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Rohith Vemula would be celebrating his 35th birthday had he been truly cared for, loved and treated well by the caste-privileged rulers of Indian academia. He was desperate to start a life without pain and emptiness but eight years ago in this month, Rohith was institutionally murdered.  In the letter he left behind, which has come to be known as ‘from shadows to stars’, he lamented that the spectre of caste has reduced Dalits to their ‘immediate identity and nearest possibility’.  His death triggered one of independent India’s biggest Dalit uprisings, but the big question remains whether his quest for an egalitarian campus has been achieved.  Post Rohith’s institutional murder, the academic world witnessed a massive surge in discussions around caste discrimination and social inclusion. But slowly the status quo returned.  Institutional caste murders in IITs, IIMs, and central and state universities once again got subdued responses. The collective caste conscience of Indian academia

Yesterday, the BJP claimed victory to the post of Chandigarh mayor in a curious sequence of events that the AAP and Congress, which were contesting together, called “fraud” .  AAP-Congress candidate Kuldeep Singh seemed tipped to win when the presiding officer declared eight of the INDIA alliance votes to be “invalid”, giving the victory to the BJP’s Manoj Sonkar. The BJP was otherwise short of a simple majority in the 35-member municipal corporation. The presiding officer, Anil Masih, is also a BJP worker . Video footage of the proceedings show Sonkar taking the chair while Masih leaves with the ballot papers.  When the Presiding Officer announced the result, the BJP Mayor Candidate sat on the Mayor Chair, and the Presiding Officer left with the rejected votes without showing them to the Councillor agent. #ChandigarhMayorElection pic.twitter.com/ACo9gRxjk4 — Gagandeep Singh (@Gagan4344) January 30, 2024 Top leaders – including Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, D Raja and Akh

As Telangana’s new Chief Minister, Congress leader Revanth Reddy was taking oath on December 7 at the LB Stadium in Hyderabad, police officials were tearing down barricades barely 5 km away at Pragathi Bhavan, which was until then the residence of the former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao. Revanth, the second Chief Minister of one of India’s youngest states, wanted to send a clear message – out with the old and in with the new. He announced that he would hold a ‘Praja Darbar’ – a people’s court – every day at his residence. And in the four weeks since, the new Chief Minister has brought in several policy changes, ordered probes, and even gone after a top bureaucrat who was believed to be close to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government.  Perhaps sensing the winds of change, the managing directors of two electricity boards resigned, one of them just a day after the Telangana Assembly election results were announced.  Probe into power sector Prabhakar Rao, the chairman and man

Days after a media report quoted Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd founder Subhash Chandra on plans to hike the Zee promoter family’s stake in the firm, the company has reportedly told the Bombay Stock Exchange that the remarks do not represent any proposal considered by the board. A Moneycontrol report had on Tuesday suggested that the Securities and Exchange Board of India was looking into whether Chandra’s remarks amounted to a violation of the listing obligation and disclosure requirements. The BSE had then sought a clarification from the company in a notification issued on January 30. “The Exchange has sought clarification from Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd on January 30, 2024, with reference to news appeared in www.moneycontrol.com dated January 30, 2024 quoting ‘Subhash Chandra’s statements on ZEEL stake hike under Sebi scrutiny”. In its response to the BSE, the company said, “ZEEL is not aware of any information that has not been announced to the exchanges which could

The hearing for an emergency arbitration in the Zee-Sony merger case will take place at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre on Wednesday, according to a report by CNBC-TV18 . Announcing the withdrawal of the merger, Sony had sought USD 90 million as termination fee from Zee for breach of conditions and initiated arbitration. Zee too had initiated legal action to contest Sony’s claims.  Meanwhile, the National Company Law Tribunal on Tuesday accepted a petition by a Zee Entertainment shareholder seeking the merger of its Indian entity with Sony, which was called off last week. The NCLT also reportedly issued a notice on a petition moved by Mad Men Film Ventures, a shareholder of Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL), directing Sony Pictures Network India, now known as Culver Max, to file a reply within three weeks. Troubles are mounting for the entertainment giant.  Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd on Tuesday informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it is not aware of Disn

