The Wire Talks

A new book, Indian Caliphate: Exiled Ottomans and the Billionaire Princes floats the tantalising possibility that the Nizam of Hyderabad’s dynasty came close to becoming the Caliphs in the 20th century. “With the wealth of the Asaf Jahi dynasty, Mukarram Jha, the son, the grandson of the last Ottoman caliph, and the grandson of the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, when he became the Nizam, he could the...

The new report by the UN appointed Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory has revealed shocking details about Israeli attacks on Gaza and specifically the torture and killings of Palestinian children. Several instances of children being shot, tortured and sexually abused have been recorded in the report. “This includes a girl who was stripped. So, you know, this public shaming...

When three Indian nations on neutral merchant ships were killed in attacks by the US forces at the Strait of Hormuz, it created an uproar in India. The Indian government called the US Charge d’Affaire, and PM Modi mentioned it to US President Trump. But was it enough? Admiral Arun Prakash, former Naval chief of staff and now a commentator, does not think so. “Mr Trump is not just an unpredictable...

The definition of obesity has changed. Even those who look slim, without a big belly, may be obese. And this leads to many other health problems. The definition now includes a waist circumference of “about 80 cms for females and 90 centimetres for males, and this correlates with the amount of fat in your vital organs,” said Dr Aabha Nagral, who is, Director of Gastroenterology at Jaslok Hospital i...

Joe Sacco is An internationally known cartoonist journalist famous for his books on Palestine and Gaza. His first book on India — The Once and Future Riot — was published last year, about the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 between Jats and Muslims that ended in the death of 60 people and the displacement of 60000, mainly Muslims. The book was set to be sold from August onwards, but last week, the dis...

India is extremely hot right now. Recently, it was reported that 50 of the world’s hottest cities in the world were in India. The media calls it a “heat wave.” This is only going to continue and get worse, says Amita Baviskar, Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology and Anthropology at Ashoka University. “We're going to see many, many more deaths of workers on building sites… We're talkin...

Crucial elections will take place in West Bengal in two phases on April 23 and 29. Mamata Bannerjee’s Trinamool Congress has to fight anti-incumbency, because it has been in power since 2011, and the main challenger the Bharatiya Janata Party sees its best opportunity to win the state. This time, the Special Intensive Revision ordered by the Election Commission has also complicated matters since o...

The recent proposed amendments to IT rules inviting public comments has been explained by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as just procedural but this is not the case. Activists say that if passed, the new rules will further tighten censorship of online content. Rules were already there and takedown orders were being issued in large numbers, but now it will further expand to...

With the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) picking up immigrants especially brown looking people, and even deporting them, a climate of fear has built up among the Indian community, says Sravya Tadepalli. “Indians are the third most undocumented community in America,” says Tadepalli, deputy executive director of Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR). “Among Indians there is a perception that we a...

Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have been in prison for the last five years. Their bail has been denied repeatedly. Last week their five colleagues, also arrested in the Delhi riot case of 2020, were granted bail. Why haven’t they?   Lawyer Sarim Naved, who fights both civil and criminal cases, analyses this in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia. While bail not jail is a general principle, “t...

The strong statements by President Trump against India are echoed by the growing anti-Indian sentiment in parts of the country. No longer are Indians viewed as the model minority — well educated, successful, tax-paying members of the US. Instead, they are rousing the anger of local communities. Some of the traits which are not very well liked, says journalist and author Salil Tripathi who lives in...

In Seema Says, this week, The Wire’s Editor, Seema Chishti discusses the reasons behind the United States’ attack on Venezuela and India’s muted response to the flagrant violation of international law. She also discusses how the strained ties between Bangladesh and India following India not allowing Bangladesh cricketer, Mustafizur Rehman for KKR in the IPL have got more strained. In a discussion...

Mumbai’s cuisine has been shaped by its migrants, not just from other parts of India but also from different countries.   “Irani food, for example, is not available in such abundance in other cities,” says Pronoti Datta, in this podcast conversation with Sidharth Bhatia. Datta’s new book In the Beginning There was Bombay Duck, a Food History of Mumbai, details the various cuisines brought by the c...

