In this issue

Highlights of India Today 30th January 2023 issue:-The countrywide walkathon gives Rahul Gandhi an image makeover, but the Congress needs a total revamp to reap its political dividends.

THE DEMANDS PILE UP

As you touch National Highway 5 upon leaving Punjab's largest town, Ludhiana, the lush green fields of wheat, covered with a thick blanket of fog in peak winters, continue to travel with you. Along the way, at regular intervals, the sweet aroma of sugarcane juice being boiled to prepare jaggery in makeshift units on the roadside-keeps you company.

5 mins

Covid Vaccine: Does India Need A Fourth Dose?

COVID-19 is not becoming just a bad memory yet, it seems. On January 10, India reported a fresh case of the XBB 1.5 sub-variant, nicknamed the Kraken variant, pushing India's total cases to eight.

4 mins

COUNTING CASTE

A running joke among the more cynical observers of Maharashtra politics is that if the numbers of every caste and social group as claimed by caste-based organisations are added up, the state's population may exceed its present figure of around 125 million several times over.

4 mins

SKIRTING BEYOND THE BORDERS

The storm over Belagavi has somewhat receded after a scrappy, acrimonious December. But local authorities in the city that's at the centre of a long-festering border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka haven't let down their guard. Earlier this week, they barred Maharashtra MP Dhairyasheel Mane from entering Belagavi, wary of letting things flare up again.

3 mins

FENCING MATCH

In the first fiat of the new year, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy banned road shows across the state-a move observers feel is targeted at stifling a resurgent Telugu Desam Party (TDP), its main rival in the state. The restrictions came after the death of 11 people in stampedes at two TDP rallies in Nellore and Guntur districts on December 28 and January 1, respectively. TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu had opted to lie low following the party's defeat in the 2019 assembly election. It's only in the latter half of 2022 that he became active again, and the two incidents, while tragic, also pointed to the kind of traction he was getting.

2 mins

NOTES FROM A SPYMASTER

Amarjit Singh Dulat's A Life in the Shadows: A Memoir is only in part about his life. He does discuss his career in the Intelligence Bureau (IB), then as head of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and, finally, post-retirement, as advisor on Jammu & Kashmir in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) till May 2004, when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-I demitted office. He also goes into his family background, early life, school and college, and joining the Indian Police Service. But the meat of the book is Kashmir. This is what holds the author's greatest attention and he talks about his assessments of the role of the intelligence community in dealing with what happens to be India's most intractable internal security challenge with all its external ramifications in some detail.

2 mins

AIMING FOR INDEPENDENCE

The outcome of wars has been influenced by artillery for centuries. It retains its importance on the battlefield, as the conflict in Ukraine shows. Despite Indian artillery proving its mettle in the 1999 Kargil war, the Indian military has been short of firepower for over three decades. Corruption allegations over the procurement of the Bofors guns certainly had a paralysing effect on the modernisation of Indian artillery. But, finally, things seem to be back on track, as the army actively looks at adding more modern firepower to its artillery regiments. The focus is now on procuring these long-distance destroyers through the Make in India route.

3 mins

BHARAT JODO YATRA: IS IT MAKING A DIFFERENCE?

THE COUNTRYWIDE WALKATHON GIVES RAHUL GANDHI AN IMAGE MAKEOVER, BUT THE CONGRESS NEEDS A TOTAL REVAMP TO REAP ITS POLITICAL DIVIDENDS

10+ mins

MAMATA'S BIG HINDU PUSH

Drawn into competition with the BJP and ridden by internal crises, the Trinamool is pushing its own brand of Hindutva. It is buidling temples and initiating rituals-all with an eye on the majority Hindu vote in 2024

8 mins

THE PROMISE OF BIG INVESTMENT

CM Yogi Adityanath is bent on transforming Uttar Pradesh into India’s top investment destination, the latest effort being the Global Investors Summit. But challenges remain

5 mins

REVVING UP THE GROWTH ENGINE

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will have a tough task ahead of her as she rises to present the Union budget for 2023-24 on February 1.

10+ mins

The Dieting DILEMMA

INDIA’S OBSESSION WITH DIETING HAS SPAWNED A LABYRINTHINE WORLD OF HEALTH APPS, SELF-STYLED PLANS AND FADS THAT DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD

10+ mins

PIZZAZZ PERSONIFIED

With her trademark insouciance and candour, Shobhaa De recalls her encounters with a wide array of personalities

3 mins

ODE TO A FRIEND

Saeed Mirza’s book about the late filmmaker Kundan Shah is not a biography but a charming tribute to their long comradeship

2 mins

THE PARSI FOOD CHAIN

In a Sumptuous new book, chef Farokh Talati shows how Parsi cuisine came to be irresistible

2 mins

BOOKS: Making It Easy

Karen Anand says her new culinary memoir is a response to the fast, hectic pace of our lives

3 mins

Dispatches from War

LEGENDARY PHOTOGRAPHER ROBERT CAPA CHANGED THE WAY WE LOOK AT AND CHRONICLE CONFLICT

2 mins

'Those were the days'

Noted poet, lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar’s biography Jadunama: Javed Akhtar’s Journey, written by Arvind Mandloi and translated into English by Rakhshanda Jalil, recently hit bookstores. In a candid chat, Akhtar talks about his family and an early encounter with India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru

1 min

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