हिंदी के प्रमुख अखबारों ने आज एक नहीं बल्कि अलग-अलग ख़बरों को सुर्खी बनाया है. किसी ने वित्त मंत्रालय द्वारा अर्थव्यवस्था की जनवरी माह की समीक्षा रिपोर्ट जारी किए जाने तो किसी ने जमीन घोटाला मामले में ईडी द्वारा झारखंड के मुख्यमंत्री हेमंत सोरेन को दिल्ली में खोजे जाने तो वहीं किसी ने लालू यादल से ईडी की पूछताछ को पहली सुर्खी बनाया है. आइए आज के प्रमुख अखबारों की अन्य सुर्खियों पर भी एक नज़र डालते हैं. लेकिन उससे पहले अगर आप रोज़नामचा को अपने ई-मेल पर पाना चाहते हैं तो यहां क्लिक करें. हिंदुस्तान अख़बार ने वित्त मंत्रालय द्वारा अर्थव्यवस्था की जनवरी माह की समीक्षा रिपोर्ट जारी किए जाने की ख़बर को पहली सुर्खी बनाया है. ख़बर के मुताबिक, वित्त मंत्रालय ने सोमवार को रिपोर्ट में कहा कि अगले तीन वर्षों में पांच लाख करोड़ डॉलर के सकल घरेलू उत्पाद के साथ भारत दुनिया की तीसरी बड़ी अर्थव्यवस्था बन सकता है. सतत सुधारों से यह वर्ष 2030 तक सात लाख करोड़ डॉलर का आंकड़ा भी छू लेगा. 10 साल पहले भारत 1.9 लाख करोड़ डॉलर की जीडीपी के साथ 10वीं बड़ी अर्थव्यवस्था था. ईडी द्वारा राजद प्रमुख लालू प्रसाद यादव से

I have watched two hours of television in 2024. Two hours too many, it would seem. Here’s a snippet of primetime television on January 22, 2024. “Are we witnessing a civilisational moment or a Modi moment?” Who better to ask this question than Rajdeep Sardesai?  And who better to answer it than an RSS man, even better, a former editor of RSS journal Organizer – Seshadri Chari. “Somnath temple was destroyed because of civilisational clashes,” replies Chari, a devotee of Sam Huntington . “What about Gandhi’s Ram Rajya?” asks the intrepid Sardesai. Chari does not blink. “I agree with Gandhi’s Ram Rajya,” he says – but of course he does, and of course he will say so. What else will the RSS-BJP say? Why else would they take the heads of G20 countries to pay homage to Gandhi’s memorial at Rajghat? To talk about his assassin Nathuram Godse? Hai Ram ! It is January 30 once more and a day to remember the Mahatma. So, let us remember what he represented 76 years to this date, and why God

हिंदी के प्रमुख अखबारों ने आज ज्यादातर एक ही ख़बर- को प्राथमिकता से छापा है. सभी अख़बारों ने बिहार में हुए घटनाक्रम के बाद नीतीश कुमार ने राष्ट्रीय जनता दल का साथ छोड़ भारतीय जनता पार्टी के साथ मिलकल सरकार बनाई है. नीतीश ने नौवी बार मुख्यमंत्री पद की शपथ ली है. आइए आज के प्रमुख अखबारों की अन्य सुर्खियों पर भी एक नज़र डालते हैं. लेकिन उससे पहले अगर आप रोज़नामचा को अपने ई-मेल पर पाना चाहते हैं तो यहां क्लिक करें. हिंदुस्तान अख़बार ने बिहार में नौवीं बार नीतीश सरकार शीर्षक के साथ पहली ख़बर प्रकाशित की है. ख़बर में बताया गया है कि सम्राट चौधरी और विजय सिन्हा उपमुख्यमंत्री बने, मुख्यमंत्री के साथ आठ मंत्रियों ने भी शपथ ली है. अख़बार लिखता है, बिहार में रविवार को महागठबंधन सरकार की विदाई हो गई. नीतीश कुमार के नेतृत्व में छठी बार एनडीए सरकार का गठन हुआ. शपथ लेने के बाद नीतीश ने दावा किया कि राजग छोड़कर अब उनके कहीं और जाने का सवाल ही नहीं है. पीएम मोदी और तेजस्वी यादव के बयान को भी छापा है. जहां पीएम मोदी ने कहा कि लोगों की आकांक्षाएं पूरी करेगा एडीए गठबंधन तो वहीं तेजस्वी ने कहा कि जदयू

