which among the following hosts tool Thok ke, a debate programme on contemporay social issues in India ?
Answers
Explanation:
The time-honoured practice of taking stock at the end of a year perpetrates a subconscious sense that a new year is somehow a different time, that we are taking a clean break from the one that is ending.
The reality of course is that it is as arbitrary a point of reference as any other. The world doesn’t change because the year has.
Newsmakers often remain newsmakers for years, if not decades. Robust trends take a long time to take root. And while political and business fortunes dip and soar, the prime actors stay entrenched, particularly in family-dominated Asian societies such as ours.
This is not to say year-end lists are not fun. Of course they are. We wouldn’t be doing one if they weren’t. But a list is a definite thing, and that quality clashes with the arbitrary nature of the timeframe. Could this be the source of dissonance that pervades many such exercises? Perhaps.
The choice of our subject is informed by the sense that the New Year is part of the continuum. We have picked nine themes that will be vigorously debated in 2019.
Some are clear binaries, while others are less so. While Narendra Modi will either be reelected or not, many Indians might choose deeper digital engagement even as others choose to disconnect and reclaim their minds. But all are issues that will animate 2019, a critical election year that’ll determine the near and far course of much that is fundamental to this country.
We have chosen themes from business, politics, culture, sports and society. We have explored whether the MeToo movement will make women more or less equal at the workplace. We have examined how the growing state versus federal tussle will play out. We have analysed how the mega battle for India’s retail market will unfold. Will cricket lose some of its coolth to other sports, even if it defends its massive viewership? Will the novel lose out to Netflix even more in 2019? How will the decoupling of jobs growth and GDP growth play out in an election year? And as we birth startup unicorns at an ever increasing clip, how will the scale versus profitability debate evolve in the coming year?
Happy reading, and a very happy 2019!
1. MODI VS NO TO MODI
An Election Like a Referendum
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By Shantanu Nandan Sharma
The run-up to the political battle of 2019 began early. On December 11, to be precise.
As three states in the Hindi heartland— Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan— had polled in favour of the Opposition Congress, the potential allies of a Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) became hyperactive.
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The subsequent bus ride of the opposition bigwigs representing as many as 17 political parties to attend the swearing-in ceremonies of the new CMs became a potent visual symbol of opposition unity. The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party of Uttar Pradesh, a state that sends 80 Lok Sabha MPs out of 543 to Delhi, were conspicuous by absence.
There’s no doubt though that this ragtag opposition bloc is far more formidable than earlier experiments in a non-BJP, non-Congress third front. And its growing strength is derived from one factor — even parties with opposing ideologies are willing to unite for the cause of Modi hatao (remove Modi).
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For the BJP, too, Modi will be the central card of 2019, making the election a referendum on him.
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And come the month of May, three possible scenarios, not necessarily in this order, might emerge.
First, Modi manages a decisive mandate similar to his 282-seat victory of 2014. Unlike five years ago, Modi in 2019 won’t be a stranger to Lutyens’ Delhi. He will tame the bureaucracy better, experiment with long-term reforms, attempt some bold disruptions, like he did with demonetisation in November 2016, and continue attempts to consolidate power across all domains. The economy and the market will hail the stability factor and the world will hear much more about the India story.
In the second scenario, Modi is a weakened PM, dependent on the whims and fancies of new coalition partners. Hypothetically, Telangana’s K Chandrashekar Rao, Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik and AIADMK’s Edappadi K Palaniswami, and yes, a more belligerent Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena.
For the politician who has always run a one-man show since he became Gujarat chief minister in 2001, it would be a test of Modi’s brand of politics and his skills at negotiation and consensus-building.
The third scenario is that of a clear victory for the opposition coalition, the exact shape of which is still emerging. This will mean an end to the Modi era and the return of coalition politics.
The Congress at the helm may like to run the UPA-III as “Us” against Modi’s “Me”, giving enough space to regional political honchos. But then, it would be a government on the edge, with relentless negotiations and remote controls across the nation — in Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, and yes, Amaravati.