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Manoj R Nair

Manoj R Nair is part of Hindustan Times’ nationwide network of correspondents that brings news, analysis and information to its readers.

Articles by Manoj R Nair

The Jain monk who has advice on trade, insurance and politics

Muni Naypadmasagarji, the monk who made the statements in favour of the BJP, is an influential leader among the Jains.

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Published on Aug 28, 2017 12:38 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair

Is the dowry law being misused? Statistics can be interpreted to say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’

More women took recourse to the law to get justice and freedom from cruel marriages, but there were also claims that innocent men and their families were implicated falsely by extortionists

Under the old laws, proving marital cruelty was difficult for complainants because the violence happened behind closed doors.(Representational photo/Shutterstock)

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Updated on Aug 21, 2017 03:37 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Hoisting the Tricolour, a note on patriotism

Muslims say that they have had to wear their patriotism more explicitly and express their nationalism more volubly than other Indians.

Recently, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation passed a resolution making singing of Vande Mataram compulsory in all schools it runs.(HT)

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Updated on Aug 13, 2017 10:57 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Can a 100 births stop the decline in Parsi population?

Community groups are sceptical whether the scheme will revive their numbers so quickly, but they agree it is making a difference

India’s Parsis have been facing a relentless demographic decline(HT photo)

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Updated on Jul 31, 2017 11:04 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Maharashtra’s long fight for a law against kangaroo courts

The new law will not just punish perpetrators of social boycott; it will also persecute community groups that run such courts

Activists have filed several cases under the new law, which seeks to punish perpetrators of excommunication, a punishment that is often used by khap panchayats, or caste associations, and religious groups, to persecute individuals and families who question their authority.(Representational photo)

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Updated on Jul 23, 2017 09:31 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Falling fertility rate is good news but sceptics defer

Mumbai city news: Bharat4PoulationLaw, the group leading the campaign for a population control law, thinks that the calculation of fertility is flawed

When fertility — the number of children per woman — falls to 2.1, it is said to have reached replacement level.

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Published on Jul 17, 2017 12:14 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Admission season is harassment time for Mumbai schools

Mumbai city news: After one corporator was refused entry into a Kandivli school, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which is in charge of primary school education in the city, said last week that it will ask schools to treat the elected representatives with ‘respect’.

When demands are not fulfilled, schools are harassed.(HT)

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Updated on Jul 05, 2017 09:19 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Another fight to save Mumbai’s green lung, Aarey Milk Colony

Mumbai city news: In the last seven decades, a police training area, film production and teaching centres, cemeteries and a public housing complex have been built in Aarey Milk Colony

Tribals protest against SRA scheme in Mumbai’s Aarey Milk Colony.(HT FILE)

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Updated on Jun 26, 2017 09:24 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Is the ‘political iftar’ fading away in Mumbai?

Mumbai city news: There is little doubt that the ‘political iftar’ is special to India. The trend is reported to have started in the 1970s by the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister HN Bahuguna

In Mumbai, the trend may be dying but there were at least two iftars during the weekend(Representational photo/REUTERS)

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Updated on Jun 19, 2017 08:55 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair

Mumbai needs the Metro 3 and trees too

Mumbai city news: Mumbai’s suburban railway lines and roads are saturated; the city needs the Metro, but trees cut should be replaced with new ones

The latest order from the courts does not end the stalemate.

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Updated on Jun 12, 2017 09:13 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Cosmetic measures will not revive Mithi river in Mumbai

Mumbai city news: ‘The river started dying in the late 1970s, when slums and industrial units came up along its banks’

Unless the sewage is diverted to effluent treatment plants, the river will remain a sewer.(HT FILE)

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Updated on Jun 26, 2017 11:42 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Female Genital Mutilation debate puts Bohra women on opposite sides

Mumbai city news: The Bohra clergy has said the custom is a religious obligation, but refused to talk to the women campaigning to end it

Women, who include Bohras, have petitioned religious leaders and the Union government seeking a ban on the custom.(Pic for Representation)

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Updated on May 29, 2017 12:47 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Need a law to end female genital mutilation, advocates study

MUMBAI CITY NEWS: The paper ‘Guide to eliminating the FGM practice in India’ explains why the practice violates human rights and suggests legal measures to end the custom

The term FGM refers to partial or total removal of external female genitalia for non-medical reason.(HT)

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Updated on May 29, 2017 09:17 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Why Bohri women were reluctant to go to court against genital mutilation

A group of Bohri women filed an online petition that was signed by more than 50,000 people. This shed light on the custom

Sunita Tiwari, the lawyer who filed the petition in the Supreme Court, had put her signature on the online campaign. She said that before filing the petition she contacted the anti-FGM campaigners asking them to join her as fellow litigants but there was no response.(HT file)

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Updated on May 29, 2017 09:17 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair

