current affa i rs
14 Who Runs the Guns?
Who are the middlemen and how are they
able to swing giant, multi-crore defence
deals? Outlook takes a peek into the
exclusive club of the men who don’t exist.
08 west bengal Buddhadeb
Bhattacharya Strikes Back
12 transport Monorail Or Metro?
22 press council Markandey Katju
24 railways A Bridge Too Far Gone
busi n ess
48 The Utility of Change
Skyrocketing charges on utilities has led to a
groundswell of protest across urban India.
Come 2014, the privatisation of essential
services could become an election plank.

Broken supply chains, labourers back home
and lack of incomes...Can India feed its billionplus
people despite bountiful food stocks?

Meet the doctors, nurses, community physicians and public health professionals at the forefront of the fight against corona virus in India.
Telangana and Delhi join the list of states
opposed to CAA/NRC. What’s next?
Fans expected Rajinikanth to launch his new
party. Instead, he disappointed—yet again.

COVER STORY
From strident protestor and student leader
to aspiring politician and prime accused in a
sedition case. From Bihar to Tihar and beyond,
is Kanhaiya Kumar a hero or a hyperbole?

STATE OF FEAR
What explains the rise in crimes
against women in Assam?

HOLDING THEIR HORSES
As Jyotiraditya Scindia makes an exit,
the MP government is in trouble

 BELLES OF THE BALL
The Indian women’s cricket team
is having a ball on the field

 MISS THEM SNOW MUCH
The ski resort of Gulmarg has remained
desolate after the Kashmir shutdown

COVER STORY
The coronavirus spreads...panic too. Is India prepared
to deal with an epidemic that has no cure yet? We
explore the potential impact of the outbreak on our
demography, economy and life in general.

 20 YEARS OF NAVEEN PATNAIK
The achievements, shortcomings and
legacy of Odisha’s CM for two decades
 THE WALLS DIVIDING DELHI
After the violence, is polarisation shredding
through the social fabric of northeast Delhi?
 THE AFGHAN THEATRE
As the US and Taliban sign a deal to end 18
years of war, will Pakistan reap the payoff?
 THEY MEAN BUSINESS
Meet the women leading innovative,
successful startups in India

COVER STORY
Violence over CAA engulfs parts of Delhi as mobs
run amok and police remain bystanders. The
anatomy of the internecine bloodshed reveals
more than a sinister plot.

 APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH
Judges’ perceptions rather than the crime’s
severity
often determine the penalty

 GRAND OLD DEBACLE
The Congress’s electoral routs have revived
calls for resolving the leadership vacuum

 TURN UP TRUMPS?
What does the US President’s India
sojourn bode for bilateral relations?

 EXTRACTED
Devdutt Pattanaik’s Pilgrim Nation

COVER STORY
With accusations of partisanship and pandering
to ‘vested interests’, Indian media’s credibility
is at an all-time low. We navigate this deeply
polarised landscape.

 SNAKES AND LARDERS
India needs new anti-venoms which account
for the diversity of snakes in the country

 WHAT YOUR DNA PRESCRIBES
The largest genomic study of Asian populations
could help develop better medicines

 THEY HAVE RESERVATIONS
Protests ensue after SC’s ruling that reservations
in government jobs are not a fundamental right

 FEATS ON BEATS
Choreographer Astad Deboo talks about
developing new vocabularies of movement

COVER STORY

Versatile roles, power-packed performances, edgy

fashion...Is there anything Ranveer Singh can’t do?

We explore how a rank outsider beat his way to the

top of Bollywood’s crop

 

 DOCTOR WHO?

Do app-based healthcare services

harm more than help?

| AAP - 3, BJP - 0

Kejriwal leads AAP to another thumping victory

in Delhi; BJP and Congress languish

 BATTING FOR A LEGACY

As the Kashmir willow industry flounders, bat

manufacturers

and cricket lovers suffer

MOLD IS GOLD

The diverse fermented foods of India are

good for the palate as well as health

16 | OXOMIYA, THE ASSAMESE
Indigenous, native, original…these words appear in any
discourse linked to Assam and its movement against
illegal immigrants. But who is an Assamese?
20 | THE BUDGET THAT WASN’T
There were many expectations, it traversed several paths
but, in the process, the FM walked into a maze
52 | BALL AND ALL
Rugby is round the corner, and kicking. For the record,
there are about 80,000 active rugby players in India.
56 | A FINE SPINE
Taapsee Pannu will never call out, but speak out...

