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THE PET
ECONOMY
FROM PET SPAS TO DOG CAFES, THERAPISTS TO GOURMET
DINING, INDIAN PETS HAVE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD, FUELLING
A PETCARE INDUSTRY WORTH Rs 7,400 CRORE
FROM THE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
M
y wife is a dog lover. I am, by and large, a benign
bystander. We have kept dogs for several de-
cades. Recently, I have noticed this love of hers
is burning a bigger hole in my pocket. The kind
of services that are now available for pets is mind-boggling.
I should be thankful for small mercies: my wife does not
use all these services. The bustling ancillary industry takes
in everything from essential commodities like pet food and
specialised pet vets to high-end luxuries like pet gourmet
food and pet fashion that includes lehengas and bikinis
(make sure you choose the right colour) and pet spas. At
its core is an attitudinal shift. Those who keep dogs are no
longer mere ‘dog owners’—they like to call themselves ‘dog
parents’. This is a subtle but radical change from the old
‘master and slave’ paradigm to one where dogs are seen and
treated as children. It’s only then that you realise why they
celebrate dog birthday parties and call in special photogra-
phers for the event.
As the Indian middle class has become more afflu-
ent and nuclear families more prevalent, the demand for
N or does it stop there. Some like to see a Ball Python
pets has increased. There is no official census for dogs,
but in 2019, an estimate put the total number of pet dogs
in India at 20 million. By the time you
take your last walk in the park with your
dog in 2023, that would have crossed
31 million. These are serious numbers.
It is estimated that the Pet Economy is
worth Rs 7,400 crore today and is grow-
ing thrice as fast as the Indian economy
at a CAGR of 19.2 per cent.
As Senior Associate Editor Sonali
Acharjee delved more and more into the
story, she discovered emotions to be the
key driver for why people are indulg-
ing their pet dogs the way they are. And
the explosion of pet care services and Pet influencer Ziggy Basu
products is truly astonishing: pet dating
apps, pet swimming pools, pet hotels, pet grooming schools,
pet babysitters, pet dabba service, pet vacations and pet psy-
chologists. Several posh neighbourhood markets have dog
spas where even humble Pomeranians can be seen getting
permed while Catalan Sheepdogs get coiffed, so their hair
stays out of those eyes. But now, even swankier mobile pet
spas wheel into tony bungalows to give their dog denizens a
weekly dose of haute pampering.
The market research firm Market Decipher predicts the
bewildering variety of elements that make up this whole
ecosystem will reach a market size of Rs 21,000 crore
by 2032. Just the pet food industry is worth a whopping
Rs 4,000 crore currently and is expected to become a Rs
10,000 crore market by 2025, according to market re-
search firm Euromonitor. This is just as well because there
was a time when all pet breeds, regardless of their prov-
enance, could be treated to the same type of food a family
had: regular fare like roti, idli, bread and milk. Now, there
is even gluten-free specialty dog food, more conducive to
canine digestive systems.
Taking specialised care of our pets is part of our bound-
en duty, for what we get in return. “Dogs and cats have
been shown to reduce loneliness and combat stress,” says
Samriddh Dasgupta, Chief Marketing Officer of Heads Up
For Tails (HUFT), India’s largest petcare company, and a
‘dog parent’ himself. That is why there was an increase in
adoptions during the recent pandemic.
Of course, not all pets are dogs. As the social media age
dawned on us, we were treated to the feline fetish like never
before, with countless portraitures of cats caught in various
philosopher-like moods, looking disconcertingly straight
at you with topaz eyes or looking at some invisible theorem
hanging in the air. Some argue that cats make for cold and
unemotional pets. Whether you agree or not, we all know
those phrases would hardly describe cat owners—they are a
passionate lot, fiercely loyal to their soul companions.
from the West African grasslands curled up on their
divan or wish to commune with a 24-inch Bearded
Dragon from the Australian outback. Both can be had for
Rs 35,000. On that reptilian trail, some will take a Corn
Snake from Florida (Rs 20,000) or even
a native Chameleon—a perfect Holi gift
for Rs 6,000, if you will. An Iguana,
which can be yours for Rs 5,000, is
becoming quite a niche cult, too, even
though an Iguana does not necessarily
understand whether you like it or not or
why. And its tail can crack your bone.
For those who like their homes filled
with song and conversation, the mon-
eyed ones can opt for a pair of Toucans
with big fancy beaks at Rs 15 lakh, a
Green-winged Macaw from the Andes
at Rs 1.5 lakh, an African Grey Par-
rot (Rs 70,0000) or a budget-friendly
Cockatoo from Papua New Guinea (Rs 20,000). The soft
types out there want only the white cloudburst of Angora
Rabbits (Rs 6,000). But these are exotica on the far fron-
tiers of petdom. For most pet lovers out there, it only rains
dogs and cats—in that order. In tune with today’s digital
age, there is Ziggy Basu, the two-year-old Tibetan Shih
Tzu that’s quite the rage as a canine social influencer, or
Kaju, the Persian cat whose Instagram popularity can be
the envy of aspiring human stars.
The relationship between the owner and the dog/cat is
one of unconditional love and trust. Devanshi Desai, who
runs a school for dogs in Mumbai called Wag to School, says:
“If you don’t meet a dog’s needs, how can you expect them to
meet yours.” Next time someone says ‘It’s a dog’s life’ or that
he’s ‘in the dog house’, ask him how he could be so lucky!
(Aroon Purie)
M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 3
 IT’S A DOG’S WORLD
Tim Tim, a two-year-old
female Shih Tzu, getting an oil
massage at a spa in Gurugram

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ART DEPARTMENT: Sanjay Piplani (Deputy Creative Editor);
Angshuman De (Art Director); Bhoomesh Dutt Sharma, Santosh Kumar
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THE PET ECONOMY

Naveen Gupta (Chief Coordinator)

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS (IMPACT)

Vidya Menon,
Suparna Kumar
IMPACT TEAM From pet spas to dog cafes, therapists to gourmet dining, Indian pets have
Senior General Managers: Mayur Rastogi (North), Jitendra Lad (West)
General Managers: Syed Naveed (Chennai), Krishnanand Nair (Bangalore) never had it so good, fuelling a petcare industry worth Rs 7,400 crore
GROUP CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER: Vivek Malhotra
SALES AND OPERATIONS
Deepak Bhatt, Senior General Manager (National Sales)
Vipin Bagga, General Manager (Operations) UPFRONT LEISURE
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Yogesh Godhanlal Gautam, Deputy Regional Sales Manager (West)
MAHARASHTRA: THE HUMAYUN: FATAL
S Paramasivam, Deputy Regional Sales Manager (South) NAMING GAME PG 5 MAJESTY PG 59

INTERVIEW: Q&A
ANTONY WITH SMRITI
BLINKEN PG 22 MANDHANA PG 66
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UP: BULLDOZING
JUSTICE
PG 7
RAJASTHAN: RAJE
HOLDS THE CARDS
PG 15
The Naming Game
T
he Centre’s nod to renaming
Aurangabad and Osmanabad
as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
and Dharashiv, respectively
has led to more demands in Maharash-
tra for cities and regions to be rechris-
tened. In fact, some of these sites are
also seeing more than one claim, which
may lead to a fresh round of competi-
tive identity politics and social tensions,
especially with elections to the local
bodies, Lok Sabha and state assembly
all coming up one after the other in the
next two years. There’s also a small,
vocal group protesting this bid to create
a new history with this renaming spree.
Their cause may be strengthened by the
Supreme Court, which threw out a peti-
M A H A R ASHTR A
By Dhaval Kulkarni
tion by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay
who wanted the Centre to set up a ‘re-
naming commission’ to find the original
names of places presently named after
‘foreign invaders’.
The turn of events is partly ironi-
cal because renaming Aurangabad
and Osmanabad was one of the last
decisions of the Uddhav Thackeray-led
Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA)
government in June 2022. Invoking
Chhatrapati Shivaji’s son and local god-
dess Dharasur Mardini, respectively,
it was a last-ditch attempt to tap into
the pro-Hindutva vote. The Shiv Sena
(Eknath Shinde)-BJP regime that took
charge later simply ratified the decision
and expanded the proposed name for
LEFT’S HAND
IN ALLIANCES
PG 10
INTERVIEW WITH
ANTONY BLINKEN
PG 22
CHANGE IT CM Shinde (right)
and deputy Fadnavis claim
credit for the renaming
ANI
Aurangabad to its present full form,
‘Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar’. The
Maratha king was captured and killed
by Aurangzeb’s forces in 1689.
The names Aurangabad and Os-
manabad are derived from the Mughal
emperor Aurangzeb and Mir Osman
Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad.
Both the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction
of the Shiv Sena and Shinde’s group are
claiming credit for the renaming now.
Incidentally, it was the late Sena sup-
remo Bal Thackeray who had first made
the ‘Sambhajinagar’ demand at a public
meeting in Aurangabad in May 1988.
Imtiyaz Jaleel, the All India Majlis-
e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Lok
Sabha MP from Aurangabad, has
M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 5

UPFRONT
opposed the renaming of the town,
saying the people of the district were
not consulted before it was done. “You
can tear out pages from history books,
but you cannot change history…,” he
says, adding that for him, “it was, is
and will always be Aurangabad”. Jaleel
says the ruling regime was just raking
up “emotional issues” while ignoring
critical ones such as water scarcity
and the farmer suicides in the region.
The Centre’s decision also comes at a
time when the issue is sub judice. In a
bid to put the state government on the
back foot, Jaleel asks why cities such as
Mumbai, Kolhapur, Nagpur and Pune
are not being named after Chhatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj, Chhatrapati Rajarshi
Shahu Maharaj, Dr B.R. Ambedkar and
Savitribai Phule, respectively?
I
ncidentally, the late polymath
Sharad Patil, who blended Marxism
with the ideology of Jotiba Phule
and Ambedkar, had wanted Aurang-
abad to be renamed ‘Malik Ambarabad’
after Nizamshahi general Malik Ambar.
Ambar, an Abyssinian slave who
became a Nizamshahi general, had not
only laid the foundations of the present
town at village Khadki here but pretty
much been the first bulwark of the Dec-
can against imperial Delhi in the me-
dieval ages—a role that was to be later
performed by the Marathas in a line of
continuity not always acknowledged.
Maharashtra takes its cultural
markers and political totems seriously.
In 1978, the Sharad Pawar-led Progres-
sive Democratic Front (PuLod) coali-
tion decided to name the Marathwada
University in Aurangabad after Ambed-
kar, a move that caused much resent-
ment among the dominant Maratha
community and a backlash against the
Dalits in the region. The university was
eventually renamed ‘Dr Babasaheb
Ambedkar Marathwada University’ in
1994 with a new varsity named after
Swami Ramanand Tirtha, the hero of
the Marathwada liberation movement,
being created at Nanded as a consola-
tion prize for the critics.
The ‘Namantar’ movement that
called for the renaming produced Dalit
6 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
POLITICS OF
RENAMING
Aurangabad
Mumbai
Ahmednagar
Pune
Raigad
In 1994, after a 16-year agit-
ation, Marathwada University in
Aurangabad was renamed DR
BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR
MARATHWADA UNIVERSI-
TY. Schisms have still not healed
The most significant renaming
was BOMBAY TO MUMBAI
(1995) by the then Shiv Sena-BJP
government. Later, the iconic
Victoria Terminus (VT) station
and the airport were named
after Chhatrapati Shivaji
The Elphinstone Road railway
station in Mumbai was renamed
PRABHADEVI (2018) and
University of Pune after SAVI-
TRIBAI PHULE (2014) for the
contributions Mahatma Jyotiba
and wife Savitribai Phule made
to the cause of educating women
and non-Brahmins
Maharashtra’s lone Muslim
CM, A.R. Antulay, renamed
Kulaba district RAIGAD in the
early 1980s. Raigad was the
fort-capital of Shivaji
…THE NEW DEMANDS
Pune to Jijaunagar
Ahmednagar to Punyashlok
Ahilyadevi Nagar
Aurangabad airport after
Chhatrapati Sambhaji
Churchgate railway station
after C.D. Deshmukh
Mumbai Central railway
station after Dr Ambedkar or
Jagannath ‘Nana’ Shankarseth
Dadar railway station as
Chaityabhoomi
leaders like Union MoS and Republican
Party of India (RPI) chief Ramdas
Athavale and former MP Jogendra
Kawade. It also led to counter-mobilisa-
tion from the dominant castes, resulting
in the Shiv Sena gaining political space
in Marathwada, its first opening outside
the Mumbai-Thane region. The social
cleavages that resulted from the decade-
and-a-half-long movement persist in the
Marathwada region even today.
The ‘Sambhajinagar’ decision by
the Union ministry of home affairs has
now snowballed with renewed demands
for names of cities and even railway
stations to be changed. Gopichand
Padalkar, BJP MLC and leader of the
Dhangar community, wants Ahmed-
nagar district—named after Ahmed
Nizamshah, who founded the Nizam-
shahi dynasty and the town in the 15th
century—to be renamed ‘Punyashlok
Ahilyadevi Nagar’ after the 18th century
warrior queen Ahilyadevi Holkar. She is
venerated by members of the Dhangar
(shepherd or pastoral) community, the
second-largest caste after the dominant
Maratha-Kunbi caste complex.
Meanwhile, the Shinde-led Sena
wants Churchgate railway station in
south Mumbai to be named after the
late RBI governor C.D. Deshmukh,who
had resigned as Union finance minis-
ter in 1956 to protest the refusal of the
Nehru government to accede to the de-
mand of Marathi speakers to form the
state of Maharashtra with Mumbai as
its capital. Deshmukh is hence a symbol
of Marathi pride. “We have demanded
that the Churchgate station be renamed
after C.D. Deshmukh, who played a
major role in the formation of Maha-
rashtra,” says Sheetal Mhatre, former
Mumbai corporator and spokesperson
of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena. However,
the demand has been opposed by those
who point out that Churchgate station
has been an integral part of the city’s
history and culture for the past 150
years. They have also started an online
petition against the move.
A similar demand to rename two
more railway stations—Dadar and
Mumbai Central—has been made by
Dalit groups. “We want Mumbai Cen-
tral to be named after Dr Ambedkar. While SHOOT TO KILL
working on the draft of the Constitution, Video grab of the Umesh
Babasaheb used to take a train to Delhi Pal killing; Atiq Ahmed
from the station,” explains former minister
and RPI leader Avinash Mahatekar. He
also wants Dadar station to be renamed
‘Chaityabhoomi’ after the Ambedkar me-
morial located nearby. The Maharashtra
assembly had in 2020 approved a resolu-
tion for Mumbai Central to be named after
philanthropist Jagannath ‘Nana’ Shan-
karsheth, who played a seminal role in the
development of Bombay in the colonial era.
Maratha groups like the Sambhaji
Brigade have also sought that Maharash-
tra’s ‘cultural capital’ Pune be renamed
‘Jijaunagar’—after Rajmata Jijabai, mother
of Shivaji, for her role in resettling the city U T TA R P R A D E S H / L AW
in the 17th century after it was razed by the

BULLDOZING
Adilshahi general Murar Jagdeo.
These competing demands now have
the government on the back foot. For ins-

