Snakes and ladders

In the Public Health Centre of Jabhol village in Amritsar district, 14 M T Ps [abortions] were performed on Scheduled Caste women between July 1992 and March 1993. These women had been raped by militants. However, the victims were not in favour of abortion and wanted to give birth to terrorists’ children. They felt that this "act" would not only uplift their status from the ranks of Scheduled Castes but also glorify them as mothers of militants’ offsprings. It was only at the insistence of their parents that these MTPs were performed. According to a study, many more women gave birth to militants’ children for the same reason, even though they had been brutally traumatised. Vandana Shukla analyses the strange shapes that the desire for upward social mobility takes and how reservations and quotas will fail to meet their so-called noble objectives.

• A gift of silver, by Dinesh Kumar
• A miraculous temple at Deshnok, by H.C. Gera
• Stimulating amidst serenity, by Payal Chaudhry
• Circles, crazy circles spinning round and...Laugh lines, by Amrita Dhingra
• Leaving a stamp of valour, by Anil Shorey
• One rank, one pension blues. Fauji beat, by Pritam Bhullar
• Don’t hear but listen, by Amar Jit
• They taught lessons to kings, by Gur Rattan Pal Singh
• A day for worship, by Rahul Mehta
• Remembering Bimal Roy, by Abhilaksh Likhi
• Memories of whistling in the dark, by Ruskin Bond

• Interview: "A militant theatre activist — that is what I am, " says Rudraprasad Sengupta
• Living space: Let there be perfect lights, says Harkiran Sodhi
• Nature: Fastest running bird, by Nutan Shukla
• Time off: The past is a different country, by Manohar Malgonkar
• Your option: Benefits of simple living, by Taru Bahl
• Bollywood Bhelpuri: Mahima to make a mark, says Madhur Mittal
• Film and TV: The gift of eternity from Viraasat, by Mukesh Khosla