Articles by Manu Joseph
Manu Joseph’s Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous: Read an excerpt
In his new novel, Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous, Manu Joseph takes a hard look at not just the political class and law enforcement agencies, but also “the good folks”. In this excerpt, Mukundan, an intelligence agent, is on the trail of two terror suspects.
Updated on Sep 17, 2017 10:09 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Manu Joseph
Why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already won the demonetisation gambit
It is rare for people to have an accommodating view of a sudden policy that only has long-term benefits, especially one that has hurt them. But there is observable evidence that the general public is with Modi on this
Updated on Nov 18, 2016 12:52 AM IST
There’s a serious problem with modern democracy, but what is the alternative?
Democracies will not voluntarily and peacefully cease to be democracies. Once people have tasted rights, especially under the umbrella of a righteous political idea, they would not want to lose them
Updated on Nov 10, 2016 07:37 AM IST
Nationalism will improve air quality
India’s neo-nationalism is searching for respectable shames and urban air quality is a worthy disgrace. We must not underestimate what nationalism can achieve when it is inspired by shame instead of pride
Published on Nov 02, 2016 09:31 PM IST
By ‘negotiating’ with Raj Thackeray, the BJP government has diminished itself
The Ae Dil Hai Mushkil drama is very similar to what happened in late 2014 to Sony’s The Interview, a film in which two American journalists are assigned to kill the North Korean soft-toy dictator, Kim Jong-un. In both the cases, representatives of the government were wise enough to be embarrassed. They promised protection
Updated on Oct 27, 2016 01:28 PM IST
Why it is good that Bollywood is having a crisis
The film star will never be eliminated, but the time has come for the industry to accept that one way to survive is to invest in cinema that is not inconvenienced by superstars
Updated on Sep 22, 2016 01:01 AM IST
Why the Indian voter does not punish the rogue
The voter is ready to overlook the deviations in a politician as the politician appears to be very street-smart, hence useful in the short term.
Updated on Sep 11, 2016 10:41 PM IST
Man carrying his dead wife: What this says about India
There are analyses that explain why the man ended up carrying his wife’s corpse for 12 km, but not on how the family could have been in a better place
Updated on Aug 28, 2016 11:15 PM IST
Do we have moral right to use a person’s suicide to flog our favourite ideas?
There is another danger when suicides become centerpieces of social rebellion. An unspoken understanding comes to be in the society that if people are not killing themselves maybe their suffering is not that great. The overt or covert or sophisticated celebration of suicide diminishes other forms of protest.
Updated on Aug 16, 2016 12:27 AM IST
Why Indians should not let the Olympics make them feel bad
Being considered as a venue for the games is no longer prestigious. Several nations consider it a wasteful expenditure
Updated on Aug 08, 2016 07:15 AM IST
If Dalits bore you, are you a bad person?
Far worse that the middle class indifference to Dalit issues is the middle class compassion for Dalits which has the qualities of a moral formula
Updated on Jul 26, 2016 07:59 AM IST
An unpleasant question: Do Kashmir’s poor hate their elite more than India?
Kashmir’s nationalism was herded by local and Pakistani elites, but it really does not matter now because after a point indoctrination becomes ‘the way things are’
Updated on Jul 19, 2016 09:58 AM IST
Nobel laureates’ letter on GM crops punches hole in Greenpeace propaganda
Scientists are finally attempting to take back the reigns of morality from fraudulent and delusional activists whose craft is in manufacturing fear
Updated on Jul 11, 2016 11:04 PM IST
Some indecent questions in genetics
In The Gene: An Intimate History, which is an immensely enjoyable and persuasive biography of the human gene for lay people, Siddhartha Mukherjee takes on some of the uncomfortable questions
Published on Jun 26, 2016 11:51 PM IST
Udta Punjab: Nothing reforms society as entertainment
The war against drug requires the full force of commercial cinema, which is what Udta Punjab provides, and it does so entirely because it did not set out to reform, it set out to entertain
Updated on Jun 20, 2016 08:41 AM IST
An absolutely deadly freedom
The future of all major Indian cities involve public transportation that would bring together, as passenger trains once did, the many layers of society
Published on Jun 12, 2016 10:54 PM IST
Fighting Facebook as a form of faith
Religions were invented to suit the interests of the elites. Many of the new moralising religions are in the spectrum of activism
Updated on May 16, 2016 01:20 AM IST
How to view the bribe-taking voter in India
The elite are disgusted by election freebies for the poor. But they are greater beneficiaries of subsidies for the poor than the poor themselves.
Updated on May 08, 2016 09:57 PM IST
Why we Indians should tip more
Tipping can be a reformist political movement; it may also contribute to the goodwill between the republic of the middle class and that of the poor
Updated on May 02, 2016 01:07 PM IST
Ambedkar as career advice: Forget the ladder, make your own way
Where millions are trapped in the holes of the elite, digging a tunnel to relinquish the dominant culture of the hole has proved profitable for many
Updated on Apr 14, 2017 01:25 PM IST