COVER STORY

The horse racing-gambling nexus: Inside the murky world of Champs de Mars

Parliamentarians and former presidents of the Mauritius Turf Club (MTC) have called it a “mafia”. After a string of scandals, Mauritian horse racing is facing a public relations crisis. With an official commission of enquiry investigating it, Weekly looks into how the rot within the Mauritius Turf Authority and the industry goes way beyond just wayward jockeys, doping and crooked stable managers.

INTERVIEW

Prof. Shevgaonkar, Indian Institute of Technology: “The arrangement we have in Mauritius has never happened in any other country before.”

Professor R.K. Shevgaonkar, director of the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, is helping to set up an International Institute of Technology Research Academy in Mauritius. He talks to Weekly about how the institution will work, the opportunities which will be open to our students, his view on Indian universities in Mauritius and how he sees the relationship between industry and academia.

EDUCATION

Job prospects: The public/private sector dichotomy

After last week’s immersion in fields of the future, Weekly now offers its readers a guide to job prospects in the public and private sector. Is the public sector siphoning elements from the private sector by offering more attractive incentives or is it the other way round?

HEALTH

Pot Bellies: Why you can’t afford one

We cannot help but notice that a lot of Mauritian adult men have pot bellies. It is odd how many among us have thin arms, flat chests, skinny legs but large stomachs. Weekly wanted to put the question to our doctors and ask them why it is so and what it means.

THIS IS MAURITIUS

Human Development Index of 2014: Reasons to rejoice

The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) just-released Human Development Index ranks Mauritius Africa’s second most advanced country in terms of human development, after Libya but before South Africa and Seychelles, which was ranked first last year. Weekly takes at close look at Mauritius’ ranking.