Why read India Today . Review on India Today

India Today- It is more of an institution rather than a news-magazine. Ever since I can remember I had been reading this magazine. In the early Nineties it used to come out fortnightly. However a couple of years ago it shifted to the weekly format. This was mostly due to the competition from Outlook, Week et al.

Now for the review. The weekly version is around 80 pages on an average. This is quite less than Outlook but you will forget Outlook when you open the magazine. The Cover stories are well researched,in-depth studies and most-importantly neutral. No story is biased. Another striking point is the relevance of the topics in your day-to-day world.

So you dont get cover stories on College Romances, Lifestyles of the Rich or the like. Then comes their political stories which are quite short and to the point..Thankfully as I cannot tolerate Politics. Here you will not find any bias towards leaders of any particular party or enemity towards some. Outlook readers will vouch for Mr Vinod Mehta's loyalty to the Gandhi clan.

There is a section on day to day affairs and the current affairs. Their Defence news is pretty accurate.The Book review is quite good. And yes...lest I forget India Today publishes a rating of the best Educational Institutions of the country once a year. It is a very comprehensive list and is very accurate.

And for all you masala geeks it has got a last page filled with the latest gossip and developments of the filmi/high society in India/Abroad. I have many friends who go straight to the last page.

There are some special issues and they are really gems. One released on the eve of India's 50 th Independence Day was a marvel. I preserve it even today.Their partition stories will bring tears to your eyes-Guaranteed.

Now for the cons- Not that there are many but one of the biggest ones is their staid laid back reporting style.Infact you might tire of their writing style after a while.And their subscription gifts really suck- Big time. You get Cheap Chinese stuff even on 3 year and 5 year subscriptions. Compare that with Outlook where you get expensive gifts -that's when you realise why India Today is losing out even though product wise it is much better than Outlook.

But all said and done-It is India's best news-magazine.