| After the ban on instant triple talaq and the outreach to pasmandas, PM Modi invoked the Uniform Civil Code this week and made another appeal to the Muslim community. By raising the issue, his finger is reaching for the nuclear button, wrote Vir Sanghvi. The Opposition will be caricatured as third-rate, vote-hungry politicians who want only to cater to their primitive Muslim constituency at the expense of Hindus. The big question is this: will it work? Will Hindus be willing to vote for the BJP again on the basis of religious issues?
Meanwhile, more mayhem from Manipur followed. Hundreds of women turned out to stop soldiers from arresting Moirangthem Tamba who had a direct role in the 4 June 2015 attack by the ethnic-Meitei Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup. The Army turned over Moirangthem and 12 others, to a local leader. There is no word, though, on who the local leader is—and if he will hand Moirangthem over to face trial, wrote Praveen Swami.
Compare New Delhi's approach to Manipur with its aggressive, pro-active stance toward another conflict zone — Kashmir. Manvendra Singh wrote that the Kashmir Valley garners disproportionate national security focus than its current situation warrants. Manipur is India’s most important gateway to the East, but gets half the attention that Kashmir gets.
All the brouhaha over ChatGPT makes it look like America has just won the AI race with China. Aadil Brar wrote that this is far from the truth. The AI race is still wide open. And that China is evolving a range of sophisticated AI innovations. In fact, it has beaten the US to emerge as a leader in advanced data analytics, which is crucial to driving insights from vast amounts of data.
How did the Hindu god Ganesha reach South East Asia? Anirudh Kanisetti wrote that there was a thriving worship of elephant-shaped deities in Northern India for centuries before the proper emergence of Ganesha. Then quite abruptly, from 550–600 CE, Ganesha sculptures appeared in Cambodia and Thailand. In Cambodia, especially, Ganesha was treated as a major god capable of granting moksha, ultimate liberation, to his devotees—something that, in the Indian subcontinent, was mostly associated with Shiva and Vishnu.
The Ground Reports offering this week had two significant stories. From madrasas' refusal to teach English to Manish Sisodia to same sex marriages to Byjus to Bournvita — the all new NCPCR has swung into action and waded into all kinds of domains and politics in recent years. The statutory body has never had so much bite. Unnati Sharma wrote about the new mojo and mission of the child rights group under its RSS leader Priyank Kanoongo. Many are asking if it is all politics or just overactive child rights advocacy.
Three years after Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide and the draconian action by the NCB against Bollywood actors, the marijuana plant has come a long way in India. Hemp and CBD are now a booming market. Mohana Basu wrote about the science and commerce of CBD and hemp products that are fast becoming the go-to potion for pain relief — all with Ayush Ministry's blessings. The stigma and ignorance of 2020 no longer there.
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