Multiplicity:Parsis don’t want a reformist in national minorities’ panel

Dinshaw Tamboly, a former trustee in the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, is likely to be nominated to the National Commission for Minorities post

A group, which includes members of the Zoroastrian diaspora, has started an online petition to nominate senior Supreme Court advocate Firoze Andhyarujina as their delegate in the Commission(HT File Photo)

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Updated on May 09, 2017 02:09 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair

Who will end the din? Mahim police and noisy dargah go back a long way

The high court’s warning is an embarrassment to the Mahim police who have an unusual tie to the dargah

The Mahim police station is supposed to end noise created at the loca dargah, but they have failed to do so.(Prasad Gori/HT file photo)

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Updated on May 08, 2017 11:33 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair

Not many takers for the Parsi version of deacons in Mumbai

Zoroastrians in Mumbai had started a programme where men who are not priests were trained to perform religious services. There were not many interested because it is not a very lucrative option

The ordainment of two deacons in Mumbai’s Catholic Church attracted a lot of interest among Parsi-Zoroastrians.(HT)

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Updated on May 08, 2017 11:33 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair

Embracing the church: More deacons ring hope in Mumbai

A deacon ranks lower than a priest and can perform most of the religious work that a priest does, but he cannot conduct mass, hear confessions and administer the sacrament called anointing the sick

A deacon ranks lower than a priest and can do perform most of the religious work that a priest does, but he cannot conduct mass, hear confessions and administer the sacrament called anointing the sick.(HT)

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Updated on May 08, 2017 11:34 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Does ghettoisation push up representation of Muslims in Mumbai civic body?

One reason why Muslims managed to retain their representation, according to community members, could be the growing religious ghettoisation in Mumbai, especially after the 1992-93 riots...

Several Muslim candidates won on Sena tickets in Muslim dominated pockets of Mumbai during the 2017 BMC poll.(HT file)

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Updated on Apr 03, 2017 12:56 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair

Another tenacious reprieve from development for Gorai-Manori

When recent news reports said that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Area Development Authority (MMRDA) – the planning agency for the urban agglomeration spread over 4,300 square kms – will no longer be the special planning authority for the area, residents are hoping that unbridled urbanisation will be kept at bay, at least for now.

The local residents fear that these projects will urbanise the area and destroy their centuries-old culture and way of life.(HT File)

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Published on Mar 20, 2017 12:10 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair

How Jains plan to go cashless, and spread the message

The project, lead by women members of Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO) — an association of businessmen and professionals — will train volunteers to make more digital transactions...

The wider agenda of the programme is to shake off the Indian habit of preferring cash and promote cashless transactions.(Representation pic/HT photo)

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Published on Mar 05, 2017 09:42 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

The Catholic Church’s attempts to go green

Engagement with environmental issues is not a new thing for the church.

Some ideas that will be implemented are conventional: kitchen gardens in schools, recycling of waste water, planting indigenous trees in afforestation programmes, forgoing firecrackers at celebrations, and avoiding the use of plastic ‘use and throw’ plates and glasses.(Picture for representation)

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Updated on Feb 27, 2017 01:46 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Catholic church wants members to observe ‘carbon fast’ this Lent

This year, the archdiocese of Bombay has asked Catholics to observe a ‘carbon fast’ during the season to create awareness about global warming and the importance of a sustainable lifestyle

Members of different denominations have their own observations during the 40-day period: while some abstain from tobacco and alcohol, others forgo their favourite foods; many spend the time with fasts and community service.(File photo for representation)

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Updated on Feb 22, 2017 01:48 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Why death continues to stalk Mumbai’s sewer workers

Sewage ducts and septic tanks have to be cleaned in other countries too, but why do so many people die in India doing this work?

On Thursday three people died while cleaning a sewage tank in Malad, poisoned by toxic gases generated by rotting sewage.(Representational photo)

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Published on Feb 20, 2017 12:13 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair

Bohras: Rival factions are counting their flock

Dawoodi Bohras are part of the Shia sect that broke away from the Sunnis after a dispute over the successor to Islam’s prophet

People of the Dawoodi Bohra community take part in a final prayer in Mumbai after the end of a 40-day mourning period post Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin’s death.(HT FILE)

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Updated on Jan 30, 2017 12:59 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Why Muslims want changes in Haj subsidy

The subsidy, which covers the cost of air tickets, has been a divisive subject.

Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba, inside the mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.(AP FILE)

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Updated on Jan 23, 2017 09:10 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Parsis from Navsari demand change in burial tradition

Recently, over 150 members of the local Anjuman, or association, of Navsari’s Parsis signed a letter saying that they wanted a change in the funeral tradition. The group has suggested that a portion of the Dakhma land be kept aside for burials.

Though the Parsi population in the town has declined to around 2,000 – from a peak of over 8,000 – the community still maintains two Dakhmas, or Tower of Silence, where dead bodies are laid out to be disposed of by the sun and carrion birds.(HT File Photo)

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Updated on Jan 09, 2017 02:03 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Hope and despair about Islamic banking in India

This column had reported that a major public sector bank had announced that it will start a division that will provide interest-free banking.

