The legendary Arjuna could afford to focus only on the fish's eye. Rahul Gandhi must have a wider perspective to address the country's ills
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The story of Nirbhaya, her rapists, and a country seething with rage and violence, caught between feudal hierarchies and the modern economy
The time has come to debate Article 19.2 and narrow its meaning more precisely.
Is this journalist behind bars because he spoke too often, too loud against communal forces?
Manmohan Singh has ended up wounding the country in deep and unanticipated ways
Arrest of Naveen Soorinje raises questions about violation of basic rights and media freedom
The harsh truth is rape is not deviant in India; it is rampant, almost culturally sanctioned.
Corruption has become so pervasive in our society that our outrage lasts for not more than a day
The Jindal-Zee scandal is the latest warning sign for India’s troubled Fourth Estate. Is there anybody willing to clean up the mess?
Until Zee provides new evidence to clear its editors, it deserves the harshest scrutiny
Shiv Sena leader’s corrosive political eminence has been a rebuking reminder of our democracy’s unfinished project
The prevailing anti-corruption wind has achieved a lot, but is the mood only carnival-deep?
Tehelka flagged the dangers of the NIB weeks ago. It's up for Cabinet discussion today
The lopsided conversation about power in India — how much is needed, how it should be generated — masks a deeper left lobe crisis in the country that no one is quite noticing.
Middle-class Indians might hate Arundhati Roy, but shutting her out would leave us a poorer society. An assessment of the writer-polemicist and why she rouses so much ire
After the high-voltage protests at Singur, Nandigram, Niyamgirhi and Bhatta Parsaul, one would have supposed at least the base rules of the game would’ve been established by now: if you covet that which others possess, you need to ask nicely and pay fairly.
Q&A Adi Godrej President, Confederation of Indian Industry
A scam-ridden decade in office has tarred the clean image of Manmohan Singh. But is the PM a victim of circumstance or has he mastered the art of staying in power without accountability? Shoma Chaudhury tracks his legacy
Teesta Setalvad dug her heels in and fought for justice for 10 years. She talks to Shoma Chaudhury about the Naroda Patiya verdict and the personal cost of a struggle.
The Naroda Patiya verdict comes as vindication for all those who resist. It is a hard-won victory with hard-won messages.
Arun Jaitley tells Shoma Chaudhury that BJP will not let Parliament function until PM quits
We need a deeper debate on how to use national resources transparently and judiciously.
For the rioters in Pune, a Bodo tribal, a Meitei Manipuri and a Nepalese from Darjeeling were clearly indistinguishable and interchangeable: like peas in a bad pod. Unfortunately, this is not a stray blindness: it is almost a national trait.
Hazare’s movement may have lost its lustre but the battle against graft should continue.
Bollywood may not take itself seriously but it plays a big part in influencing the Indian mind.
The ongoing tussle over the Western Ghats points to a crippling blind spot.
BEHIND THE BREAKING NEWS By Shoma Chaudhury LAST WEEK brought a hard moment of reckoning for the Indian media. At first, as the country watched the horrific sight of a young girl being brutalised by a mob in a busy Guwahati street, it seemed the reckonings...
The shrill debate over Time’s cover story exposes a slavish deference to western labels.
The latest episode of Maoist-State conflict leaves a trail of mangled victims in between.
Tarun Sehrawat was on the road to recovery but a massive lesion struck a cruel blow
The most favourable investment climate is one that is fair, competitive, transparent and sustainable
The Coal-gate scam is a great opportunity to crack open a debate on India’s growth story.
Why Brand Gujarat has holes and why Brand Modi finds it so difficult to get out of his state
Himanshu Kumar used to be democracy's last post in Dantewada, a sort of ICU for tribals. Then, suddenly, the State hunted him down and destroyed his ashram. A story of heroism India should know
A vacuum of leadership across the political canvas is dragging the India story down the drain.
If the capacity for laughter is a society’s health card, the cross-party call for a cartoon disarmament in textbooks last week speaks of many dangerous Indian diseases.
