Express News Quiz: Sirens, Japanese healing hand & IPL
Welcome to The Indian Express' weekly news quiz. You know the drill — there are 10 quiz questions below, woven around major events from India and the world. Your job is to sniff out the answers while being mindful of the timer. Any score above 80 will be commendable. Good luck, and see you on the other side!
Before you try our other games, a look at the rich stories that couldn't make it into the quiz this week: 600-million-year-old stromatolites in the Himalayas tell the story of an ocean lost and Earth's first breath | Warfare at night, deepfakes by day: The anatomy of a rumour in modern era conflicts | Vanishing voices of the mountains: The struggle to preserve Pahari languages
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Aishwarya Khosla is a journalist currently serving as Deputy Copy Editor at The Indian Express. Her writings examine the interplay of culture, identity, and politics.
She began her career at the Hindustan Times, where she covered books, theatre, culture, and the Punjabi diaspora. Her editorial expertise spans the Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Punjab and Online desks.
She was the recipient of the The Nehru Fellowship in Politics and Elections, where she studied political campaigns, policy research, political strategy and communications for a year.
She pens The Indian Express newsletter, Meanwhile, Back Home.
Write to her at aishwaryakhosla.ak@gmail.com or aishwarya.khosla@indianexpress.com. You can follow her on Instagram: @ink_and_ideology, and X: @KhoslaAishwarya. ... Read More
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Indian Express
6 hours ago
- Indian Express
As Pune gears up for Pride March tomorrow, a transgender couple faces bureaucratic hurdles as they wait to tie the knot
Nearly two years ago, the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment, affirmed the rights of transgender persons in heterosexual relationships to marry under existing laws. Priti, 29, a transgender from Jamshedpur who aspires to be a beautician and is waiting to tie the knot with Pune-based Trinay, 34, a transman legally recognised as male on his Aadhaar card, however faces several challenges to exercising this right. 'I have my TG Identity card and like any other woman, I want to be a wife, parent, and live with my husband. However, it has been more than one and a half years since the judgment but our transgender community still awaits this right,' Priti said. She hopes to raise this issue at the 13th Annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer Pride March to be held in Pune on Sunday. Priti, who has passed Class 12 and worked in the hotel management sector, is yet to be accepted by her family. 'I am a transgender person, not a sex worker. I want to become a beautician and earn my living. Mujhe jeena hai (I want to live),' Priti said. She met Trinay on an online portal, and before long, they forged a deep connection as they opened up about their personal struggles, finding strength and understanding in each other's stories. Trinay, assigned female at birth, but who always felt like a male deep inside, had experienced several challenges due to his situation. 'I wanted to pee like a boy, and wear tight T-shirts. Menstruation would give me panic attacks,' recalled Trinay, who works at a tech firm in the city. Deciding that he could not live this dual life anymore, he eventually transitioned to a male after undergoing gender affirming surgery. Speaking to The Indian Express, Trinay said, 'Priti and I have been doing the rounds of the marriage registrar's office only to return disappointed. Instead of guiding us on the online application process and other details, we were asked to obtain a court order.' The duo met Bindumadhav Khire, an LGBTIQ activist and director of Bindu Queer Rights Foundation, Pune, and spoke about their difficulty in registering their marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. 'Both of them have the requisite IDs. The transman has a collector-issued ID with gender stated as 'male' and the other transgender person has a collector-issued ID with the gender stated as 'transgender' as per provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and the corresponding Rules (2020). I too approached the Marriage Registrar, but was told that they have not received any notification with regard to the legality of registering the marriage of transgender people. So they have to obtain an order from the high court or a notification from the government in this regard,' Khire told The Indian Express. The activist later filed a grievance in May on the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System to the Ministry of Home Affairs/Legislative Matters seeking a notification by the central government, to all states and Union territories, on the legality of registering the marriage of a transgender person in a heterosexual relationship. Khire, who received a response on June 6, said that suggestions made in the grievance have been noted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. 'We now hope that action will be taken in this case,' Khire said. When contacted, senior lawyer Anand Grover said that as per the top court's ruling, there was no legal prohibition on transgender individuals from getting married. Meanwhile, at the Marriage Registrar's office, authorities said that the process is now online and they have not received any application from transgender persons so far. While experts said it was likely that some registration offices may require guidance from higher authorities, if they have not previously handled such registrations, Khire said that it was important that LGBTIQ rights granted by the Supreme Court do not remain only on paper. 