12 | DILLI POLL KHOL
The dash for Delhi reaches its last leg and the dirt
rises at each rally, depending on which side of
Shaheen Bagh one’s walking
52 | CHOW DOWN A BLACKMAIL
Everybody eats, some blog/vlog their meals. A few return
to the restaurant, threaten scorn unless served free meals.
56 | ON THIN ICE
A melting Ladakhi glacier. The Last Game of ice hockey.
Climate warriors. Who wins the climate change war?
62 | BANDISH OF BRAIN NOTES
Music, art, politics…from T.M. Krishna’s universe

22 | We the Nation
The idea of India as identities, ideals collide
26 | centrifugal force
India, the state of the Union
56 | hindutva rate of growth
Capital gains from being right of centre

12 | THE CENTRE CANNOT HOLD
Eleven states comprising 56 per cent of India’s
population have refused to implement the NRC
16 | SHUTDOWN SHUT THEM DOWN
The suspension of internet services in Kashmir
has devastated its handicrafts industry
20 | THE FLAT WORLD’S CURVES
Global trade wars have adverse effects for most,
but also present opportunities for some countries
54 | THE GUIDE TO PHOTOGRAPHY
Meet yesteryear star Waheeda Rehman in her new
avatar as wildlife photographer

new year, new
mayhem
As armed goons entered
JNU and attacked students
and teachers, questions
are being raised about the
culpability of the police,
right-wing students and
university administration
 trumping tehran
Iran attacked two
American
military bases
in Iraq in response
to the
assassination of its military
commander. Is armed
conflict in this tinderbox
of a region inevitable?
 bend it like
real kashmir
Amid the lockdown in the
Valley, the beautiful game
of football is bringing cheer
 the acid test
Deepika Padukone talks
about her latest film,
Chhapaak, her plans as
a producer and the state
of the industry

14
PURUSHOTTAM AGRAWAL
Faith and Reason
22
DR KRISHNA GOPAL
Faith in Bharat
28
MADAN LOKUR
Faith and Judiciary
34
HARISH KHARE
Faith in Institutions
36
RAGHU RAI
Faith through the Lens
50
ROHIT DE
Faith in Constitution
52
OMAIR AHMAD
Faith and Islam
56
A.K. BHATTACHARYA
Faith and Data
59
PUJA MEHRA
Faith in Economy
62
SURESH MENON
Faith and Sports
68
RAJAT MITRA
Psychology of Faith
88
ARUNDHATHI
SUBRAMANIAM
Faith and Bhakti
92
SOITY BANERJEE
Food and Faith
98
RANJIT HOSKOTE
Art of Faith

WE THE PEOPLE
Fears of dispossession and demographic shifts
are fuelling protests against the Citizenship
Amendment Act acrosss the country

 BIG BROTHER BOTHER
The proposed Personal Data Protection Bill is
stoking fears of people losing their privacy
 UP, DOWN, UP
Inflation is spiking despite the economic
slowdown.
How will India deal with stagflation?
WINNING LESSONS FROM A NICE GUY
Five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand talks
about his illustrious career and the future of chess
THIS SOLAR REVOLUTION
As 2019 draws to a close, an overview of the
significant
events and newsmakers of the year

CITIZEN PAIN
Northeast roiled up with protests, Muslims
uncertain...Is India prepared for the fallout
of the Citizenship Amendment Bill?
Cover Design:
Deepak Sharma
Photo: AP
‹ N A V I G A T O R ›
12 | GUNNING FOR CHANGE?
MPs amended the law regulating guns, but
diluted provisions to hold on to their arms
14 | KILL BILL
Private member’s bills are languishing
due to lack of government support
40 | STRANGE FRUIT
Hyderabad encounter killings put the spotlight
on increasing incidents of instant justice
58 | WILD, WILD WED
In the air, underwater, hanging from a cliff...wedding
photography has become an adventure sport

KEJRIWAL’S QUIDDITCH

Mohalla clinics, outperforming schools, electricity

subsidies...will these be enough for AAP to reverse the

Lok Sabha debacle in the upcoming assembly polls



 LAKE RANCID

Can Bangalore revitalise its lakes from the twin

scourges of pollution and rapid urbanisation?

 ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DEATH

As the Hyderabad rape-murder sparks anger, how

can India stop violence against women?

 ‘DIDN’T RACE BOLT ENOUGH’: YOHAN BLAKE

The Jamaican sprinter opens up about his regrets,

and doping and cheating in the sport

 CHAMAR A LA MODE

Dalit-run labels and e-commerce sites are

promoting

the community’s skills and artistry

16 | STARDUST SHROUDS TAMIL POLITICS

A Rajini-Kamal combo could upset the Dravidian

parties’ traditional ways of electioneering and

even neutralise cash-for-votes methods

52 | HELLO, ANYBODY THERE?

