Outlook India

ABOUT THE COVER

IT is always a difficult task to make a cover for an issue like this. We came across an artwork, Blind Curve, by artist Felix Lucero, made at San Quentin State Prison as part of California’s Arts-in-corrections program on the Internet and in an act of...

LET’S GO ELSEWHERE

ON THE COVER ‘Party is Elsewhere’ by artist Sudarshan Shetty was first shown in 2005 in a Mumbai gallery that was gutted by fire in the same year. Located on a street that comes alive each evening with transient gatherings. The guests at the event and...

To Be Continued…

OUTLOOK’S first issue opened with Kashmir. Copies of the magazine were burnt. But the magazine has already shown its irreverence to prescribed notions, standards and everything else at a time when reporting from the region demanded courage, patience,...

NAVIGATOR

“NO to the violence of Islam, yes to safer borders, no to mass immigration, yes to work for our people,” says Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. US President Donald Trump calls immigrants aliens; says climate change is a hoax and terms the LGBTQ...

NAVIGATOR

The narrative of Dravidian vs Aryan, the South vs North, Tamil vs Hindi predates the freedom struggle. A 100 years ago, E. V. Ramasamy ‘Periyar’ gave it a solid political form through his SelfRespect Movement for the backward castes. It is this...

The Burden of Bihar

While Bihar is all set for a new government in an election fought on the promise and the record of development, the state still fares poorly on all indicators even after two decades of ‘sushasan’ under Nitish Kumar. The next chief minister has a lot of...

Solitude of Power

While the BJP’S invocation of Jungle Raj in Bihar over and over again has some fatigue factor, there seems to be no anti-incumbency for Nitish Kumar. For decades, he has navigated the politics and the ideologies and the alliances to remain in power and...

Caste is the biggest political party in Bihar’

Despite thorny issues like the migration crisis, unemployment, lack of industries, rising crime, this election will be about identity politics. Will the upper castes stake their claim again, or will the marginalised continue to assert themselves?

BIHAR’S GEN Z JAN

Will young voters rewrite Bihar’s political grammar or reaffirm its old hierarchies in the assembly election?

WHO IS AN INDIAN?

Commemorative Coin A specially designed coin highlighting the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s contributions to the nation, released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, on the occasion of its centenary celebration

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ruchi Bakshi Sharma studied Communication Design at the National Institute of Design and has directed several award-winning live action and stopmotion shorts. She works with multiple mediums—lenticulars, paper and video assemblages inside shadow boxes,...

APOLOGY REGARDING ARTICLE DATED 17TH NOVEMBER 1997

Twenty-seven years ago, the 17 November 1997 issue of Outlook Magazine published an article titled “Aaj ka Minister Goonda King of Kunda” concerning Kunwar Raghuraj Pratap Singh ‘Raja Bhaiya’. We deeply regret that this article contained suggestions...

| AS GOALPOSTS SHIFT

EC furthering the ruling establishment’s political agenda, says the Opposition; EC dismisses charges By Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

FEAR LOOMS LARGE

The tariff imposition by the US has cast a shadow over cities like Tiruppur, India’s knitwear capital, that depend on the ebb and flow of international demand

PLACING INDIA ON THE GLOBAL

India’s Global Healthcare Future As India charts its course toward becoming the Vishwa Chikitsalaya - Hospital for the world by 2047, the focus continues on three critical areas: global quality benchmarks, digital health transformation, and inclusive...

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

The 12 accused in the Mumbai blast case of 2006 were acquitted after 19 years. Like them, 75% prisoners in India are undertrials, waiting for their truth to be heard

Jungle Raj

Brutal shootouts in broad daylight, women hunted down as witches, chaos in the electoral rolls. Is Bihar slipping back to the lawlessness of the 90s, as elections near?

FEAR AND LOATHING IN THE IVY LEAGUE

SS HE wanted to be political. She came to the United States to study. She believed the two—politics and higher education—couldn’t be separated at a world-famous liberal institution. She’s in her mid-twenties, Indian, and studying at Columbia—a...

NO WHITE MALE SAVIOUR, PLEASE

“It is my opinion that the use of this barbarous (atomic) weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the...

INNINGS/OUTINGS

As the modern cricket greats Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli hang their bats, it is cricketers from India’s hinterland who raise the pitch

LINES DRAWN IN BLOOD

IN the border villages of Punjab, life unfolds under constant watch—beneath CCTV cameras, near floodlit fields that never go dark, in full view of Border Security Force (BSF) watchtowers on one side and the sweeping eyes of Pakistani rangers on the...

Gated Neighbourhood

An area with restricted access, enclosed by walls or gates. Used to show isolation and being at odds with reality

| LIVING WAR ROOMS

Drawing-room generals, Whatsapp warriors, and teastall tacticians flood the airwaves with unsolicited military advice—while real lives hang in the balance

THE OTHER COVER DESIGNS FOR THIS ISSUE

The young bride sitting next to her husband’s body became the heartbreaking, lasting image of the terror attack in Pahalgam. A sketch of this image, and a question asking WHY, to this senseless killing were Outlook’s other cover options for this issue.