JUSTICE
tance, the MVA regime had to change its
decision to name the greenfield Navi Mum-
bai international airport after Bal Thac-
keray. In August 2022, the state legislature
approved the motion to name the airport By Prashant Srivastava
after D.B. Patil, a former Lok Sabha MP of
the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) for

his yeoman work in getting remunerative
compensation for the local peasant com-
munities like the Aagaris whose lands were
acquired for the development of the satel-
lite city of Navi Mumbai in the 1970s.
Writer-activist Sanjay Sonawani treats
the renaming fetish with an air of tired
bemusement. “The main factors are caste
pride and identity and the Hindu versus
Muslim narrative. Unfortunately, people
do not know where their interests lie…
religious and caste identities are getting
sharpened, leading to the demands getting
an aggressive edge,” he says. For activists
like him, the SC’s comments on the issue
will have come as a salve. While disposing
of Upadhyay’s petition, the court said, “The
history of any nation cannot haunt the
present and future generations of a nation
to the point that succeeding generations
become prisoners of the past… What are
you trying to achieve here? Do you want to
keep the country on the boil?” It remains
to be seen what ripples the obiter dicta will
create in Maharashtra and other states
prone to the renaming bug.
U
ttar Pradesh chief min- dead outside his house in Praya-
ister Yogi Adityanath graj on February 24. Two of the
revels in the ‘Bulldozer five UP policemen in his secu-
baba’ image he has rity detail were also killed. Later,
built for himself, but the events of Arbaaz, the alleged driver for the
the past couple of weeks will have assailants, was killed in a police
knocked it down a few notches. encounter. Jailed don-turned-
The fortnight saw two high-profile neta Atiq Ahmed and his associ-
cases where three people were ates are the prime suspects in the
killed, which has led to people case. The UP Police have filed an
questioning the Yogi narrative—of FIR against Atiq, his wife Shaista
him being the tough, straight- Praveen, his brother Khalid Azim,
shooting marshal who cleaned up two of his sons, and several others.
a bad town, so to speak. The Prayagraj Development
In the first case, 46-year-old Authority also brought out the
Pramila Dixit and her daughter bulldozers, demolishing the pro-
Neha, 22, were killed during an perty of local journalist Zafar
anti-encroachment “bulldozer Ahmed, who they initially claimed
action” on February was Atiq’s relative.
13. In the second, Shaista and two
Umesh Pal, the Yogi’s ‘tough of her minor sons
prime witness in on crime’ were living here
the 2005 murder narrative on rent after Atiq’s
case of Bahujan has taken a own residence
Samaj Party MLA beating in was demolished in
Raju Pal, was shot the past few September 2020.
weeks
UPFRONT
Officials also goofed up badly on basic
protocol by taking the minor sons into
custody, and it was only after Shaista
went to court that they admitted to it.
The Atiq-Umesh rivalry had been
on for the past 18 years. In fact, Umesh
was returning from a hearing in a
kidnapping case he had filed against
Atiq in 2006 when he was shot dead,
in a scene quite reminiscent of how
Raju Pal was done in back then. A
historysheeter like his rivals, Raju was
murdered just months after winning
the Allahabad (West) assembly seat in
2005, defeating Atiq’s younger brother
Azim. That case is now with the CBI
and charges are being framed against
Atiq and Azim. Atiq is currently in
Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati jail; two of
SHATTERED Pramila Dixit’s
husband sits in protest
among the rubble of their
house in Kanpur Dehat
his sons are in jails in UP.
The two incidents sparked a heated
debate in the UP assembly on February
25 with CM Adityanath and Samajwadi
Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav going
hammer and tongs at each other. Yogi
accused the SP chief of being in cahoots
with the “mafias” and added: “Unko
mitti mein mila denge (I’ll ground them
into the dust)…you first welcome the
criminals with garlands and then create
drama over the law and order situation.”
Akhilesh retorted with a question
that sought to turn the tables right
back on Yogi, “Is this the Ramrajya you
8 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
promise, where guns are being fired
openly? The police is a complete failure
and the BJP is responsible.” He also
referred to the Kanpur Dehat incident
where the mother-daughter duo was
killed as another manifestation of the
government’s arrogance and the ‘injus-
tice’ against the poor in the state.
In Kanpur Dehat’s Madauli vil-
PRAMILA DIXIT AND
DAUGHTER NEHA WERE
BURNT ALIVE IN A
“BULLDOZER ACTION”
IN KANPUR DEHAT
PTI
lage, victim Pramila Dixit’s son Shivam
claims that a district administration
team led by the sub-divisional magis-
trate (SDM) arrived with a bulldozer in
tow. “My parents were sleeping inside
the house. They demolished it without
telling us and set it on fire. I somehow
managed to get out. The cops were try-
ing to push me back inside. My father
was severely burnt, while my mother
and sister died in the fire,” he says.
After the incident, the victim’s fam-
ily refused to claim the bodies till the
accused are arrested. The burnt bodies
lay for several hours in the open ground
among protests. Finally, after deputy
CM Brajesh Pathak’s intervention, the
family agreed to the cremation. The
Kanpur Dehat police have registered a
murder FIR against 39 people, includ-
ing the SDM, lekhpal (revenue officer)
and the local police SHO.
The Opposition has tried to recast
the incident as another instance of
atrocities against the Brahmin com-
munity, a charge that had pursued Yogi
even during his first term. Congress
state spokesperson Anshu Awasthi
says, “This is not the first incident; ear-
lier also Brahmins were a target under
Yogi’s raj. Strict action must be taken
against the accused.” SP MLA Manoj
Pandey has also been vocal on “Yogi’s
bulldozers targeting the Brahmins”.
Senior AAP leaders led by party’s
UP in-charge Sanjay Singh even per-
formed a ‘bulldozer ahuti yagya’ in Luc-
know on the occasion of Mahashivratri.
Even a section of the BJP organisation
seems to be unhappy with the “free
hand” given to the officials; they feel the
incident could alienate the Brahmins
“who are our core voters”.
But, perhaps egged on by Yogi’s bra-
zenness, UP’s lawmakers are champing
at the bit. In the past two weeks, BJP
MP from Kannauj Subrat Pathak has
publicly commented that he “won’t
be surprised if gangster Atiq Ahmed’s
car overturns, just like gangster Vikas
Dubey’s did”, a reference to the way the
latter infamously met his end while
being escorted back by UP Police from
Madhya Pradesh in July 2020. Officials
had then said that the car he was travel-
ling in had overturned, and that Dubey
was shot dead when he made a run for
it. Minister J.P.S. Rathore, too, has
made comments along these lines. Atiq
has now cited these comments in a peti-
tion with the SC seeking its protection
where he said he feared for his life.
Besides the perception of lawless
officials running amok, the events of
the past week do not bode well for Yogi’s
plan to showcase UP as an investment
destination. He is lucky the fire from
the Kanpur Dehat incident got doused
quickly, but a couple of more incidents
like this will put him in the spot.

C O N G - L E F T- M A M ATA
LEFT’S HAND
IN ALLIANCES
By Romita Datta
T
he results might have been
different but for the alli-
ance of the Left parties and
Congress for the Tripura
assembly polls and the byelections for
the Sagardighi assembly seat in West
Bengal’s Murshidabad district. It
surely raised the hackles of their main
electoral opponents, the BJP and the
Trinamool Congress. PM Narendra
Modi, on the final day of campaign-
ing in Tripura, warned voters that “old
players of misgovernance have joined
hands...even a single vote for them will
take Tripura backwards”. Bitter rivals
during the 25-year Left rule in Tripura,
the alliance did initially leave the ar-
riviste BJP disconcerted, especially
since its main agenda was to split the
10 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
anti-BJP/ anti-incumbency votes. In
the event, the BJP need not have wor-
ried: it won a majority on its own, win-
ning 32 seats. Equally interesting was
what happened at the other end: the
Congress improved its tally from zero
in 2018 to three and its vote share from
1.8 per cent to 8.6 per cent; the CPI(M),
on the other hand, dipped from 16 to
11 seats, its vote share nearly halving
ANGERED AT
THE SAGARDIGHI
LOSS, MAMATA
ANNOUNCED TMC
WOULD FIGHT THE
2024 POLLS ALONE
THE HAND’S MOVE
Victorious Congress
candidate Byron Biswas;
inset, Mamata Banerjee,
who termed the Congress-
Left understanding ‘immoral’
ANI
to 24.6 per cent from 42 per cent. Pro-
Left sceptics of the alliance were quick
to conclude that the Congress benefited
at the expense of the Left.
If Modi had spelt out an anticipato-
ry warning, West Bengal chief minister
Mamata Banerjee’s choleric outburst
came after the TMC’s shock defeat to
the Congress in Sagardighi. There, the
Left-backed candidate Byron Biswas
defeated TMC’s Debashish Banerjee by
over 22,000 votes. It was particularly
galling for the TMC as it had won the
seat in the 2021 assembly polls by over
50,000 votes. The Congress vote share
increased from 19.4 per cent to 47.3
per cent; that of the TMC fell to 35 per
cent from 51 per cent. An irate Mamata
attributed the loss to an “immoral alli-
ance” between the Left and Congress,
and accused them and the BJP of
having a “give and take” relationship.
The TMC, she added in a fit of pique,
would fight the 2024 parliamentary
polls alone. Observers say a massive
swing of the Muslim vote away from
the TMC—63 per cent of Sagardighi’s
population is Muslim—led to the upset.
The two contradictory results
reopened an old question in a new
UPFRONT

form: is the gusto with which the Left
and Congress teamed up and took on
the might of the BJP and TMC a new
template for ‘secular’ politics? CPI(M)
leaders are not committing overmuch.
It’s a line on which they have infa-
mously dithered in the past. But a t the
Kannur party congress in April 2022,
politburo member Prakash Karat had
laid out a tentative outline. “Alliance
with the Congress is part of our party
line. We have an understanding with
DMK, the Congress, too, has it with
them. Similarly, in Bihar, we and the
Congress are with the RJD. I don’t see
any front or platform or scope for any
all-India pre-poll alliance. A combina-
tion might emerge later, but the alli-
OUR OBJECTIVE IS ance of all secular, like-minded parties
TO ALIGN ANTI-BJP will continue,” he had said.
FORCES. THEY’VE TO Talking to INDIA TODAY, CPI(M)
PROVE THEIR STAND... state secretary Mohammed Salim also
THERE’S MUCH TACIT negated the idea of any non-Congress
UNDERSTANDING front to take on the BJP. Even as those
MOHAMMED SALIM like Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar
CPI(M) W. Bengal state secretary Rao have reached out to various par-

W E AT H E R

WHEAT FEELS
THE HEAT
By Rahul Noronha

I
ndia’s food security may be
staring at a crisis this year.
At the centre of this
is the rising mercury that
has sent alarm bells ring-
ing in the wheat-producing
belts in states such as Uttar
Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana,
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Bihar and Gujarat. The con-
sistently higher-than-normal
temperatures during this
critical time in the wheat crop
cycle are likely to adversely
impact the government’s
output estimates. According
to the Indian Meteorological
Department (IMD), February
2023 was the warmest since
1901. The maximum tempera-
ture reached 29.54 degrees
Celsius—1.7 degrees higher
than normal.
The farm community
apart, policymakers, too,
are concerned given that
lower production of wheat
would have a cascading
effect on Public Distribution
System (PDS) planning, food
inflation and, eventually, the
general economic scenario.
This week, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi took cogni-
sance of the harsh
summer forecast and
directed the Food Corporation
of India to ensure optimal
storage of grains.
In areas outside com-
mands of irrigation projects,
sowing of wheat was mostly
done belatedly last year, in
November and December,
because of the delayed with-
drawal of monsoon in parts of
the country. A sedate spring
would have helped, but exces-
sive heat at the pre-flowering
and flowering stages is now
affecting pod formation and
plants that have the seed
formed in them. Heat has
an effect of ‘forced ripening’
which leads to shrivelling of
the grain and consequent
weight loss. Rains, hail and
thunderstorms in central India
brought a temporary respite
from the heat, but equally the
risk of crop damage. And the
heat is likely to return in the
coming days.
Estimates vary, but a
study by a group of scientists
from universities in the US,
Europe, Australia and China
indicates a drop of 6 per cent
in wheat production for every
one degree Celsius rise in
temperature. The excessive
temperatures are thus play-
ing a spoiler in India’s plans
for a bumper harvest. Wheat
production was estimated at
112.8 million tonnes (MT) in
the 2022-23 rabi crop cycle.
In 2021-22, estimates stood
at 111.32 MT, subsequently
revised to 107.74 MT. The drop
MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE
ABOVE NORMAL
5.1°C or more: West Rajasthan,
Chandigarh, Haryana, Delhi,
Himachal Pradesh and east MP
3.1-5°C: Punjab, J&K, east
Rajasthan, west MP, parts of UP
1.6-3°C: Bihar and Jharkhand
Source: IMD, Feb. 27
was a result of excessive
heat in the days just after Holi
across India. This year, the
onset of summer seems much
earlier than even that, almost
a month ahead in fact.
The estimated increase
in wheat production this year
was mainly due to an addition
of 0.13 million hectares (mha)
in sown area, which took the
total area under the crop to
34.32 mha across the coun-
try in 2022-23. “As farmers,
ties for just such an initiative, Salim
made it clear that a ‘third front’ would
only strengthen the BJP. “Our objec-
tive will be to align anti-BJP forces…
those who were not with the BJP in the
past nor would be in the future. In fact,
they will have to prove their anti-BJP
stand by taking part in all movements
against saffron. Too much of tacit un-
derstanding is going on,” says Salim.
The Left thus looks to be moving
gingerly towards the role it played dur-
ing the initial days of the United Pro-
gressive Alliance, seeking to unite all
parties ranged against the BJP, region-
al or otherwise. In this arrangement,
however, West Bengal and Kerala will
need to be kept as exceptions. In Ben-
gal, the TMC, which had unseated the
Left in 2011, is very much an organic
rival. In Kerala—the only state under
Left rule—the Congress is the Left’s
main foe. Indeed, the aversion the Left
has frequently exhibited vis-a-vis the
Congress nationally flows directly from
the half-century-long blood feud that
has shaped Kerala’s politics. No wonder
grizzled veterans there look askance at
events in the former eastern bastions.
They cite the Left’s gradual attenua-
tion—the present decline in Tripura,
they say, was foreshadowed by Bengal
in 2021, where its yield fell to an igno-
minious zero. The Sagardighi win is all
very well, but they fear the Left has lost
its ground irrevocably in the two states,
and they would be reduced to having
relevance only in Kerala.
– with Jeemon Jacob

WEATHER-BEATEN
A farmer in a wheat field Wheat and Barley Research.
in Panna district, MP The agricultural scientist com-
munity is suggesting ways to
reduce the impact of the heat,
but there is a question mark
over how much of it can be
implemented. Suggestions
include using mulch and irriga-
tion to keep ground tempera-
tures down. Jaat, however,
cautions that using water
while temperatures are high
can also lead to excessive
heat release from the ground,
killing the plant (locally called
ukasnaa) before it can com-
plete its life cycle.
Lower production of
wheat is likely to impact the
LOWER PRODUCTION
OF WHEAT IS LIKELY
TO IMPACT THE PLATE
AJAY TIWARI
PM Garib Kalyan Yojana has
been stopped in MP since last
month. While wheat stocks
currently are above buffer
levels, a lot depends on what
the final production numbers
in 2023 will be.
At around Rs 2,500
per quintal for the mill variety
(which is the most basic),
wheat is presently already
almost 20 per cent costlier
than its price level during
February last year. Though
the minimum support price
(MSP) announced for 2023 is
Rs 2,125, the market price is
expected to be much higher.
This would lead to a drop in
procurement by government
agencies, and potential diver-
sion to hoarders, which will
only worsen the crisis.
For consumers, a lower
production will hike prices
further, contributing to infla-

IN INDIA’S WHEAT- tion. And on the producer

we are extremely concerned,
but there is little we can do.
In fields where wheat sowing
was later (in December) and
crops are green, pod forma-
tion is taking place prema-
turely. The heat will eventually
lead to lesser seeds in each
pod, reduction in pod length
and grain shrivelling, all con-
tributing to weight loss,” says
Rajendra Singh Jaat, a farmer
in Umraoganj village, along the
river Narmada, in Raisen—one
of the best wheat production
districts in MP. “We can only
pray to god,” he adds when
asked if something can be
done to minimise the adverse
effects of heat.
“Concerned over the per-
sistently high temperatures,
the Centre’s scientists met
on February 26 to chalk out
a strategy for mitigating the
effects of heat,” says Dr G.P.
Singh, director of the Karnal-
based Indian Institute of
CONSUMING STATES
plate in wheat-consuming
areas. As it is, the drop in
production last year led to
the replacement of wheat
with rice in the PDS (public
distribution system) in states
such as MP, UP and Gujarat
where the grain is the staple
crop. And in states such as
Bihar and Kerala, the distri-
bution of wheat was totally
stopped and replaced with
rice. Moreover, the extra
central assistance under the
side, the chances of the ban
on wheat exports being lifted
seem bleak in this scenario.
This may deny farmers any
chances of getting a higher
price, which could have offset
production losses.
Not all within the agricul-
tural scientific community
are pessimistic. A.K. Singh,
director, Indian Agriculture
Research Institute, said late
last month that there was
less likelihood of terminal heat
conditions setting in before
March 16 by when the grain-
filling stage of wheat would be
over. If the weather does not
act whimsical, that is.
UPFRONT

By Jumana Shah

F
or a state formed on linguistic
lines, it may come as a surprise
that Gujarat took over six
decades to make the teach-
ing of its native language mandatory in
elementary classes across all schools,
irrespective of the medium of instruc-
tion or affiliation. In doing so, it has
joined states like Maharashtra (which
along with Gujarat was carved out from
the erstwhile Bombay state in 1960),
Punjab and Telangana that have passed
similar legislations in recent years.
Titled the Gujarat Compulsory
TUSHAR TANKARIA

