“The government is willing to discuss everything“, or so said our Parliamentary Affairs minister before this fiasco of a parliament session started. Apparently, our government is willing to discuss everything but what needs to be discussed. As an Indian citizen, it completely befuddles me: Why is our social media-savvy prime minister tight-lipped at this crisis? However, a closer look seems to reveal that Modi is not as outspoken as he claimed before the election.
Starting with the Pune techie murder case last June where Hindu Rashtra Sena members beat to death a Muslim software engineer to the demands of Humara Adhikar protests in December, NaMo has maintained a dubious silence on controversial grounds despite all his tweets and selfies.
Every generation's progress comes at the cost of the existing status quo. When motor cars became the norm, horse-drawn buggies had to call it a day. When computers became commonplace, typewriters died a natural death. Someday when renewable energy becomes viable, fossil fuels will be a thing of the past. As we speak, there is a silent transition that is in progress, noted by few but affecting millions. The slow demise of the web designer The internet has, in the last 20 years, been shaped by the mouse clicks of web designers. From flashy banners to material design, we have come a long way in terms of how we see, perceive and interact with the internet.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi lands in Chennai to be part of the National Handloom Day celebrations, there arises the pertinent question as to how designers and boutiques across India can help the handloom sector. Many globally renowned designers in south India, like Gaurang Shah, Vivek Karunakaran and Shravan Kumar Ramaswamy whose clients include a long list of Indian celebs, have been consistently working with weavers and handlooms. Applauding the creation of a National Handloom Day to throw the limelight on a dying craft, Hyderbad-based designer and textile revivalist Gaurang Shah says, “It’s motivational and the most satisfying moment for a designer like me as the Prime Minister dedicates this day for handlooms.
After the buzz over India’s mission to Mars and the Prime Minister’s high-decibel Make-in-India, both meant to be showcases of the nation’s engineering talent, here is the latest, grim reminder of the quality of freshly minted engineers: • While 97% want jobs either in software or core engineering, only 3% are good enough to be engineers in software/product roles, and only 7% can handle core engineering tasks. • Only 11% find jobs in knowledge-intensive sectors because their English skills are poor (74%), as are their analytical or quantitative skills (58%). • A student from a tier-3 college will get Rs 66,000 per annum less than a student of equal merit from a tier-1 college.
"This is a suit-boot-ki-sarkar", said one Rahul, the Congress Dynast. "This is not the Modi government", said another Rahul, a patriarch of the Bajaj Auto group. The two statements are pregnant with meaning. The Dynast's meaning was to suggest that Narendra Modi's government favours crony businessmen. Rahul Bajaj’s quip was intended to suggest that Modi was not proving to be the friend of business that he was thought to be. All the current problems faced by Modi – the parliamentary gridlock, failure to pass key legislation, the lack of new energy in the economy, and growing business disillusionment with him - can best be explained by the wide gulf between the statements of the two Rahuls.
Even as Mumbai's real estate market reels under a stressful period with slowing sales velocity and with buyers sitting on the fence, waiting for prices to drop, a one-off deal in the island city's luxury market for Rs 202 crore is making headlines. According to confirmed reports, a sea-facing triplex penthouse measuring 17,000 square feet in South Mumbai's Napean Sea Road has been sold to a prominent industrialist for a whopping Rs 202 crore. This works out to be one of the most expensive transactions in the country as the buyers is paying Rs 1.20 lakh per square foot. The apartment is on the 20th, 21st and 22nd floors of the Residence, being built by the Runwal Group and offers views of the the Arabian Sea and the Queen's Necklace and has 21 car-parking slots as part of the transaction.
Over the years, Bengaluru has been slowly losing its “garden city” reputation. Between 2001 and 2011, the southern metropolis lost 66% of its tree and vegetation cover as its population surged, with a construction boom fuelled by its arrival as India’s Silicon Valley. Despite the countless new office buildings and high-rise apartments, one tiny, endangered primate species, which has always called the city and its environs home, has persisted in holding on to its corner of Bengaluru.
Bookselling as an art and science has been taken out of the sparse resources of a bookshop. There were five of us mourners at Fact & Fiction bookshop in South Delhi’s Vasant Vihar market, as if trying to console the well-known book seller Ajit Vikram Singh. There was a sense of disbelief , tinged with some nostalgia as Singh packed away some old books, talking about the inevitability of closing down his bookshop. “If society is not bothered and cannot take care of it, bookshops will not survive,” he said underlining his own epitaph.