The quest for the truth about the mythical Abujmarh leaves two reporters battling for life. By Shoma Chaudhury
SI Kruparam Majhi’s murder offers proof of a cardinal error made eight years ago. By Shoma Chaudhury
Aamir Khan on his trail-blazing show Satya Meva Jayate, what sparked the idea, its long gestation and how it changed him and his team
Like all good Indian stories, Bangaru Laxman’s conviction comes with many open-ended readings.
The Abhishek Manu Singhvi CD throws up a 21st century conundrum of the many ways we can use and abuse the hidden camera
Rahul Gandhi was the face of hope in this Uttar Pradesh election. Till Akhilesh Yadav emerged as a contender. A detailed analysis of the men, their vision, and how one’s success is eating into the other’s
The State’s failure to ensure the writer’s visit to Jaipur is indefensible. But the noise he generates may have other lessons
Indira Rajaraman is a fiscal economist and visiting professor at the Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi. She has served on the board of the RBI and is a Member of the 13th Finance Commission. She diagnoses for Shoma Chaudhury why the economy is in...
Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission, tells Shoma Chaudhury that finding domestic scapegoats for an international problem is not the answer to an ailing economy.
It has been a year of seething people's movements and unprecedented direct action on the street. What does this portend?
THE CABINET has cleared the Citizens Charter and Grievance Redressal Bill and tabled it in Parliament. Activist Nikhil Dey tells Shoma Chaudhury why this Bill is a historic opportunity and why it must not be held hostage to Jan Lokpal politics.
Where do the battles for earth, water and sky end? Dayamani Barla and Aruna Roy in conversation with Shoma Chaudhury and Sanjay Dubey
In the midst of a hectic day in Parliament, Arun Jaitley met Ashok Malik and Shoma Chaudhury to make his stand clear on the Lokpal, FDI and what ails the UPA. He refused questions about his party’s internal fissures but his responses to many...
Cabinet minister Kapil Sibal may have pressed all the wrong buttons but he’s cracked open a much-needed debate on the nature of social media, its exhilarations, and its capacity for venom and lies
The first edition of THiNK brought together an electric range of cutting-edge voices from across the globe. A reading of what excitements this yielded
Recently there have been several malicious articles against Tehelka. Such peddling of lies needs to be confronted once before they are ignored. Shoma Chaudhury puts some facts on record
The cash-for-votes scam has had strange fallouts. An arrest one could never have imagined. And some political grandstanding that raises disturbing questions
The charade of Anna Hazare’s arrest exposes a government bankrupt of political ideas. But there are some lessons there for everyone else too. Shoma Chaudhury on the dark events of 16 August. With Revati Laul
The Lokpal Bill is in danger of skidding off the rails. As it is introduced in Parliament, eminent activist Aruna Roy tells Shoma Chaudhury why we should not rush into it
Omar Abdullah Chief Minister, J&K, 41
He wanted me to tell the story of his life. I wish I had
Can Mamata live up to the expectations people have of her? That’s the question everyone is asking. Shoma Chaudhury looks for some answers in her journey so far
Osama bin Laden was killed in a sensational night raid by the Americans. Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, who met bin Laden several times, analyses the political repercussions
The search for a lily-white reformer could trip the reform itself. This is a dilemma the Bhushans need to confront
The Anna Hazare campaign last week had many dangers. So did the Jan Lokpal Bill it was championing. Now that the noise is over, the real debate can begin
The noise against Tehelka after last week’s cover story was to be expected. Much more surprising was the confusion over the ethics of political baiting
The miracle of individual choice may be what is keeping us safe as a society. Some people just choose to be good, no matter what. This is the story of what happens to them
Big mistakes. Big successes. Big USPs. Despite its long and chequered history, there are reasons why the Congress is like no other political party in India
Tata’s move can have far-reaching consequences for Indian democracy and has triggered a crucial debate on what constitutes privacy and under what circumstances it should be sacrificed for public interest
NIIRA RADIA — owner of PR company Vaishnavi Communications, among others — is not merely a fixer in the old sense of the word. She is a thermometer reading for a very ill society.