Teaching and Learning of Gujarati

Language Bill, 2023, the proposed
legislation got the state assembly’s
unanimous nod on February 28. It has
basically given teeth to a 2018 govern-
ment resolution (GR) that pushed for G U J A R AT
the teaching of Gujarati language even
in non-Gujarati medium schools. Now,
the schools that fail to comply will face
a penalty of Rs 50,000, Rs 1 lakh and
Rs 2 lakh for the first three violations,
TO BE AT HOME
respectively, and can also lose their
registration upon the third breach.
The immediate trigger for the
state government to introduce the bill
WITH GUJARATI
was last month’s rap from the Gujarat we have only encountered attitudinal proficiency in English need not be
High Court, which is hearing a public resistance,” he says. “Sure, schools will at the cost of the mother tongue,” he
interest litigation (PIL) that seeks the have to accommodate an additional adds. Even the National Education
implementation of the 2018 GR in its subject but, within a year, these teeth- Policy (NEP), 2020 recommends the
“true letter and spirit”. According to the ing issues should be sorted.” Claiming mother tongue to be the medium of
state’s primary education department, that schools were in any case expecting instruction until at least Class 5, and
only 14 of the 4,520 schools surveyed on such a move following the GR in 2018, preferably till Class 8 and beyond.
the court’s directions were not teaching Joshi says it will also help create job To set the record straight, the
Gujarati. But Ahmedabad-based NGO opportunities for youths who graduate present legislation only makes Guja-
Matrubhasha Abhiyaan, which had in Gujarati language. rati a mandatory subject in Classes
moved the PIL, claimed the number of Rajendra Patel, a trustee of the 1-8 and in no way suggests that it
schools where Gujarati is not offered at Matrubhasha Abhiyaan, claims that it’s should be the medium of instruction
all or is an optional subject is upwards “well-established scientifically” that pri- in schools. There are 9,965 primary
of 100. Even as the court sought another mary education must schools in Gujarat,
survey to confirm numbers, the govern- be in the mother where about 3.1 million
ment decided to bring in the legislation. tongue for a student
A NEW STATE children are enrolled.
According to Dr M.I. Joshi, direc- to understand the ba- LAW MAKES Of these, 6,018 schools
tor of primary education, Gujarat, sic concepts properly. GUJARATI A with 2.5 million stu-
non-domicile students whose parents “We do not under- MANDATORY dents have Gujarati as
are working in the state “for a tempo- mine the importance SUBJECT the medium of instruc-
rary period” have been exempted from of English as the tion. It leaves about 20
the mandatory learning of Gujarati, language of higher
IN CLASSES per cent of the state’s
thus taking care of one of the poten- technical education 1-8; ERRANT schoolchildren who
tial sticking points. “Except for that, and business. But SCHOOLS WILL are being instructed in
FACE THE MUSIC
14 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3

LANGUAGE
LESSONS
Children learning
Gujarati at a
school in Rajkot
a medium other than Gujarati and are
studying it as a language subject in vary-
ing degrees—or not at all—in primary
classes. They may seem to be in a minor-
ity, but Patel points out that as English is
the “language of aspiration”, English-me-
dium schools are on the rise—3,478 or 35
per cent of the total—and even penetrat-
ing the state’s semi-urban areas.
Gujarati, linguists fear, will stop be-
ing a language of literate knowledge and
could be reduced to an oral language in
a few decades. Litterateurs are already
alarmed at the distinct fall in publication
of original Gujarati literature. In 2020,
the last time the Gujarat education board
held regular Class 10 exams, 14.5 per cent
of students who had done their entire
schooling in Gujarati medium, ironically,
flunked the Gujarati language paper.
“Teachers are expected to not only
teach the alphabet, but inspire students
to read Gujarati literature too,” reasons
Patel. “But schools alone can’t make a
child proficient in the language without
the parents’ support. For decades now,
Gujarati has stopped being ‘cool’. The
new law will bring it back in vogue, so
to speak.” Or, at least, it will ensure the
state’s children learn to read and write
in their native tongue.
R AJASTH AN
VASUNDHARA,
SELF-ATTESTED
By Rohit Parihar
T
he BJP high command,
it seems, has had a late
realisation that it may
not be wise to alienate
ex-chief minister Vasundhara
Raje any further, especially in an
election year. The 69-year-old
Raje had declared some three
weeks ago that she planned to
hold her birthday celebrations on
March 4 instead of on her birth
date (March 8) so that it does not
overlap with the Holi festivities.
But true to form, the state leader-
ship put a spanner in the works.
RAJE’S SALASAR RALLY
ONCE AGAIN PROVED
THAT IN THE RAJASTHAN
BJP SHE IS THE ONLY
LEADER CAPABLE OF
PULLING IN THE CROWDS
Out of the blue, Rajasthan BJP
chief Satish Poonia announced
that the party would join its
student wing, the Bharatiya
Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM),
in gheraoing the assembly on
March 4 to protest against rising
unemployment and the leaking of
recruitment exam papers.
The assembly gherao could
have happened on any other day,
but the not-so-hidden agenda
was to ensure that party legisla-
tors were present at the protests
and not put in an appearance at
Raje’s event in Salasar in Churu
district. Though not formally
pegged as a political event, it was
evident the birthday celebrations
were to be a show of strength.
Raje camp insiders say as
late as on March 2, she was
extremely upset over the BJP
state unit’s move to sabotage her
celebrations. Some prominent
state leaders also apparently
“expressed their anguish” to the
high command through their
contacts about being caught in a
Catch-22 situation. Raje knows
how to keep a low profile and
abide by party discipline but, as
one cohort put it grandly, “her
blue blood boils the moment she
is convinced there’s been foul
play against her”. Fortunately,
what was developing into an
ugly situation for the party got
defused after the Ashok Gehlot-
led government decided to not
hold an assembly session on
March 4. Within hours, the BJP
announced that its Rajasthan
in-charge Arun Singh would be
present at Poonia’s protests but
also attend Raje’s celebrations.
This, of course, meant that the
unofficial ‘sanction’ against her
event had been lifted.
Raje’s birthday celebrations
in Salasar were at a pilgrimage
destination where Hanuman is
the resident deity. As in previ-
ous years, it turned out to be a
mega show, with the police and
organisers having to work hard
to ease the kilometres-long traffic
jams and prevent stampedes, as
nearly 100,000 gathered from
all over the state. It also put all
doubts to rest that she is the only
BJP leader in Rajasthan with
the charisma to command such
crowds. For two days, she visited
temples in the area and held long
M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 15
UPFRONT
prayer sessions. People in Rajasthan
see in Raje an old-style Hindu devotee,
which they feel separates her from
the hardcore Hindutva her party tries
to practise. And her Gwalior royalty
sheen, expectedly, does her no harm
either. Although she played down the
numbers, 55 sitting BJP MLAs and
12 MPs and 118 ex-MLAs and minis-
ters greeted her in person during the
celebrations that went on till 10 pm
on March 4. In contrast, the Poonia-
organised protests had just seven MPs
and 22 MLAs attending, with even
some known Raje critics hot-footing it
to Salasar later to greet her.
The next day (March 5) saw another
major event that showcased Raje’s clout.
The ex-CM could not make it to the Jat
Maha Kumbh in Jaipur but her son
and MP Dushyant Singh was one of the
16 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
lines). The event also had a smattering
QUEEN OF HEARTS
of leaders from both the Congress and
Vasundhara Raje greets the
people during her birthday
the BJP, but it was clear where the
celebrations in Salasar organisers’ loyalties lay. Indeed, even in
the past, the mahasabha had indicated
that they were partial towards Raje.
This was also one of the reasons why
her rally at Salasar, in the heart of the
Jat-Rajput Shekhawati region, was
a big success despite two prominent
leaders of the area, deputy leader of
the opposition, Rajendra Rathore, and
Poonia, staying away.
T
he question that everyone is
now asking is: has the BJP
high command worked out
a strategy for Rajasthan? Nearly a
month has gone by and it has still not
decided on who will replace Gulab
Chand Kataria—who has moved out
as Assam governor—as leader of the
opposition. Some sources say the party
is planning a cabinet reshuffle that will
include leaders from Rajasthan, and
things will become clearer after.
PURUSHOTTAM DIWAKAR
The BJP knows well Raje is the
only leader capable of turning the
anti-incumbency votes against Gehlot
to the party’s advantage. Her record
in the massive victories of 2003 and
2013 speak for themselves. Poonia
has worked hard in the state, along
with organisational general secretary
NEARLY A MONTH Chandrashekhar, but he has failed to
HAS GONE BY AND inspire the cadre. Under his steward-
ship, the BJP has also lost seven of the
THE BJP HIGH
past eight byelections in the state.
COMMAND IS STILL Meanwhile, Raje is playing her
UNDECIDED ON cards well. Despite the high com-
WHO WILL TAKE mand’s apprehensions, Raje had
GULAB KATARIA’S Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s face
PLACE AS LEADER displayed prominently on her birthday
OF THE OPPOSITION event posters. On the dais, too, there
were huge cutouts of her along with
those of the PM, Union home minister
major stars present. He was introduced Amit Shah, BJP president J.P. Nadda
to the gathering as a “Jat maharaja” as and even Poonia. Clearly, she is cover-
he is from Dholpur, the prominent Jat ing all the bases in a bid to become the
dynasty in Rajasthan into which Raje, a sole choice on who will lead the party
Scindia by birth, is married. Dushyant in the assembly election at the end of
is also married into a Gujjar fam- the year. Unlike last time, there are
ily, which is how Raje is often able to no party cadres actually sloganeering
canvass votes without caste biases (es- against her. But will the high com-
pecially of Jats who mostly vote on caste mand shed its ambivalence?
UPFRONT
M A N U FAC T U R I N G
THE Q3
TUMBLE
By M.G. Arun
T
hat India’s GDP grew just 4.4
per cent in the third quarter
(Q3) of 2022-23 compared to
5.2 per cent in the same quar-
ter of the previous fiscal caught many by
surprise. For an economy widely touted
to show a yearly GDP growth of 7 per
cent for the fiscal year, the Q3 numbers
seem disappointing. To target 7 per
cent, the economy will have to grow at
over 5 per cent in Q4. How feasible is
that, given the challenges all around?
The biggest disappointment came
from manufacturing, which, despite
a focus on making in India and pro-
duction-linked schemes, still showed
de-growth. Growth in the sector was
-1.1 per cent in Q3FY23, compared to
a growth of 1.3 per cent in the year-ago
quarter. Moreover, from a growth of 6.4
per cent in Q1FY23, manufacturing had
slipped to -3.6 per cent in the second,
only to recover a bit in the third. Some
experts attribute the slowing growth in
manufacturing to the weak profit and
loss accounts of companies in the sector,
where their Q2 financial results record a
fall in profits due to high input costs.
High inflation has not only stoked
the prices of key inputs but also damp-
ened consumption. When demand is
weak, manufacturers cut down produ-
ction. High input costs and sagging
demand mean that profits take a hit, as
reflected in the manufacturing numbers
for the quarter, says Madan Sabnavis,
chief economist with Bank of Baroda.
Commentators allude to India as a
bright spot in the gloom that pervades
18 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
A MIXED BAG
(Growth %)
5.4
3.7
2.3
1.3
-1.1
Agriculture,
forestry & fishing
quarrying
Mining &
Manufacturing
the world economy. It’s been over a
year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
and the conflict, which shows no sign
of ceasing, continues to add to global
inflation. The only factor helping stabi-
lise crude oil prices is, quite ironically,
the threat of a recession, which can
jeopardise the little post-Covid revival
countries have seen.
Exports have been an obvious casu-
alty of this—they dropped 12 per cent
year on year in December to $34.5 bil-
lion (Rs 2.8 lakh crore). “The worry is
that export demand may slow down in
the coming quarters even as advanced
countries witness a downturn,” says
D.K. Joshi, chief economist with Crisil.
This can further harm manufacturing.
Construction seems the only excep-
Illustration by SIDDHANT JUMDE
tion to the declining trend, growing 8.4
Q3FY22
Q3FY23
per cent in Q3FY23 compared to just 0.2
per cent in the year-ago period. The gov-
ernment’s thrust on infrastructure and
9.2 9.7 big capital expenditure plans will con-
8.4
tinue to drive construction. Investment
has been robust in infrastructure sectors
such as steel and cement, says Sabnavis.
3.7 Relief also came in from agriculture,
which grew 3.7 per cent in Q3 compared
to 2.3 per cent a year ago. The rebound
0.2 in retail post the pandemic was evident
in the 9.7 per cent growth in the services
services, etc.
Construction
Trade, hotels,
sector. Some economists attribute the
lower-than-expected growth in Q3 to
the upward adjustment in the base year
GDP. The growth for FY22 was revised to
9.1 per cent from 8.7 per cent earlier. The
contraction in GDP in FY21 was revised
(Source: MoSPI)
to 5.7 per cent from 6.6 per cent earlier.
Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist
at HSBC, says the level of output in Q3
compared to pre-pandemic quarters
continued to improve.
Most economists, including Joshi
and Sabnavis, feel the overall 7 per cent
growth for the year is achievable. “The
upper revision (of the GDP numbers)
shows the economy was more resilient to
the pandemic,” says Joshi. “India should
be able to clock 5 per cent growth in the
last quarter, so the overall growth for the
whole year would be 7 per cent.” Sabnavis
pegs full fiscal growth at 6.8 per cent.
But weak global growth, uncertainty
in crude prices, high inflation and high
interest rates can spoil the party, they say.
Climate change can play havoc with agri-
culture, and further threaten growth.
UPFRONT CONRAD K. SANGMA, 45
Chief Minister, Meghalaya

NORTHEAST POLLS CHALLENGES

THE ROAD
Manage a stable
coalition. The
contrasting demands

AHEAD
from allies may force
CM Sangma to
compromise on his
governance agenda
THOUGH THE ELECTORATE OPTED
FOR CONTINUITY OVER CHANGE, Secure NPP’s political
future in face of ally
CMS SANGMA, RIO AND SAHA WILL
BJP’s big ambitions
HAVE TO WALK A TIGHTROPE
Urban unemployment
By Kaushik Deka is a major concern

O
Maintain law and
n March 2, when the results of assembly order and resolve
elections in three northeastern states— border disputes with
Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura— Assam without hurting
were declared, one common thread was local sentiments
the BJP’s emergence as the governing party in all Tackle the demand for
three—on its own in Tripura and as the junior alli- a Khasi CM
ance partner in the other two. The saffron party al-
most repeated its performance in these states, reap-
ing the benefits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s NEIPHIU RIO, 72
consistent focus on developing and mainstreaming Chief Minister, Nagaland
the remote region. The three winning chief min-
isters, though relieved to have beaten anti- CHALLENGES
incumbency, now have multiple challenges
to address, primarily protecting their Work together with the
Centre to find a solution to
political capital and ensuring fast-track the Naga insurgency
development of their states, which have
remained behind the national average on Improve the abysmal
several socio-economic indices. state of infrastructure
Maintain the stability
of the NDPP-BJP alliance.
With 23 MLAs spread across
smaller parties, the BJP can
MANIK SAHA, 70 form a government on its own
by triggering mass defections
Chief Minister, Tripura

CHALLENGES
Tackle the state’s high
unemployment rate
Ward off the claims of
other CM aspirants such
as Pratima Bhoumik; any
mistake may result in the
claimants hankering for a
replacement, just as in the
BJP’s first tenure
Delicately handle
the tensions between
indigenous tribals and
Bengali population;
negotiate with Tipra Motha,
which has been demanding
a separate state
 ELECTORAL PIE THE STATE OF THE
While the BJP and its allies consolidate their THREE STATES
hold in Meghalaya and Nagaland, Tripura
Here is how the three states, falling
sees the emergence of a new challenger
in the category of 10 small states*,
performed in the India Today State
MEGHALAYA Total seats 60 of the States 2022 survey
SEATS WON AND
2023* VOTE SHARE 2018
2 OVERALL
2 RANK
55 21 NAGALAND
26 21 19
13% 14% 18 6
9% 21% 29%
MEGHALAYA
TRIPURA
31%
33% 40% 10% 0.4% 10 7

NPP Congress TMC BJP Others *States with an area of less than
35,000 sq. km and population of less than
*Elections held in 59 seats 5 million are categorised as small states

NAGALAND Total seats 60 UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

SEATS WON AND (Feb. 2023)
2023 VOTE SHARE 2018
2
4.1% 11.7% 7.7%
12 7
2 12
25 5 26
19% 10% 18 25% 2 Source: CMIE, data not available for Nagaland
6% 9 11% 15%
7%
32% 2% 7% PER
22% 4% 39% 1%
CAPITA
INCOME
86,539
60,606

91,481
NDPP BJP NCP NPP NPF Congress Others (Constant
prices,
2021-22)
TRIPURA Total seats 60
Source: RBI, data not available for Nagaland
SEATS WON AND
2023 VOTE SHARE 2018
POVERTY RATE
(2011-12)
32 13 36 16
1
11 44% 22%
8%
38%
8 12% 19% 14%
9% 5%
19% 3
25% 7% 42%
2%
1% Meghalaya Nagaland
Tripura National average
BJP Tipra Motha* CPI(M) IPFT Congress Others
* Tipra Motha was founded in 2019 Source: RBI, data not available after 2011-12