Thirty years ago, Saeed Akhtar Mirza made his final feature film, Naseem, about an aging Urdu poet, played by Kaifi Azmi, and set in the days preceding the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The film opened with a title card which said, “That one act of demolition wrote the epitaph of an age that has passed, perhaps never to return!” “The Babri Masjid epitomised the final collapse, you know, of an id...

India’s left parties are no longer as influential as they used to be. In her new book, Comrades and Comebacks: The Battle of the Left to Win the Indian Mind, Saira Shah Halim, CPI(M) candidate in the 2024 elections, analyses the reasons for this and suggests the way forward. “There have been strategic decisions that went wrong, but morally the Left has never made a mistake,” she said in a podcast...

Comedians and satirists have borne the brunt of the state and of people who are offended by something or the other, but even so, the stand up comedy scene is quite active with many faces. One such is Punit Pania, who left his corporate job 10 years ago and is now a very successful stand up comic.   His topics range from poor roads and civic architecture, know-all bhakt uncles, and NRIs, but he als...

Why have digital scams become so commonplace? And why are senior citizens falling prey to scamsters?   “We can say that a vast number of people who fall for cyber scams are senior citizens,” says Ruby Dhingra, a former journalist who co-founded Saksham Senior which works to digitally empowers senior citizens.   “There are a number of reasons for this, ranging from neurological factors and the fact...

It is no longer unusual to hear of someone, especially from a younger generation, who is undergoing therapy from a mental health professional, which is a big change from some years ago.    The Covid lockdown increased “stress, depression and anxiety for many” says Maherra Desai, clinical psychologist in Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital on World Mental Health Day. “Social media too has increased a sense of...

In President Trump’s second term, he has imposed several sanctions against India, starting from 50% tariffs on Indian exports for importing oil from Russia and the latest one of a massive $100,000 fee for new H1B applications. Considering that Indians get 70% of new H1B visas, it will affect professionals from India the most.   What is the reason behind these decisions, especially since many count...

There has been growing anti-immigration and anti-Indian sentiment in many countries, including in Australia. A Member of Parliament recently claimed that the government was bringing in too many Indians so that they would vote for it.  The government criticised her and her own party demoted her status. A government report in 2021 called Indians a “national asset”. “The educated people and those in...

The agitation in Nepal last week had three dimensions—the total collapse of the state machinery, multiple forces joining the GenZ agitators and unprecedented destruction of public and private property, says Mahendra P. Lama, senior professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and an astute observer of Nepal for several decades. Lama was in Kathmandu during the agitation and also spoke to severa...

What is the cause of the severe flooding seen in northern states and cities?    “Climate change and its impact is intensifying rainfall pattern. The bigger failure is how our cities are designed, planned and managed and continue to grow,” says Mihir Bhatt, Ahmedabad based architect and urban planner. Bhatt is the director of the All India Disaster Management Institute, which works on initiatives i...

The reason why the Marathas have begun agitating for reservations in recent years is because there is a “rural as well as urban crisis” in the state’s political economy, says Sumeet Mhaskar, professor of sociology in OP Jindal University. Marathas are getting no access to economically secure jobs because more and more government jobs are contractual.   Mhaskar explains the process for getting rese...

A rupture has taken place within our community relationships and this will take a long time to heal even if the government changes. This is the candid analysis by Manoj Kumar Jha, academic and one of the more articulate Indian parliamentarians.   “Dogwhistling has moved from the fringe to the centre,” he says in a podcast conversation with Sidharth Bhatia.   Jha’s collection of columns has recentl...

Historian Richard M Eaton says he is “very concerned” at the erasure of the Mughals — “one of the most spectacular empires in the world” — from school history books.  Eaton, one of the most eminent historians of pre-modern Indian history, debunks some myths about the Mughals in this podcast conversation with Sidharth Bhatia.  He pointedly says that though the Mughals were Muslims, “they saw religi...