- The new Chief Justice NV Ramana must immediately review the actions of his immediate predecessors, free himself of the bias in constituting benches and allocating cases and take concrete steps to revitalise the administration of justice, writes lawyer Dushyant Dave in the Indian Express.
- The health ministry said only two to four of every 10,000 people vaccinated against Covid-19 have since contracted the disease. But nearly three months after the vaccination drive began, it wasn’t checking if those getting tested for Covid-19 had been vaccinated, says Rukmini S in India Spend.
- Given that all those who endorsed majoritarianism of the Bharatiya Janata Party and believed in the “supreme leader”are also at the receiving end now, they do not know who to blame, except to hallucinate that things are either not that bad or will get better soon, says Ajay Gudavarthy in The Wire.
- The pandemic gave administrators an opportunity to re-examine the education system. But nothing has changed in India’s culture of a rote learning system, writes Mahesh Gopalan in The Hindu.
- With Delhi’s crematoriums under immense pressure, relatives of the dead are turning to makeshift facilities, where mass cremations are being conducted, Reuters reported last week. Here are some of images.
- Former patients of a renowned Indian rehabilitation centre allege a chain of cult-like abuse at a facility run by celebrity psychiatrist Yusuf Merchant, reports Shamani Joshi in Vice.
- The arrest of Mumbai police officer Sachin Vaze – reinstated after a 16-year suspension, in violation of Supreme Court rulings – for alleged murder and extortion, reveals how unreformed police forces undermine India’s democracy and the rule of law, writes Vipul Mudgal in Article 14.
- The first three months of US President Joe Biden’s foreign policy have been a Trump-like travesty: coddling brutal dictators, saber-rattling against nuclear powers, and putting US dominance above human rights, argues Branko Marcetic in Jacobin.
- In this data analysis, The New York Times shows how the Academy that awards the Oscars continue to remain a bastion of white men to the detriment of diversity.
- Cryptocurrency mining uses huge amounts of power – and can be as destructive as the real thing. Elizabeth Kolbert in New Yorker writes on how Bitcoins are destructive to the environment.
Reading
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1
A Hindu festival called Christmas: Encounters between a non-practising Hindu and Roman Catholicism
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2
‘Baby John’ review: What a way to end the year
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3
An 83-year-old short story by Jorge Luis Borges portends a bleak future for the internet
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4
In Bangladesh, a concert shows how creative freedom could transform the beleaguered nation
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5
The best films we watched in 2024
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6
‘Fear, fear and only fear’: Muslims in Sambhal are on edge as government turns against them
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7
‘Bride in the Hills’: Kannada writer Kuvempu’s novel depicts life under the ruthless regime of caste
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8
Bapsi Sidhwa, one of Pakistan’s most acclaimed writers, dies at 86
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9
‘Our shadows drag us back’: Poems by 2024 Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar winner Ramesh Karthik Nayak
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10
Backstory 2024: When a guru of a little-known religion told my fortune