On July 24 a horror story gripped the capital. Three minor girls died of starvation in East Delhi’s Mandawali. Since then speculations are rife over the role of the girls’ father, a rickshaw-puller, who is said to have given them some medicine a day before their death, and the responsibility of the state to protect its children. The father has been missing since the
On August 15, 1947, he woke up at 2 am, an hour earlier than usual. The whole nation – nearly a fifth of the humanity – was soon to gear up for its greatest moment in history, but Mahatma Gandhi was in no mood for celebration. A lifelong witness of the desolate darkness that always preceded the dawn, he wanted to face it up once again, inside out, before India woke u
Vishal Dadlani is a versatile musician who composes, sings as well as writes lyrics. He is the co-founder of electronica/indie-rock band Pentagram – the first Indian band to perform at the Glastonbury Music Festival in the UK in 2005. He formed a music producing duo with musician Shekhar Ravjiani in 1999 and produced notable works in films like Jhankaar Beats, Dus, Bluffmaster,
"Acche Vajpayee ka kya karoge (what will you do with a good Vajpayee)?" Atal Bihari Vajpayee once responded to the Opposition`s barb that he was "a good man in the wrong party" in his inimitable style during the trust motion in 1996. The style of delivery was such that the house plunged into a peal of laughter. The Vajpayee government lasted only 13 days but the Lok Sabha wi
The term ‘start-up’ allows for a certain leniency in expectations. It refers to a company that is a “a fledgling business enterprise”. A ‘start-up’, as defined by the government in the Start Up India scheme, is entitled to various concessions, including reduced income-tax liability and cutting down red-tape in other compliance requirements. Th
With a coastline over 8,000 km long, India’s coastal zone is endowed with a variety of marine ecosystems which include mangroves, coral reefs, sea grasses, salt marshes, mud flats, estuaries, lagoons, and unique marine and coastal flora and fauna. The Sundarbans, shared between India and Bangladesh, are the largest contiguous mangroves in the world. India also has major stocks of corals,
Relying on its human capital, India has fast emerged as a knowledge-based service-driven economy. Among other factors, this success has been mainly attributed to improvements in India’s higher education landscape due to the pivotal role of education in realising an economy’s potential for growth. With the surge in demographic dividend holding a plethora of opportunities in the years
The Indus has immense hydropower potential which has mostly remained untapped. The geographic location of the state of Jammu and Kashmir gives it a unique advantage to harness hydropower from the three major rivers. As Jammu and Kashmir hosted its first global investment summit for hydropower in July, investors from around the world are eyeing up this untapped investment opportunity.
On April 18, 1917, in a rare deposition before the Motihari court after he was arraigned on the charges of defying the government’s order, Mahatma Gandhi said, “I have disregarded the order served upon me, not for want of respect for lawful authority, but in obedience of the higher law – the voice of conscience.” With this formulation, Gandhi began his new journey in Ind
The Electricity (Amendment) Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2014 has been pending for well over four years. The ongoing monsoon session is the last chance for the current government to pass the bill before it lapses. The electricity distribution sector, majorly state owned, has been the Achilles’ heel of the entire electricity value chain in the country. Through this bill the governme
It was nearly midnight at a small ground in Aminabad of Lucknow, and an enthusiastic crowd was waiting for VP Singh. This was in 1988, after the Bofors scandal had blown up in the face of prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and a rebellious VP had emerged as a beacon of hope for people yearning for a clean-up and change. As usual, VP Singh arrived on the scene with the élan of a
When Hima Das won gold in the 400 metres sprint at the IAAF World U-20 Championship in Tampere, Indians demonstrated once again what’s on their minds the most – caste. On her day of glory, the top Google prompt for her name was “Hima Das caste”. The same had happened with wrestler Sakshi Malik and badminton player PV Sindhu on the days they won their Olympic medals. Peop
A 32-minute short film titled ‘Chalo Jeete Hain’, premiered at a screening hosted by vice president M Venkaiah Naidu at the GMC Balayogi auditorium on Wednesday, is more remarkable for the social message it carries than the fact that it is inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s childhood days. The film is essentially centered on deep-seated caste prejudices
“Our ministry of rural development in the government of India is the nodal agency for SDG1 – ‘end poverty’. We have two main schemes in the ministry – Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM),” explained a senior official of the ministry on how the strategy of poverty eradication is on track
Self-deception is an essential trait of a revolutionary, particularly of the Marxist variety. Rahul Gandhi as the Congress president seems too eager to internalise this trait in his politics. If you have any doubt, look at his latest tweet which is divinely prophetic in its content. I stand with the la
The recent victory of the opposition in the Uttar Pradesh by-elections after their complete decimation in the 2014 general elections and the 2017 assembly elections has been interpreted differently by different takers. Some saw it as a resurgence of the opposition on the back of an alliance. This led to discussion of the possibility of a grand alliance in UP. Alliances have not been
On June 29, I was able to grab Carnatic singer TM Krishna for a few minutes on the sidelines of the launch of ‘Kodaikanal Still Won’t’, a music video calling out Unilever’s double standards in cleaning up its mercury contaminated factory site at, well you guessed it, Kodaikanal. The video, a fusion of Carnatic, rap and Tamil Gaana Kuthu genres, features rapper Sofia Ashr
Skeletons, if kept in the cupboards of investigative agencies, are bound to tumble out much sooner than later. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is no exception. The corridors of the CBI headquarters in Lodhi Estate in Delhi have been stinking as hell as an internecine war is on within the agency. And the destruction of the institution is fairly assured. The latest
The recent survey commissioned by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, which had ranked India as the most dangerous place on earth for women, has created a serious controversy in India with the government “rejecting” the report, while opposition parties have latched on the report to prove a serious erosion of law and order under the current dispensation. There have been a rash of article
A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Those initiated into English-language journalism were asked to learn this sentence by rote and type it on a typewriter repeatedly to familiarise themselves with the keyboard layout. That was before the advent of computers. This sentence (it’s called pangram as it contains all the letters of the alphabet) was the terra firma on which a repo
