India Today

Fendis and facelifts, Missonis and moisturisers, wedding sangeets and Louis Vuittons. Austenistan, an inventive book of short stories inspired by Jane Austen, edited by Laaleen Sukhera, with seven short stories, and set in Pakistan, is a delightful r

Rosalyn D'mello Author, A Handbook for my Lover, Delhi It used to be just lust. It used to be the only linguistic instance I could imagine where the adjective 'just' signified excess, not restraint. Just lust. Guiltless, shameless, astonishing lust.

Priya Alika Elias, Lawyer and writer The word 'feminism' that was often heard in the same breath as 'feminazi' is no longer taboo. It's trendy to be feminist. Feminist groups and collectives are everywhere, feminist memes are increasingly popular, an

The Next Mandarin Looks like 'China hands' will continue to assume India's top diplomatic job. Former envoy to China, Vijay Gokhale, is likely to succeed foreign secretary S. Jaishankar, who was given a one year extension on January 28, 2017. Gokhale

Blossom Kochhar, Chairperson, Blossom Kochhar Group of Companies, Delhi After the frenzy that comes as part of the wedding celebrations package gets over, it is time for most couples to head over for their 'our time to bond' holiday to a distant loca

#AHashtagIsNotARevolution Spurred by a promotion for a new TV show, many young women took to social media last week to question Indian society's idea of "shaadi material". Of course, it's women who are judged on the most trivial details and expected

Nmami Agarwal Dietician and nutritionist, Delhi Are you tired of trying out different diet plans and making zero progress despite cutting down the quantity of food and resorting to fat free food items? We live an environment where pesticides and chem

In one of those frequent demonstrations of the wrongheadedness of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), the august censors told the makers of An Insignificant Man, a documentary about the flashing, firecracker ascent of the Aam Aadmi Party

The love story Nishant Ratnakar It isn't often that you see a wedding photographer arrive dressed in a tuxedo or a sherwani while at work. But that is one of the many things that make Nishant Ratnakar one of the most sought after wedding photographer

"If everything goes according to plan, he could become the prime minister when the Congress comes to power. If I know Rahul Gandhi, he may not like to accept an official assignment and this man will be Rahul's Manmohan Singh," says a Congress general

Within hours of the news that a seven year old student of Ryan International School, Pradyuman Thakur, had been killed, the Gurugram police reported that it had cracked the case and arrested the murderer Ashok Kumar, bus conductor at the school. Th

Kresha Bajaj Zaveri, 29, Designer and owner of Koecsh, Mumbai Immortalising her love story on the wedding outfit made this bride stand out from the crowd. One evening, while watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, I saw TV actor and shoe desig

I googled David Litt to check out if Barack Obama's daughters had rubbished his book or if someone charged him with disloyalty. Chances were low in any case because Litt is dewy eyed about his ex boss. Huffington Post declared its disappointment with

After a long night of passionate love making (thrice, as the conversation the morning after reveals), new bride Jaya (Bhumi Pednekar, 28) and her mustachioed husband Keshav Sharma (Akshay Kumar) are roused, from what is understandably blissful slumbe

"You are not even worthy of contempt." On November 14, Supreme Court Chief Justice Dipak Misra shut the lid on a week of unprecedented fireworks over a judge bribing scandal. The lawyers, who alleged judicial corruption, escaped contempt of court by

Summi Gambhir, 35 Co founder, GlobalLinker, Business networking platform for SMEs, Delhi and US On five things to know as an entrepreneur Build a strong network Entrepreneurs are often known by the quality of their connections. You can build better

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has relied on a multi pronged effort to set the pace for the evolution of his fledgling state. Telangana, he points out, has emerged as one of the fastest growing states in the country. With a buoyant eco

Gender List of caution On October 24, law student, Raya Sarkar, published a list of alleged sexual predators in Indian varsities on Facebook. Predictably, the conversation veered in every direction, and was only in part supportive of those the list s

In the absence of rail and air linkages, roads have been the lifeline for the people in Sikkim. However, with the state having to share 30 kilometres of NH10 with West Bengal, any unrest in the Darjeeling Hills has a fallout on trade and transport in

One significant phrase that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has contributed to the Indian political lexicon is competitive federalism. The prime minister, who helmed what came to be known as the "Gujarat Model" of development when he was chief minister

There are not many chief ministers in the country who remain accessible to the common man over their personal cell phone. Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy is an exception. In June this year, he received calls from six different individuals w

