Table of contents for 24 November 2025 in India Today

Terror had not touched Delhi for over 14 years. The last major incident was the 2011 bomb blast outside the Delhi High Court that left 12 dead and 91 injured. Even other big Indian cities have been incident-free since the Hyderabad blasts of 2013. That long lull was shattered on November 10, 6:55 pm. A surveillance camera captured the moment: a busy Monday evening, traffic crawling through the smog, then a fireball engulfing the screen. An explosive-laden Hyundai i20 had detonated in front of the iconic Red Fort. Preliminary scans found no shrapnel, timer or wiring. Instead, as investigators put together the pieces, what took shape was a different sort of circuitry. They are calling it the White Collar Terror network. A new infrastructure of radicalised professionals, doctors in this…

In a national first, Gujarat has announced a large-scale genome sequencing project focused on its tribal population to enhance healthcare outcomes. Led by the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre, the ‘Creation of Reference Genome Database for Tribal Population in Gujarat’ is a state initiative to complement the national Genome India Project launched in 2020 by the Dept of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology. The broader goal is to map India’s genetic diversity by sequencing genomes of 10,000 healthy individuals across major ethnic groups. Starting in early 2026, researchers will collect biological samples from over 4,000 tribals across 17 districts and 31 communities—from the Dang forests in the south to the tribal belts of Sabarkantha in the north. About half the samples will undergo whole genome sequencing, building a reference database…

AS INDIA’S POLITY NAVIGATES YET ANOTHER cycle of electoral rhetoric, Tamil Nadu has acquired a curious duality for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): it is a name, an idea, an entity that’s at once desired and demonised. To be more precise, Tamil Nadu is mocked outside its borders, and courted at home. This split in the saffron political imagination has not gone unnoticed within the ruling DMK, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent campaign speeches supplied fresh evidence. While the Dravidian party is his primary target, it’s swooping down on remarks that have a strain of generalisation in order to poison-tip its own arrows. Modi’s barbs have been sharp too. In Bihar, for instance, he accused the DMK government of mistreating Bihari migrant workers. In Odisha, during its elections last…

RESPONSIBLE AUTHORITY & MODEL The new policy introduces a new franchise model, managed by National Highway Logistics Management Limited (NHLML), exclusively for development on private land LAND OWNERSHIP & LEASE Private landowners must now form a company to act as a franchisee of NHLML. Or they can lease their land to the body for 30 years for an annual Rs 100 fee LOCATION Aims for amenities every 30-40 km instead of 40-60 km earlier, with land area varying from 0-2 acres, 2-5 acres or more than 5 acres. The land must have a frontage of 100 metres (50 m in hilly areas). It cannot be within 5 km of a city or town FINANCES The franchisee is responsible for financing. A nominal franchise fee of Rs 100 per month is…

India’s food landscape is steadily making its mark on the global stage, with pizza being in the spotlight this time. The recently released 50 Top Pizza World 2025 rankings saw Gurugram’s Pizzeria da Susy secure a position, adding to its earlier achievement of 71st place among the Top 100 at the Best Pizza Awards 2025 in Milan. For Susanna “Susy” Di Cosimo, the journey began almost by accident. A native of Naples, she moved to India in 2013 and ran a travel agency for eight years before exploring what she calls the “white art” of baking. Starting with bread, she gradually moved to Neapolitan pizza. “What began as a pastime quickly turned into an obsession,” she recalls. Encouraged by the response, Di Cosimo opened her first Pizzeria da Susy in…

For centuries, the cat has occupied a unique place in the human imagination. Revered, mistrusted, adored and immortalised in art and literature, this enigmatic creature has long inspired artists and storytellers. The Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru traces this fascination in its newest exhibition, The Many Lives of the Cat, on view until March 29, 2026. The exhibition opens with a verse by Asadullah Khan Ghalib, translated by the late B.N. Goswamy, capturing the cat’s graceful, otherworldly air. This establishes an experience traversing miniature paintings, sculptures, matchbox labels, sketchbooks and contemporary works. The exhibition draws from Goswamy’s book The Indian Cat, which traces the animal’s presence in proverbs, poetry and art. Curator Khushi Bansal notes the book’s influence on MAP’s own collection. “Professor Goswamy shows how cats have…

Q. In a press release, you said “this tour is where I think I’ll have my last connection publicly with people”. Is this the last tour? It could be. Who can predict the future? I have done this for a while now and really enjoyed performing live. The musicians who play in the band have been together for a really long time, so there is a deep connection between us on stage. And, for me, the mark of a great performance is when the audience also feels that connection. Q. Will we still be getting new music? There will be two new tracks soon. They are the last of the songs that have been recorded and need to be released. This concert tour feels like the end of an era.…