Corporate crime has begun to risk democracy itself. Rajya Sabha MP and former FICCI president Rajeev Chandrasekhar tells Shoma Chaudhury that the Indian legal system needs to be overhauled to tackle corporate crime
Every time you fall ill, America gets a little richer, for we are a billion dollar market
As a section of the political class and the media bays for her blood, author Arundhati Roy tells Shoma Chaudhury why her opinions do not amount to sedition
It is a mistake to stop at the surface violence on the streets. Kashmiris of every inclination are longing for moderation. And most of all, reprieve. A week in the valley with Zahid Rafiq
FAKERY HAS always been a key instrument of power. But last week, as the President and Pr ime Minister of India made their Independence Day speeches, cocooned symbolically in towers of glass, the scale of that fakery shot skyward. Both leaders augustly urged the Maoists,...
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy made global news. But its horrors continue. This is the dark story of how the Congress brass sold out to protect the 'investment climate' in India
EN Rammohan, former Director General of the BSF, has fought insurgencies in Kashmir and the Northeast. Recently, Home Minister P Chidambaram picked him to probe the Dantewada massacre of CRPF jawans by Naxals. Yet, crucially, in a forthright interview with Shoma Chaudhury, he says the...
Manipur has been under siege for 46 days. Home secretary Gopal Pillai tells Shoma Chaudhury what the centre is doing about this
Slammed Chidambaram's anti-Naxal strategy has come in for criticism. There was a time when Bianca Jagger was known as rock star Mick Jagger’s wife. But for the last 30 years, the Nicaragua-born fashion icon has been a people’s rights advocate and a goodwill ambassador...
We can physically exterminate the Maoists, but what are we going to do with the big, rebuking questions they have unleashed around us?
TEHELKA editor Shoma Chaudhury held an emailed interview of Dr Gyanendra Shukla, Director, Monsanto (India), where a wide range of issues pertaining to Bt (Bacillus Thuringiensis) seeds, GM foods, food security etc. Here is a complete transcript of the interview.
Three years ago, hit director, Karan Johar said he hadn't yet made a film he was proud of. Here, he talks of the unexpected changes the making of My Name is Khan has had on his sense of self and cinema.
Of all the voices that opposed the introduction of Bt brinjal, one was most significant — that of 84-yearold TV Jagadisan, the former MD of Monsanto India. Talking to Shoma Chaudhury at his Bengaluru flat, Jagadisan, who was with the company for 18 years...
Tracking director Raju Hirani’s incredible life story, Shoma Chaudhury discovers his light, feel-good cinema disguises an urgent, often even an angry, moral vision
As India's most powerful political family roils with rivalries and betrayals, Nehru's great-grandson campaigns from a jail cell. Shoma Chaudhury reports on the drama rocking the subcontient.
With a rare candour, in an unprecedented interview, P Chidambaram maps the ways in which he is willing to engage with all aspects of the Naxal problem
Operation Greenhunt, India's "greatest internal security threat" and insights on why fighting the Maoist crisis cannot be handled by force alone.
WITH characteristic flair, MF Husain once came up with the perfect selfdescription. “India is a giant circus,” he said, “and I am its rangeela joker.” Given that India exiled him, that image can now include the circus of the globe, Husain still the gleeful jester. Nothing...
Strangely, as the first months passed, my father’s death left me with a powerful gift
THE FIRST time you meet Akbar Padamsee, he is likely to draw you into his studio in his Mumbai flat and give you a quick tutorial on charcoals and water colours. His excitement about painting — over 60 years old — is still as...
THE SECRET of youth, says the famous architect and urban planner Charles Correa, is to keep making decisions all the time – big ones about life and work; little ones about which new route to go for a walk, for instance. The trick, as...
Arun Shourie was once a shining sabre in defence of democracy. Why is he arguing for an RSS takeover of the BJP and what does it say about him?
An explosive series of photographs showing a fake encounter set Manipur on fire. An insight into the fractured truths and complex wars raging in the state
Our hysteria for ready answers has become a dangerous trap. A bomb blast conspirator's explosive confession poses a challenge to us all
With the BJP’s electoral defeat, the idea of Hindutva has come up for a lot of debate. Has it become a liability? Is it time to articulate it differently? Should the BJP jettison it? As Jaswant Singh exasperatedly said on one television discussion: “What...