A few months ago, reports that the Reserve Bank of India was planning to introduce rules that would allow banks to start Islamic banking divisions had excited groups.(HT FILE)

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Published on Jan 02, 2017 10:57 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

Getting too imaginative with baby names

Experts, too, have warned that parents who are too imaginative with names could be condemning their children to a lifetime of embarrassment.

When Saif and Kareena named their firstborn Taimur, social media debated the decision.(HT File)

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Published on Dec 26, 2016 12:04 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair, Mumbai

How a Mumbai cemetery tour turned into a debate on religion and menstrual rules

The Doongerwadi tour should have been an inconsequential one – like the many others organised in Mumbai by urban heritage enthusiasts — but the event escalated into a major controversy, with some community members filing a complaint with the police, accusing the cemetery’s managers of hurting religious sentiments by allowing a public tour in a sacred area

On December 11, professors from Wilson College and the principal of a Zoroastrian religious school led a group of 25 people, including a few foreign travellers, on a one-hour tour of Doongerwadi, the Zoroastrian forest cemetery on Malabar Hill.(PICTURE FOR REPRESENTATION)

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Updated on Dec 19, 2016 01:01 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByManoj R Nair

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Manoj R Nair

Manoj R Nair is part of Hindustan Times’ nationwide network of correspondents that brings news, analysis and information to its readers.

Muni Naypadmasagarji, the monk who made the statements in favour of the BJP, is an influential leader among the Jains.

More women took recourse to the law to get justice and freedom from cruel marriages, but there were also claims that innocent men and their families were implicated falsely by extortionists

Muslims say that they have had to wear their patriotism more explicitly and express their nationalism more volubly than other Indians.

Community groups are sceptical whether the scheme will revive their numbers so quickly, but they agree it is making a difference

The new law will not just punish perpetrators of social boycott; it will also persecute community groups that run such courts

Mumbai city news: Bharat4PoulationLaw, the group leading the campaign for a population control law, thinks that the calculation of fertility is flawed

Mumbai city news: After one corporator was refused entry into a Kandivli school, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which is in charge of primary school education in the city, said last week that it will ask schools to treat the elected representatives with ‘respect’.

Mumbai city news: In the last seven decades, a police training area, film production and teaching centres, cemeteries and a public housing complex have been built in Aarey Milk Colony

Mumbai city news: There is little doubt that the ‘political iftar’ is special to India. The trend is reported to have started in the 1970s by the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister HN Bahuguna

Mumbai city news: Mumbai’s suburban railway lines and roads are saturated; the city needs the Metro, but trees cut should be replaced with new ones

Mumbai city news: ‘The river started dying in the late 1970s, when slums and industrial units came up along its banks’

Mumbai city news: The Bohra clergy has said the custom is a religious obligation, but refused to talk to the women campaigning to end it

MUMBAI CITY NEWS: The paper ‘Guide to eliminating the FGM practice in India’ explains why the practice violates human rights and suggests legal measures to end the custom

A group of Bohri women filed an online petition that was signed by more than 50,000 people. This shed light on the custom

Dinshaw Tamboly, a former trustee in the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, is likely to be nominated to the National Commission for Minorities post

The high court’s warning is an embarrassment to the Mahim police who have an unusual tie to the dargah

Zoroastrians in Mumbai had started a programme where men who are not priests were trained to perform religious services. There were not many interested because it is not a very lucrative option

A deacon ranks lower than a priest and can perform most of the religious work that a priest does, but he cannot conduct mass, hear confessions and administer the sacrament called anointing the sick

One reason why Muslims managed to retain their representation, according to community members, could be the growing religious ghettoisation in Mumbai, especially after the 1992-93 riots...

The project, lead by women members of Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO) — an association of businessmen and professionals — will train volunteers to make more digital transactions...

Engagement with environmental issues is not a new thing for the church.

This year, the archdiocese of Bombay has asked Catholics to observe a ‘carbon fast’ during the season to create awareness about global warming and the importance of a sustainable lifestyle

Sewage ducts and septic tanks have to be cleaned in other countries too, but why do so many people die in India doing this work?

Dawoodi Bohras are part of the Shia sect that broke away from the Sunnis after a dispute over the successor to Islam’s prophet

The subsidy, which covers the cost of air tickets, has been a divisive subject.

Recently, over 150 members of the local Anjuman, or association, of Navsari’s Parsis signed a letter saying that they wanted a change in the funeral tradition. The group has suggested that a portion of the Dakhma land be kept aside for burials.

This column had reported that a major public sector bank had announced that it will start a division that will provide interest-free banking.

Experts, too, have warned that parents who are too imaginative with names could be condemning their children to a lifetime of embarrassment.

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