“I can prove it was Sony’s criminal design to start the merger process and then withdraw,” Zee Entertainment Enterprises chairman emeritus Subhash Chandra has told The Economic Times in an interview. Chandra has accused Sony of intentionally scuttling the deal with his company and threatened criminal action against the firm. “I believe this was Sony’s strategy all along: To engage with Zee and eventually withdraw, portraying Zee as vulnerable. I intend to convey this perspective to the Zee board as well,” he said.  About the crash in Zee share prices after Sony’s announcement that it was withdrawing from the deal, Chandra said, “Have patience for three to four quarters with Punit and the board, and you will see the results. The company will rebound to the levels it once achieved.” The Zee founder also said the promoter family will eventually raise its stake in the company to 5 percent, and eventually to 26 percent. The interview comes days after the Enforcement Directorate conduc

Nitish Kumar has switched sides again, with his fifth crossover in around a decade set to mark his ninth as the Bihar chief minister. It’s not just the timing of Kumar’s switch, which comes months before a reinvigorated NDA alliance contests the Lok  Sabha polls against regional parties and whatever remains of the INDIA alliance. Most saw it as a devastating blow to the INDIA alliance, some saw it as a weakening of caste politics while others claimed that this somersault will undermine Kumar’s own party, the JD(U). Editorials in English dailies also had a word of caution.  The Indian Express noted that “it may be more useful in this moment to look beyond” Kumar. “For all his dramatic somersaults, Nitish is not the hero of this story whose central theme, and question, is this: In the face of a dominant Hindutva, and a Mandir politics that is aggressively Mandalising itself, what does the politics of social justice mean, what is its USP? What happens, going ahead, to the erstwhile fl

Over the last two years, the union environment ministry amended the Forest Conservation Rules and the Forest Conservation Act, the former in June 2022 and the latter in December 2023. Both moves were widely criticised for making it easier to give away forest land to corporate interests, thereby undermining the rights of forest-dwelling communities. But when the head of a constitutional tribal affairs body flagged issues with the amended rules, his concerns were dismissed without discussion – and he later resigned. Harsh Chouhan was the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. In September 2022, according to documents obtained by this reporter under the Right to Information Act, he wrote to union environment minister Bhupender Yadav highlighting serious concerns with the new Forest Conservation Rules. Chouhan wrote that the rules would lead to “large scale perpetuation of historic injustice” with “important provisions being diluted and undermined”, while also comprom

Two months after the government released the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023 for public consultation, journalists body Network of Women in Media, India has submitted that the proposed bill “will irreparably damage the free press, free speech and creative freedom in India”.  The bill seeks to replace the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 to provide a comprehensive set of norms for all broadcasting content, from television to streaming platforms. In its detailed submission to the information and broadcasting ministry, NWMI said the bill gives “inordinate powers” to the government to “control the country’s entertainment and news media”.  The NWMI flagged concerns that the bill’s “vaguely worded provisions”, including its definition of “news and current affairs programmes”, arm it with the potential to cover content creators, social media accounts of professional journalists and even citizen journalists. It said the lack of clarity could have a “chilling eff

This week started off with the inauguration of the Ram Mandir by the dear leader, and our usual suspects could not stop fawning over it. So, we decided to take a trip down memory lane.  While the primetime TV anchors were seen in a jubilant mood this week, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making the “Ram Mandir dream” come true, not all of them were always excited about the idea of building the temple. We took a look at their past statements.  Republic TV ’s Arnab called the BJP’s campaign to build the Ram Mandir a broken record in 2015, while ANI editor Smita Prakash once said Uttar Pradesh needs more IITs and IIMs instead of the temple. More surprisingly, those like Sudhir Chaudhary and Gaurav Bhatia were also not very fascinated by the idea of building the Ram Mandir but only recently changed their views.  How did the TV anchors take a full u-turn?  Watch.  This report was published with AI assistance. Elaborate stages, live shows, saffron flags: Inside Big Media ci