Design, like life, often thrives in paradoxes. For years, minimalism and maximalism stood as opposing ideologies—one championing restraint and clarity, the other celebrating abundance and expressive individuality. However, as our homes evolve into deeply personal sanctuaries, a new philosophy is emerging, ‘minimal maximalism’. What is it? At its essence, minimal maximalism, we would like to believe is about balance. It’s about crafting spaces that are clean yet full of character, composed yet layered. It’s about finding joy in curation, allowing statement pieces, textures and art to coexist harmoniously within a framework of calm, thoughtful design. New Face of Luxury In the homes we design, we often find that luxury today is not defined by excess, but by precision. A single sculptural piece, when placed thoughtfully within a room of quiet…

What began as a chance collaboration between two batchmates at an architecture school slowly evolved into a multidisciplinary design studio in 2005 with a clear philosophy—architecture must be timeless, functional and meaningful. This year marks two decades since 42mm Architecture opened its doors in New Delhi. Founded by architects Rudraksh Charan and Priyanka Khanna, the studio has evolved into one of the capital’s most respected design practices, with over 300 projects that span luxury residences, corporate offices, institutional buildings and urban interventions—each one shaped by a process-driven approach rather than fleeting trends. For both Charan and Khanna, the journey has never been about a flashy signature style, but about crafting timeless legacies that grow with families, stand with resilience and carry forward cultural and material integrity. A name that speaks…

In the right hands, clay doesn’t just take form, it begins to think. The quiet dialogue between maker and material can yield objects so arresting they seem to hold both mystery and breath. One such artist is Jane Yang-D’Haene, Korean-born and US-based, whose work bridges continents, histories and emotion. Best known for her stoneware vessels inspired by Korean heritage, Yang-D’Haene has made the dal hangari or moon jar, central to her practice. Traditionally crafted from two hemispheres of clay joined into a glowing porcelain sphere, the moon jar carries both fragility and completeness. “When I first started studying ceramics, I tried every possible form, but I was always drawn back to the moon jar,” she says. “Maybe it’s because I broke one as a child in Korea—or maybe it’s something…

CALL IT DECEN-TRALISATION OF POWER by other means. Like many public sector distribution companies in the country, the East Zone Power Distribution Company (EZPDC) of Madhya Pradesh has for long bled from losses. Or, again not atypically, been forced to fall back on government bailout packages to bankroll populist but fiscally imprudent decisions. But now it’s come up with a novel way to reduce its aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses. As a brainwave, it’s surely the child of a voltage surge. On July 1, the company rolled out an app-based reporting mechanism that keeps the whistleblower’s identity anonymous. Its backronym, V-MITRA, is as spiffy as its full form is clunky: Mitigation of Irregularities Through Resource Audit. BUMPER RESPONSE Its USP? As a first in India, those who report irregularities…

FAKING DOCUMENTS TECH-ASSISTED TRICKS RIGGING THE SYSTEM For countless young aspirants, a government job is the ultimate prize—a ticket to stability, respect and a secure future. But in Rajasthan, that dream has curdled into a marketplace of deceit. Leaked papers, Bluetooth-aided cheating, dummy candidates, forged certificates and quota scams have riddled the very recruitment process. Desperation has bred collusion, where aspirants, middlemen and insiders come together to con the system. The cost has been high—for honest aspirants and for the credibility of public service itself. In August, the Rajasthan High Court scrapped the 2021 police sub-inspector (SI) recruitment after widespread evidence of paper leaks and proxy candidates. Nearly 797,000 aspirants had competed for just 859 posts, making it one of the state’s most emblematic scandals. “There are thousands of cases…

COLLEGE ROMANCE (SonyLIV) This show by The Viral Fever about three friends and their adventures in the classroom was picked up by SonyLIV where it has had a run of three more seasons. BIG GIRLS DONT CRY (Prime Video) Aneet Padda may be known as Saiyaara’s Vaani now, but this coming-of-age drama set in an all-girls boarding school first made her visible. FLAMES (Prime Video) Rajjo (Ritvik Sahore) & Ishita (Tanya Manitkala) have kept audiences hooked, anchoring a romance blooming in a Delhi tuition centre. HOSTEL DAZE (Prime Video) Before Adarsh Gourav broke through with The White Tiger, he was already a familiar face for playing Ankit in this The Viral Fever show, about a small group of hostellers navigating college life. CLASS (Netflix) Season one was hailed for its…

As a non-Bengali lover of Ritwik Ghatak’s cinema, I can safely say I’d been waiting for this book for decades. Many of us have glimpsed Ghatak through the mists of Ghatak mythology: genius, maverick, alcoholic, failure, traumatised forever by the partition of Bengal…. In his centenary year, this beautiful book reveals him through voices of family, students, collaborators, scholars—and Ghatak himself. Including interviews and articles, these 50 ‘fragments’ reveal Ghatak as he plays the sarod and flute; acts in theatre; writes short stories, plays, poems; starts a magazine; loves Buñuel and Fellini; teaches; and writes on film theory. There are loving letters to his wife; a nascent film idea about Vietnam; a play produced with the inmates of the asylum in which he was institutionalised; Eisenstein declared the Kalidas of cinema, Bergman a fake,…

