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Nov 27, 2024 | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Mujibur Rehman |Vaishna Roy
A Touch of SaltAnita Agnihotri, translated by Arunava SinhaPenguin IndiaRs.399This is the story of the Agariyas, the salt-harvesters in the Rann of Kutch. They have had no water, homes or schools ever since the entire Rann was declared a reserved forest. So, like Mahatma Gandhi before them, they take up the fight for salt against the government, this time in independent India.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Ashutosh Sharma |Mujibur Rehman |Vaishna Roy
Cannabis grows in vast swathes of Jammu and Kashmir naturally, as in many other parts of country, thanks to favourable climatic conditions. Earlier this year, a study by scientists at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM) in Jammu highlighted cannabis’ potential to play a crucial role in the country’s battle against the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Mujibur Rehman |Vaishna Roy |Divya Gandhi
For a decade now, the Bengaluru-based Great Legalisation Movement India (GLM India) has been championing the cause of farmers cultivating cannabis and campaigning for legalising the drug that it claims can pave the way for replacing thousands of ecologically damaging products with sustainable hemp-based alternatives. The non-profit organisation has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in this regard.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
frontline.thehindu.com | T.K. Rajalakshmi |Mujibur Rehman |Vaishna Roy
In the first week of September, the Himachal Pradesh Assembly adopted the report of a government-constituted committee and passed a resolution legalising cannabis cultivation. The government believes that this will be an economic game changer for the State, and curiously, both the ruling Congress and the BJP-led opposition are on the same page on the issue.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Ajay Gudavarthy |Mujibur Rehman |Vaishna Roy
There have been quite a few biographies of B.R. Ambedkar in the past, especially in the last couple of years. What then is the rationale for writing yet another? Anand Teltumbde refers to his book as a “reflective biography”. Iconoclast: A Reflective Biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar attempts to revisit and analyse Ambedkar’s life and ideas in the light of the rise of Hindutva and the failure of anti-caste struggles to counter both “Brahminism and capitalism”.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Vaishna Roy |Mujibur Rehman
The results in the two States—Jharkhand and Maharashtra—that held Assembly elections over the past two weeks will be known by the time you hold this issue in your hands, although too late for our magazine to analyse the vote. But whoever wins, one thing has been irrevocably lost—the idea of grace. I have spent the past week feeling a deep sense of anguish at the depths to which we have sunk as a nation. A horrific video, apparently created by the BJP’s Jharkhand State unit, was forwarded to me.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
frontline.thehindu.com | R.K. Radhakrishnan |Mujibur Rehman |Vaishna Roy
Each day begins with renewed hope in Sri Lanka as the National People’s Power (NPP) coalition government gets to work following the resounding two-thirds majority it secured in the November 14 parliamentary election. However, the NPP has been subdued in celebrating its victory, just as it was after the coalition won the presidential election on September 21. The coalition also avoided all pomp and elaborate ceremonies ahead of the parliament session on November 21.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
frontline.thehindu.com | T.K. Rajalakshmi |Mujibur Rehman |Vaishna Roy
Defying pollsters, exit polls, and predictions, the BJP scored a hat trick in Haryana, albeit with a narrow lead in the recent Assembly election. It formed a government on its own sans any ally, and Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini assumed office for a second consecutive term with relative ease. But the euphoria did not last long.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Saba Naqvi |Mujibur Rehman |Vaishna Roy
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, will be a part of the government of US President-elect Donald Trump, himself a real estate magnate. Musk’s business interests may not always be in the best interests of the US, but he can certainly root for them now from within the government. There are serious ethical concerns when politics becomes synonymous with big capital.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Anand Mishra |Mujibur Rehman |Vaishna Roy
When Chief Minister Nitish Kumar banned the sale of alcohol in Bihar in 2016, it sparked mixed reactions. Recently, the Patna High Court castigated State government officials, suggesting that they were making money from the rampant illicit liquor trade enabled by them. The High Court made strong remarks while overturning the demotion of an inspector accused of negligence in enforcing the prohibition law.