Hello NL team, I’m a regular listener of Hafta, writing for the first time. I would like to shoot a question to the panel about the Ram mandir – Like you discussed, this saga has given the BJP all the political dividends that it could over the last 30 years, and this inauguration would probably be the last instalment. Now, if you are the BJP chieftain, given that 2024 elections don't look difficult anyway, why rush? Why not save this for next time? That is, wait for the construction to be completed, in fact delay it a bit, just sell the "it's finally getting done" story for this time, and do the grand inauguration in maybe 2027. Milk it one more time in 2029. Who knows, it might be needed more then.  You could also then avoid all these uneasy conversations that are going on, though this was probably not foreseen. I have more such stupid questions, if you will entertain them.  Love Hafta! I think the diverse personalities on this podcast is what stands out for me.

The BJP is displeased with the DMK government in Tamil Nadu after it gave Alt News cofounder Mohammed Zubair an award for promoting communal harmony. State BJP chief K Annamalai complained that “creating social disharmony would be the right category to place” Zubair. He accused the DMK government of developing a “new liking for half-truth peddlers under the disguise of fact-checkers”. Zubair received the Kottai Ameer Communal Harmony Award during Tamil Nadu’s Republic Day celebrations yesterday at Chennai. The award was handed over by Chief Minister MK Stalin. The award, instituted in 2000, honours persons from Tamil Nadu for “outstanding services rendered to promote communal harmony”. It includes a medal, certificate and cash prize of Rs 25,000. In the case of Zubair, who is from Denkanikottai in Krishnagiri district, the state government’s citation said his work “helps to prevent the occurrence of violence in society likely to be caused by fake news”. Alt News' Mohammed

A News7 Tamil reporter in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruppur was attacked with “sickles and knives” by a group of unidentified men on Wednesday night. According to The News Minute , the group slashed Nesaprabhu leaving severe injuries. Nesaprabhu has worked with News7 Tamil for seven years. He had recently reported on illegal liquor sales at Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation outlets in Tiruppur, TNM said. Importantly, News7 Tamil reported that Nesaprabhu had informed the police hours before that he was being “followed” by unknown persons. The police control room then got in touch with the Kamanaickenpalayam police. However, the Kamanaickenpalayam police asked him to visit the police station to file a written complaint.  Just before 9 pm on January 24, when he was on the phone with the police near a petrol bunk, he was allegedly surrounded by vehicles and attacked. TNM reported that the reporter had been “screaming” on the phone minutes before the attack. News7 reporter attacked in

हिंदी के प्रमुख अखबारों ने आज ज्यादातर एक ही ख़बर- इंडिया गठबंधन के प्रमुख साथी ममता बनर्जी के अकेले लोकसभा चुनाव लड़ने के ऐलान को प्रमुख सुर्खी बनाया है.  आइए आज के प्रमुख अखबारों की अन्य सुर्खियों पर भी एक नज़र डालते हैं. लेकिन उससे पहले अगर आप रोज़नामचा को अपने ई-मेल पर पाना चाहते हैं तो यहां क्लिक करें. हिंदुस्तान अख़बार ने पश्चिम बंगाल में तृणमूल कांग्रेस और पंजाब में आम आदमी पार्टी द्वारा अकेले लोकसभा चुनाव लड़ने का ऐलान किए जाने को पहली सुर्खी बनाया है, ख़बर के मुताबिक, विपक्षी दलों के गठबंधन इंडिया को इससे दोहरा झटका लगा है. दिल्ली में दो दौर की वार्ता के बाद भी सीट बंटवारे को लेकर फैसला नहीं हो सका है. मुख्यमंत्री ममता बनर्जी ने कहा कि हमने सीट बंटवारे का एक प्रस्ताव दिया था पर कांग्रेस ने इसे नकार दिया. इसलिए हमारी पार्टी ने अब अकेले चुनाव लड़ने का फैसला किया है. इसके साथ ही उन्होंने गठबंधन के प्रति अटूट प्रतिबद्धता जताते हुए यह भी कहा कि राष्ट्रीय स्तर वे इंडिया गठबंधन का हिस्सा होने के तौर पर चुनाव के बाद अपनी रणनीति पर फैसला लेंगे. भाजपा को हराने के लिए जो भी हो सकता है, व