Despite the low per capita income, Kerala has become a role model with human development indces that match those of the developed nations of the world. The southern state, with near 100 per cent literacy, low infant mortality (5.59 per cent), minimum

On October 20, speaking at a public function in Kohima, T. Imkonglemba Ao, principal secretary, agriculture and agriculture production commissioner, Nagaland, said the state should learn from the achievements of the agriculture sector in a war torn c

Historically, Karnataka has had an entrepreneurial nature with several firsts to its credit in industrialisation, electricity, irrigation and banking in the pre independent era and manufacturing, IT, biotechnology (BT), and now startups taking the ce

Compared to the dismal agricultural scenario in the rest of the country, Madhya Pradesh has been presenting a different picture for the past few years. According to advance estimates, growth in the sector would be 29.1 per cent in 2016 17, and with t

Six times chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, Virbhadra Singh doesn't say it in as many words, but his smiling countenance conveys that the past five years perhaps constitute his most satisfying stint in office. Singh has reason to be content. Piggyb

When Dr Deepak Sawant took over as Maharashtra health minister in December 2014, he already had a roadmap for improving healthcare in the state. Having worked in tribal areas for more than a decade, that is where he decided to start from. In 2015, he

We have traversed a lot of distance, but there are still miles to go," says Haryana's first time BJP Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. He believes that his first three years in office "are only the beginning of seeing people much happier and prospe

One of the many invisible changes happening in the country is the acceptance of cooperative and competitive federalism as a tenet of good governance. Decentralisation has gone from being mere rhetoric to reality, with two major reforms in the methodo

Whether it's technology, resources, recruitment of adequate personnel in the force or detention of troublemakers under preventive laws, Gujarat is on the right track on all major aspects of policing. The state police is known to make timely intervent

It was the year 2003 when Laveesh Bhandari and I joined hands with India Today to rank the states of the country on an annual basis. This product came to be known as State of the States (SoS). In hindsight, it was quite a successful product, with an

Besides being a political powerhouse, Delhi has the highest per capita income, highest life expectancy and the highest number of doctors per 100,000 people. At a time when growth is slipping India grew 5.7 per cent during the April June quarter dow

On October 14, Arunachal Pradesh finance minister Chowna Mein tabled a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report in the state assembly. The report said Arunachal Pradesh had failed to achieve the target of providing free and compulsory ed

We've been here before. Exactly this time last year, in fact. Not to mention every year for nigh on a decade, with any improvement in air quality brought about by a Supreme Court ordered move towards the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in public

The Maharashtra government's initiative to computerise the public distribution system and link ration cards to Aadhaar has had impressive results, with the food and civil supplies department claiming to have saved foodgrains worth Rs 3,000 crore from

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is again on course for a dust up with the Centre, this time over the post of Tea Board chairman going to a political appointee. The post has so far been held by an IAS officer. While on a visit to Mumbai on November 1,

Former CPI(M) general secretary and hardliner Prakash Karat, who till now was holding out on a tie up with the Congress for Lok Sabha elections 2019, has reportedly had a change of heart. Just last week, the issue had come up for vote at the central

Netflix's adaptation of Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace is a worthy successor to last year's Emmy winning The Handmaid's Tale (aired on rival Hulu). Based on an 1843 murder case in Canada, Alias Grace tells the story of 16 year old Grace Marks and Thom

Based on extensive conversations between M.F. Husain and Ila Pal, who first met him in 1961 as a young artist, this biography's value lies in the material that the author has access to, as well as her detailed first person narrative of her interactio

Nine weeks on, the massive re survey of all lands in Telangana, which began on September 15, has covered over half the state's 10,885 villages. Officials have found that, of the 6.97 million acres verified, ownership records of 8,72,000 acres appear

A James Bond and Rambo hybrid, he drives tanks and takes out terrorists, but with a twist: he is a product of the People's Liberation Army. Meet Leng Feng, the hero of China's Wolf Warrior 2. Made in close cooperation with the army, the blockbuster t

Sudarshan Shetty's latest exhibition, Shoonya Ghar, is a bundle of contradictions. It's made from visibly aged material. But it's a brand new work. As you enter, the central installation appears to be a palatial structure. But you soon find your way

The state's ruling BJP should be worried, the Congress party has won two assembly by elections in Madhya Pradesh on the trot. The Congress's Nilanshu Chaturvedi defeated the BJP's Shankar Dayal Tripathi in the Chitrakoot bypolls in Satna district by

With elections to the Karnataka assembly less than six months away, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is directing his attention to the serious business of voter appeasement. One overambitious bid, though, to rein in the private healthcare industry, is beg