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OC www.indiatoday.in OCTOBER 15, 2018 `60 9 770254 839909 S X ST REGISTERED NO. DL(ND)-11/6068/2018-20;REGISTERED NO. U(C)-88/2018-20; FARIDABAD/05/2017-19 LICENSED TO POST WITHOUT PREPAYMENT G DS RNI NO. 28587/75 RNI NO. WHY RELIGIONS IN INDIA DISCRIMINATE AGAINST WOMEN DIGITAL EDITION OC SAFAIGIRI AWARDS 2018 THE UNMAKING OF IL&FS www.indiatoday.in OCTOBER 15, 2018 `60 9 77025 839909 S X ST REGISTERED NO. DL(ND)-11/6068/2018-20; U(C)-88/2018-20; FARIDABAD/05/2017-19 LICENSED TO POST WITHOUT PREPAYMENT G DS RNI NO. 28587/75 WHY RELIGIONS IN INDIA DISCRIMINATE AGAINST WOMEN EXCLUSIVE MULTIMEDIA CONTENT ONLY FOR IPAD COVER STORY A FIGHT FOR HER RITES BIG STORY A NEW COURT IN SESSION UPFRONT A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE SAFAIGIRI SUMMIT 2018 TRASHING WASTE #SexistGods SUBSCRIBE NOW www.indiatoday.in/digitalmagazines FROM THE www.indiatoday.in EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Aroon Purie GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Raj Chengappa his has been a landmark year for GROUP CREATIVE EDITOR: Nilanjan Das; GROUP PHOTO EDITOR: Bandeep Singh women breaking into traditional MANAGING EDITORS: Kai Jabir Friese, Rajesh Jha CONSULTING EDITOR: Ajit Kumar Jha (Research) male bastions. In February, an EXECUTIVE EDITORS: Damayanti Datta, S. Sahaya Ranjit, T IAF pilot became the first Indian Sandeep Unnithan, MUMBAI: M.G. Arun DEPUTY EDITORS: Prachi Bhuchar, Uday Mahurkar, Manisha Saroop woman to fly a fighter jet solo and just HYDERABAD: Amarnath K. Menon CHANDIGARH: Asit Jolly SENIOR EDITORS: Shweta Punj, Sasi Nair, Alokparna Das three months later, in May, a six-member JAIPUR: Rohit Parihar Indian Navy crew became the first Indian Our April 4, 2005 cover SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Kaushik Deka, Ashish Mukherjee MUMBAI: Suhani Singh, Kiran Dinkar Tare; PATNA: Amitabh Srivastava women to circumnavigate the globe. Their ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Shougat Dasgupta, Chinki Sinha KOLKATA: Romita Sengupta; BHOPAL: Rahul Noronha; unique achievements go down in the hall that the legitimacy of an adult woman’s THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Jeemon Jacob; BEIJING: Ananth Krishnan of fame for a country that already has more marriage by her choice could not be ques- ASSISTANT EDITOR: PUNE: Aditi S. Pai PHOTO DEPARTMENT: Vikram Sharma (Deputy Photo Editor), women comm ercial pilots than any other, tioned. In another landmark judgment, it Rajwant Singh Rawat, Yasir Iqbal (Principal Photographers), Chandra Deep Kumar (Senior Photographer); MUMBAI: Mandar Suresh and where women who are successful poli- upheld the right of daughters to claim an Deodhar (Chief Photographer), Danesh Adil Jassawala (Photographer); ticians, sport stars and CEOs now don’t equal share in their ancestral property. KOLKATA: Subir Halder (Principal Photographer); CHENNAI: N.G. Jaison (Senior Photographer) attract a second look. But there is one glass Our cover story, ‘Sexist Gods’, looks at PHOTO RESEARCHERS: Prabhakar Tiwari (Chief Photo Researcher), Saloni Vaid (Principal Photo Researcher), ceiling that keeps women out—religion. why men still call the shots in all of India’s Shubhrojit Brahma (Senior Photo Researcher) The doors of a large number of shrines are religions and why religion discriminates CHIEF OF GRAPHICS: Tanmoy Chakraborty ART DEPARTMENT: Sanjay Piplani (Senior Art Director); still closed to women. This bastion too is against women. Our galaxy of guest Angshuman De (Art Director); Devajit Bora (Deputy Art Director); Vikas Verma (Associate Art Director); now being challenged. writers who have closely looked at this Bhoomesh Dutt Sharma (Senior Designer) On September 28, the Supreme Court peculiar religious patriarchy—authors Siddhant Jumde (Senior Illustrator) PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT: Harish Agarwal (Chief of Production), paved the way for women of all ages to Pavan K. Varma and Devdutt Pattanaik, Naveen Gupta (Chief Coordinator), Vijay Kumar Sharma (Senior Coordinator) enter the Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala, the historian Uma Chakravarti, literary PUBLISHING DIRECTOR: Manoj Sharma Kerala. Four of the five judges on the historian Rakhshanda Jalil, lawyer Flavia ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Anil Fernandes (Impact) constitution bench said the temple ban Agnes and women’s rights activist Syeda IMPACT TEAM Senior General Manager: Jitender Lad (West) violated the fundamental rights of Hindu Hameed—explain why it is now untenable. General Manager: Mayur Rastogi (North), women. These entry barriers are really a We also have profiles of women who Upendra Singh (Bangalore), Kaushiky Gangulie (East) metaphor for what is essentially a settled have swum against the religious tide. GROUP CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER: Vivek Malhotra Assistant General Manager: Garima Prashar (Marketing) patriarchal and male-dominated religious Mahant Devyagiri of Lucknow’s Mahaka- SALES AND OPERATIONS: D.V.S. Rama Rao, Chief General Manager order, which has continued unchallenged meshwar temple, the only woman head Deepak Bhatt, General Manager (National Sales) Vipin Bagga, Deputy General Manager (Operations) for centuries. Patriarchy, or the power priest of a major Hindu temple. Noorje- Rajeev Gandhi, Regional Sales Manager (North) of men over women, continues into the han Safia Niaz of the Bharatiya Muslim religious spaces when it denies agency or Mahila Andolan, who got the court to autonomy to women. allow women to visit the inner sanctum of In Hinduism, male gods are incom- Mumbai’s Haji Ali dargah, and Gulrukh plete without their female consorts. Contractor Gupta, who is fighting for But women are deemed unclean when equal rights for Zoroastrian women. Volume XLIII Number 42; For the week October 9-15, 2018, published on every Friday they menstruate and, hence, kept out of I believe if religion is to remain rele v- ● Editorial/Corporate Office Living Media India Ltd., India Today Group Mediaplex, kitchens and temples like Sabarimala. In ant, it has to keep up with the times. The FC-8, Sector-16A, Film City, Noida - 201301; Phone: 0120-4807100 ● Sub scriptions: For assistance contact Customer Care India Today Group, B-45, diferent ways, the practices of every major various faiths must reflect the society Sector-57, Noida (UP)-201301; Phones: Toll-free number: 1800 1800 100 (from BSNL/MTNL lines); (95120) 2479900 from Delhi and Faridabad; (0120) 2479900 global religion reflect an inherent patriar- where they are practised while adhering to from Rest of India (Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.); Fax: (0120) 4078080; Mumbai: 022-66063411/3412, Kolkata: 033-40525327, Chennai: 044-24303200; chy. 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Road, Ahmedabad-380006; Phone: 26560393, 26560929; Fax: 26565293 ● Copyright Living Media India Ltd. All and by imposing rigorous sanctions on the of worship as men, or even become priests. rights reserved through out the world. Reproduction in any manner is prohibited. Printed and published by Manoj Sharma on behalf of Living Media other in matters of devotion’. The world will be a better place for it. India Limited. Printed at Thomson Press India Limited, 18-35 Milestone, Delhi Mathura Road, Faridabad-121007, (Haryana) This is one in a series of enormously and at A-9, In dustrial Complex, Maraimalai Nagar, District Kancheepuram-603209, (Tamil Nadu). Published at K-9, Connaught significant Supreme Court judgments Circus, New Delhi-110001. Editor: Raj Chengappa. upholding women’s rights. Last August, ● IN DIA TODAY does not take the re sponsibility for returning unsolicited publication material. the court held that triple talaq had no All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of legal validity. Earlier this year, it ruled competent courts and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only (Aroon Purie) OCTOBER 15, 2018 INDIA TODAY 1 UPFRONT LEISURE BOLLYWOOD: A CONSPIRACY RAGHU CHUNDAWAT’S OF SILENCE PG 3 NEW BOOK PG 59 BOOKS: FLAVOURS OF Q&A: FREDERICK NATIONALISM FORSYTH PG 7 INSIDE PG 66 JUSTICE GOGOI A NEW COURT IS 40 IN SESSION With approaching polls and a pile-up of high-profile cases, the year ahead brings big challenges for the new CJI Ranjan Gogoi IL&FS DAMAGE 36 CONTROL Can the new board constituted by the government save IL&FS and a cascading crisis in the NBFC sector? COVER STORY WOMEN 18 & GOD Women warriors take on gender bias in religion and society. The apex court’s Sabarimala verdict gives their eorts an impetus SAFAIGIRI AWARDS The Deepest The Equality of Women A Cleansing Taboo Is Integral to Hinduism Quest —Syeda Hameed —Flavia Agnes —Pavan K.