappointments and all that he wishes to achieve in the remaining three years of his term.

Sarkar Unhappy With India As Seen From Abroad

Foreign media coverage of the recent riots in Delhi seems to have hurt the government more than the violence itself

Royalty Shift Ruffles The Middle Kingdom

Scindia’s apostasy is a warning: in a rudderless Congress seething with disaffection, more malcontents might follow him unless corrective measures are taken. Maybe it’s too late for that.