How steep hikes in mobile tariffs

will affect India’s digital revolution

56 | GLIMPSES OF A DEMOCRATIC ART

William Dalrymple writes about the art in Lucknow

that flourished from the late-18th to mid-19th centuries,

and melded European and Mughal aesthetics

4 LETTERS

8 POLIGLOT

62 BOOKS

64 GLITTERATI

24 Friends and Foes
With its allies pitted against it, the BJP seems to be on a sticky wicket ahead of the
Jharkhand assembly elections
28 The Press, My Lord
Decoding why “bitter truths must remain in memory” vis-a-vis Ranjan Gogoi,
the 46th Chief J ustice of India
110 Guru Nanak@550
The first of the Sikh Gurus belongs to all humanity, writes Amandeep Sandhu
Anniversary
40 Ruskin Bond
He makes the mundane interesting
with his purple pen in the morning and
enjoys watching TV at night
44 Virender Sehwag
What cricketers do after retiring? For
one, Sehwag, a man of simplicity and
earthy wisdom, lives for his academy.
50 Sunny Leone
Bollywood, motherhood, husband...the
38-year-old screen siren still gets time
to pick her kids from school
58 Manish Sisodia
How he unwinds—Netflix and cinema
with the Kejriwals
62 Ravish Kumar
Do you know the Prime Time anchor
operates from a small room under a
staircase in his office?
80 Kiran Bedi
Between music and WhatsApp, it’s
work, work, work at Raj Niwas
6 LETTERS 114 BOOKS 120 GLITTERATI 122 DIARY

10 NRC Nightmare In
Bengal’s Backyard
Despite Mamata’s repeated
reassurances,
West Bengal is in
the grip of hysteria regarding the
NRC as the Union government
pursues its agenda of initiating
the exercise in the state.
20 Maha Mess
No party has the numbers and
they haven’t been able to cobble
an alliance. As the Maharashtra
governor recommends President’s
rule, where is the state headed?
32-50 Janmabhoomi
The Supreme Court gave the disputed
site in Ayodhya to god Ram,
5 acres (elsewhere, unspecified) to
Muslims and ordered the Centre to
form a trust for the plot’s maintenance.
A landmark judgment, but
how? Historian Prof. K.M. Shrimali,
legal scholar Upendra Baxi,
writer Dr Hilal Ahmed give their
insight. Plus, we bring the politics
behind an issue that runs through
every Indian’s veins, and changed
the course of our political history.
52 Finale Of The Four Innings?
Women’s Test cricket began in
1934, but now lies moribund in
most countries as ODIs and T20s
have become the matches of choice
56 Pugrees And Patialas
With Panache
Chic Sikhs are making a
commanding style statement
by draping their identity and
history on their clothes

M. Rajivlochan  A proudly
distinct identity has been the hallmark
of Sikhs. What factors helped develop
this distinctiveness that has sustained
through the years?
J.S. Grewal and Indu Banga 
Guru Nanak’s familiarity with the
beliefs and customs of Muslims, and
his assessment of Islam
Orijit Sen  It’s 20 metres high,
stretches along a 70-metre curved wall…
a panoramic view of contemporary
Punjab, with the Golden Temple at
its centre. Toronto to the left.
Mark Tully  Bhindranwale,
militancy, political one-upmanship…
the dark days of Punjab blow apart
the aura of decisiveness that encircled
Indira Gandhi
Simi Malhotra  The deity’s
seven features that outline Sikhism’s
epistemology, ontology and ethics…
the ‘name’ or the ‘word’ as the source
of all knowledge
Interview  Punjab chief minister
Captain Amarinder Singh says Sikhism
has the necessary tools to mend strained
relations between India and Pakistan
Pranay Sharma  Kartarpur—will
the political overwhelm the spiritual?
Jyotika Sood  What anxiety stalks
still in some homes in Punjab’s villages,
day and night?
Reema Anand The Gurus pulled
women out of the ‘well’ of patriarchy.
How did they get back in later?
J.S. Grewal and Karamjit
K. Malhotra  From Nanak to
Govind Singh, the guruship is a singular
continuum that unites the spiritual with
the martial
The Stard ust  Harbhajan Singh,
Gul Panag, Rakul Preet Kaur, Divya
Dutta, J.J. Valaya…In the Guru’s own
country, the pursuit of piety

