Month: May 2025

[ad_1] Banu Mushtaq: International Booker Prize winner BENGALURU: A trailblazing writer and activist from Hassan district in Karnataka, Banu Mushtaq is a multifaceted personality who has left her imprint across journalism, law, politics and women's rights activism. But it is her powerful storytelling rooted in resistance, gender justice and social reform that has now earned global recognition.Mushtaq is a prominent voice of the Bandaya Sahitya (rebel literature) movement, which challenged patriarchal and feudal structures through its sharp and socially conscious writing in the 1980s and 1990s. As the state convener of the Bandaya Sahitya Sanghatane, she authored six influential short story collections that expanded the boundaries of Kannada literature.A fearless advocate for women's rights within the Muslim community, Mushtaq was among the earliest voices to demand the right for women to offer namaz in mosques — decades before the hijab […]

[ad_1] Nambala Keshava Rao, alias Basavaraj, the general secretary of the CPI (Maoist), was killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh, marking a significant blow to the Maoist insurgency. HYDERABAD: The death of Nambala Keshava Rao, alias Basavaraj, in Wednesday's encounter in Chhattisgarh marks a critical juncture in India's decades long Maoist insurgency. At 70, Basavaraj was the general secretary of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), making him the highest-ranking leader ever killed in action. His elimination in the Maoist stronghold of Maad division, deep in the Dandakaranya forest, is being hailed as a watershed moment by security agencies.Srikakulam roots Born in Jiyannapeta village of Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam district, Basavaraj came from a middle class Kalinga family. A B Tech graduate from the Regional Engineering College (now NIT), Warangal, he was drawn into radical politics through the Radical Students […]

[ad_1] Kannada author Banu Mushtaq celebrates her International Booker Prize win HASSAN: Writer Banu Mushtaq scripted history Wednesday, becoming the first Kannada author to win the International Booker Prize. Her short-story collection, Heart Lamp, translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, is also the first anthology to receive the prestigious award. Mushtaq, a long-time voice of resistance in Kannada literature and an early participant in the Bandaya Sahitya (a radical forum of writers) movement which began in 1970s, said the international recognition affirmed both literary strength of the Kannada language and the universal relevance of its stories. She described the award-winning moment as "a thousand fireflies lighting up a single sky" and reflected on the significance of the award, literary journey, and the power of storytelling to spark social change. Excerpts:Did this award come as a surprise?Moments before the announcement were […]

[ad_1] Donald Trump. (AP) US President Donald Trump has again said that he played a role in helping India and Pakistan stop hostilities, claiming the understanding came through trade talks that helped ease tensions between the two countries. Speaking at the White House's Oval Office during a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Trump said, "If you take a look at what we just did with Pakistan and India. We settled that whole, and I think I settled it through trade."Trump added, "And I said, ‘What are you guys doing?’ Somebody had to be the last one to shoot. But the shooting was getting worse and worse, bigger and bigger, deeper and deeper into the countries. And we spoke to them, and I think we, you know, I hate to say we got it settled, and then two days […]

[ad_1] Banu Mushtaq, author of 'Heart Lamp' holds the trophy after winning the International Booker Prize Banu Mushtaq, a longtime women’s rights advocate and Kannada writer, won the 2025 International Booker Prize for Heartlamp, a collection of short stories drawn from decades of listening to the silences and struggles of Indian women.In this conversation with Jaya Bhattacharji Rose, she shares why she writes, how pain becomes protest, and what her win means for voices from the marginsQ: Maybe I'll address Banu first. Why did you choose to write fiction?A: What else can I do? I cannot provide any relief to the aggrieved women who approach me with a lot of worries, sorrows and while I take up their cause, earlier as an activist and further as an activist-cum-advocate, I do struggle to get them relief, but, at the same time, […]