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Coming on the heels of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the disqualification appears to have steeled Rahul Gandhi’s resolve and made the Congress more combative.

In this issue

21-04-202338 STORIES

Where did Nana Saheb go after fleeing India in 1859?

Did the Peshwa land up in Nepal, or was he living in Bhutan in the court of Druk Desi Jigme Namgyal?

Hum Adani Ke Hain Kaun: Congress campaign raises serious questions

It posed a total of 100 questions about the alleged links between Narendra Modi and Gautam Adani.

T.K. Rajalakshmi

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Is a non-Congress third front now a distant dream?

Opposition parties are now realigning battle lines, possibly seeing the political value in Rahul Gandhi’s emergence as a unifying symbol of sacrifice.

Anando Bhakto,Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Congress gets on the front foot over Rahul Gandhi saga

The party is planning a number of protests not as party affairs alone but as mass mobilisations.

T.K. Rajalakshmi

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Science & Technology

Explosives that won’t detonate unless activated with an inert fluid

This technology has the potential to make the transport and storage of explosive materials safer.

R. Ramachandran

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Science & Technology

CERN experiment confirms Standard Model got mass of W boson right

ATLAS reanalysed its 2011 sample of W bosons, improving the precision of its previous measurement.

R. Ramachandran

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Science & Technology

Genetic analysis of Beethoven’s hair sheds light on his death

His health and cause of death have been the subject of debate since 1802.

R. Ramachandran

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China, Russia forging united front against US-dominated international system

Strategic and economic ties have prospered over the last decade under Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

‘Bodhi and Sattva’ and ‘Hugs’ by Shehan Karunatilaka

Blended with dry wit and morbid charm, two stories for both doomsday and everyday by the Booker winner of 2022.

Shehan Karunatilaka

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New books on the shelves

A “space opera”, a food safari, an insight into the history of hate speech, and much more.

Following the heart

The “I❤XYZ” installations have gone viral in India, with creative variations, clever modifications, and dropped letters.

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FLQ: The Frontline Quiz

Time for some light-hearted fun.

Sumant Srivathsan

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Readers respond

Readers write in.

Rahul Gandhi disqualification: It’s more about India’s democratic journey

Even electoral wins against majoritarian nationalism will not be adequate in light of the sociocultural tectonic shifts that have occurred in India.

Nissim Mannathukkaren

Does collapse of key banks in US, Europe portend a return to 2008?

The early responses to banking fragility challenge the prevailing central bank notions of how to fight inflation.

C.P. Chandrasekhar

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Manufacturing magic: On Salman Rushdie and ‘Victory City’

There is a constant need to explain the rules of fantasy in Salman Rushdie’s new novel.

Prathyush Parasuraman

Temsula Ao: Voice of the orange tree

The poet, writer, and ethnographer brought the Naga sensibility to the attention of the nation.

MGNREGA under attack from the Narendra Modi government

Arbitrary changes in the attendance and wage disbursement systems are the latest blow to this safety net for India’s rural poor.

Ashutosh Sharma

Tamil Nadu in focus as debate over restitution of antiques rages on

While the recovery of missing temple idols is a shrill demand, the retrieved artefacts often lie in abject neglect.

Ilangovan Rajasekaran

Farmers prepare for larger battle as key promises remain unfulfilled

With the government dragging its feet on statutory MSP, farmers are gearing up for another agitation.

T.K. Rajalakshmi

Mumbai infrastructure projects in overdrive: but where’s the upside?

Multiple construction projects have made life hell for the ordinary person in Mumbai.

Anupama Katakam

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Sustainable fishing sorely needed to save sharks off India’s coastline

The continued demand for them has led to a steep fall in shark landings over the last three decades.

Rich and real

The real Goa, with its petty rural politics, ecological exploitation, gender inequality, and contrasting lives, comes through brilliantly.

Janhavi Acharekar

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Editor’s Note: Removing Rahul Gandhi from Parliament is undemocratic

His disqualification on flimsy grounds is an indication of the slow-burn erosion of democracy in India.

Is the BJP using Rahul Gandhi as a diversionary tactic?

It appears so, given the way the ruling party has been aggressively attacking the Congress leader when the going gets hot.

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Rahul Gandhi: The punching bag

The BJP’s strategy is to create a Modi-Gandhi binary.

T.K. Rajalakshmi

Shashi Tharoor: ‘BJP has shot itself in the foot’

The Congress MP thinks the BJP has scored a self-goal in the process of hounding Rahul Gandhi.

Namibia: Windmills for Windhoek

On Vincent, an immigrant artist residing in the Namibian capital of Windhoek.

Monster in the machine: Will AI art make the human artist irrelevant?

Is AI art the creation of an idiot savant, or is it a pathbreaking invention endowed with imagination that can best the human artist?

Jaideep Unudurti

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Tributaries of song in full flow at Kolkata tribute concert

A tribute concert for Kalyan Mukherjea was an occasion to reflect upon musical experience.

Srijan Deshpande

Char Chapori Sahitya Parishad foregrounds voices of Miya Muslims in Assam

The literary body has been trying to use literature and culture to heal what politics divides.

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Politics of passion

In her translation, Meena Kandasamy introduces the third section of the Tirukkural as a feminist and anti-casteist text.

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The life and legacy of civil rights legend K.G. Kannabiran

This book also documents in detail the history of the civil liberties movement in India from the 1970s onwards.

V. Suresh,D. Nagasaila

Kalindi’s story

This translation from the Marathi original is about a woman’s struggle to live on her own terms a century ago.

Protests continue in Israel against Netanyahu’s attempt to overhaul judiciary

The roots of the current crisis lie in Israel’s national security culture.

Nazir Ahmad Mir

Criminal defamation: A noxious colonial law and its subversive effects

The Macaulay-authored law must be consigned to the dustbin of history.

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Vokkaliga seer stops film on Tipu Sultan, saves BJP the blushes

By fabricating history and asserting that two fictitious Vokkaliga soldiers killed Tipu, the Sangh Parivar tries to advance its political agenda.

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed

Weaponising the defamation law: A closer look at the Rahul Gandhi verdict

All people with the ‘Modi’ surname do not form a “collection of persons” as required by the existing law.

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