Illustrations by SIDDHANT JUMDE ; Graphic by TANMOY CHAKRABORTY

UPFRONT
INTERVIEW
‘We aim to restore
Ukraine’s sovereignty’
On a visit to India to attend
the G20 summit on March
2, US Secretary of State
ANTONY BLINKEN spoke
exclusively to India Today
TV’s foreign affairs editor
GEETA MOHAN. Excerpts:
Q.
The West
seems to
have failed
in isolating
Russia so far. Why?
A. On the contrary, it’s clear
in a variety of ways that
Russia is isolated for its aggr-
ession against Ukraine. Go
back a couple weeks ago—141
countries, three quarters
of the United Nations, stood
up in the General Assembly
and voted for a resolution
condemning Russia’s aggr-
ession and calling for a just,
durable peace in Ukraine.
Here at the G20, at the foreign
ministers’ meeting, if you
look at the chair statement
that was put out by India,
it reflects on the part of 18
of the 20 countries—that is,
every country except for
Russia and China—the very
language used by the leaders
in the Bali meetings just a
few months ago about what
Russia is doing in Ukraine.
Countries are feeling it in
a different way as there has
been an assault not just on
Ukraine but on the prin-
ciples at the heart of the UN
Charter, principles that are
necessary for trying to keep
the peace around the world.
For example, one country
can’t simply go and try and
22 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
AFP
“RUSSIAN AGGRESSION HAS
WARNED COUNTRIES ABOUT
OTHER WOULD-BE AGGRESSORS”
take over another, erase its
borders, erase its identity.
So all of those things, as well
as the sanctions and export
controls, are having an incr-
easingly heavy impact on
Russia. But ultimately, the
objective is to get it to stop
the aggression and to restore
Ukraine’s sovereignty. And
that requires that we con-
tinue to support Ukraine and
exert pressure on Russia.
Q. Do you think because
of this war, the focus
has shifted from China
and Chinese aggression,
whether it is against
Taiwan or India?
A. On the contrary, I think
that what Russia has done
in Ukraine has awakened
other parts of the world
to concerns about other
would-be aggressors. And
the very reason that so many
countries beyond Europe are
standing up against Russia’s
aggression is because they
know that if we let that aggr-
ession pass with impunity,
other would-be aggressors
might say, well, if Russia can
get away with it, so can we.
And that, I think, is a power-
ful motivator. The US is deep-
ly engaged throughout the
Indo-Pacific with a shared
goal that we have with India,
with Japan, with Australia,
but also with most countries
in the region, and that is to
make sure that we maintain
a free, open, prosperous
Indo-Pacific. And there are
many things that we’re doing
together to ensure that.
Q. With one of the US
agencies confirming
that Covid-19 could
have happened because
of a lab leak in Wuhan
in China, do you see
biological warfare as
a threat coming from
China separately?
A. We have real concerns
about the potential develop-
ment and use of bio-weap-
ons. We’ve been working for
years to try to ensure that
wouldn’t happen. There’s
something called the Bio-
logical Weapons Convention
that we strongly adhere to,
and at the same time we
have programmes around
the world to help countries
that have biological research
programmes—for medical
reasons, for example–to
make sure that they are fully
safe and secure.
Q. The recent USCIRF
(US Commission on
International Religious
Freedom) report is
highly critical of India
on freedom of speech or
treatment of minorities.
Was that covered in your
bilateral meetings with
India’s foreign minister?
A. We have an ongoing
dialogue on both of our de-
mocracies and human rights,
because, as the world’s two
largest democracies, it’s cen-
tral to who we are. It’s central
to our identity. And I think
that’s a shared commitment
that both of us have. And
when questions or issues
come up, we discuss them
directly, very openly, very
freely. I think we would hold
each other to account when
there are concerns.
 UPFRONT

Illustration by SIDDHANT JUMDE

Camera Shy
S eemingly innocuous acts
can acquire a different
hue in the age of social media.
Sunil Prabhu, an MLA of the
Uddhav Thackeray faction
of the Shiv Sena, was having
a cordial conversation with
Prabhakar Kale, personal
secretary of CM Eknath Shi-
nde, at the Maharashtra
legislature secretariat when
Shinde came towards them
with a posse of mediapersons
GL ASSHOUSE
in tow. Mindful of the stir that
he, Kale and Shinde in the
CHANGING FACE OF POLITICS same frame might cause,
Prabhu made a hasty exit.

T
he BJP’s central leadership is increasingly facing personality clashes in state
units. In Tripura, despite an easy victory under incumbent chief minister Manik
Saha, a section in the state wanted him replaced by Union minister Pratima Bhou- Yogi’s Do-All
mik. In Karnataka, CM Basavaraj Bommai should worry as ex-CM B.S. Yediyurappa
gets appointed as BJP campaign chief. The demand for change in leadership is coming
from other poll-bound states too, like in Madhya Pradesh where CM Shivraj Chouhan
is completing his fourth term. Having pocketed Tripura, the BJP must resolve the
leadership tussle in these states to get favourable outcomes in the assembly polls
scheduled later this year. The 2018 outing was not so good for the saffron side.

BANKING Flying Accusation T here’s no doubting who

Uttar Pradesh chief
ON INDIANS minister Yogi Adityanath’s
O n March 1, the birthday of Bihar
chief minister Nitish Kumar and his
favourite babu these days

I ndia is poised to is—Manoj Kumar Singh, an

become the world’s
third largest economy
and drive one-fifth
of global growth by
2027, says a recent Morgan Stanley report.
It should be no surprise then that three
Indians will hold the reins at the World
Bank by May this year. Ajay Banga, an Ind-
ian-born American corporate honcho, has
been appointed president; Indian national
Indermit Gill is currently senior vice
president and chief economist, and former
IAS officer Parameswaran Iyer is set to join
as executive director. Interestingly, all three
are alumni of St Stephen’s College and sons
of former officers of the Indian armed forces.
Banga’s father Lt Gen. H.S. Banga and Gill’s
father Lt Gen. I.S. Gill were in the army and
Iyer’s father Air Marshal P.V. Iyer in the IAF.
Tamil Nadu counterpart M.K. Stalin, IAS officer of the 1988 batch.
Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav flew to On April 30, 2022, Yogi
Chennai to wish the latter. Two days made Singh the agriculture
later, Leader of the Opposition and BJP production commissioner,
leader Vijay Sinha took Nitish’s deputy
the second most important
to task in the assembly for flying to position after Chief Secretary.
Chennai to cut a cake but doing nothing
Shortly after, he was also
about attacks on Bihari labourers in given charge of the panchayati
the state. Tejashwi’s retort? “Adaniji ke raj department and made
plane mein nahin baithe hain.” No gues- additional chief secretary of
sing where that missive was headed. the horticulture department.
Recently, on February 28, Yogi
made Singh the infrastructure
and industrial development
commissioner, and the next
day, the chairman of the
Pradeshiya Industrial and
Investment Corporation. He’s
now in charge of the highest
number of departments in UP.
ANI

Kaushik Deka with Anilesh S. Mahajan, Dhaval

Kulkarni, Ashish Misra and Amitabh Srivastava
THE BIG STORY | WEST BENGAL

LEFT WITH AN
EMPTY PLATE
WEST BENGAL’S ALREADY POOR CHILD NUTRITION RECORD IS
MADE WORSE BY ALLEGATIONS OF DIVERSION OF GOVERNMENT
FUNDS FOR THE PM-POSHAN SCHEME

By Romita Datta
 ver the past several years, the Trinamool
Congress government in West Bengal has
been buffeted by a series of corruption allega-
tions that have tarnished its reputation: from
the teachers’ recruitment scandal to the cow
smuggling scam, from the coal imbroglio to
cases of extortion by its leaders. Now, a slew
of new charges have come up against the
ruling party—that of siphoning off funds and
rations from the Pradhan Mantri Poshan
Shakti Nirman or PM-Poshan scheme
(earlier called the Mid-Day Meal Scheme) for
children towards other party and governance
needs. Into the mix are dishonest business-
men, a pliant administration and a dubious
alliance between private and government
schools. The irregularities, if proved, could
be a new low for the state government.
SUBIR HALDER
The matter came to light when the
West Bengal chapter of the ‘Right to Food’
campaign—an independent network of
organisations working towards ensuring
food security—conducted extensive research
based on data provided by the state, unearth-
ing a shortfall in the quantity of mid-day
meal rations supplied during the pandemic
lockdown between April 2020 and June
2022. The deprivation faced by 11.5 million
children (the total number of primary and
upper primary schoolgoing children in the
state) was quantified at 45,593 tonnes of
rice. In terms of proteins—mainly provided
through vegetables and lentils—each child
was deprived of roughly 7 kilos, says the
report. The monetary value of the leakage is
pegged to be Rs 1,572 crore, which the chil-
dren were entitled to as part of the scheme.
While the research findings, which hint
at an unconscionable offence, have startled
many, the whole issue has a particularly bad
odour because the National Family Health
Survey (NFHS)-5 (2019-21) reveals that 34
per cent of Bengal’s children under the age of
five are short for their age or are ‘stunted’, 20
per cent are too thin or ‘wasted’, seven per cent
are ‘severely wasted’ and 32 per cent are ‘un-
derweight’. Worse, these latest figures are dis-
tinctly higher in every category from those in
NFHS-4 (2015-16). Rights activist Anuradha
Talwar, who spearheaded the campaign, says:
“NFHS-5 shows high levels of malnutrition
among schoolgoing children in Bengal. Hun-
ger is an inevitable part of the lives of children
THEIR DAILY BREAD
Children line up for
from deprived backgrounds. The school’s
a mid-day meal at a
school in the West
Midnapore district
of West Bengal
hot meal is a small relief. But the drop in this
during the pandemic impacted their nutrition
and it will show up in NFHS-6.”
The BJP has also raised red flags, with
leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari
writing to Union HRD minister Dhar-
mendra Pradhan in January about the
“biggest ongoing financial scam involving
systematic misappropriation and diversion
of PM Poshan funds”. In his letter, he has
provided documents showing how the BDO
of Hingalgunj in North 24 Parganas district
allegedly diverted Rs 16.25 lakh from mid-
day meal funds on account of refreshments
for an administrative visit by Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee on November 29 and De-
cember 1, 2022. Adhikari’s letter alleges that
funds were being diverted for administrative
purposes for over a decade.
Reacting to the letter, and to consistent
reports of poor quality food being served
BJP’S SUVENDU
ADHIKARI HAS
WRITTEN TO THE
CENTRE ABOUT THE
POSHAN ‘SCAM’. THE
TMC SAYS IT’S ALL
‘VENDETTA POLITICS’
in Bengal, the Centre sent teams compris-
ing Union education ministry officials and
nutritionists in early February to various
parts of the state for a review. The team is yet
to disclose its findings.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh rubbi-
shed all claims and dubbed it as vendetta
politics. He said, “The state government is
implementing the mid-day meal scheme in
the best possible way despite a severe financial
crunch, as the Centre has stopped funds....
Instead of accusing us, he (Adhikari) should
ask his political bosses to release funds.” Min-
ister of women and child development Shashi
Panja says, “I hope the research is unbiased.
We haven’t got any report. If they had been
genuinely concerned, they would have visited
M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 27
THE BIG STORY | WEST BENGAL
other states instead of sending central
teams to Bengal. The defaming of our
state is our main concern.”
According to the PM Poshan Sch-
eme, the cost of one daily hot meal is
slated to be Rs 5.45 for each primary
child (one- to five-year-olds) and Rs
7.97 for each upper primary child (six-
to eight-year-olds). This excludes the
cost of foodgrains (rice or wheat) that
primary and upper primary chil-
dren—100 gm and 150 gm, respec-
tively—are entitled to and the cooking
cost. The foodgrains are supplied free of
cost by the Food Corporation of India
(FCI). The purpose of the scheme is
to meet the nutritional standards of
children and to guard against diseases
like anaemia and stunted growth. With
daily allotment per child pegged at Rs
5.45/ Rs 7.97 and the number of school
days at 220-240 a year, a lot of money is
concentrated in the Poshan scheme for
11.5 million children in Bengal.
THE MODUS OPERANDI
According to many teachers INDIA
TODAY spoke to, many schools allegedly
inflate the number of the scheme’s
beneficiaries to divert funds, since it
is based on a head count of children
eating the meals. The most common
practice is to show that 100 per cent of
students entitled to the meal are eating
it regularly, which is never actually the
case. For instance, at a primary school
in West Midnapore on February 17,
only 40 out of 92 students attended
classes. Ideally, the school should pro-
vide a true average picture of students
eating meals. But this never happens.
Instead, schools demand a full share
of funds. This is also a way to use the
rice/ wheat left in stock elsewhere.
There are other means to show a
full utilisation of the mid-day meal.
There has been a proliferation of private
primary schools in Bengal’s semi-urban
areas, who are hand-in-glove with
government schools. “Sabang block
(in West Midnapore) has six private
kindergarten schools with 150 students
each. Parents admit their children
to private primary schools, but want
28 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
NUTRITION WITHHELD
A survey by the Right to
Food campaign shows 11.5
million children in West
Bengal were deprived of
45,953 tonnes of rice
due to them under the PM
Poshan scheme during the
2020-2022 Covid lockdown
periods. Total value:
Rs 1,572 crore
Government schools
allegedly claim full share of
funds showing cent per cent
attendance, when mostly
only some students eat the
mid-day meals regularly
Funds thus siphoned off
are allegedly used for other
administrative purposes
Many BDOs allegedly
hold back funds for 1-2
months, to avail of the
bank interest accrued
NFHS-5 figures show
34% of Bengal’s children
below 5 are stunted, 20%
are wasted, 32% are
underweight
them to join government schools in
higher classes—either because private
ones have no secondary classes or
are quite expensive. So a tacit under-
standing is arrived at—private schools
allow government primary schools to
show their students on records, so as
to inflate their student strength and
help them claim full Poshan funds. In
exchange, they are assured that their
students would get absorbed in govern-
ment schools later,” alleges Sabang BJP
leader Amulya Maity.
A primary school teacher in
Hingalgunj says, “There’s a school here
that has about 10 students. How does
it function? Private primary schools
lend them students. On average, 50
to 100 private school students make
it to the government portal.” Indeed,
despite the state government’s digital
Banglar Shiksha portal maintaining
data of each government school along
with individual students, the practice
continues. Teachers claim that the
portal uploads whatever informa-
tion a school provides, with no one to
examine its veracity. School inspec-
tors empowered to visit and verify
information, including about mid-day
meals, mostly depend on school data.
Again, many government schools have
opened hostels, where mid-day meal
rations are allegedly used to feed hos-
tel inmates even if they aren’t covered
under Poshan.
Then there are ration dealers/ dis-
tributors who have lifted a large stock
of foodgrains for the scheme from the
FCI. A senior bureaucrat says they keep
aside a portion under the authorities’
instruction. They also allegedly send a
rice consignment three to four months
in advance to schools so that parts are
damaged, face complaint, and branded
inedible. The dealer then takes back
the entire stock, though much of it is in
good condition. He either sells it in the
open market or allegedly supplies it to
ruling party leaders. When informed,
FCI replenishes the whole stock. “This
is a prevalent practice during the
monsoon, when dealers push ration for
three months at a go, knowing well the
risk of flooding,” says a headmaster of
a school in Andul, in Howrah district.
Besides, there are widespread alle-
gations that BDOs withhold mid-day
meal funds for a month or two. Oppo-
sition parties like the BJP and CPI(M)
allege this is done to enjoy the extra
bank interest that accrues.
According to Talwar, the Poshan
scheme in Bengal was worst hit during
Covid. “During the lockdowns, when
families faced starvation, children nee-
ded nutrition. But we found children in
Bengal getting two kilos of rice and two
kilos of potatoes a month, which was
much below their entitlement,” she says.
Going by such hard nutritional
facts, the PM Poshan scheme in West
Bengal needs to be put back on track.
Else, its youngest generations may be
pushed towards mass malnutrition. ■
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY MINERALS
INDIA’S
LITHIUM
MOMENT
The country's grand EV ambitions get a
leg-up with the prospect of a 5.9 million
tonne lithium reserve in Jammu and
Kashmir’s Reasi district
By Moazum Mohammad in Reasi
N
Not much stirs in the sleepy hilltop
village of Salal in the Reasi district of
Jammu and Kashmir. It does offer a
commanding view of the serpentine
Chenab river, alongside sparkling snow-
capped mountains and green hills. The
district is also home to two of India’s
engineering marvels—the 690MW Sa-
lal hydropower project and the world’s
highest rail bridge. The 1,315-metre-
long arch bridge is 359 metres above
the Chenab river bed. That is 35 metres
higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
32 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
ABID BHAT
But no one imagined that—apart
from offering construction material—
the rocky terrain here would put Salal
at the centre of the global market for
lithium. The soft, silvery-white alkali
metal is used in a range of key compo-
nents of rechargeable batteries, solar
panels, mobile phones, laptops and
even psychiatric drugs.
Last month, after the 62nd meeting
of the apex Central Geological Pro-
gramming Board, the Union ministry of
mines announced, among other things,
that Salal—77 km away from Jammu
city—has substantial lithium deposits
for exploration. The initial estimate sug-
gests a staggering potential of 5.9 mil-
lion tonnes (MT) of ‘inferred’ resources
of the metal, a figure that sent many—
from the government, the industry and
the village—into an ecstatic whirl. The
final deposit amount could be less than
predicted but the preliminary findings
by the Geological Survey of India (GSI)
suggest that India may be home to the
sixth largest reserves of lithium in the
world, ahead of China’s known reserves
of 5.1 MT. If the GSI’s findings bear
out, this could kickstart India’s electric
vehicles (EV) revolution.
Known as ‘white gold’ for its scarcity
and high price, lithium is widely used in
batteries due to its high electrochemical
potential and low weight. Data tabled
in Parliament shows India imported
lithium worth Rs 522 crore in the three
years beginning in 2019. Similarly,
lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells, a dominant
component in batteries used in electric
vehicles, worth Rs 26,204 crore were
imported. This comes in the face of the
central government’s push for greener
mobility amid a slew of measures like
the exemption of customs duty for the
production of Li-ion cells.
India is already witnessing a

