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Beyond the uproar

After all the media storm and fury in the Ruchika case subside, we may again be left with the outdated laws and tardy process of justice, writes Aruti Nayar
O
NCE all the media noise has subsided, with every one connected with the Ruchika molestation case getting their 15 minutes of fame or notoriety, what will remain will be the same outdated laws, the same dilatory tactics and the same subversion of the legal process. There will be two sets of laws, one for the powerful and another for the powerless.

S.P.S Rathore embodies the “rot in the police force”

S.P.S Rathore embodies the “rot in the police force”

Hot spot in the cold
Ladakh is witnessing a burst of growth that its fragile eco-system is unable to handle. Glaciers are shrinking. There is a shortage of water. Unregulated tourism is taking its toll on natural resources, reports Shobha S.V. 
L
adakh, India’s only cold desert, is one of the hottest tourist destinations in the subcontinent today. Over 75,000 tourists visit this scenic district of Jammu and Kashmir — a 100 per cent increase in the last five years. This is indeed a meteoric rise from the time the spectacular landscape was first thrown open to tourists in 1974.

Climate calamity
The change in climate due to carbon dioxide emissions and deforestation is far worse than thought before, says Joydeep Gupta
G
LOBAL alarm over climate change and its effects has risen manifold after the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Basu’s secret Punjab visit
When the Emergency was imposed by Indira Gandhi, Jyoti Basu travelled from Kolkata to Jalandhar by train under an assumed name to avoid arrest, writes Sarbjit Dhaliwal
O
NE of the most well-kept secrets of the life of Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu is that he spent three days at a farm of a senior Akali leader in a village near Jalandhar to attend a meeting of the politburo of the party.

The medieval mystique of Orchha
Hugh and Colleen Gantzer visit Orchha in Madhya Pradesh that was once ruled by the mighty Bundelas
I
T is a citadel and a city like no other we’ve seen. The citadel rises on an island. On both sides of it flow two arms of the Betwa River, protecting it like a moat. And out of the rocks and custard-apple thickets of the island, hulking forbiddingly, is the walled fort-palace complex of the Bundelas.

Room on the moon
A
deep, giant hole on the moon could be suitable enough for setting up human colonies, say scientists who have recently discovered the protected "lava tube" on the lunar surface. In a major discovery, geophysicists identified a vertical hole in the volcanic Marius Hills region on the moon’s near side.

Leading singers stifled my voice: Mubarak Begum
Vilas Tokale
H
ERS was a voice that enthralled millions, a voice that she claims, was stifled by her contemporaries in the Hindi film industry. Mubarak Begum, the voice behind evergreen hits like "Mujhko apne gale lagaa lo, O mere Humrahi" and "Kabhi tanhaiyon mein yun hamari yaad aayegi", says she became a victim of the politics in the film industry.

Enduring human drama
Sourav Sarangi’s Bilal tells the unusual story of a little boy, who helps his family face the challenges of life, writes Shoma A. Chatterji
B
ILAL (2008) is about a three-year-old boy called Bilal, born to blind parents Shamim Akhtar and Jharna, but with normal vision. His little brother Hamza is also sighted. The family lives inside an 8x10 partitioned room in central Kolkata’s Taltala in a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood.

Film it like Phalke
Paresh Mokashi’s Marathi film Harishchandrachi Factory, India’s Oscar entry
this year, is full of exuberance of the soul, writes Shakuntala Rao
I
N 1910, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, better known as Dadasaheb Phalke, went to a Christmas cinema show in Bombay. He watched a short film The Life of Christ. While Phalke was not particularly impressed with the quality of the filmmaking, it was the subject matter that caught his attention.

COLUMNS

Nature: Fascinating life of tree ants 
by Lt-Gen Baljit Singh (retd)

TELEVISIONLegal eagles

HOLLYWOOD HUES: Period piece
by Ervell E. Menezes

Food talk: Mushrooms all the way
by Pushpesh Pant

Service providers must ensure people’s safety
by Pushpa Girimaji

BRIDGE
by David Bird

ULTA PULTA: High-pitch talk
by Jaspal Bhatti

BOOKS

Preserving heritage
Reviewed by Gurpreet K. Maini
Journal of Heritage Studies: An Indian Journal on Conservation
Thomson Press. Pages 379.

Books received: english

Beyond the IIT dream
Reviewed by Aditi Tandon
Zero Percentile
By Neeraj Chhibba.
Rupa.
Pages 220. Rs 95.

Valuable lessons from life
Reviewed by Jyoti Singh
English Lessons and Other Stories
By Shauna Singh Baldwin.
Rupa. Pages 206. Rs 195.

The blessed land of Gurus
Reviewed by Kanwalpreet
Life-style of the People of Punjab
Pages 204. Rs 295.

Sikh Religion: Democratic Ideals and Institutions
Pages 179. Rs 250. Both the books by Dr Sudarshan Singh. 
Singh Brothers, Amritsar.

Focus on changing status of Dalits
Reviewed by Rajesh Kumar Aggarwal
Mapping Dalits
by Paramjit S. Judge and Gurpreet Bal.
Rawat Publications, New Delhi.
Pages 234. Rs 575.

Rustic ramblings
Madhusree Chatterjee
Author Radhika Jha travels into the heart of rural India with a new novel
J
ournalist-cum-social worker-turned novelist Radhika Jha, winner of the French Prix Guerlain award, has journeyed into the heart of rural India— scripting a story of change—in her new novel Lanterns on Their Horns.

Chain reaction
Forget libraries, now borrow from book chains
L
eNDING and borrowing of books is common among acquaintances. But ever imagined borrowing a book from a complete stranger? The British Council has struck upon such a concept, which it calls 'book chain', under which books can be borrowed and lent out free of cost even among strangers.

Write cause
A coffee-table book has been published to raise funds for Bahadur Shah Zafar's descendants
S
ultana Begum, the great granddaughter of the last Mughal emperor of India, Bahadur Shah Zafar, has found an unusual saviour: a coffee-table book on the former prime ministers of India.

The President is Coming now in book form
H
aving done around 100 shows as a play and later as a movie starring Konkana Sen Sharma, The President is Coming has taken an entirely different route. It has now come out in book form and writer Anuvab Pal says that this is the last part in its artistic rendition.

Hard times for the hardback industry
Jonathan Brown
S
OME of the biggest names in publishing have had a lousy season, posting spectacular sales falls in the run-up to New Year. According to the figures from Nielsen BookScan published in The Bookseller, Ben Elton has seen a 45 per cent drop in hardback sales from last year...





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