This election still has some hidden lessons. Are corporates listening? By Shoma Chaudhury THE SAVING grace about politicians is that they are contingent beings. The power given them is huge, but the power wielded over them is huge too. They might often ride the masses...
Activist Himanshu Kumar could not be swayed by the State’s wrath. Shoma Chaudhury speaks to this Gandhian
His political concerns are well known. Now activist Binayak Sen shares insights into his detention
Rahul Gandhi Shoma Chaudhury, Executive Editor IF ANYONE had cared to look, the makings of ‘the Rahul factor’ — the new phenomenon on the political landscape that everyone is now agog about — was always there in the making. At its core stands a dignified...
Mamata Banerjee has always repudiated the brute might of the CPI(M). Will her fire survive the temptations of power at the Centre, wonders Shoma Chaudhury
Mayawati Shoma Chaudhury, Executive Editor MAYAWATI BELIEVED she was set to storm the walls of history. She should have: the walls of history need breaching. But churlishness and hubris are poor ammunition for those who would change the shape of the world. Since her landslide...
Varun Gandhi has been arrested for his vitriolic hate speech. What changed him from a solitary reader into a frothing demagogue? The story of a Gandhi scion torn between the ghost of Nehru and Sanjay Gandhi
Nandita Das’s gripping directorial debut, Firaaq—a fearless exploration of Gujarat 2002 — should be the talking point everywhere
Terror attacks in Pakistan. Mutiny in Bangladesh. Ethnic war in Sri Lanka. Mani Shankar Aiyar unravels the subcontinent with Shoma Chaudhury
After his blockbuster RDB, Shoma Chaudhury previews Rakeysh Mehra’s much awaited new film
Nadeem Aslam draws the fine line between fundamentalism and bigotry for Shoma Chaudhury
Mohammad Hanif, author of the blackly humorous book, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, talks to Shoma Chaudhury about things despairing and hopeful in India and Pakistan
AR Rahman has two big themes in his life: music and spiritual surrender. As he returns with the Golden Globe, this maps the story of his guru, his childhood, and how the public gift and private search intersect
A radically different India by 2020. Powerful winds of change. And always, the potential for implosion. Nandan Nilekani and Sunil Khilnani discuss the Indian jigsaw with Shoma Chaudhury
Author Vikram Chandra wrote a magnum opus on Mumbai's underbelly. He interprets his city in the wake of the 26/11 attack
Political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta on why our public institutions are crumbling and why we have nnowhere to turn
Former diplomat G Parthasarathy on the Mumbai attack and why he has no meeting ground with liberals
Terror is our common problem, says former Pakistani foreign minister Sartaj Aziz, in the wake of the horrific 26/11 attack
Saffron extremist Sadhvi Pragya Singh is a sign of the increasingly dangerous play religion is getting in our public life. What do the complicated messages around her say about India?
Extremism. Patriotism. Backwardness. Ghettoisation. They fielded questions on all of that and more
As 6,000 Muslim clerics issued a fatwa against terrorism, I boarded their peace train from Deoband to Hyderabad -- the only woman to do so. It threw up fascinating insights
His existence is considered a provocation by some. Former SIMI president Yasin Patel was arrested under POTA and is considered anti-national. He explains the worldview of the radical
Get up close with one of the Hindu Right’s most incendiary faces. As Bajrang Dal head, Prakash Sharma has a reputation for violence and religious belligerence. He explains why his Parivar thinks as it does
After the global economic crash, the West is starting to learn its lessons. Are we ready to learn ours?
She's known mostly for her popcorn beauty and anglicised roles. Nobody in Bollywood was betting on her to begin with. So what drove her to the top? A glimpse of a life beyond and before the confetti
Arundhati Roy on the nature of terror attacks in India and why there is no hope for justice
The Supreme Court has finally vindicated MF Hussain. He talks to Shoma Chaudhury about freedom and his relationship with India
SIMI -- a radical Islamic students' organisation -- was automatically accused for every terror attack in India. An exhaustive Tehelka story bust holes into that prejudice. This is why we did it.