surge in EV production with 223
per cent growth registered in 2022,
accounting for 48,000 vehicles, ac-
cording to analyst firm Canalys. The
firm forecasts that the EV expansion
in the country will hit over 300,000
units in 2025, representing over a 6
per cent share of the total light car
market. But India’s dependence on
China for the import of Li-ion batter-
ies is considered a major bump in the
ambitious aatmanirbhar (self-reliant)
initiative. This was pointed out by the
Indian chapter of the World Resourc-
es Institute (WRI) in its 2022 report.
It stated that the supply of minerals
needed for commercially available
battery technologies—lithium,
cobalt and nickel—is dominated by a
handful of countries; another road-
block for India. Rishabh Jain, senior
programme lead, Council on Energy,
Environment and Water (CEEW), says
LITHIUM IS WIDELY
USED IN BATTERIES
DUE TO ITS HIGH
ELECTROCHEMICAL
POTENTIAL AND
LOW WEIGHT
85 per cent of lithium/Li-ion cells were
imported from Australia, Chile and
China in 2022.
The discovery of lithium in
Reasi now offers a sliver of hope for the
country to build self-sufficiency in this
sector. Also, with more than 500 ppm
(parts per million) quality, the find
hints at a higher level of enrichment—
more than 300 ppm is considered a
HIDDEN TREASURE The
rocky hill in Salal village
where the GSI has
found lithium resources
good quality value.
Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a
research scientist in electric vehicles
who teaches at IIT-Madras, cautiously
notes that it will be a long wait before
further exploration can reveal a clearer
picture. Yet, he thinks the discovery
could quicken India’s ambitious EV
adoption programme. “It will enable
us to make batteries for EVs with our
own raw material,” he says. The former
advisor to the Union ministry of new
and renewable energy was alluding to
India’s mission of expanding EVs to 40
per cent of two-wheelers and private
cars, and almost 100 per cent of the
commercial buses segment by 2030 to
cut petroleum consumption by 156 MT,
worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore. Jain says that
even if only a portion of the find can be
converted into lithium, it will not only
help India meet its domestic demand
but also be exported.
M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 33
 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY MINERALS FROM BRINES
Salt-rich water The brine is pumped
to a recovery
EXTRACTION PROCESS
is pumped to the
surface and into a facility for:
Most commercial lithium extraction is series of evaporation Purification
ponds
from salt-flat brines. The metal is also Chemical treatment
recovered from lithium-bearing ores The water Filtration
evaporates over
Treatment with soda
months and a variety
ash to precipitate
FROM HARD ROCKS of salts precipitate,
lithium carbonate
leaving the brine with
Lithium is commercially an ever-increasing Washing and drying
extracted primarily from concentration of of the lithium carbonate
five minerals: spodumene, lithium for the final product
lepidolite, petalite,
amblygonite,
and eucryptite
After the ore is mined,
it is crushed and roasted
at 1,100°C
It is then cooled to 65°C,
milled and roasted again,
this time with sulfuric acid,
at 250°C, a process known
as acid leaching
During acid leaching,
hydrogen in the sulfuric acid
is replaced with lithium ions,
to produce lithium sulfate
and an insoluble residue
Lime is then added for the
removal of magnesium (an
element in spodumene)
Soda ash is used
to precipitate lithium
carbonate from the
purified solution
Lime slurry may also be
used as a pH adjuster to
neutralise excess acid from
the acid leaching process

WORLDWIDE DEPOSITS
89 MT 22 MT
Identified Extractible
(2022) MINED FROM...
Bolivia Argentina Chile

21 MT 19 MT 9.8 MT 58 % 3%
Closed-basin Oilfield
brines brines

26 % 3%
Pegmatites
Geothermal
(including
brines
granites)

USA Australia China

7 % 3% Sources: USGS,
STT, CSA Global,
Zeolites
9.1 MT 7.3 MT 5.1 MT Clays
(jadarite)
GSI & others
(hectorite)
MT: Million tonnes
34 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
LITHIUM PROSPECTS
The Reasi find brings into focus the soft, silvery metal that is highly sought after
these days, especially for its use in sustainable mobility solutions
Graphic by NILANJAN DAS

G1
THE REASI
TIMELINE G3 G2
Four stages of
exploration PROSPECTING 2020-21 GENERAL DETAILED EXPLORATION
Quantities are inferred, based on EXPLORATION 3 years thereafter
the interpretation of geological, Next 2-3 years Characteristics of the
G4 geophysical and geochemical More studies are deposit are established with
results to make preliminary done to estimate a high degree of accuracy.
RECONNAISSANCE estimates, and a deposit identi- the shape, size This will help determine the
1995-96 fied to be the target for further and grade of the need for a feasibility study
Mapping of resources exploration mineral deposit for extraction

Srinagar
Reasi
Jammu

5.9 MT
The lithium deposit
estimate in Reasi.
If verified, India
will have the sixth
largest reserves in
the world

500 PPM*
Grade of lithium in
Reasi
(*parts per million)
More than 300 ppm
is considered a good
quality value

`33,750
CRORE

INDIA’S IMPORT COST Worth of investments

India needs to achieve
(2019-2021) the PLI target of setting
up 50 GWh of lithium-
Lithium Lithium-ion cells
ion cell and battery
`522 `26,204 manufacturing plants
CRORE CRORE
M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 35
 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY MINERALS
AREAS OF CONSUMPTION
Distribution of lithium end-usage worldwide

The discovery is significant in the 7%

face of the Modi government’s produc- Ceramics
and glass
tion-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for
manufacturing advanced chemistry cell 80 %
(ACC) battery storage. Four compa-
nies—Rajesh Exports, Reliance New
4% Batteries
Lubricant
Energy Solar, Hyundai Global Motors grease
Company and Ola Electric Mobility— 5%
have been selected for incentives worth Other
$2.4 billion (Rs 18,100 crore). 2 % uses
India needs investments worth Continuous
up to $4.5 billion (Rs 33,750 crore) to
achieve the PLI target of setting up
casting mould
powders
1%
Medical
50 gigawatt hours (GWh) of lithium-
ion cell and battery manufacturing
1 %
Source: Statista Air treatment Data for 2022
plants, according to a study titled
‘How can India indigenise lithium-
ion battery manufacturing?’ by
CEEW. The country requires up to
903 GWh of energy storage to decar-
EVS DRIVE 2030. Li-ion batteries
will meet the majority
The EV expansion
aims to reach 40 per
bonise its mobility and power sectors THE HUNT of this demand cent of two-wheelers
Electric vehicles and private cars, and
by 2030 and Li-ion batteries will
India requires up (EVs) saw a rise almost 100 per cent
meet the majority of this demand. of commercial
“However, it is important to develop to 903 GWh of energy in sales, with 223
storage to decarbo- per cent growth in buses by 2030
mineral processing and raw mate-
nise its mobility and 2022, accounting for Last year, the
rial processing capability to truly power sectors by 48,000 units Centre announced a
become aatmanirbhar,” adds Jain.

T
he caution reflects the many
technical and physical chal-
lenges involved, including costly
exploration processes and the lack of
experience in lithium extraction. Others
point to administrative inertia and the
fact that it took the GSI two decades to
reach the prospecting stage (G3) and
get an inferred estimate. The GSI had
come out with its initial survey after the
reconnaissance stage (G4) in 1999, but
no further work was carried out until
two years ago when its team descended
on Salal village. “Following the National
Mineral Exploration Policy, 2016, the
GSI has given thrust on exploration
of strategic and critical minerals in
addition to bulk minerals,” says Dr S.
Raju, director general, GSI. The survey
concluded that ‘higher values of lithium
are persistent throughout the belt in the
bauxite column’. The 69-page ‘Final Re-
port on Regional Geochemical Survey
for Base Metals and Lithium in Salal
Area’ said ‘lithium prospect in the baux-
ite column in the area of investigation
appears to be promising’ and ‘need [s]
to be taken for further detailed work’.
The exploratory search goes through
four stages—G4, G3, G2 and G1—be-
fore the final extraction. Now, the Salal
site will undergo G2 (general explora-
tion), which entails closed-space drilling
within a radius of 100-200 metres
with vertical and lateral extension to
determine the accurate extent of ore
reserves and consequential grading for
mining. In February 2021, a similar
‘inferred’ category with an estimate of
1,600 tonnes was found in the Marl-
agalla-Allapatna area of Karnataka’s
Mandya district. And in February this
year, Union minister for coal and mines
Pralhad Joshi told the Lok Sabha that
the Atomic Minerals Directorate for
Exploration and Research, a constitu-
ent unit of the Department of Atomic
Energy, is carrying out exploration for
lithium in parts of Mandya and Yadgir
districts in Karnataka. But the resource
has not yet been augmented by the GSI.
“Indifference, delay and budgetary con-
straints have held us back from doing
systematic survey and mapping,” says a
retired senior GSI official.
Prof. Pankaj Srivastava, who teach-
es mineral exploration and economic
geology at Jammu University, says the
G2 stage can give ‘indicated’ results of
grade, quality and quantity of the min-
eral with a chance of error reduced to
20-30 per cent. In the current inferred
estimate, the margin of error could be
as high as 50 per cent. Even if the explo-
ration process is expedited, it will take a
minimum of 5-6 years to extract miner-
als. “There is a low level of confidence at
G3. Now the Union Territory govern-
ment has to decide about the further
course of action (at G2 and G1 stages) as
the GSI’s role is over. It requires large-
scale investment and they can get it
done through public sector enterprises
or private entities depending on them,”
adds Srivastava.
The UT government has
assigned a team of experts to study the

36 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
LITHIUM IN
BATTERIES
How much lithium is
in everyday usage
Electric vehicles:
10-63 kg*
Power wall: 10 kg
Hybrid vehicles:
0.8-2 kg
Power tool
batteries: 40-60 gm
Laptop batteries:
30-40 gm
Tablet batteries:
20-30 gm
Smartphone
batteries: 2-3 gm
Source: Visualcapitalist
*Approx. weight
Rs 18,100 crore incentive to boost
the manufacturing of batteries
for EVs
Last year, India signed a pact
with an Argentinian firm to jointly
prospect lithium in the South
American nation, which has 17 MT
of reserves, through the state-
owned Khanij Bidesh India Ltd
GSI report. Amit Sharma, secretary,
mining department, says they will
take further decisions about the ex-
ploration process in consultation
with the central government. “The
auction of mines will come at a later
stage,” he maintains.
Another major factor that contrib-
utes to the challenges is the technology
needed for lithium exploration. The
Salal find suggests a deposit of bauxite
ore rich in lithium and will need sepa-
ration technology to extract lithium
from the ore. Such a technology,
according to Prof. Srivastava, is used
in Chile or Argentina where lithium
is found in clay minerals, but here it
needs to be seen how much lithium
can be recovered and whether it is
worth the cost. “Beneficiation studies,
which are yet to be conducted, can
give grade and tenor of the mineral.
Also, it can give quantity and quality
as well,” the geologist adds. “It needs
an electric method to separate lithium
from bauxite and hence power supply
is critical. But it takes a long time to
reach that G1 stage wherein the ore
body has to be opened and people have
to be relocated as happens in any other
mineral block.”
Spread over 1,719 square kilome-
tres, the hilly Reasi district falling
amid ravines and gorges has 67,498
hectares of land under forest cover.
Some fear that mining would play
havoc with the ecology and might even
trigger quakes in the region, which lies
in high-risk seismic zones. In October
2005, an earthquake of 7.6 magni-
FOR NOW, THE J&K
GOVERNMENT HAS
ASSIGNED A TEAM
OF EXPERTS TO
STUDY THE
GSI REPORT
tudes on the Richter scale caused
massive destruction in J&K. In 2016,
an Oregon State University (US) study
revealed that the region was ripe for a
major earthquake that could endanger
the lives of as many as a million people.
They did a fresh geologic mapping
of the Himalayan mountains, which
showed that the Reasi fault had been
building up pressure for some time,
suggesting that when it does release or
‘slip’, the resulting earthquake may hit
8 or higher on the Richter scale. Yann
Gavillot, who led the study as a doctor-
al student, said, “What we found was
that the Reasi fault is one of the main
active faults in Kashmir but there
is a lack of earthquakes in the more
recent geologic record. The fault hasn’t
slipped for a long time, which means
the potential for a large earthquake is
strong. It’s not a question of if it’s going
to happen. It’s a matter of when.”
Scientists like Prof. Srivastava
agree that mining results in environ-
mental degradation everywhere, includ-
ing the Himalayas, and it results in the
displacement of people. However, he
dismisses the suggestions that mining
can trigger quakes.
The discovery has sent a rush of ex-
citement in the 24.68 square kilometre
territory of Salal village and its 600-
700 families. Their only concern is that
they should be adequately compen-
sated and resettled together in a place
where they can continue to share the
centuries-old sense of community that
binds this Hindu-majority village. “We
are happy as well as sad. This is not a
village; we are one big family. In hap-
piness and grief, we are together. But
the mining will uproot us and leave us
disintegrated,” says Mahatam Singh, a
resident of the village.
U
ntil the 1980s when the Salal
power project was set up, farm-
ing was the mainstay of their
livelihood. Now the villagers expect the
hill on which their houses and farms
stand to transform their fortunes. It
is not the first time they have heard
about valuable minerals on their land.
Almost four decades ago, a firm from
Odisha came to the village to extract
rock samples. They told the villagers
they contained gold, silver and bauxite.
But they heard no more of it until the
GSI turned up for a reconnaissance
survey in 1996.
Deputy sarpanch Rajinder Singh
only wishes that the government had
pursued the operation years ago, saving
people from relocation in their old age.
“At this stage,” he says, “when most of
my contemporaries are in their 50s,
displacement will be cruel. We have no
option but to accept the government’s
order.” However, these fears—and
hopes—are based on speculation as
things stand. There has been no word
from the administration about any
plans to relocate the community.
Nonetheless, the villagers plan a
grand meeting to decide a strategy for
the future. Their excitement, or anxi-
ety, will keep brewing till the time the
lithium find is confirmed.
with Amarnath K. Menon
M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 37
 COVER STORY / PETS

A pet’s life is not what it used to be. Today, there’s a

venture to indulge every one of their whims
By SONALI ACHAR JEE
Photograph by B A N D E E P S I N G H

indoors curled up at the feet of Mommy

Ram and Shyam begin their day with a
lap in their own private pool. Once they
emerge from its heated waters, a helper
stands by to dry them with Egyptian cot-
ton towels. Their nails are rubbed with a
special Ayurvedic herbal blend to prevent
germs and infections, after which they go
for a leisurely stroll around Delhi’s Sainik
Farms. Breakfast is either boiled salmon
with jasmine rice or a hearty lamb shank
stew, followed by a long snooze on their
own balcony. Of course when the Delhi
winter gets too cold for comfort, they sleep
under a goose-down duvet. Nap over, they
have an hour-long play session with the
babysitter. The day ends with a dinner of
blueberry oatmeal, asparagus soup or na-
ni’s special homemade khichdi. Pampered
brats? Not really. Ram and Shyam are two
Indian dogs that Dhruv Bhasin, 33, res-
cued from the streets of Delhi in 2020.
Clearly, a dog’s life is not what it used to be—
guard the house, shower love on your human or
strut your stuff at a dog show or two. In return,
you could probably get a place of your own called a
kennel, perhaps a collar with your own name tag,
a hand-knit sweater, and a chewy bone for treat if
not the family’s worn-out slippers. Outings would
be a walk in the park, or a trip to the vet.
That’s how Shallu K., a 66-year-old Banga-
lorean who has owned close to 20 dogs so far,
remembers it. “Baths would mean a simple bar
of Dettol soap and the hosepipe in the lawn. We
never put coats and t-shirts on our dogs even
when we took them to the hills in the winter.
They ate bread and milk, not the blueberries and
the gluten-free specialty dog foods you see today.”
Today, that could have PETA snapping at
your heels. Pets in the modern family have
all the privileges that humans do. They are
 ROYAL
TREATMENT
Donut, a two-
year-old Golden
Retriever, is
the centre of all
attention at Heads
Up For Tails in
Gurugram

31 MILLION
The number of dogs that Indians are
expected to have as pets this year,
compared to 20 million in 2019
` 7,400 CRORE
Size of the petcare market in India in 2021,
per market research firm Market Decipher,
and likely to touch Rs 21,000 crore by 2032
COVER STORY / PETS

the children in the family, companions for the ill or

the elderly, besides being man, woman and child’s best
friend. Naturally, their families want the best for them,
and spare no expense in that pursuit. A new pet owner on
an average spends anything between Rs 20,000 and Rs
50,000 to get basics such as vaccinations, a bed, meds,
leashes, collars and bowls. The rest depends on how deep
is your love—and your pockets.