THE SCRIPT OF VIOLENCE

Amidst legal and political battles against the new Wakf Act, violent protests by a section of Muslims in Murshidabad sharpen societal polarisation

| THE RABBIT HOLE

An anti-feminist masculinity is attracting young boys on the internet. Blaming women for the pressure on men, its champions believe they are only opening men’s eyes to the misery in their lives By Avantika Mehta

Ten Stunning Wedding Venues To Explore

Rajasthan’s timeless charm and regal grandeur make it the perfect destination for a fairytale wedding. The state’s magnificent forts and palaces, steeped in history, offer a breathtaking blend of heritage and luxury. If you’ve ever dreamt of a wedding...

| EVOLUTION OF WORLD ORDERS

Over the centuries, the global order has shifted at regular intervals. With the rise of Third World powers, the post-cold War US hegemony may have to face consequences By Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

| TURN RIGHT FOR RELIGION

What’s behind the global rise in pilgrimage and religious tourism?

| MYSTERY WOMAN

Bhavna Paliwal is one of the few female detectives operating out of Delhi

Budget 2025 Industry Viewpoint

| CRYING IN LOVE IS TO GROW IN LOVE

To be in love is to check one’s mortality and start with the quiver of optimism

THE POWER OF COMPOUNDING

Compounding is often hailed as a wonder in the world of finance, especially when it comes to longterm wealth creation as it helps one to generate earnings on an asset’s reinvested earnings

Don’t Let This Farmer Die

Punjab farmer Jagjit Singh Dallewal’s fast-unto-death at Khanauri border to protest for a legally guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all crops entered the 53rd day on January 17. In solidarity with Dallewal, 111 farmers have also started a...

WAR AND DEMOCRACY

“A barbaric era is upon us once again. An era of power. Democracy is in retreat. I think back to the ’90s … At that time, it seemed to all of us—to you, and to us—that we had entered a safe world. Today that all seems like a pretty fairytale. We are...

ON THE COVER An image from Anaesthesia by Valentina Abenavoli

Anaesthesia is an attempt to confront the numbness of the contemporary world—a state where images of violence, destruction and suffering circulate endlessly, stripping us of the ability to truly feel. The book is a collection of screenshots taken from...

"Into The New World"

South Korean girl band SNSD sings Into The New World as the country’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, is impeached. Meanwhile, the Korean wave in literature, films, music, fashion, beauty, food and business is spreading far and deep inside India

ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL?

PINK, a seemingly unlikely political colour, took centrestage at the star-studded swearing-in ceremony of the three heads of the Mahayuti government at Mumbai’s iconic Azad Maidan. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar stole the...

ON THE COVER: ‘Expansion Exposition’, 2023; staple pins installation by pooja iranna

The artist creates manmade structures, talking of human beings, their presence, expressions, mind and emotions, without their physical existence. She often uses staple pins as a medium of expression to talk about cities growing towards the urban way of...

THE ANAPHORA TO ZEUGMA OF THE QUEEN’S ENGLISH

Shashi Tharoor’s book is a logophile’s candy shop, full of fun, surprises and insights

TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE ‘WAAPSI’

Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election may very well mean an end to democracy in the near future

| NO COUNTRY FOR WOMEN

Abortion is one of the deciding factors. It is time to reflect on our own practices and prejudices

OF CARS, KINGS AND DOGS

Ratan Tata joined the Tata Group in 1962 and held various positions across companies before stepping down as the chairperson in 2012

A REQUIEM FOR A DREAM

I T has been about five years since the abrogation of Article 370 and yet a profound ambivalence still lingers in the air in Kashmir. The people remain caught in a web of uncertainty—torn between two competing realities. On the one hand, there is an...

| GROWING UP WITH INDIRA GANDHI

Gandhi’s principal legacy remains the systematic replacement of institutional governance with the vicious precedents of personalised rule

| “WHERE IS THE CREAMY LAYER?”

Interview with Chirag Paswan, Minister of Food Processing Industries and President of Lok Janshakti Party

Lest We Forget...

The Supreme Court has said, “Nation can’t wait for another rape.” This is the mango tree where the bodies of two Dalit teenage girls were hung after they were raped in 2014. Aruna Shanbaug, a junior nurse at Mumbai’s KEM Hospital, was raped and...

BANGLADESH UNREST AND BEYOND

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is hiding in Delhi, overthrown by a student’s rebellion in Dhaka. Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan is in jail in Islamabad. Anti-government protesters threw out Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda...

ORPHANED LANGUAGES

“JAmna-gari, naukriyu, khojileyuu hangkaathe,” Tulsi Rajbar, 30, sang in her mother tongue as she patched up the blue walls of her ravaged mud hut in Chakarpur village on the foothills of the Kumaon mountains of Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand. It was a...

Will You Read This Book?

Nobel Laureate and Canadian writer Alice Munro’s daughter Andrea Skinner has said she was abused as a child by her stepfather, and her mother kept quiet. This has again ignited the debate: can art and the artist be separated

A CONTRACT FOR A MIRACLE!

THE Kreupasanam Marian Shrine was teeming with devotees, a sea of faces marked by grief, desperation and faith. In the crowded hall, a line of people eagerly awaited their turn to give their testimonials, sharing stories of ‘miracles’ that had changed...

ON THE COVER: ‘Rhizome’ (2015)

“The work refers to philosopher Gilles Deleuze and psychoanalyst Felix Guattari’s use of the term ‘rhizome’, as a network of interconnections, where any point connects to any other point. It attempts to illustrate the fishing community’s entangled...

ON THE COVER

‘Library’ (2022) Artwork by Dia Mehhta Bhupal; constructed in paper & cardboard, then photographed. In ‘Library’, Bhupal contemplates the deeper meanings of shared public spaces. A library, a supermarket, a gym, and a cinema are all familiar...