Three truckfuls of garbage, some pictures, and a video. Artist Vivan Sundaram talks of modernity, excess, urban underbellies and his new show
In 1971, Baba Amte took his young son Prakash Amte to a fierce, isolated jungle to work with the Madia Gonds. Four decades on, this story captures an inspirational journey
As India’s Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram must unravel some of the most complex riddles of our time. In an unusually candid interview, he spells out his committed, but debatable, vision
Naseeruddin Shah on why Khuda ke Liye, the first Pakistani film to be released in India, is the most important film of his career
The Gandhi name can be both a burden and a gift. As Rahul Gandhi makes his debut and starts to tour rural India, the question to ask is: will he find his feet?
Shobhaa Dé’s glamorous book Superstar India is due this week. She speaks to Shoma Chaudhury about its key concerns, the rich and the young
He started out as a road construction worker's son. Now, he is a Tibetan leader of rare fire and eloquence. Tenzin Tsundue on his arduous life and the path ahead for the Tibetan movement
Forceful rhetoric. Modern tactics. A hyper-articulate generation of Tibetan leaders is overturning every stereotype. An exploration of the new mood
For all the scorn it has aroused, Aamir Khan’s response to the Olympic torch is the most apt
Star editor and Clinton biographer Tina Brown recently trailed Hillary Clinton on a manic 14-city tour. She talks about the peculiar vulnerability and unassailability of Hillary Clinton
Writer and Tibet activist Patrick French critiques the Dalai Lama and the need to move beyond empty empathy
The imprisonment and victimisation of Dr Binayak Sen, a heroic humanitarian from Chhattisgarh, exposes the fraying edges of Indian democracy
Over a week spent together in Dubai, MF Husain speaks with unguarded candour about his life, his women, his exile. And his deep love for Hinduism
Aamir Khan takes risks. They always pay off. On the eve of his directorial debut, Taare Zameen Par, an assessment of the superstar and his rules of play
Fabled media pair Sir Harold Evans and Lady Tina Brown were in Delhi recently. They spoke to Shoma Chaudhury about the challenge of journalism in the world today
Gopal Gandhi is the Mahatma’s grandson. But it would be unfair to reduce him merely to lineage
Fame, tumult, tragedy. Priya Dutt on Mr and Mrs Dutt, a book that tracks the legendary Bollywood couple through the eyes of their children
Many of us can be forgiven for liking Sanjay Dutt. His friends can be forgiven for defending him. He is life's golden child gone wrong. But as a TADA convict, how can he be feted by the political class?
The manicured Karan Johar talks of his work with hard-eyed honesty. Working with a new instinct, he is seeking to overturn his stereotype
Ram Gopal Varma had the audacity to remake Sholay, the ultimate classic. Naturally, he failed. Here, admits to things he has never said before. Photographs by Anay Mann
Thomas Friedman hailed Nayan Chanda’s book, Bound Together as a 'unique history of globalisation’. Here Chanda discusses the many faces of globalisation and why it should be made to bend to national interest
Why this furore over Salman Rushdie's knighthood? It is time Islam and other religions learned to shrug at some offence
Chhattisgarh. Jharkhand. Bihar. Andhra Pradesh. Signposts of fractures gone too far with too little remedy. Arundhati Roy in conversation with Shoma Chaudhury on the violence rending our heartland
Are we the East India Company? Is land for development to be acquired by brute force?
Shah Rukh Khan usually speaks of brands and the art of making money. In this unusually forthright interview, for the first time, he speaks of much more: Islam, loss, death, fear, politics, films, women, sexuality, sensibility.