I
ndians have always kept pets. It’s just that the need for

PRATHIMA PINGALI/PAWPARAZZI PET PHOTOGRAPHY

canine/feline company just got more acute in the emo-
tionally and socially isolating days of Covid-19. Accord-
ing to online data agency Statista, if Indians owned
20 million dogs in 2019, that number could well touch 31
million this year. And while dogs remained favourites as
pets, cats, fish and birds found enough homes too.
“Dogs and cats have been shown to reduce loneliness
and combat stress,” says Samriddh Dasgupta, the Chief
Marketing Officer of Heads Up For Tails (HUFT), India’s
largest petcare company, and a dog parent himself. “There
was an increase in adoptions during the pandemic as people
found themselves indoors and often alone.” Noida-based art
HR professional Dhriti Gurudanti, 37, found herself emo-
tionally drained during the pandemic, but since she didn’t
have the space, she ended up adopting a pet virtually. “I
sponsored a dog with a local NGO because I could not keep
one in my apartment,” she says. “I would see him on video
calls and his antics always made me feel better.”
Sniffing a massive opportunity, a whole industry has
sprung up around petcare—from food to grooming to pet
BRINGING UP BABY
fashion to pet products to pet hotels and vacations, pet Pet-lovers are prepared to spare no
training schools, pet psychologists, pet birthdays and even expense when it comes to indulging their
pet photo-shoots. A September 2022 report by market re- pets. This is what it takes roughly to keep…
search firm Market Decipher estimated the Indian petcare
market size to be Rs 7,400 crore in 2021 and predicted it
to reach Rs 21,000 crore by 2032, growing at a CAGR of ...a medium-sized
19.2 per cent. Just the pet food industry is worth a whop-
ping Rs 4,000 crore currently, and is expected to become
long-haired dog
a Rs 10,000 crore market by 2025, according to market VET
ONE-TIME COST
research firm Euromonitor. Visit to the vet
Microchip with life-
Rs 500
time Kennel Club of
A FULL PLATE India registration Annual vaccination
Such is the potential of the pet food market in India that Rs 1,500 Rs 1,000
packaged food and beverages giant Nestle India acquired Long-range GPS FOOD
the pet foods business from Purina Petcare India for Rs tracker: Rs 4,500 Dry food (regular)
123.5 crore last year, foraying into the segment for the first Rs 400 per kilo (a
time. Beauty and healthcare FMCG Emami also decided medium dog eats ap-
to invest in petcare startup Cannis Lupus Services India TOYS & ESSENTIALS prox. 300 gm a day)
last year and will now offer Ayurvedic remedies for pets Kong ball: Rs 700 Dry food (imported)
under the brand name Fur Ball Story. Non-toxic toys Rs 9,000 per kilo
Even the biggest success story in the petcare industry, Rs 1,000 Dog fresh food
HUFT, had its beginning here. “Our brand was built on Bed: Rs 1,500 dabba service
the back of pet food,” says Dasgupta. “The diversification Leash and collar Rs 500 per day
of our portfolio has happened only in the past few years. It Rs 700 Treats: Rs 300 per
was a lonely battle to sell quality pet food 14 years back—
we wanted to reinvent how you pick products for your pets,

42 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
 SAY CHEESE
Flocki poses for a
...a medium-sized
professional dog long-haired cat
photographer on
his first birthday in ONE-TIME COST FOOD
Mumbai, July 2022 Kitty-proofing the Dry food (regular)
house: Rs 1,500 (to Rs 200 for 1.2 kg
put anti-rust mesh Dry food (grain-free,
on one regular-sized hairball control, vita-
balcony) min rich)
Long-range GPS Rs 2,000 for 1.2 kg
tracker: Rs 4,500 Kitty fresh food dabba
service: Rs 500 per day
TOYS & ESSENTIALS Specialty food (cakes,
Playing tree: Rs 1,600 cupcakes, ice cream)
Rs 300
Activity tunnel
Rs 2,000
Non-toxic toys CLOTHES
Rs 800 T-shirts: Rs 150
Leash and collar
Rs 200 GROOMING
Regular spa (bath
only): Rs 500

SHUTTERSTOCK
packet TRAINING
Specialty food Training school
(cakes, pizzas, cup- Rs 2,000 per hour
cakes)
Rs 400 per piece
RECREATION
AND MORE
CLOTHES Birthday party (with
T-shirts: Rs 600 cake, pool, pictures,
Sweater: Rs 1,000 activities): Rs 8,000 Bed: Rs 400 Luxury spa: Rs 1,500
Specialty clothes Visit to the pool Scratching post Bath-at-home service
(lehengas, bikinis, Rs 500 Rs 300 Rs 500
dresses): Rs 2,000 Daycare: Rs 500 per Haircut and blow-dry
day Rs 1,500
VET
Overnight stay
GROOMING Annual vaccination
Rs 600 per night
Rs 500 RECREATION
Regular spa (bath Luxury hotel AND MORE
only): Rs 1,000 Vet visit: Rs 300
Rs 5,000 per night
Birthday party (with
Luxury spa (with Maternity/ paternity cake, pool): Rs 8,000
deep-tissue mas- LITTER
photoshoot
sage, nail clipping, Litter box and tray Kitty daycare
(with two framed
teeth, ear and eye Rs 1,000 Rs 300 per day
pictures)
cleaning): Rs 2,500 Rs 5,000 Litter (regular) Kitty overnight stay
Bath-at-home ser- Rs 300 for 5 kilos Rs 500 per night
Dating/ matrimonial
vice: Rs 600 app: Rs 200 (usually lasts a week) Kitty luxury hotel
Haircut and Litter (imported) Rs 2,000 per night
Trained dog-sitter
blow-dry: Rs 1,000 Rs 500 per day Rs 2,000 for 12 kg Trained cat-sitter
Rs 500 a day

All prices are indicative only

M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 43
 COVER STORY / PETS

HARDIK CHHABRA

putting quality before price.” Today, HUFT has a pres-

ence in 15 cities with 75 stores across the country and a
“Dogs and cats have
1,100-member team. Its website boasts more than 5,000 been shown to reduce
pet products. Yet, the pet food section remains the star loneliness and combat
attraction, even though there is enough demand for their
designer raincoats, shoes and beds too. Manufactured
stress. That is why more
by HUFT themselves, the pet food platter is a pet dream people adopted pets
come true—from goat milk pumpkin cookies to yak during the pandemic”
cheese dental chews and chicken nuggets.
Endorsement of HUFT’s success comes not just from
Samriddh Dasgupta,
the consumers, but from the investors as well. Verlinvest Chief Marketing Officer, HUFT
and Sequoia Capital invested $37 million (Rs 300 crore
approx.) in 2021, which HUFT has put to good use. “We
have a 45,000 square feet facility in Bengaluru dedi-
cated to innovating and researching on pet nutrition,” good quality nutrition for their pets,” says Dasgupta.
says Dasgupta. “So all our supplements, food, edibles are “Quality is the reason we have such high brand recall. If
researched and manufactured there.” we stopped advertising today, we would still have brand
HUFT’s Chief Marketing Officer acknowledges that value and customers.”
the demand for their pet food comes not just from the dis- You want a happy dog or cat? Invest in their nutri-
cerning palates of the pets, but equally from the cultural tion. This is the advice Gurugram-based dog and cat
shift in pet parenting in culinary matters of their charges. nutritionist Rashee Kuchroo has for pet owners. She
“People have more exposure today and are interested in recommends that pet food have these six basic nutri-

44 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
 LAP OF LUXURY
(Clockwise from far left) Inside Critterati, a pet
boarding and hotel in Gurugram; a guest in his
accommodation; a dog gets a bit of exercise at the
swimming pool at Doggotel in Pune; indie dog Bugs
with his parent Somya Singhal at Bark Street, the
cafe she runs in Noida

ARUN SAHA
HARDIK CHHABRA

Photograph by BANDEEP SINGH

 COVER STORY / PETS

Being
Ziggy Basu
ents—water, proteins, fats, carbohydrates,
minerals and vitamins. Cats, in particular,
require wet fresh food to take care of their
hydration needs as they tend to drink less
water as they grow older. Who: Two-year-old Shih Tzu dog
Parents: Kunal and Neha Basu

V
egetarian owners often unwittingly Claim to fame: Travel and fashion
deprive their pets of high-quality influencer on social media
protein that the animal needs in
order to remain healthy. The general

W
rule, says Kuchroo, is about 2-3 grams of hoever and sometimes a haircut and spa
protein for every kilo of body weight. “Protein scoffed trekking. treatment. She
not only builds muscle but also contains at “a But Ziggy has been dog-
many essential amino acids for the animal. dog’s life” must is no ordinary gedly document-
Nutritional deficiency reflects in the quality visit Miss Ziggy influencer—she’s ing Ziggy’s life
of fur, the animal’s mood, longevity and over- the Piggy’s Ins- Neha and Kunal with her camera.
all health,” she says. The more aware pet par- tagram profile. Basu’s two-year- On Ziggy’s
ents are now giving their animals nutritional Describing her- old Shih Tzu dog. second birth-
supplements such as hemp seed oil as well self as a travel Her parents say day last year,
as calcium, prebiotic and probiotic treats. and fashion
Kuchroo herself has seen things change in influencer, she
has a following
the past decade that she has been in business. “It is as if a celebrity is
of 17,500 on her
“We used to sell dog pizzas and cupcakes, and
page. Luxury walking in when she enters
also had fresh food dabba service,” she says.
fashion brands the local pet shop or spa”
“Over the years, we have decided to focus on
ply her with —Neha Basu
the latter segment.” Her brand Doggie Dab- leather jackets,
bas offers six types of meal packs for dogs and glittery lehen-
Meow Chow has three kinds of food packs for gas, dungarees the only person the Basus took
cats. A monthly purchase for a medium-sized and bikinis. Her they would swap her to Juhu and
dog with no special medical requirements parent, Kunal, their lives with did an Instalive
can cost Rs 8,000 to 10,000. now thinks she is her. “It is as session of her
Along with the food, pets are also getting has a bigger if a celebrity is playing on the
their own hangout spaces where they and wardrobe than walking in when beach. Off to the
their humans can spend quality time. And him. 2022 was she enters the spa it was after
no, we are not talking about pet-friendly a busy year, as local pet shop or that, from where
spaces, but ones specifically designated for Ziggy went trav- spa,” says Neha, Ziggy emerged
pets. At A Dog’s Story, a chain of boutique elling around the who takes her fluffy and dry to
dog resorts, dogs are welcomed with mari- country—on a to Petgascar meet her friends
gold garlands, as human guests would in plane, in a kayak once a week for and admirers
such spaces. “We have built our properties

SPOILT FOR
CHOICE
Petcare products
at an HUFT store
in Noida
Photograph by BANDEEP SINGH

at home. For the birth-
day party, there were
customised pup cakes,
bubbles for the young
dog to burst, and gifts,
such as a new harness
and dog treats.
“She is really happy
with her life,” says proud
mama. “A lot of home-
grown pet businesses
started during the
pandemic. Pet accesso-
NEHA JIWARAJKA-BASU/NEHA BRACKSTONE PHOTOGRAPHY
ries and clothing brands
started reaching out to
us. Getting pet influenc-
ers is the best thing for
these companies.”
When not document-
ing Ziggy’s adventures,
the account shares vital
information for other
pet parents on play-
ing with dogs, training,
grooming, and general
wellbeing.

“The days of being a keeping in mind the needs and safety of dogs—a place for
vet there for rabies them to run, relax and enjoy. They are human-friendly too,”
vaccinations are long jokes owner Himmat Anand.
Bruno, a three-year-old Labrador-Indian dog mix, loves
behind us. Today, you can to visit Puppychino café in Delhi’s Janakpuri West so much
specialise in so many that his owners say he knows when the car stops outside
fields. It’s a very exciting the shop. His favourite treats include the snoopy spaghetti,
chicken woofsome waffles with a sunny side up egg, blue-
time to be a vet today” berry bacon ice cream and a banana cupcake. “I have been
— Dr M. Shreyas, STUDENT VET, Bengaluru taking him to the café since he was around six months old
because there are usually other dogs there and it gives him

M A RC H 2 0 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 47
 COVER STORY / PETS

A Day in the count,” says proud

papa Sushant.
Kaju came into the
who like to be up to
date with her antics:
whether she is playing

Life of Kaju Gombers’ lives during

the Covid-19 lockdown
in 2020 when the
with her toys, showing
off her new sweater
with a pink bow or get-
Who: Two-year-old Persian cat family felt their house ting a spa treatment.
Parents: Sushant and Garima Gomber could do with a pet. “We brush her every
Dogs were hard work, alternate day and have
Claim to fame: Insta celebrity they knew, cats mostly a variety of combs,”
took care of them- Sushant tells us, like
selves. Kaju, however, any fond parent talk-

W
changed their lives. ing about their child’s
hen Sushant Mumbai, Kaju moved Today, she has her own exploits. “But, every
and Garima to Lucknow this year Instagram page and month, she gets a full
Gomber along with her parents nearly 1,500 followers spa treatment—tooth
stepped through the and accompanies cleaning, ear cleaning,
snow-topped rocks them wherever they nail cutting, bath, hair
at Khardung La in go—Shimla, Ladakh trimming and a coat
Ladakh, matching or Manali. She loves “We have been of paw butter on her
their steps were the attention as much as helping her feet.” On other days,
tiny paw prints of Kaju, travelling, sticking her adjust to a cat she spends time con-
their two-year-old head out of the car suming a good amount
Persian cat. As adven- window to take in the
leash from a very
young age, so she of wet food to stay
turous as her parents, scenery. “We’ve been hydrated and plenty of
the fact that Kaju helping her adjust to a has no anxiety on play with her parents.
was on a leash didn’t cat leash from a very that count” “She is our baby,” they
seem to bother her young age, so she —Sushant Gomber say. And papa’s pet
much. Brought up in has no anxiety on that too, for sure.
CHANDRADEEP KUMAR

48 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3

a chance to socialise as well,” says his parent Sakshi
Kukreja, 36, a homemaker.
At Bark Street, a dog café in Noida, pets and parents
can hang out together and enjoy their food. On the pup
menu are dog-friendly soups, cupcakes and omelettes.
“Dogs are like children and leaving them behind at
home is difficult sometimes,” says Rahul Narang, co-
owner of the space. “Parents really enjoy being out with
their dogs and there’s demand for pet-friendly spaces.”
Yummers Barkery in Noida, an exclusive bakery for
dogs, fulfils a similar need, offering canine-specific do-
nuts, cupcakes, cookies, pizzas, birthday cakes and
ice creams.
And there is simply no dearth of such spaces—cafes,
parks, shopping outlets, restaurants and day outing
spots that are either dedicated to pets or are pet-friend-
ly—springing up across the country, be it the massive
Jio World Drive in Mumbai, the luxurious Café Dori in
Delhi or the Petstreet Resort in Noida. Even the iconic
Cubbon Park in Bengaluru has a special dog corner.
PET INDULGENCE
Once upon a time, a washdown with the garden pipe
along with the family car would suffice as grooming. A
dog would then shake itself dry, naturally. Today, high
drama attends the business of pet grooming, as they are
ROHIT JAIN PARAS
STRUTTING pampered with the same enthu-
THEIR siasm as any human. The pets
STUFF themselves can’t have enough of
A dog fashion the attention, whether it’s a deep
show in tissue massage or paw butter to
Jaipur
keep their paws hydrated and
soft. Haircuts start at Rs 2,400
and spas at Rs 1,900, but prices
vary with the size and breed of dog.
Leisha Motwani, owner of Mumbai-based Petgas-
car, says that it’s a misconception that only high-end
clients or top dog breeds avail of the luxury of pet spas.
“Whether it is an indie or a husky, all pet parents come
to our spa,” says Motwani. “Handling the pet is key to a
comfortable experience for them.”
Getting pets used to spa treatments is important.
Thirty-four-year-old software engineer Prashant Sehgal
recalls his first few visits with his six-year-old Persian
cat Whisky to the HUFT spa in Bengaluru. He had to
take the cat, who was abandoned at age two by his first
owner and re-adopted by Sehgal, to see blowdriers at
the spa every week for two months till he stopped being
afraid of them. A dog or a cat who has never been blow
dried or had its nail trimmed till adulthood usually
finds it difficult to adjust to being groomed. Whisky is
now getting used to his weekly spa treatment. “He starts
M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 49
 COVER STORY / PETS

The Price of
Pedigree
Want to buy a pet? Here’s
what it will cost you

A pure-bred dog
with Kennel Club of Dalmatian
India (KCI) registration Rs 35,000
Indian dog Rottweiler
Free Rs 70,000
Labrador Retriever Boxer
Photographs by INDIA PICTURE

Golden Retriever Rs 25,000 Rs 40,000 Siberian Husky

Rs 40,000 Rs 80,000
Beagle Great Dane
Rs 35,000 Rs 70,000 St Bernard
Rs 1 lakh
Pug Tibetan Mastiff
Rs 20,000 Rs 2 lakh
Shih Tzu Dachshund
Rs 50,000 Rs 15,000
German Shepherd Pomeranian
Rs 40,000 Rs 50,000
Cocker Spaniel Dobermann
Rs 40,000 Rs 25,000

purring the minute he smells the shampoo. He is yet to

allow us to cut his nails, but we will get there. Adopting
a pet is hard work especially when they are older and
some behaviour has set in. You have to be very patient,
understanding and willing to devote a lot of time to-
wards training them well,” Sehgal says.
Also appealing to pet and parent vanity alike is
26-year-old Prathima Pingali, who combined her
passion for pets and photography to start Pawparazzi
in 2018. She had to initially move from Hyderabad to
Mumbai because she couldn’t find clients for her busi-
ness in her home town. Her ideas found a welcome and
a thriving business in Mumbai. “I now do 12-15 outdoor
shoots a month, whether for pet birthdays, maternity
shoots or newborn baby shoots,” says Pingali, who trav-
els the country in her professional pursuit. A one and a
half hour shoot with the pet can cost Rs 19,500. Pet par-
ents find it worth their while since Pingali has trained
herself to handle different breeds, temperaments and
situations. “The people are just props,” she says of her
endeavours. “The dog is always the hero.”
“If you don’t meet a dog’s
needs, how can you expect
them to meet yours?”
— Devanshi Desai, WAG TO SCHOOL, Mumbai
DOGGIES DAY OUT
Cashing in on pet parents’ desire to give their charges
the best are hotel chains that now offer petcations—spe-
cialised stay packages for pets. Forty-two-year-old Delhi
textile exporter Shankar Chaudhary reveals how his
six-year-old poodle Khushi loves their frequent trips to
the Tree of Life in Dehradun. “And it makes me happy to
know I can share my travel experiences with him,” says
Chaudhary. At the hotel, Khushi gets food bowls, gour-
met chicken, a pollen-free room and pure cotton linen.
“He has a sensitive nose and skin,” says Chaudhary.

