Cover Stories

Amitabh Bachchan: Legend and Legacy

MJ Akbar

He turns 80 on October 11. A journey through his legend and legacy

Congress 2022: War Dance in the Puppet Kingdom

Congress wants a regent, a placeholder for Rahul Gandhi. But who can combine political sagacity with a saintly heart? Ashok Gehlot, the loyal one, has weakened Sonia Gandhi at a vulnerable moment. If she relents, the aura of command gets blown apart. Congress has become a puzzled jigsaw rather than a jigsaw puzzle, a combination of small cardboard pieces that no longer add up to a coherent picture

‘The idea is to get credit to everybody’

Open

In conversation with Hrushikesh Mehta, co-founder of CredAll

Credit Democracy

Anil Padmanabhan

Small businesses are finding it easier to afford working capital as the traditional practice of lending against assets is being replaced by loans based on information—cash flows digitally captured by tracking financial data. This is accelerating the formalisation of the Indian economy and a larger social transformation

Sustainable Fashion: Natural Cool

Kaveree Bamzai

A new generation of designers is recycling waste fabric, making only what can be consumed, and reviving traditional skills. Sustainable fashion makes an indian statement

The Flag of Self-Respect

PR Ramesh

Changing the naval ensign is intrinsic to Narendra Modi’s larger project of removing the last traces of the colonial past

Sea Change

Rajeev Deshpande

INS Vikrant is an important step towards a comprehensive naval policy that looks beyond deterring the Chinese threat in the Indian Ocean

Can Congress Be Saved?

Rajeev Deshpande

The party has announced elections to its president’s post in a victory for the rebels whose ranks included Ghulam Nabi Azad till recently. All eyes are now on Rahul Gandhi in a test of his resolve not to contest

AAP: The Unravelling

PR Ramesh

Delhi’s liquor scam is the biggest but not the only crisis to have hit the AAP government. Across sectors, from education and health to largescale freebies, the Arvind Kejriwal regime faces charges of corruption, some of which even hark back to the early years of the party

Who Wants Salman Rushdie Killed?

S Prasannarajan

Thirty-three years after the fatwa, the author of the Satanic Verses was grievously injured in an assassination attempt at a literary event in New York. The attack, by a 24-year-old man inspired by the forces unleashed by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, reminds the world how alive is the murderous fury of radical Islam against the freedom of ideas and imagination