India
The Scholar and the Sultan
The career of the 11th-century Muslim polymath Abu Rayhan al-Biruni was shaped by the turbulent politics of medieval Central Asia. Yet his life at the mercy of his court patrons and their conflicts gave him the chance to pursue a remarkable career of empirical, open-minded scholarship.
Political Wars in Delhi
While Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest has raised concerns about India’s ability to host free and fair elections, it has also put a spotlight on the meteoric rise of the Aam Aadmi Party, which is the only party, apart from the BJP and Congress, to govern in more than one state in India.
India’s Bene Israel Food Creates a Fusion of Coconut and Kosher
India’s largest Jewish community, the Bene Israel, hold on to their coastal roots through food and memory. Their cuisine, which draws from Konkan traditions while observing kosher, reveals how it is a marriage of both faith and community.
Democracy and Controversy in the World’s Largest Elections — With Surbhi Gupta
In a year of elections across the globe, none will be bigger in scale than that in India, where nearly 1 billion people are eligible to vote. “In the seven decades since India got its independence, democracy has been its identity,” Surbhi Gupta tells Kwangu Liwewe on The Lede. But with elections coming up in April, Gupta and Liwewe explore whether that commitment to democracy is as strong as it once was.
The Ambani Gala Expands the Limits of the Big Fat Indian Wedding
The extravagant pre-wedding festivities of Anant Ambani — son of India’s and Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani — had a lineup of performers worthy of an international festival and high-profile guests from all over the world, spotlighting how weddings are occasions for Indians to signal their social status and wealth.
The War on India’s Free Press — with Manisha Pande and Samar Halarnkar
“There’s a complete and near total capture of mainstream voices, especially the loudest voices, the most prominent voices,” says Manisha Pande, managing editor at Indian media watchdog Newslaundry. “It is not an exaggeration to say that, when you turn on the television today, it’s very close to what you see in non-democracies like Russia,” she tells New Lines’ Surbhi Gupta.
Indian Farmers Fight for Justice Against the Odds
When Indian media highlights a miscarriage of justice, it is often a high-profile case in a metropolis. Countless farmers across India, who are the backbone of the country’s rural economy, live on the peripheries. If they become embroiled in legal battles, they spend their lives dealing with the broken judicial system.