50 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
A pure-bred cat
with a Feline Club of
India registration
Indian Bombay
Free Rs 15,000
Siamese Russian Blue
Rs 40,000 Rs 1 lakh Angora rabbit Corn snake
Rs 6,000 Rs 20,000
Persian Ragdoll
Rs 20,000 Rs 60,000 Exotic pets Cockatoo Ball python
Rs 20,000 Rs 35,000
British Shorthair Bearded dragon
Rs 50,000 Rs 35,000 Toucan Chameleon
Rs 15 lakh for Rs 6,000
Burmese Green-winged macaw a pair
Rs 25,000 Rs 1.5 lakh Marwari horse
African grey Rs 6 lakh
Himalayan Iguana parrot
Rs 30,000 Rs 5,000 Rs 70,000
Scottish Fold
Rs 50,000

At self-funded dog hostel Doggotel in Pune, the
intent is to bring dogs and their humans together.
Aditya Dhurie, the 34-year-old entrepreneur behind
the business, tries to do it in three ways. “First, to have
facilities that can enable pet parents to not have to curb
outings because of having a pet; second, having a safe
and accessible space for pet parents to enjoy with their
pet; and third, building better harmony between dogs
and humans by guiding local management communities
so that they are more equitable and fair in their rules
and practices for pets,” he says. Doggotel can not only
lodge around 30 to 35 dogs for long-term stays but also
has a heated pool and activity course for parents who
just want to have some fun with their pets.
GOING TO SCHOOL
Time was when a pet’s skill sets required no more than
to ‘fetch’, ‘sit’ or ‘beg’. Today’s pet parents are more ambi-
tious about their wards’ schooling, preferring to send
their pets to an environment where the teachers are
more humane. Wag to School, started eight years ago
by Devanshi Desai, 33, in Mumbai, welcomes celebrity
pets among others, whose parents include the likes of
Hrithik Roshan, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Disha Patani
and Kriti Sanon. A one-hour training session here is for
Rs 2,500, and on offer is ‘polite dog training’ versus the
now-passe aggressive style of pet training. No bribing
or dominating the pet to do tricks, Desai works with
stimulation and deep bonding between human and dog.
“We believe in focusing on the relationship between the
parent and the dog , guide the pet on what to expect
in the human world rather than using the control and
correction methods used traditionally, such as rolled
newspapers or choke chains. Each training session is
different, depending upon the dog’s personality, the
needs of the family and the home environment,” says
Desai. She has also trained families online to help them
raise their pets. “If you don’t meet a dog’s needs, how can
you expect them to meet yours?” Wag to School also of-
fers clients other services, such as pet sitters, playmates
(who can come home to busy parents and take care of
their pet), nutritionists, treks and hikes.

M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 51
 COVER STORY / PETS
MEOWS TREATING ’EM RIGHT
CORNER A trip to the vet is no longer the
Visitors at same either. As Dr M. Shreyas,
Cat Studio, a 24, who is studying to be a
cat adoption
second-generation vet from
centre in
Mumbai Bengaluru, says, “The days of
vets being there just for rabies
vaccination and deworming are
long behind us. It is a very excit-
ing time to be a vet today because you can specialise in
so many new fields and there are enough job opportuni-
ties that were not there in my father’s time.”
Brothers Kunal and Bhanu Sharma, pet orthopae-
dist and pet cardiologist, respectively, run Max Vets in
Delhi. When their father S.D. Sharma started the clinic
in 1959, it functioned out of the basement of a building
in the city’s Greater Kailash-I area. Today, it is a flour-
ishing three-floor small animal hospital, with dedicated
pet ICUs, X-ray and MRI scanners, operating units and
a 24-hour emergency response helpline. Here, pets can
get cataract surgery, spinal adjustments, heart proce-
dure, cavities removed, even chemotherapy or a simple
blood transfusion. Prices vary from Rs 1,000 for a tick-
cleaning session to Rs 5,000 for a specialised MRI scan
and Rs 20,000 for an operation.
What if your pet is lonely or depressed? In that case, a
52 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
MANDAR DEODHAR
trip to the shrink may not be amiss. In Chennai, Purnima
Rao, 44, is the person troubled pet parents turn to,
and swear by the combination of behavioural therapy,
reiki, acupuncture and massage therapy she uses to ease
her clients’ blues away. Rao’s most recent patient was a
10-year-old male Russian Blue cat suffering from severe
loneliness. “I healed him by connecting to his pain,” says
Rao. “He had lost his brother a month ago. I advised his
parents to get him a new companion. He is now happier
because some cats do better in company.” Her charges
are Rs 5,000 per session and publicity only by word of
mouth—she accepts a client only if it has been referred
by a previous client. Having done online courses in pet
psychology, she is seeing her business grow. “From two
clients a year in 2010, I now get two to three a week,” she
says. “But I do not accept them all because my therapy is
based on energy vibrations. If I start healing every ani-
mal, then I will burn out. I keep my services exclusive and
for those whom I trust.” Rao says she does it out of love
and a sense of personal purpose, not for money or fame.
FOR THE LOVE OF DOG
HUFT’s Dasgupta cannot agree more—you just can’t be
in the pet business if you don’t have love and compassion
for animals. “To stand out in the pet economy space, you
need to care about pets. After all, a pet parent will trust
 Photograph by BANDEEP SINGH

“Feeders and rescuers now Charu Khosla, co-owner of the

Cat Café in Mumbai, which is
BEST PAW
FORWARD
have an empowerment they also the adoption implementa- Lovely, a
didn’t before. We also get tion partner of the NGO The King Charles
Spaniel, gets
a lot of support from the Feline Foundation. Customers
at the café can buy Maggi and
groomed at her
younger generation” lemonade and also enjoy the
house in Flying
Fur’s mobile
— Charu Khosla company of some 20-25 street pet spa, Delhi
CAT CAFE, Mumbai cats—with an entry fee of Rs
200 for cat area—looking for
a forever home. “We keep rescue cats who cannot be
released back to the streets as they are disabled or are
in need of care intervention,” says Khosla. “It isn’t easy
to run it, but I see signs of change—feeders and rescuers
now have an empowerment they didn’t have before. We
a brand that can demonstrate care and consideration also get a lot of support from the younger generation.”
for pets through its work and products,” he says. The Never has the demand for pets and pet-specific
company, through its foundation, also runs educational products and services been higher, say industry experts.
programmes at public schools across the country to Many a human says they would rather have a pet than a
teach children how to share space with and respect all child. Social media abounds with reels and feeds of dogs
street animals. They also prepare food for street dogs and cats being lavished upon by their humans—hand
and have fed 1-1.5 million dogs to date through partner- fed gourmet food, bathed in ayurvedic oils, dressed in
ships with various charities.” silk gowns and tucked into bed alongside human babies.
Running a business and a charity at the same time Keeping a pet is serious business, and no one knows it
is not always easy, though. “It is not a business like in better than pet businesses.
Japan where people come just to play with cats,” says — with Suhani Singh

M A RC H 2 0 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 53

The Curse
Turned
Blessing
Bihar comes up with a first-of-its-kind
project to tap into and supply Ganga’s
floodwater from its northern districts
to the parched southern regions
By AMITABH SRIVASTAVA
E
very monsoon, Bihar finds
itself in a peculiar quan-
dary. Just when the state’s
northern districts are
grappling with floods due
to the overflowing Himalayan rivers
that drain into the mighty Ganga, af-
fecting more than two million families
year after year, about 20 districts in the
south found themselves trapped in a
drought-like situation. The reasons for
water deficiency are aplenty: smaller
feeding rivers in the south, except the
Son; rocky or sandy soil; and irregular
rains, to list a few.
One morning in late 2018, Bi-
har chief minister Nitish Kumar,
an engineer-turned-politician, was
discussing the issue with a select group
of bureaucrats and politicians, when he
came up with an idea. How about en-
gineering a system that could treat and
transport floodwater from the state’s
56 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
TAPPING HAPPINESS
A reservoir constructed under the
Ganga Water Supply Scheme in Rajgir
northern plains to its drought-prone
areas in the south?
But when the water resources
department started its research to turn
the CM’s idea into a practicable solu-
tion, there was not a single precedent
to be found across India. Then, in June
2019, Nitish expanded his cabinet, as-
signing the water resources portfolio to
his close confidant Sanjay Jha. Subse-
quently, an agreement was stitched up
with Hyderabad-based Megha Engi-
neering and Infrastructures Limited
(MEIL) to take the project to fruition.
The aim was to draw the excess
Ganga water during the four monsoon
months (June-September), and store
and treat it for the year-round supply
of potable water to the historical cities
of Rajgir (Nalanda district), Gaya and
Bodh Gaya (Gaya district), situated
about 90-130 kilometres south of
state capital Patna. The core of the
GANGA WATER
SUPPLY SCHEME
LAUNCHED IN
NOV. 2022
Bihar
ancient Magadha empire with links
to the founders of both Buddhism and
Jainism, it is among the most parched
regions in Bihar, where the locals,
stuck with dried hand pumps for most
of the year, have to call in water tankers
from adjoining districts.
But bringing the surplus Ganga
water to the region was easier said than
done, admits water resources secretary
Sanjay Agarwal. If the two Covid-19
waves in 2020 and 2021 slowed down
the project’s progress, there were
even bigger engineering challenges
to overcome. Tapping the floodwater
was one thing, but then transport-
ing it over an undulating topography
while making way through the existing

Patna
Ganga
RAJGIR
GAYA
BODH GAYA
RANJAN RAHI
HAPPINESS MANTRA
“The Ganga water that has reached your
households can be used for drinking, bathing,
cooking… It will also help in irrigation
by raising the water table”
NITISH KUMAR
Chief Minister, Bihar, while launching the project
infrastructure was a whole new ball the project’s progress, had to reach out
game. In fact, the water pipelines had to several central agencies for their no-
to encounter a total of 29 road cross- objection clearances.
ings, 28 river, stream and big drain But the water resources depart-
crossings, 11 oil pipeline crossings and ment remained focused on the job at
seven railway crossings. So, while the hand. And finally, an idea that initially
engineers were involved in drawing a seemed to be out of reach saw the light
model to negotiate all these infrastruc- of day, when Nitish Kumar launched
tural and topographical challenges, the the Rs 4,000 crore Ganga Water Sup-
bureaucrats, in addition to monitoring ply Scheme, or the Gangajal Aapurti
BIHAR
Yojana, in late November
last year. “The Ganga
water which has reached
your household will not
only be used for drinking
but also bathing, cook-
ing and other purposes...
It will also help in meeting irrigation
requirements by improving the ground-
water level in these districts,” the CM
announced during the project launch in
Rajgir, according to local media reports.
These are still early days. As of now,
nearly 100,000 houses in Rajgir, Gaya
and Bodh Gaya, or half a million of
population, are being provided treated
Ganga water through taps in their
houses. On average, each individual is
getting about 135 litres of water daily
for drinking and domestic use. Another
water treatment plant being built in
Nawada, 25 kilometres southeast of Ra-
jgir, will purify 36 million litres of water
daily for supply to the Nawada town-
ship. It should become operational by
the year-end, say department officials.
If the idea—of turning the devastat-
ing floodwater into a boon for Bihar’s
parched regions—is ingenious, its
execution is an example of engineering
excellence. It involves moving millions
of litres of water from Hathidah, situ-
ated on the banks of the Ganga in Patna
district, through an intricate network
of both underground and above-
ground steel pipelines, running as high
as 123 metres above mean sea level
at Jethian Hills near Gaya. First, the
water is shifted to a detention centre at
Motnaje in Nawada (to minimise fric-
tion and transit loss), from where it is
further transported to three large res-
ervoirs—two in Gaya and one in Rajgir,
with the farthest located over 150 km
from Hathidah—before being treated
and supplied to various households
via an additional network of pipelines,
treatment plants and supply stations.
As of now, the project’s capacity
is adequate to cater to the projected
population till 2051. But, the network is
being expanded further to reach other
parts of Gaya, Nalanda and Nawada
districts. More importantly, officials
say, the project will act as a model to
replicate and supply floodwater from
Ganga and its tributaries to other
water-starved areas of the state. ■
M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 57
 DELHI: TRACING THE JIM SARBH: ROCKET
END OF EMPIRE TO FAME
PG 60 PG 62

QUENTIN TARANTINO: Q&A WITH

FLICK FANBOY SMRITI MANDHANA
PG 63 PG 66

BOOKS

Fatal
netary
The Pla tudded
s
King is aintings,
ep
with fin terised

Majesty
compu nsional
ime
three-d gs and
drawin e
incisiv y
ntar
comme
Ebba Koch’s new book on Humayun
unpacks the Mughal emperor’s complex
personality and unconventional life
By Shahid Amin
M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 59
Photograph by BANDEEP SINGH
LEISURE

VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM

History, they say, has not been kind to A LASTING LEGACY
Humayun. The second Mughal king lost The tomb of Humayun,
his fledgling kingdom to the Afghan, Sher photographed around 1857 by Felice
Shah, in a decisive battle at Chausa—a Beato; (below) a miniature painting
place better known for its late-ripening and of Humayun by Payag, c. 1650
rather sweet mangoes; on the run, while
crossing the Ganga in spate, he fell off his
horse, only to be rescued and taken to the of the daunting stairs), Humayun stumbled

opposite bank by one Nizam, a water car-
rier, on an inflated hide (mashak), normally
used to carry water. Ever grateful to the
bhishti, Humayun put the lowly Nizam on
his throne for half a day, a turning of the
world upside down, an event illustrated in
the majestic official account of the reign
of his son Akbar. Building alliances and
fighting battles against his brothers, Hu-
mayun sought refuge in the court of the
Iranian king, Shah Tahmasp. Defeating
the Afghans in a rematch, he returned to
Delhi in 1555 and reclaimed the throne of
Dinpanah, or Purana Qila as it is called
today. He began to raise new buildings,
among which was the fetching octagonal-
domed pavilion, an observatory and his
book-lined library. Negotiating its killer
high steps (Koch provides a full-page view
INDIA PICTURE
to his death while rushing to catch the eve-
ning prayers.
In this sumptuous book, studded with
fine paintings and incisive commentary,
Ebba Koch, the foremost historian of me-
dieval Indian architecture, has unpacked
Humayun’s complex personality that his-
EBBA KOCH
torians plying their usual trade have failed SUGGESTS THAT
to come to terms with. No other medieval
ruler, Koch tells us, organised his court ac-
HUMAYUN’S
cording to planetary cosmology; designed TOMB IS A
court costumes and rank-obliterating court
games; conceived astrological tents and
POSTHUMOUS
carpets; and constructed moveable palaces, REALISATION OF
floating bazaars and gardens, boat palaces
and moveable bridges. Basing herself on
HIS IDEAS AND
contemporary descriptions, Koch brings DREAMS
these to life by generating computerised
three-dimensional drawings. More intrigu-