When Quirk Just Works Bent Collective has unveiled the eclectic royalty series by Bent Art collection, reinterpreting classical symbolism through a bold, contemporary lens. The collection includes six distinct works of art—The Diamond King, The Diamond Queen, The Jack of Clubs, The Trickster, Dancing with the Time and The Ace of Clubs. PRICE on request AT www.bentchair.com Understated Luxe Rukmini Ray Kadam understands colour and style. Trumatter Living, her interior styling studio and decor brand is an extension of this sensibility. The good news is that she has collaborated with J&Y Fabrics and launched The Balmoral Collection of upholstery fabrics, inspired by the timeless romance of the Scottish Highlands. “Balmoral is a love letter to heritage, an ode to the way patterns tell stories and colours that hold memories,” says…

As the art director of Abu Dhabi Art, Dyala Nusseibeh is known for her keen eye. Interestingly, her first art fair was with Angus Montgomery Arts in Istanbul. The venue was the Golden Horn, once called Sadabad. “Coincidentally, Abu Dhabi Art takes place on Saadiyat Island (Island of Happiness) and is also, like the venue where my first fair was located, near the sea,” she shares. She then launched and directed Art International Istanbul in 2013 with more than 60 galleries. By 2014, exhibitors grew to 77 and visitors jumped from 5,000 to 20,000. “I then felt ready to try my hand at supporting a fair back home and was thrilled to be offered a chance to join Abu Dhabi Art in 2016,” says Nusseibeh. Exciting year ahead “Amongst my…

Here’s the ground reality: getting floored by carpets from Jaipur Rugs is easy. After all, they are meticulously hand knotted and beautifully designed, looking good everywhere from the floor to the ceiling. However, the brand has taken it up a notch and collaborated with multidisciplinary artist Princess Pea, a match made in design heaven. The capsule collection called DAYS has Princess Pea exploring gender identity, self-worth and the invisible labour of women through the act of knotting. It also reflects on menstruation that remains steeped in taboo. Why does it stand out? It’s rare to find pieces that add depth and drama to both your home and the soul. PRICE on request AT www.jaipurrugs.com…

“Where AI can make an impact, where it can bring equity, where it can bring change in the lives of people is more important to me as a policymaker. This is what we will stress on” “The Tatas and Telangana government have put in money together to modernise our industrial training institutes and put robotics as a core subject”D. SRIDHAR BABU Minister for Information Technology, Electronics & Communications, Telangana Did you know that up to 113 unique components go into making a bionic hand that can replicate the functions of a human hand? Or that robotic systems in Indian factories can make up to eight cars on a single assembly line? Or that 250 robotic systems across Indian hospitals are currently assisting in surgeries? The india today Robotics and AI…

Few can rival Camellia Panjabi’s deep understanding of Indian food, so when she has something to say about it, people sit up and listen. In 1994, she published 50 Great Curries of India, a landmark cookbook that has sold over two million copies. Of course, she was already a gastronomic tour de force by then—as marketing director of Taj Hotels, she had overseen the opening of countless restaurants as the hotel group expanded across India. Now, Panjabi—who runs a slew of celebrated Indian restaurants in London with her sister and brother-in-law, Namita and Ranjit Mathrani—is back with another banger of a book. Don’t be fooled by the understated look of Vegetables: The Indian Way—this is decades of wisdom, distilled like a fine spirit, and served up with impeccable taste and…

DECEMBER 5 DHURANDHAR Testosterone, gun-powder and geopolitics galore in the most awaited Hindi film of the year. Uri (2019) director Aditya Dhar’s second feature is a cross between an Indian spy thriller and a Pakistani gangster drama. The ensemble cast has Ranveer Singh, Madhavan, Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna and Arjun Rampal. NOVEMBER 14 DE DE PYAAR DE 2 Part one ended with Ajay Devgn and the much younger Rakul Preet Singh entering a relationship. Now, Devgn, 56, has to convince the heroine’s parents, as old as him, that he is the perfect groom. The comedy spun around age-gap relationships also stars Madhavan and Jaaved Jaaferi. NOVEMBER 14 KAANTHA A star actor clashes with his men-tor filmmaker, with an actress caught in the middle, in this 1950s Chennai-set Tamil drama. The…

This style is not for those looking for clean, minimal spaces, nor is it for those who love over the top designs and spaces. It’s not even for the fainthearted, yet when done right minimal maximalism creates bold designs and almost theatrical spaces. Still confused? Here are three spaces that truly embody this aesthetic. SLEEPING PARTNER In this bedroom, the material palette features a striking oversized crafted wood and bone inlay panel on the bed back, specially sourced specially for this bedroom, flanked by sculpted concrete panels that add a sense of solidity and contrast. At the centre sits a custom-designed Abacus bed, anchoring the composition with its refined form and bespoke detailing. CONSOLATION PRIZE Anchoring the composition is a sculptural stone console, its geometric voids lending depth and rhythm…