10 Blistering Blundering Barnacled Banks
Crippled by bad loans and frauds, India’s banks face a crisis of confidence.
The question on everybody’s minds: is our money in banks safe?
16 Good Economics For Hard Times
Esther Duflo, the youngest recipient of the Nobel in economics, talks about
alleviating poverty, the state of the Indian economy and migration of people
28 Look Maa, No Googlies
She calls him a ‘member of her house’ and he denies political ambitions. What
is the truth behind speculation that Sourav Ganguly could be the ace up BJP’s
sleeve against Mamata?
52 It Takes A Village To Feed YouTubers’ Appetites
It began as a cooking experiment in a Tamil Nadu village. Today, Village Cooking
Channel has 1.6 million followers on YouTube and monthly earnings of Rs 4 lakh.
54 Art’s Loss, Theatre’s Gain
An exhibition of theatre director Ebrahim Alkazi’s early paintings and drawings reveal
glimpses of a mature artist imbued with intellectual confidence and artistic ambition
4 LETTERS 60 BOOKS 64 GLITTERATI 66 DIARY

The Forbidden Fruit
After the shutdown in the Valley, attacks on non-Kashmiri workers
threaten to disrupt the shipping of its sweetest produce—apples
 Law Of The Road Is Equal
Nitin Gadkari. Salman Khurshid. Gautam Gambhir. The Outlook Editor-in-Chief.
Jumping the red light. Challan. Paid. Unpaid.
 Up And Down
Why Modi and BJP’s trajectory is heading north after the 2019 general elections?
And why the Congress is in a tourniquet since 2014?
 Gone With The Kick
Hyderabad was the powerhouse of Indian football during its heyday in the ’50s-’60s .
The game is all but extinct from its maidans. Why?
 This One’s For The Girls
Twenty-five distinguished women spoke on issues Indian women face and
10 walked away with awards at Outlook Speakout’s illuminating soiree

The Thackeray Line

He is 29, full of ideas and views—from climate change to jobs. He is his family’s first to contest elections. Aditya Thackeray in an interview.

The Church Is Mine

The Jacobites and the Orthodox groups in Kerala are in a turf war, like two feuding brothers over property (churches and crypts, in this case)

Inside The Bitter Pill

Its promoters in custody for fraud, its shares down…the rise and fall of Ranbaxy, the Indian global pharma

A Web of Stars

They call them over the top, but there’s no exaggerating the fact that digital streaming platforms have blossomed into star-makers 52 History In 1,000 Lumens Qutub Minar, the mausoleums of Safdarjung and Humayun. Their makers would have never imagined the beauty these landmarks spew under modern illumination.

By Way of Deception
How a well-liked daughter-in-law of a prominent family in Kerala became a serial killer.
And her weapon of choice? The instant-killer cynide.
 Political Package
Like foam bubbles—coming together and bursting—political equations are pushing their
luck in Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra before they vote new assemblies
 The Great Indian Ripoff
Lipsticks, toothpastes, shampoos, noodles, milk, medicines...for every branded product,
there is a counterfeit selling in India at a fraction of the orginal price
 Trial by Pyre
Thirty-two years after Roop Kanwar’s sati in Deorala, as people await a court verdict,
Outlook explores her legacy—a goddess for some, victim of patriarchy for others
 Comfortable on the Casting Couch
Barely a year after #MeToo hit Bollywood, alleged sexual predators are slowly
being rehabilitated. Has the movement fizzled out in B-town a year on?

26 Uphill Past The Plateau?

In an increasingly unpredictable world, Ind ia-China ties could be a bulwark of stability

108 The Line Of Beauty

A retrospective in Calcutta reveals Jogen Chowdhury’s evolution as an artist

BEST IN THE BIZ 41 We went over

hundreds

of B-schools in the country

to pick out the top 200. Outlook ranks

them according to several pertinent

categories

in this issue.