'This LGBTIQ Pride Month, it is important that LGBTIQ rights granted by the Supreme Court are implemented in letter and spirit. Transgenders who were granted legal recognition in the 2014 judgment (National Legal Services Authority v/s Union of India) still await their right to marry the person of their choice,' Khire added. As per the Supreme Court judgment dated October 17, 2023, in the case involving one Supriyo Chakraborty, the apex court stated, '…..Consequently, we agree with the conclusion…that transgender persons in heterosexual relations have the right to marry under existing laws, including in personal laws regulating marriage. The court's affirmation of the HC judgment in Arun Kumar v Inspector General of Registration…is based upon a correct analysis.' In Arun Kumar's case, the Madras High Court had said in 2019, 'A marriage solemnized between a male and a transwoman, both professing Hindu religion, is a valid marriage in terms of Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Registrar of Marriages is bound to register the same. By holding so, this Court is not breaking any new ground. It is merely stating the obvious. Sometimes, to see the obvious, one needs not only physical vision in the eye but also love in the heart.' Anuradha Mascarenhas is a journalist with The Indian Express and is based in Pune. A senior editor, Anuradha writes on health, research developments in the field of science and environment and takes keen interest in covering women's issues. With a career spanning over 25 years, Anuradha has also led teams and often coordinated the edition. ... Read More
New Indian Express
7 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Immigrants, rebels, freedom fighters
Should one write history just for academic study, or should it be written with common people in mind? For author Rana Preet Gill, the aim of writing The Ghadar Movement: A Forgotten Struggle (Penguin) was to make a larger Indian audience, and not just Punjabis, understand the Ghadar Party's history and the importance of what they did more than 100 years ago. 'I wanted more and more people from across the nation to connect with this important chapter of Indian history. Hence, I wrote a narrative history, rather than an academic history, and emphasised storytelling. Many Ghadarites from places such as Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar joined the movement. Not many of today's generation are aware of them, at the most they are shadowy figures,' she says. Origin story Divided into 38 chapters, the book traces the party's origin and the conditions that led to its birth. 'In search of a better future, many poor Punjabis from peasant families moved to places like Canada and London. They also came into close contact with several Indian revolutionaries there; it was also their first brush with political ideas such as Liberalism and Marxism. Educated Punjabis such as Lala Har Dayal met revolutionaries like Shyamji Krishnavarma and VD Savarkar. Savarkar inducted Har Dayal in his group Abhinav Bharat,' she adds. The party & a newspaper It was in 1912 that Punjabi peasants, exiled revolutionaries, and students joined hands to form the Hindi Association of the Pacific Coast (what the Ghadar Party was first called) in Portland, United States. Sohan Singh Bhakna was its first president, GD Kumar was the secretary, and Kanshi Ram, the treasurer. The organisation advocated armed resistance. Lala Har Dayal and his close aide Bhai Paramanand joined the organisation a year later. The organisation not only focused on bringing an end to British rule on the Indian subcontinent, but also worked towards the abolition of casteism. Religion for them was a private matter, and any show of religious symbols was discouraged among its members. To spread its ideas among the masses, the organisation brought out a newspaper, The Ghadar (in Urdu and Punjabi in Gurumukhi script). 'It became extremely popular, and it gave a call to Indians living in the US to join the anti-British movement,' says Gill. Rise and decline May 23, 1914, is a landmark date in Ghadarite history. Gurdit Singh, an Indian businessman, chartered the Komagata Maru, a Japanese ship, to transport 376 Indian passengers (predominantly Sikhs) to Canada, hoping to circumvent Canada's restrictive immigration policies. The ship was denied permission and the aftermath was brutal. Many Indian immigrants, working as informers in the Canadian immigration department, were murdered, says Gill. Hopkins, an Anglo-Indian working for the immigration department, was assassinated by Mewa Singh, a Ghadar activist in Vancouver. Party members eventually headed towards India to initiate a full-fledged struggle against the British, but many were arrested. 'The Gharadites did not make secrecy a part of revolutionary tactics, and hence, it was easy for the British to take them down,' says the author. 'Its senior leaders were arrested. Besides, a section of activists in India also started dacoity in Punjab, which made them unpopular.' Can the Ghadar movement be seen as a 'failure' when it stirred the revolutionary spirit among many Indians, questions Gill. Bhagat Singh was one of the revolutionaries it inspired. 'Singh was inspired by Kartar Singh Sarabha, an important member of the Ghadar Party. He used to keep Sarabha's picture in his pocket,' she says.