Bill Emmott, former editor of The Economist, is writing a book on India, China, and Japan. He spoke to Shoma Chaudhury and Shantanu Guha Ray on SEZs, India’s economy, and why China has close to 80,000 riots a year
Having travelled on the ground, Shoma Chaudhury asked Ravi Kant, MD, Tata Motors, some hard questions on the company’s role in Singur. He fielded them all
They did the unthinkable: they resisted the Tata Nano factory. In doing so, they raked up big questions about social justice, land grab and democracy
Three films in seven years. Not one released. With the 1993 Bombay blasts judgement underway, will Black Friday finally hit the screens? In this searing piece, Anurag Kashyap describes the heartbreak of being angular in Bollywood. As told to Shoma Chaudhury
They raped his daughter, cut his limbs and left him for dead in the fields. But Bant Singh, a fiery Dalit pig herder, refused to give up. Now, his resistance is igniting others
Celebrity marriages, lost dogs, drunken brawls. Trivial headline news and the sellout of mainstream journalism. Aamir Khan scathes through contemporary media
Aamir Khan presents many puzzles. He breaks many rules. On the eve of his big new film, The Rising, he talks about life, politics and being a star
Aamir Khan is a famously private man. He has been off the radar for four years. They have been stormy. Much is riding on his film, The Rising. The superstar at a moment of reckoning
Ram Jethmalani’s life reads like a potboiler version of India’s independent history. A sketch of one of the grandest and most controversial of Indian public figures
Shoma Chaudhury, in her second editorial page piece in The Hindustan Times raises the disturbing question of all: if the cards are so powerfully stacked on the side of the wrong, why should anybody ever want to do the right thing?
The inside story of how the BJP-led NDA Government willfully destroyed Tehelka
After its sting investigation on defence corruption, a massive government witch-hunt shut Tehelka down. No one believed it could rise from the ashes. But it did. This is our story
Despair can turn you from citizen to perpetrator. From the hunted to the hunter.
How can a lowly vegetable be an issue of national security? Is there a foreign hand in your belly? Shoma Chaudhury lays bare the complex story of Bt brinjal and how it affects you
Irom Sharmila has been fasting for 10 years. Her epic resistance should be part of universal folklore.
But India remains oblivious
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh was reported to have called the Naxals “terrorists”. Did this mean a complete shift in stand?
Is society’s bloodlust and abhorrence now meant to dictate and shape judgments in the highest court?
Salman Khan has intrigued his fans for decades with his capacity to be a brat yet be endearingly human. Here’s the man beyond the fairy dust
UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has been severely criticised for the unconscionable riots in Muzzaffarnagar and his apathetic response. Here he fields hard questions
J&K CM Omar Abdullah responds to the barrage of criticism over the handling of the Afzal Guru situation and the clampdown and curfews that followed
This chilling story of one tribal family in Chhattisgarh reveals more about India's Naxal crisis than any official document can.
The Talwars’ story encapsulates the cold, impervious heart of our democracy
Dozens of conversations provide a fascinating window into the psyche of the Indian male. Some of it dark. Some of it hopeful
Our life and future is tied in with the decisions of the environment ministry. This is why we should be interested in the high-voltage story of Jairam Ramesh
If Modi wants to take his place in history, he will have to tender at least a basic apology.
We need the middle ground and multiple models. What we have is an angry and wasteful polarity.
New Delhi should have made its censure clear, but the mythologising is uncalled for
The really alarming story about the coal scam lies one layer below public glare.
If ever the time was right to repeal this draconian law — even partially — it is now.
An explosive and detailed analysis of the country’s most famous murder trial
Jiah’s death is tragic but Pancholi’s arrest for ‘abetment to suicide’ raises many troubling questions.
Sunanda Pushkar was brutalised by the media during the Shashi Tharoor-IPL controversy. Her clothes, her alleged affairs, her supposed neglect of her son -- everything became fair game. In an exclusive, emotional interview, she wrests back the story of her life
What you do not want done unto your own bodies, should not be done to anybody else's body
With his provocative comments, he is exacerbating the underlying prejudice against Indian Muslims
Crony deals are sealed in boardrooms but governments have to seek the people’s mandate
In India, the leadership options are either effete, muscular or sinister. But, there's a twist in the tale.
The missing coal files, in fact, sum up everything that is wrong with the UPA leadership: it’s missing.
The root of India’s crisis today is that we have lost the idea of getting something done zealously right.
Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit talks about whether her party will manage to overcome the strong anti-incumbency sentiment after fifteen years in power
The Centre has actively wooed foreign funding in all possible spheres, except for resistance.
Why the controversial Food Security Bill is not a spend but an investment, crucial for India’s future and growth
THiNK — Tehelka’s annual event in Goa — was born three years ago with a specific ambition. We wanted to create a space that would celebrate the centrality of thought and ideas as the most crucial foundation of a civilised society. We wanted to...