GO PRO TOMORROW 68 All you need

to know about the landscape of work in

the future and the skills needed to make

the best of emerging opportunities

THE ART OF THE MBA 56 Business

education is multidisciplinary, building

upon intersections of liberal arts and

foundational sciences

KICKSTART-UP DREAMS 90 As IISc’s

computer science department celebrates

it’s golden jubilee, why there’s a reason

for startups to cheer

PRIVATE SHOWS THE WAY 76 New

private universities don’t just close the

higher education gap in India, but are

also centres of knowledge production

FOREIGN LAUNCH PADS 98 Collaborations

between Indian business

schools and international universities

allow students to specialise and boost

their employment prospects

Rajmohan Gandhi
Independence wasn’t going to be enough; the Mahatma
sought everyone to be free—‘free to dissent’
Special Issue Gandhi@150
 Sugata Bose
Their paths diverged...Yet, Netaji and Gandhi
had the deepest respect for each other
 Tridip Suhrud
Gandhi taught Indians, and the world, the
art of disobedience with a ‘civil’ prefix
 Douglas Allen
Why our global challenges need
Gandhi-informed dissent
 To Pujya Pitaji, From Harilal
First-born’s letter: ‘Your political life became full of
hardships, you changed your ideas…twisted our lives’
 P.A. Krishnan
The proud Periyar chided those who opposed Bapu;
and then became Gandhi’s most vocal critic
 Pramod Kapoor
Why Gandhi and his lieutenants ignored the
Indian mutineers in the British navy
 Aakash Singh Rathore
Decoding the rivalry between Gandhi
and Ambedkar—‘a life-or-death struggle’
 Divya Dwivedi and Shaj Mohan
Did Gandhi practise great intolerance when
he refused to break his vows for the sake of others?

26 It’s Poll Time, Folks
The BJP is confident of retaining power in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand,
where elections are due in October. Can the Congress, already in disarray, stop it?
32 Who Enforces Order In Hell?
The steep fines are not fine with the multitude of motorists—those who jump lights, drive over
the speed limit, break lanes...But aren’t tough rules required to discipline the Indian driver?
52 The View From Shutter Island
Eminent photographer Raghu Rai reflects on the most iconic/viral images of our time
and what they say about how photojournalism has changed
58 Where Gabbar Prayed For Success
Former bandits of Chambal are seeking the PM’s intervention to restore hundreds of ancient
temples in the ravines, including one which is a template for our Parliament(?)
64 The Winds And The Willows
With distinctive, widely praised styles, a rich repertoire of strokes and fable-like fecundity,
Virat Kohli and Steve Smith are modern exemplars of the art of batsmanship
4 LETTERS 68 BOOKS 72 GLITTERATI 74 DIARY

unquestionable right in India, but a conditional one determined
by service
providers. Now even safe pills to terminate unwanted pregnancies are held back.
 Unspooling the Helix’s Secret
A new DNA study—on a 4,500-year-old woman from the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi—
allegedly disproves the Aryan migration theory. But does it? Perhaps the opposite.
 Eternal Cipher of the Transposed Face
A simple app on your phone can create seemingly real videos and photos of things
that never happened. Deepfake, anyone? Are we prepared to deal with the consequences:
hoaxes, fake news, revenge porn, impersonation?
 Lick the Road Clean
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is certifying select street food hubs
across the nation as clean and safe after training hawkers, appraising places
League of Extraordinary Oarsmen
Champions Boat League promises generous salaries and prize money for
Kerala’s rowers. Then why are some in the state unhappy

8 Damned By The Mobocracy
The Supreme Court has laid down measures to curb mob vigilantism, but the
government’s response hints at a long fight ahead for anti-lynching campaigners
24 The Big Slide
After the huge falls in stocks of companies, small and midsize, the bear attack
is on the big business brands
32 Healthy India, Unhealthy Phones
How fit are you? Asked the Outlook-Karvy Insights Urban Health Survey, 2019.
Ninety-one per cent of respondents said they are. Does that mean we are a healthy
nation? Find out. Plus, our smartphone fetish is causing irreparable digital disorders.
60 Show Me The Money, Sethji
William Dalrymple recounts how the East India Company, an unregulated private
corporation,
conquered India with the assistance of Jain and Marwari financiers
66 She Went, She Played, She Conquered
P.V. Sindhu, 24, made history as the first Indian to clinch the World Championships crown.
In an exclusive interview, she discusses her winning strategies and plans for the future.
4 LETTERS 70 BOOKS 72 GLITTERATI 74 DIARY

April 13, 2020

April 07, 2020

March 30, 2020

March 23, 2020

March 16, 2020

March 09, 2020

March 02, 2020

February 24,  2020

February 17,  2020

February 10, 2020

February 03, 2020

January 27, 2020

January 20, 2020

January 13, 2020

December 30, 2019

December 23, 2019

‘Outlook’ is India’s most vibrant weekly news magazine with critically and globally acclaimed print and digital editions. Now in its 23rd year, Outlook's award-winning journalism has made the important interesting with groundbreaking public-interest and investigative reportage which has fetched it the International Press Institute Award for Excellence in 2007 and the World Media Summit Award in 2014.

 

Published from New Delhi, and printed at multiple locations, with editorial bureaux and contributors across India and the world, the general-interest magazine combines the quirky with the cutting edge in its coverage of Indian politics, business, international relations---and arts, culture, books and trends. The pages of Outlook have played host to the biggest names of Indian intellectualism, including its founding Editor-in-Chief, Vinod Mehta. It's currently edited by Ruben Banerjee.

 

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