BOOKS
W
THE When empires reach delegator of power,

END OF
their end, their brand of while the colonial power
civilisation often clashes continued to shape-

EMPIRE
with the one now shift, growing in political
assuming guard. The and military might.
Broken Script draws Swapna Liddle’s
an exhaustive account meticulous work, which
Swapna Liddle of Delhi from 1803 to takes us through the
paints a portrait of shortly after the Sepoy rules of Akbar II to Baha-
Delhi at the cusp of Mutiny of 1857, under the dur Shah ‘Zafar’, dispels
the East India de facto rule of the Brit- the myth that the Mughal
Company’s takeover ish East India Company, emperors did little as
THE BROKEN responding to the power the East India Company
SCRIPT shifts under way in eroded the last ves-
by Swapna this tumultuous period. tiges of their empire. It
Liddle The Mughal empire had informs us of how the
SPEAKING TIGER devolved from ruling royals employed various
`899; large swathes of the devices such as symbols
456 pages country to being a mere and ceremonies, and
ingly, she suggests that his mausoleum
grew out of “Humayun’s thought…
out of his interest in mathematical
sciences... and out of the fruits of his
travels”. Humayun’s Tomb evoked for
posterity the Badshah who was buried
in it; he was the conceptualist behind
the building. Indeed, Koch suggests
the tomb is a posthumous realisation
of his ideas and dreams.
Now a World Heritage Site, Hu-
mayun’s Tomb in war photographer
Felice Beato’s 1857 sepia composition
stands testimony to an Indian past
lodged in its own ruins. The long shot
catches a relatively small tomb in the
distance with a pockmarked dome;
the majestic gateway of today appears
detached, almost unnecessary. Bits of
a low wall, a solitary keekar tree and
two small puddles from a late-Sep-
tember shower, all combine to give the
place a sense of oblivious vulnerabil-
ity. What a sad and ludicrous place for
Bahadur Shah, the last Mughal King,
to have repaired to after the bloody
recapture of Delhi by the British at
the end of the Great Revolt of 1857,
Beato’s sepia photograph of a derelict
Humayun’s Tomb seems to be telling
us. What a waste of time and effort
before the march of colonial history.
Of late, Humayun’s Tomb seems
to have risen from its ashes. A joint
venture of the Aga Khan Trust for
Culture, the Dorabji Tata Trust and
the Archaeological Survey of India
has literally peeled away centuries-
old detritus of plaster, lime and bird
droppings; thoughtful repairs and
conservation have brought Humayun,
Akbar’s father, back to life. Still, the
deprecatory adage of a colonial Brit-
ish historian—“Humayun tumbled
through life and tumbled out of it”—
continues to prevail.
Last week, I caught up with Pro-
fessor Koch on her umpteenth trip to
the Aga Khan Trust’s office, nestling
THE PLANETARY KING
by Ebba Koch
AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE
AND MAPIN PUBLISHING
`3,950; 384 pages
amidst the Sunder Nursery land-
scaped by the innovative architect,
the late Mohammad Shaheer. She
was accompanied this time by the
Scottish sculpturer, Jill Watson, who
has created seven bronze statues of
Humayun Padshah, sculpting, as it
were, the multifaceted personality of
Humayun Padshah. Koch once again
talked about her life-long interest in
the second Mughal King. I listened.
Long ago, Sunder Nursery, Hu-
mayun’s Tomb and its immediate en-
virons formed an extensive garden,
hemmed in on its eastern side by the
river Jamuna. That river has now re-
treated some four miles east, across
National Highway 24, to the middle-
class urban sprawl of Patparganj
(‘Patpar’: lit. riverside soil retentive
of moisture). The tomb of Abdul Ra-
him Khan-i-Khanan, the Akbar-era
popular ‘Hindavi’ poet of great acuity,
is nearby, welcoming, so to speak, the
Delhi gentry to their houses in Niza-
muddin East. Across the road lies the
old basti of Hazrat Nizamuddin, our
greatest Sufi saint. Dividing the two
habitations, one a product of moder-
nity and the other of an era going back
to the 13th century, is the roaring traf-
fic on its way to Lutyens’ Delhi. ■
Shahid Amin is a former professor
of history at Delhi University

the use of newsletters to as-
sert their agency against the
Company. The emperors even
sent emissaries—Raja Ram
Mohan Roy by Akbar II, and
anti-slavery activist George
Thompson by Bahadur Shah
Zafar—to England, but both
missions found little success.
The Company, too, at the be-
ginning wasn’t an inexorable
force, but went from being a
The Broken
Script comes
at a time when
there’s much
dust blowing
around Mughal
rule in India
Resident at the Mughal court
to ruler of the city.
Liddle’s book comes at
a time when there is much
dust blowing around Mughal
rule in India. For those who
are motivated to under-
stand colonialism simply as
rule by any foreign power,
Liddle draws an image of
the ground-level view of the
workings of the transition
between the two powers,
and through it emerge the
different principles on which
these two ‘foreign’ orders
were built. The Mughal rulers
distinguished themselves via
a substantive tolerance of
religions and traditions, which
maintained them in the hearts
and minds of their subjects.
Meanwhile, the British rulers
are characterised by parsi-
mony and insolence.
This ‘hybrid half-century’
housed both the twilight of
Mughal rule and what C.F. An-
drews calls the Delhi Renais-
sance. The book examines
the social and political culture
of the time and how through
it all, the late-Mughal city
acquired a distinctive moder-
nity. It explores the growth of
the Urdu language and poetry,
and its proliferation via print,
several radical innovations
in pedagogy via institutions
such as the Delhi College, the
Vernacular Translation Soci-
ety, the advent of the popular
press and organisations such
as the Archaeological Society,
all developments indicative of
a city on the cusp of change—
till the Revolt of 1857 and its
aftermath violently ran it into
ruin, rupturing the process.
The book also draws
attention to the beginning of
the expression of ideas that
were precursors to concepts
such as nationalism, anti-co-
lonialism and the start of the
sectarian divide wedged in
by the colonial government in
its suppression of the revolt.
Strikingly well-researched
and with terrific prose, the
book knits together a rich,
narrative history of the time.
Perhaps, there are lessons
we can draw from it for our
contemporary times. ■
Naorem Anuja
LEISURE
E N T E R TA I N M E N T
ROCKET
TO FAME
Season 2 of Rocket Boys is
just the launch pad Jim Sarbh
needed to showcase his
seasoned acting skills
There is something about
Jim Sarbh’s tenacity as a
performer that resists easy
categorisation. Describing
him as a character actor feels
inadequate and slotting him
as a supporting actor seems
almost cruel, considering the
heft his electric presence is
capable of bringing to any
narrative. Since debuting
in Ram Madhvani’s Neerja
(2016), Sarbh has forged
one of the most exciting
trajectories in Hindi cinema,
delicately straddling main-
stream blockbuster ensem-
bles like Padmaavat (2017),
Sanju (2018) and Gangubai
Kathiawadi (2022) and
experimental choices like A
Death in the Gunj (2016) and
Photograph (2019). “I never
think about one particular
genre or one particular type
of story [when choosing
scripts]. I’ve done period
pieces, biopics and dramas.
I’ve played the bad guy and
62 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
I’ve played the good guy,”
says Sarbh, looking back at
his diverse filmography. A
common thread in all his
work—across plays, movies,
web series—the actor says, is
his insistence on being a part
of compelling stories.
Still, even though Sarbh
wielded his own predictabil-
ity as a weapon, it also made
it somewhat difficult to envi-
sion him as a leading actor.
That changed almost over-
night last year with Abhay
Pannu’s Rocket Boys, the
widely acclaimed SonyLIV
series that tracked the lives
of Dr Homi Bhabha and Dr
Vikram Sarabhai, the two
scientists who spearheaded
India’s nuclear energy and
space programmes. Sarbh’s
magnetic turn as Dr Homi
Bhabha shouldered the se-
ries, enlivening its efficiency
and giving a face to the Parsi
everyman.
In many ways, it felt like
a role that was tailor-made
for the actor. By his own
admission, shooting most of
the show’s widely anticipated
second season before the first
came out and attained its
own popularity helped take
the pressure off, letting him
focus only on being truthful
to the script. “For the re-
maining bits that needed to
be shot, Abhay [Pannu] re-
ally made sure that we built
on the strengths from the
first season and addressed
some of the weaknesses.”
Being a part of Rocket
Boys over two seasons helped
Sarbh re-evaluate his own
approach to acting. For one,
he became more aware of the
challenges that accompanied
improvising scenes on a
long-format project. “If you
improvise with lines a bit too
much, you can throw off your
co-actors and [wrapping]
the whole thing will take
more time. But when you’re
shooting so much in a day,
you don’t always have time,”
says Sarbh. On both Made in
Heaven (2019—) and Rocket
Boys, the 35-year-old actor
found himself improvising
Inn his exxciiting
jou
urnney, Jiim Sarb bh
haas deeliica
atelyy
strraddleed both
mainnstrream m cinem ma
an
nd experrim menta al
chooicces
more and more with his own
approach, experimenting
instead with the physicality
of his characters. It’s some-
thing he hopes audiences will
notice in his turn as a shrewd
lawyer in Ashima Chibber’s
Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway,
the actor’s other big release of
the month.
Yet, for someone who
has visibly evolved as an
actor, Sarbh claims that his
sensibilities have remained
unaffected in the past six
years. “I guess the real differ-
ence is that now I have more
opportunities and can be
pickier,” he says. The ability
to say no is a privilege for any
actor, but Sarbh’s filmogra-
phy is also telling of the kind
of projects he chooses to take
up. His collaborations with
veteran filmmakers such as
Sanjay Leela Bhansali and
Rajkumar Hirani are offset
by his constant penchant for
working with new directors,
whether it is Ashima Chibber
or Abhay Pannu. “[As an
actor], it’s less of a gamble if
you’re working with estab-
lished voices. But I guess I’m
a gambler.” ■
Poulomi Das

CINEMA
THE METHOD
MATTERS
An indie favourite, actor Shahana Goswami is back with her
first theatrical release since 2018—Nandita Das’s Zwigato
S Flick Fanboy
hahana Goswami has a it out for something you actually
preternatural ability to want to do.” Goswami started
make her presence felt out doing supporting parts in
regardless of the dura- relatively commercial films like
tion of her part. The ef- Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.
fortless ease of her performance (2007) and Rock On!! (2008). Then
was evident in acclaimed indies Tu came big-budget fare: Break Ke
Hai Mera Sunday (2016) and Gali
Guleiyan (2017), and it’s what she
Baad (2010), Ra.One (2011) and
Heroine (2012). “I gained different
does in Nandita Das’s upcoming things from those films, but not
feature, Zwigato, playing sup- creative satisfaction,” she says.
portive wife Pratima to Kapil That has changed now with the
Sharma’s Manas, a struggling food rise of OTT platforms. Goswami
delivery provider in Bhubaneswar. stood out for her role as a woman
“Pratima’s story is secondary to excelling at work but struggling
the bigger picture, but Goswami to keep her marriage together in
makes her a woman of patience Alankrita Shrivastava’s feminist
and understanding,” said a review drama Bombay Begums (2021,
in Screen Daily after the Netflix). “The volume of work
film’s world premiere increases and it allows
in Busan last year. a rs o f different storytelling
ye
With 18 perience,
The drama releases r y ex and narrative styles,”
indust ha na
in Indian theatres S h a er she says. “But I want
a m i feels h e
on March 17. Gos w is on to do something that
jectory
It makes one film tra er regrets surprises me and the
w ith few hin g
wonder why Gos- re en r ic audience.” Her co-
wami isn’t a recurring and mo rts actor, popular comedian
pa
fixture—Zwigato is her and TV show host Kapil
first theatrical release Sharma, she adds, does
since 2018. She understands exactly that in Zwigato.
the grouse, but with 18 years of The film marks her second
industry experience, she feels collaboration with Das after
her trajectory is one with fewer Firaaq (2008) and she is all
regrets and more enriching parts. praise for the actor-filmmaker’s
She enjoys the reputation of ‘tenacity’ and for etching a part
being an indie film darling who like Pratima. Says Goswami, “She
delivers. “People will always put has a great sense of clarity and
you in a slot,” she says. “When is thorough with the storytelling
you shift gears, you have to wait and the subtleties, layers and
nuances.” Goswami believes
Zwigato is Das’s best work to
date. For Goswami, Zwigato is
the beginning of a promising
year. There’s a small but impact-
ful part opposite Manoj Bajpayee
in Despatch and another in the
Anu Menon-directed Amazon
Prime Video film, Neeyat, which
also stars Vidya Balan. She has
also shot for a short, part of an
anthology, directed by National
Award-winning Assamese film-
maker Rima Das ( Village Rock-
stars, 2017). They may not be
‘big’ projects, but for Goswami,
what matters is the big heart
at the core of the collaborative
process. ■
Suhani Singh
CINEMA
SPECULATION
By Quentin
Tarantino
W&N/ Hachette
India
`899; 392
pages
BOOKS
Cult filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is a
true-blue fan of the movies
eading Quentin The book giddily
R Tarantino’s bursts with an encyclo-
movie memoir paedia of movies, and
Cinema Speculation 13 of its chapters are
is like falling in love. headlined after defin-
Tarantino is the great ing movies for Taran-
film director of our time tino: Bullitt (1968), Dirty
who entered adoles- Harry (1971), Deliverance
cence in the 1970s; in (1972), The Getaway
this book, he recounts (1972), The Outfit (1973),
becoming an aficionado Sisters (1972), Daisy
of ‘revengeamatics’ Miller (1974), Taxi Driver
and blaxploitation films (1976), Rolling Thunder
while barely a tween— (1977), Paradise Alley
he accompanied his (1978), Escape from
mother on her dates to Alcatraz (1979), Hardcore
the B-film double-bill (1979) and The Funhouse
of the day. After she and (1981). Obviously, Tar-
his stepfather split, she antino, lacking a stable
had a series of black father-figure, likes the
boyfriends, which tough guys. One chapter
moulded his movie pays tribute to the
experience; watching second-string critics
former US football star that kept B-movies
Jim Brown’s Black Gunn alive; the book’s coda is
(1972) in a theatre filled to a black ex-boyfriend
with black men, Taranti- of his mom’s friend, a
no had an epiphany: “To sometime tenant who
one degree or another, indulged Quentin’s love
I’ve spent my entire life for film and wrote an un-
since attending mov- made film script. Taran-
ies and making them, tino confesses he mined
trying to recreate the it for Django Unchained
experience of watching (2012), for which he won
a brand-new Jim Brown the Oscar for best origi-
film, on a Saturday night, nal screenplay.
in a black cinema in Above all, while
1972.” Tarantino knows his
And if Tarantino’s directors and actors,
Once Upon a Time in... producers and studios,
Hollywood (2019) was screenplays are what
an homage to Steve he values most. It’s a
McQueen and the end of book by a man who
both the old Hollywood lives, eats and breathes
and the 1960s, Cinema film, and I loved every
Speculation is an hom- page, though a few
age to the 1970s and the photos would’ve been
New Hollywood, where nice (the cover’s photo
the staple of Westerns is McQueen with Sam
was replaced by violent Peckinpah on the sets of
crime films, both genres The Getaway). Hopefully,
subtly giving the audi- Anurag Kashyap will
ence an unvarnished one day write some-
look at race relations in thing similar. ■
the United States.
Aditya Sinha
Q A

BATTING FOR
EQUALITY
As the most expensive player of the Women’s
Premier League, all eyes are on Royal Challengers
Bangalore captain Smriti Mandhana

Q. It’s been a long wait for the

Women’s Premier League
(WPL). What are your expecta-
tions from this tournament?
The WPL is definitely
the next big step for
women’s cricket in India.
We’ve seen what the
Indian Premier League has
done for men’s cricket and I am hoping
the same happens for us in the time
ahead. You can see how excited people
are and how they’ve accepted women’s
cricket. So, yes, I am really looking for-
ward to the first edition of the WPL.

Q. You will be leading the Royal

Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
team. How much do you enjoy the
role of a captain?
I have led domestic teams since the age
of 16, so captaincy is not something
new for me. I would like to use all those
experiences and also what I’ve learnt
as part of the senior leadership group in
the Indian team to lead RCB in the best
possible way.

Q. Is there pressure on you as the

most expensive player of the league?
Well, not really. Even when we were watch-
ing the auction, we never really thought
about the price tag. As female cricketers,
we are just happy that this is finally happen-
ing for women’s cricket.

Q. How do you see the WPL helping

women’s cricket in India?
I’m happy that so many girls have started
playing cricket over the last four-five
years. When I go to my hometown, Sangli,
I see girls playing alongside boys on the
under-14 sides. It makes me proud that so
many of them are picking up the bat and
ball and want to play professional cricket.
I’m sure a lot of parents will make their
MANDAR DEODHAR

girls dream of playing in the WPL and for

India someday.

with Shail Desai

66 INDIA TODAY M A RC H 2 0, 2 02 3
66 Volume 48-Number 12; For the week March 14-20, 2023, published on every Friday Total number of pages 68 (including cover pages)