Twenty-six-year-old Surender is a ferryman in Varanasi. Surender and his family own three boats and their livelihood is dependent on taking tourists on a joyride on the Ganga. Recalling the time when he used to ride a boat with his grandf
The storm is yet to die out over the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited`s (MMRC) taking over 30 hectares of the famed Aarey colony, a green belt of mumbai, when another application has come in from MMRC demanding another 12,000 sq metres of lan
For years we had a tradition in Mumbai, particularly for all the trunk roads, to be avenues (boulevards). Though we continue to have trees in some parts of Mumbai, the fact is that we appear to have given up on this. Having trees and plants on str
As media reports spoke of ATMs across the country going dry, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the government even as the finance ministry reviewed the situation and blamed it on “unusual demand for cash”. &ldqu
Gandhi was, as usual, busy on several fronts in April 1918. The previous year had witnessed his frst major satyagraha after returning to India, in Champaran. The previous month had witnessed his frst major political campaign in the chosen home
In November 2015, Mumbaikars started an exciting experiment. Called Equal Streets, it was a citizen initiative to usher in equality at least in the usage of roads and streets. Thus, on Sunday mornings, walkers and cyclists would have a 6-km stretc
India’s only state-run helicopter company Pawan Hans Limited (PHL) is up for sale. But the government’s recent attempt to sell its 51 percent stake (the rest is with ONGC) in the PHL received a setback as no major company participated
The Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train will have a few general category seats in order to accommodate people who do not have reservation, says Achal Khare, managing director of the National High Speed Rail Corporation. However, Khare cl
The 15-page chargesheet by J&K Police’s crime branch is a chilling revelation of what all is wrong in our society. The eight-year-old girl who was kidnapped, drugged, brutally gang-raped and strangled to death is now being labelled as &l
Horrifying details of the rape and murder of a child in Kathua and rape charges by a 17-year-old girl in Unnao against a BJP MLA have triggered protests on social media as well. From celebrities like Farhan Akhtar, Riteish Deshmukh, Richa Chadha,
The department of personnel and training (DOPT) is preparing a draft amendment to the RTI Act, 2005, to empower central and state governments to decided salary of information commissioners at the central and state commissions. Opposition parties a
Justice Kurian Joseph of the Supreme Court, in a letter written to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra had sought for setting up of bench of seven senior most judges of the apex court. He had also asked the CJI to suo motu take up the mat
The Bharatiya Janata Party`s total income has increased by 81.18% in one financial year. In 2015-16, the party`s income was Rs 570.86 crores and this went up to Rs 1,034.27 crores during 2016-17. The party is the richest of all national parties.
Taking note of media reports about the mysterious death of a rape victim’s father who was in custody at a jail in Unnao, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the chief secretary and the director general of police
Could the Nirav Modi-Punjab National Bank embezzlement have been prevented? It’s a question lots of people are asking. With blockchain it would never have happened, say proponents of the technology that backends cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin
The India-Iran-Russia-led International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), which is a sea, land and rail transport project, is ready for its operationalisation in June, even as China’s multi-billion-dollar One Belt One Road (OBOR) initi
In a bid to explore innovations to improve public bus system in India, WRI India Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, on Thursday announced ‘Better Bus Challenge`.&n
When Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski – who became the writer Joseph Conrad – was christened, his father Apollo Korzeniowski wrote him a poem that is in retrospect chillingly poignant. To my son, born in th
Ghazipur figures prominently in Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies, the first novel of his Ibis trilogy. Set in the 1830s, it presents Ghazipur as a centre of large-scale opium production, and narrates the travails of characters like Deeti, who h
As they say, nothing is impossible in the world if you have the determination and willingness to do things. China doubled its farmers’ income from 1978 to 1984. The real income increased at 15 percent per annum and within six years they redu
