‘Nitish Kumar Is Torturing My MLAs’
LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan tells NEHA DIXIT that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar wants to create a mahadalit category for votes

The Veil’s True Shroud
Burqa bans are easy publicity but don’t address the root of the problem
SHABNAM HASHMI

How Do We Bring The Lights Back?
The answer to India’s self-inflicted power crisis lies in some hard decisions. But who will take them? asks SHANTANU GUHA RAY

‘Ten Out Of 28 States Have A 25 Percent Deficit’
Every time there is a power failure at the home of Anil Razdan, his family members ask him the reason behind the crisis. The reason is simple. Razdan is one of India’s top energy experts, having tracked the country’s peculiar power crisis for decades. The suave Razdan, who previously worked in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Department of Atomic Energy, retired early this year as the country’s power secretary, a post he held for two years. In a wide-ranging interview at his residence, he told SHANTANU GUHA RAY that the problem was becoming insurmountable with demand rising at breakneck speed for the last 10 years. The government needs to solve the problem and the people must change some of their strange notions about electricity consumption. Excerpts:

‘We Service High-Density And High-Profile Areas’
Lalit Jalan, head of BSES Rajdhani and Yamuna Power, says he had extra power but the weather played spoilsport

‘Anticipate The Demand And Make Arrangements’
NPDL CEO Sunil Wadhwa says a power discom must always be ready to serve troubled customers, especially in the summer

A Nation’s Fatal Ingratitude
6,000 Indian soldiers fight in the minus 50 degree bitter cold of the Siachen Glacier. A callous Ministry of Defence is now giving them flimsy gear that’s fit only for minus 10 degrees, finds NEHA DIXIT

Caught Between Two Sickles
A democratic protest against gross police brutality becomes a battlefield for two equally callous foes – Trinamool and the Left
APARNA SEN
Filmmaker

No Place To Call Their Own
Chhattisgarh’s tribals are fleeing their homes and bountiful natural resources to escape both the Salwa Judum and Naxals, reports ANJALI LAL GUPTA

Drops Of Water Stretches Of Sand
An innovative solution from IIT Madras tries to reverse the erosion of marina coastline, the city’s most popular landmark, reports PC VINOJ KUMAR

‘Advani Looked Disturbed... Mouth Gaping Open’
He saw each dome of the Babri Masjid fall one by one. Ayodhya’s sky was all smoke and fire. A first-hand account
PRASHANT PANJIAR
Photographer