Indian Express
7 hours ago
- Indian Express
CLAT 2025 Topper: Meet Saksham Gautam; a humanities student with a love for Math
At a time when the counselling process of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) UG is underway, with the second merit list out and the third expected by June 20, The Indian Express caught up with the CLAT 2025 exam topper, Saksham Gautam. A humanities student from Delhi Public School, Faridabad, Gautam also aced his boards with a stunning 98.6 per cent. Speaking to this publication, Gautam shared his preparation strategy, mindset, and advice for future aspirants. Inspiration to choose law For Gautam, the decision to pursue law was rooted in both intellectual curiosity and a deeper civic aspiration. 'I began looking beyond Engineering and Medical as early as Class 7,' Gautam said, noting that despite coming from a family of engineers, STEM never quite clicked for him. 'Social Sciences, especially English and History, fascinated me. By Class 9 and 10, law emerged as a compelling avenue,' he added. He also emphasised his interest in public engagement. 'I don't want a corporate job. Many of our national leaders and freedom fighters were lawyers. Even in UPSC, law graduates have a good selection ratio,' he explained, hinting that public service remains a long-term option. Balancing CLAT with Class 12 boards 'It was challenging to balance CLAT with Class 12 boards,' Gautam admitted candidly. While attending regular school, he simultaneously prepared for CLAT with Legal Edge by Toprankers in Delhi. 'Prioritisation was key. If CLAT demanded more time, school took a backseat and vice versa,' he said. He began serious preparation in Class 11 by keeping 2-3 hours daily for CLAT. 'In 12th, I didn't track hours. I followed a task-based schedule. My goal was to complete all tasks by night,' he added. Challenging sections Reading comprehension, Gautam said, was 'one of the most demanding aspects of CLAT' since the exam is heavily passage-based. 'I wasn't an avid reader, so developing reading habits – especially newspapers and long-form articles – was hard at first,' he said. Logical Reasoning also posed challenges. 'Critical reasoning is dominant in CLAT. Being thorough with assumptions, arguments, and conclusions is essential,' he said, recommending consistent practice and attention to previous year questions. Speaking on Legal Reasoning, Gautam busted a common myth: 'You don't need to be legally literate. Familiarity with current legal developments is more important than rote learning legal jargon.' Importance of mock tests and coaching 'Mocks are non-negotiable. They show where you stand and how to adjust your preparation. CLAT changed drastically post-2020, so being aware of evolving patterns through mocks is crucial,' the CLAT topper said. While Gautam strongly benefited from coaching, he emphasised its purpose. 'Coaching doesn't make you successful – your effort does. What coaching gives is structure, discipline, and mentorship,' he said, noting that Legal Edge provided helpful material and guidance, particularly in General Knowledge. 'Mentorship, for me, meant someone analysing my mock scores, helping identify weak areas, and showing how to work on them,' he added. Tips on staying focused Addiction to social media, Gautam revealed, was his biggest challenge during preparation. 'I was distracted in Class 11 and even into 12th. The turning point was admitting to myself that it was hurting my preparation,' he shared. Deleting apps and seeking his parents' and teachers' supervision helped him regain control. 'Distractions will vary, but the first step is honest acceptance,' he said. Advice for future aspirants 'Start reading newspapers, editorials, anything,' he advised. 'Focus on improving reading speed and comprehension. Simultaneously, begin basic maths: percentages, averages, ratios,' Gautam added. He also urged aspirants not to ignore maths. 'Many fear it irrationally. But CLAT maths is of Class 8-9 level. You must tackle it. Maths and GK are game-changers in top ranks,' he said. Delay in CLAT results Calling the five-month delay in publication of CLAT results from December 2024 to May 2025 'distressing', Gautam said uncertainty was the real burden. 'At one point, it seemed the counselling process had been pushed indefinitely. Aspirants shouldn't be the ones suffering due to others' errors,' he said. The road ahead Gautam has not yet committed to a legal specialisation but is keeping his options open. 'College will help me figure that out,' he said. He's currently reading Dr B R Ambedkar's Annihilation of Caste and prefers spending leisure time walking or talking to friends rather than engaging in sports. In his words, 'CLAT may be unpredictable, but with consistency, mentorship, and self-discipline, it's absolutely conquerable.'
