India likes to harp about its glorious past but is far less invested in preserving it.

In this issue

30-12-202242 STORIES

Letters to the editor

Readers respond.

Science & Technology

Report highlights irregularities in how FDA approved COVID-19 vaccines, drugs

The report was the outcome of a journalist’s investigation of FDA documents.

R. Ramachandran

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Science & Technology

Report assesses nuclear waste potential of three small modular reactor designs

The designs of these reactors have greater flexibility and lower capital costs.

R. Ramachandran

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Science & Technology

James Webb Space Telescope captures images of two exceptionally bright galaxies

These galaxies existed approximately 450 million and 350 million years after the Big Bang.

R. Ramachandran

Sital Fouzdar and the Dashavatar cards of Bishnupur

Meet the last artist in the line of the family making these cards since the 16th century.

As good as new: Bhau Daji and CSMVS are worthy of emulation

Mumbai’s Bhau Daji and CSMVS, two of the country’s best maintained museums, were recently restored.

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Dakshinachitra: A continuous cultural journey

Dakshinachitra also curates a rich variety of folk art through special State and thematic festivals.

Siddarth Muralidharan

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How the UGC creates consensus for the ruling regime

The UGC lands in controversy by directing universities to hold Art of Living meditation sessions.

Museums are needed to preserve cultural heritage

This is one of the biggest challenges for contemporary societies: as important as the health of a society or the environment.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee

Museums and the difficult topic of repatriation

India does not even have an inventory of its pieces in Western museums, unlike many former colonies.

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Tasneem Zakaria Mehta: ‘Museums are safe spaces for critical thinking’

The art historian and cultural activist says museums need to respond to contemporary culture.

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FLQ - The Frontline Quiz

Manuscripts, mountains, and mosaic.

Sumant Srivathsan

House of knowledge: The fascinating aura of the British Library

Celebrating 50 years in 2023, the British Library is brought to life by excellent staff.

Siddharth Pandey

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Partiality: A Telugu story in translation

Translated by Alladi Uma and M. Sridhar. Winner of the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity 2022.

Joopaka Subhadra

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What one can tell from the topics the Central government chose to showcase on stamps over the years

Governments began commemorating achievements on stamps rather than communicating policy.

Long forgotten: India’s pretrial and undertrial prisoners

The country’s jails teem with poor and marginalised people detained without justification.

Ashutosh Sharma

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Remembering Asoke Nath Mitra (1929-2022), theoretical physicist and role model

He wielded great influence on the nature of research work done in Delhi University.

Natarajan Panchapakesan

Bharat Jodo Yatra: A semiotic experiment and the power of non-lingual message

The appeal of the Bharat Jodo Yatra is not in what it says, but in its ability to move millions of hearts and minds.

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A road map for museums

What are the structural shifts needed in museums to equip them to take proper care of inheritance?

Naman Parmeshwar Ahuja

Conflictorium: A platform to speak of the atrocities against tribes

“A space that strives to engage every section of society with a variety of conflict issues.”

Anupama Katakam

‘Museums are better than textbooks’: Archaeologist Ravi Korisettar

Robert Bruce Foote travelled across south India for over 40 years collecting antiquities.

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed

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Design Centre on Wheels: A mobile museum that promotes indigenous embroidery in Kutch

The project led to many innovations in motifs, designs, and scale.

Chennai’s Museum of Possibilities

Funded by the Tamil Nadu government, the project is managed by the NGO Vidya Sagar.

Siddarth Muralidharan

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Persuasively alive: Review of Black River by Nilanjana S. Roy

This novel, less a “whodunit” than a “whydunit”, is remarkable for the compelling interiority of its characters.

Mukund Padmanabhan

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In Erewhon’s court: Of deprivation, past and present

The sixth judge says reservation must be phased out but by phasing out the need for it.

Central order on sharing information with ED widely criticised

The government’s decision is seen as another effort to weaponise the PMLA to target opposition and dissenters.

C.P. Chandrasekhar

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Editor’s Note

India treats its museums like nothing better than ill-run warehouses.

China dials back its unpopular zero-COVID policy

This follows unprecedented protests, weeks after Xi Jinping’s coronation at the 20th Party Congress.

Ananth Krishnan

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Political brain drain

How migration becomes one of the most powerful drivers of democracy and brings about significant socioeconomic and political changes in home countries

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White anxiety

The characters start becoming aware of the psychology of skin colour only towards the end.

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The fledgling poet

Jerry Pinto’s third novel does not have the depth and intensity of Em and the Big Hoom but tells a likeable story.

Interrogating the nation state

A book that searches for answers to the problems with the making of India’s nationhood.

Ajay Gudavarthy

New books on the shelves

An economic history of the 20th century, time travel, crime thrillers, and more.

Books of a kind

There are books that arm you with a spirit of kindness as you prepare yourself to encounter the world.

Prathyush Parasuraman

Didi of Tawang

Arunachal’s Tawang is not quite tourist-ready in the way many of us expect. That’s part of its charm.

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Brick by brick: A chronicle of Ramu Katakam’s life and work

This book also maps the changes in India’s architecture over the past 75 years.

Artes-Roots Collaborative

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At least six stand to lose their sight from free eye surgery camp in Kanpur

The patients are now under the care of doctors at a government hospital but will not let them operate again.

Harsh political, economic realities await Anwar Ibrahim in Malaysia

Malaysia’s new Prime Minister will have a tough time holding his coalition together.

Assam-Meghalaya boundary on the boil after Mukroh firing

The firing incident endangers the March settlement of the border dispute between the States.

Sushanta Talukdar

Gujarat, HP election results: Are there reasons to celebrate?

Overall, the results do not signal a dominant opposition emerging to challenge the BJP in 2024.

Anupama Katakam,T.K. Rajalakshmi

Lack of government funding is starving Jadavpur University

Has JU, one of India’s most prestigious institutions, become a victim of politics?

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

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