Nitish caught between a rock and a hard place
By Amulya Ganguli Nitish Kumar must have realised by now that his ‘ghar wapsi’ hasn’t helped him. The BJP is treating him more like an unwanted guest than the repentant prodigal son. The Bihar Chief…
Commentary
States obliged to compensate victims of cow vigilante groups: SC
New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday said that states were obliged to compensate the victims of cow vigilante groups and asked all of them to file a report on the compliance…
Secrets of the gender pay gap
By Nury Vittachi This columnist, who is also a writer of books, was at a school as a Visiting Author when one of the children asked a question: “How much does Thor get paid?” “Good…
U-17 World Cup: Tempered expectations
By Novy Kapadia Long-term preparation of age-group national teams is now a regular and welcome feature in Indian football and can lead to a better future. For the U-17 World Cup to be held in…
On our heads mostly: Hair and its importance to human society (Book Review)
By Vikas Datta Title: Hair (Object Lessons); Author: Scott Lowe; Publisher: Bloomsbury; Pages: 152; Price: Rs 250 For a filament of dead protein protruding out of our skin, hair’s significance far outstrips any other body…
Climate financing: India, South Asian nations lack funds to meet SDGs
By Lenin Babu India has made significant progress in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by UN member-states in 2015 but finances remain an issue, a study of the country’s Voluntary National Review…
Economic issues will have a decisive say in 2019 general elections
By Amit Kapoor It is becoming really hard to be optimistic about the Indian economy. As T.N. Ninan pointed out last week, it has been six years since the economy breached the seven per cent…
The Czech Locomotive’s long run into our hearts
By Vikas Datta If sport epitomises human grace, then look elsewhere. For when running, he looked as he was “wrestling with an octopus on a conveyor belt”. But if it reflects endurance, he was the…
Gloomy characters: The melancholic aspect in literature
By Vikas Datta The human race displays an infinite capacity for dividing itself into various categories — justified or not. But one rather interesting differentiation is in the (figurative) eyeglasses people use to see their…
Gorkhaland demand: Road to nowhere?
By Saeed Naqvi Darjeeling, Thimphu, Gangtok and Siliguri are a tight cluster on any map even in a large Atlas. Because of the recent standoff with China over Doklam, the strategic importance of the area,…
Indian Muslims should embrace triple talaq verdict
By Frank F. Islam On August 22, the Supreme Court ruled that triple talaq — the practice which allows a man to divorce his wife instantly by saying the word talaq thrice — is unconstitutional….
Glucagon-like Peptide 1
By Ganapathi B. and Arpandev Bhattacharyya Diabetes is one of the most serious health problems of modern times. It is characterised by persistently high levels of blood glucose (sugar) in the body. At present, there…
Scaling up core micronutrient interventions: It’s $12 bn vs $574 mn
By Amit Kapoor Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, was quoted as saying: “If we can conquer space, we can conquer childhood hunger.” Sadly, even today 248 million children across the globe are…
BRICS crafts new mantra of diplomacy
By Rajendra Shende The BRICS meeting in Xiamen in China last week was a timely opportunity for both India and China to end the high-altitude and potentially high-voltage stand-off at the Doklam plateau. Many political…
Playing fed up: Herbert Lom’s masterful performance in the ‘Pink Panther’ films
By Vikas Datta Most of us, in our working life, may be unfortunate to encounter a subordinate, whose incompetence is boundless and and exasperating beyond measure, but despite their bumbling and usually destructive approach, end…
Globalisation has to retune itself to needs of the time
By Kula Saikia The tsunami of change was all-pervasive to engulf most of the nation states. Liberalisation, free trade, WTO, TPP, NAFTA,EFTA, EU, the information revolution et al came together and broke the historically defined…
India must not be seen to be uncaring about Rohingyas
By Amulya Ganguli The Union Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju, is looking for a round of applause for not driving the Rohingya refugees in India into the sea or shooting them; all that…
Keeping track of your kids
By Nury Vittachi Modern life is weird. Thanks to supermarket delivery tracking apps, we know the precise location of our next roll of toilet paper, but we haven’t the faintest idea where our children are….
State discoms playing spoiler on open access for solar power
By Jaymin Gajjar & Saptak Ghosh There is an increasing opportunity to innovate in solar markets in India thanks to the rapidly declining price of photovoltaics (PV). While large-scale ground-mounted solar parks are seeing tremendous…
India should take humane view of Rohingya refugees
By Bawa Singh Given its rich mineral resources, historical and civilisational ties and strategic location, sharing maritime and land borders, Myanmar holds a pivotal position in India’s Act East policy. However, Rohingya refugees from Myanmar…