In this issue

In east India, the fight is between the BJP and regional parties. Leaders in Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand are far more vigilant this time as the BJP had scored some surprising results in the past.

India's Best Universities: How Jawaharlal Nehru University, conceived as a university like no other, became India’s best

Untold stories: How a Facebook group is conserving indigenous varieties of mangoes

@Leisure: Indie artistes, especially hip-hoppers, are driving the phenomenal growth of Malayalam music

We need to engage more with communities

Designer Aratrik Dev Varman of the label Tilla has long been a lover of history. One could comfortably call him part-aesthete, part-archeologist, for his clothes dip into vintage styles of the Kutch, Sindh, Balochistan and Afghanistan, bringing alive antique styles and crafts. Tilla, the store and atelier, are situated on a tree-lined avenue in Ahmedabad.

4 mins

The great luxury slowdown

A year or so ago, if anyone had told me that Tommy Hilfiger would have stolen the show at New York’s Met Gala, I would have laughed. But it seems the end of giant luxury labels is upon us even before we expected it. The American ready-to-wear designer Tommy Hilfiger seems to have created the maximum media buzz at the 2024 Met Gala, according to several data analytics firms.

2 mins

RAP BRINGS RAPTURE

How indie artistes, especially hip-hoppers, are driving the phenomenal rise of Malayalam music

6 mins

Employability issues are a narrative created by the corporate world

Prof Yogesh Singh is the 23rd vice chancellor of the century-old University of Delhi (DU). An engineer with a PhD in computer engineering, Singh has an impressive track record of teaching, innovation and research in the area of software engineering. He has more than 250 publications and his book, Software Testing, published by the Cambridge University Press, is well-received internationally. In an interview with THE WEEK, Singh talks about trends in higher education in India, the challenges faced by big universities, and how to make higher education more interesting. Asked about the perception that Indian graduates are “not employable”, he reacts strongly, and emphasises the difference between training and higher education. Edited excerpts:

4 mins

SERVING WITH DISTINCTION

Conceived as a university like no other, Jawaharlal Nehru University became India's best. Here is how

10+ mins

Mandela Effect and Liar's Dividend

The complex tapestry of AI's impact on society

6 mins

The other Sabyasachi

I am Sabyasachi Mukherjee, not to be confused with my namesake, the celebrated fashion couturier, declared the venerated director-general of Mumbai’s pride, George Wittet’s Indo-Saracenic jewel, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum.

2 mins

THE MANGO HUNTERS

'Naadan Maavukal' started out as a Facebook group, but what it does offline has helped conserve many indigenous varieties of mangoes

8 mins

ANGRY, YOUNG AMERICA

Campus protests against the Gaza war continue to linger as students demand a realignment of US ties with Israel

7 mins

BJP LEADERS, TOO, HAVE HAD ENOUGH

Farmers’ protest has taken the centre stage in Haryana, which goes to the polls on May 25. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is confident that the Congress, which has been out of power for 10 years, will regain its hold on the state. “People who voted for the BJP are disappointed today. It is clear that they want change,” he told THE WEEK.

2 mins

BITTER HARVEST

BJP is at the receiving end of the Jat ire in Haryana; Congress is cashing in on it

4 mins

TRINAMOOL FORCING WOMEN IN SANDESHKHALI TO CHANGE THEIR STATEMENTS

Sukanta Majumdar is a busy man. He is leading the BJP’s charge in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, where the party has targeted 30 seats. Despite falling sick the previous night, Majumdar, a botany professor at the University of Gour Banga, carried on with his scheduled morning routine.

2 mins

CULTS OF PERSONALITY

It seems to be a Mamata vs Modi battle in Bengal, but the left-Congress team could have its say in some seats

6 mins

Divide and win

As the final phases of the general elections draw to a close, an increasingly panicky Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started upping the ante on the question of reservations for Muslims, once again attempting to rebuild his majority by forcing a Hindu-Muslim divide.

2 mins

Hemant Soren cannot think beyond his family

Former Jharkhand chief minister and president of the state unit of the BJP, Babulal Marandi, exudes confidence that his party will once again dominate the Lok Sabha polls in the state.

2 mins

Popular sentiment is in favour of the INDIA bloc

A member of the old guard in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Chief Minister Champai Soren has the difficult task of guiding the party and the coalition government in the state amid challenging circumstances.

3 mins

My confidence comes from my adivasi DNA

A heat wave is sweeping across the rocky terrain of Giridih, situated in the North Chotanagpur region of Jharkhand. The mango trees outside the guest house where Kalpana Soren is staying are laden with unripe fruit, their branches swaying and swooshing, and some small mangoes fall to the ground, wrested by the winds.

4 mins

A STAR IS BORN

Kalpana Soren makes an impressive political debut, but faces opposition from within the Soren family and from senior JMM leaders

5 mins

THIS IS THE SMOOTHEST ELECTION FOR NAVEEN PATNAIK

Naveen Patnaik has been an enigma in Indian politics, consistently winning elections with ease. His bid for a record sixth term is led by his trusted aide V.K. Pandian, who left his job as an IAS officer to enter politics. The 49-year-old is originally from Tamil Nadu, but has adopted Odisha as his karmabhoomi. He is fluent in Odia, a Jagannath devotee and is even called Odisha’s son-inlaw because he married an Odia IAS officer.

6 mins

EXPECTING ONE FINAL FLIP FROM NITISH

IT IS NOW too late for Nitish Kumar. When I joined him in 2013, his popularity was at its peak. The BJP was a junior partner in Bihar then and he could have aimed for prime ministership. I was very close to him and that was why I opted to join his party.

2 mins

BJP NOW FORCED TO TALK ABOUT JOBS

Tejashwi Yadav had a short stint as deputy chief minister; Nitish Kumar changed course once again this January to return to the NDA, which dismantled the RJD-JD(U)left-Congress government.

4 mins

THUNDER IN THE EAST

The BJP and regional parties are waging bitter battles in eastern India. The future of three longest-serving chief ministers of India is also at stake

9 mins

What women want

The headline is the title of a turn-of-the-century Hollywood fantasy starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. The film was a box-office hit, but its 2019 loose remake, What Men Want, flopped. Who wants to know what men want?

2 mins

Heir-Borne Battle

Modi’s acceptability remains high even where voters find the BJP’s quest for power at any cost offensive, but the Maha Vikas Aghadi clearly has its tail up. The mood and moves on the ground...

10+ mins

Divides And Dividends

Contrasting narratives on the scrapping of Article 370 define the elections in Jammu and Kashmir

4 mins

Playing it cool

Everybody knows what 420 means in the Indian context. But in American parlance it is something very different: four-twenty or 4/20 or April 20 denotes cannabis celebration; its cultural references are rooted in the hippie culture of the 1960s and 1970s.

2 mins

The heroine's new clothes

Who else but Sanjay Leela Bhansali could bring on a wardrobe reset like the one in his just-dropped period piece—an eight-part Netflix series called Heeramandi?

2 mins

AI & I

Through her book Code Dependent—shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction—Madhumita Murgia gives voice to the voiceless multitudes impacted by artificial intelligence

4 mins

Untold tales from war

Camouflaged is a collection of 10 deeply researched stories, ranging from the world wars to the 26/11 terror attacks

2 mins

Hair force

Sheetal Mallar, in her photobook Braided, uses hair as a metaphor to tell a story that is personal yet universal

2 mins

Read all stories from THE WEEK India

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THE WEEK is an Indian English-language news magazine published by The Malayala Manorama Co. Pvt. Ltd. It was founded in 1982 and is the largest circulated English news magazine in India.

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