K Vijay Kumar, 64, is the man who headed the special task force (STF) that hunted down notorious bandit Koose Muniswamy Veerappan on October 18, 2004 in an operation code-named Cocoon. Kumar, a 1975-batch IPS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, talks to Shivani Chaturvedi about his book, Veerappan: Chasing the Brigand, which is an authentic account of Veerappan’s life, a
Was the finding of summer rain and crops around the year your ‘exclusive’? Scholars have long argued that the Indus Civilisation developed in a region that was affected by winter and summer rain, and also that Indus farmers grew a diverse range of crops (e.g. Vishnu-Mitre, Chakrabarti, Weber). However, our understanding of the dynamic
How are you planning to expand the network of rural broadband, since the NOFN project is moving slow? About 300 km of optical fibre was laid from 2012 to 2014. Now, we have reached 1,09,000 km. Earlier, the speed was 40 km a day. Today it is 400 km a day. There is a tenfold jump. Expenditure, which is one way of measuring the progress, was Rs 3,000 crore last yea
In conversation with Taru Bhatia, Rajan Mathews, director general, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), explains why the industry has failed to reach the rural market with internet connectivity, the limitation of wired network and how the entry of Reliance Jio has changed the way data is consumed. T
What is the thinking behind launching the Swaraj party? To answer that question, we have to go back in time and see why we formed the Aam Aadmi Party [AAP]. Those in power, in assemblies and parliament, feel that now that they have got power, and they are the ones who make laws and policies, why they should listen to civil society people who are not going
Known for his indelible roles in Gangs of Wasseypur and Nil Battey Sannata, Pankaj Tripathi hails from a village in Bihar where many people still don’t have TV sets at home. His parents are farmers in Gopalganj district and the down-to-earth actor likes working in his farm whenever he visits his parents. From participating in folk theatre during cultural programmes in his villag
2016 has been an engaging year for the telecom industry. How do you look at the industry’s growth in terms of policy reform? In the last one year, we have been focused on reforms because we believe that in this sector, which is driven by private sector investment and innovation, reforms are the key. Some of the new reforms are spectrum reforms like spectrum shar
Post demonetisation, what are the challenges faced by banks? Post demonetisation, the major challenges are retention of CASA [current account, savings account] deposits, deployment of these funds, impact of spurt/decline in low-cost deposits on MCLR [marginal cost of funds based lending rate], transformation towards digitalisation and the associated issues l
Former chief minister of Jharkhand Arjun Munda, of the ruling BJP, is among the leading tribal voices questioning the amendments to the CNTA and SPTA. Portraying himself as a willing arbitrator who can help find a way out, Munda tells how the government could have handled it better. Amendments to the CNTA and SPTA will open the floodgates to the takeover of triba
Prolific writer and acclaimed journalist Jerry Pinto has edited and written many literary works in different genres. His work ranges from children’s fiction and magazine columns to poetry, and topics from Mumbai to Bollywood. His book about actress Helen titled Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb won the Best Book on Cinema Award. His 2012 novel Em and The Big Hoom, a memoir of liv
As the participation of women in labour force declines in the country, Sher Singh Verick of ILO explains to Archana Mishra the reason behind this trend, the role education plays and the kind of transformation the country is going through vis a vis women labour force. The participation of women in labour force has declined in India. And we are still not able to f
Flush with funds after demonetisation, State Bank of India has trimmed its lending rate to revive credit demand. In an interview with Geetanjali Minhas, Rajnish Kumar, managing director (national banking group), SBI, explains how the bank plans to steer its way now. Post demonetisation, what are the challenges faced by banks? Because
SEWA Bharat had initiated a unique pilot project on cash-for-food (that is, cash replacing PDS goods) in Delhi some time ago. However, the basic income pilot project in Madhya Pradesh goes a step beyond that, giving cash to people without any conditions. What was the genesis of this project, what prompted SEWA Bharat to take it up? For many years SEWA has
In the Jammu and Kashmir budget, you have announced a basic income for construction workers, and also mentioned the concept of universal basic income. What was your rationale behind it? My intention is to move to a situation where a whole lot of social sector schemes could be clubbed together. Their funds can be brought under one umbrella and distributed among the benefi
Sakshi Malik is the first Indian female wrestler to bag an Olympic medal. The 24-year-old comes from Mokhra village of Rohtak, Haryana. She came into the limelight as an international wrestler after she won bronze in the Junior World Championship in 2010. Then, she went on to win silver in the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and a bronze at the Asian Wrestling Championships in
Sahitya Akademi award winning poet Ashok Vajpeyi returned his award in 2015 supporting “the right to dissent”, and was instrumental in the protest against the murder of writers. Vajpeyi, also a retired IAS officer, is not very happy with the Akademi’s style of functioning. As an author, what do you expect from the Sahitya Akademi?
Lucky Ali is best known for his husky voice and a distinctive style of music. His debut album, Sunoh, released in 1996, was an instant success and established him in the genre of Indian pop. He has also lent his voice to songs in movies like Bachna Ae Haseeno, Anjaana Anjaani and Tamasha. Son of comedian Mehmood and nephew of actress Meena Kumari, Lucky has also acted in a few films and tel
India and Israel mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of full diplomatic relations in January 2017. While relations between the two countries have been soaring for much of this time, in recent years and under the current BJP-led NDA government a new era of visibility has ensued. While president Pranab Mukherjee went to Israel in 2016 in a historic first visit, Israeli president Re
It is a known fact that ozone formation occurs when NOX, CO and VOCs react in the presence of sunlight and that more ozone is formed in tropical regions. How does this study move beyond this? What is new here is that we demonstrate the importance of emissions near the equator in a way that has not been shown before. Over the past several decades, emissions have d
Dr Ghys also holds the post of chief, strategic information and monitoring division of UNAIDS. The division’s main functions include analysis of levels and trends in the AIDS epidemic, and monitoring and reporting of progress in the global AIDS response. Trade deals like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are proposing stringent intellec
