BY JAYANT GHOSHAL IANS | August 31 About Pranab Mukherjee, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh once told me that he was like Dhrupad Sangeet. If you don't understand Dhrupad or if your ears are not trained to listen to Dhrupad, then it will be difficult for you to enjoy the music. The analogy with Dhrupad gives the impression that Mukherjee, senior Congress leader and former President was a dreary person, who stayed a thousand hands away from so-called modern gadgets, modern lifes

New delhi, August 31 (ANI): Amid tensions with India over the standoff in Eastern Ladakh sector, China has reportedly built a surface-to-air missile near a lake, which is a part of the Kailash-Mansarovar. The development of the missile, according to experts, is a continuation of the aggressive provocation by the Chinese and it could further complicate the border tensions between the two countries, The Epoch Times reported. Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar, commonly known as the

BY SAEED NAQVI  IANS | August 30 The late R.K. Mishra, editor of Patriot, founder of Observer Research Foundation, used to tell a delicious story about Indira Gandhi whom he knew well. Once Dev Kant Baruah, Congress President during the Emergency, furtively handed Mishra a crumpled piece of paper with names of three Congress leaders scribbled on it. Barua led him onto the lawn for secrecy. Indira Gandhi suspected the three of being American moles. She was keen that, after scou

New Delhi, August 29 (IANS): The upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament may witness uproarious scenes amid the ongoing corona pandemic. If the Opposition is adamant to corner the government, the ruling party is equally alert to thwart any such move. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is engaged in devising a special strategy to face the Opposition during the session. The BJP is firm in its resolve to counter the Opposition and not let them gain an edge during the session. Howev

BY AMIT KHANNA IANS | August 29 Technology has opened up absolutely amazing possibilities of mass communication and personal engagement. In the past few years, we have an unprecedented situation in human history where almost 5 billion people are just one button away from each other. According to Statista, a global media research firm, 4.57 billion people were active internet users as of July 2020, encompassing 59 per cent of the global population. China, India and the United States

BY SREEJITH BALASUBRAMANIAN IANS | August 27 One of the major reasons EMs are forecasted to register less negative growth in 2020, vs. AEs, is the higher share of agricultural output. In India, there is optimism around agriculture, and thus rural, being the brighter spot in a contractionary growth year. The RBI Governor, in the recently released MPC meeting minutes noted rural indicators have shown a sharp revival which, if sustained, can provide support to demand going forward. In

BY SANJEEV SHARMA New Delhi, August 25 (IANS): "I strongly believe in Be Indian and Buy Indian, and I think each one should make a conscious decision to buy products made in our country," said Gautam Hari Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director, Raymond Limited, Indias largest textile and apparel brand. In an interview with IANS, Singhania said India is a very large economy with 1.3 billion people. "While the world looks at us as a market, I think we should look

New Delhi, August 23 (IANSlife): The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a huge toll on the humanity, and over the last few months, weve been witnessing its effects on multiple levels. While our attention has zeroed down upon the visible impacts of this unprecedented health disaster, somehow, weve failed to see children as COVIDs unseen victims. And as the situation pans out, the pandemic is all set to leave a huge trail of effects on the overall well-being of children, especially from the mar

When indigenous communities barred tourists to protect themselves from the coronavirus, they knew they were forgoing income. But they did not foresee the loggers would move in RIO DE JANEIRO, August 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When the coronavirus first hit Brazil in early March, local indigenous leaders barred tourists from the trails on Monte Pascoal, the first piece of land Portuguese colonizers saw as they arrived 520 years ago. Usually, some of the about 120 inhabitant

Shine Waradhammo's support for LGBT+ rights is a rare and welcome move as Thailand prepares to pass a civil partnership bill   BANGKOK, August 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - With his simple saffron robe and shaved head, Shine Waradhammo stands out at the often loud and colourful LGBT+ events that he occasionally attends in Bangkok, listening intently, taking notes, and engaging cheerfully with anyone who approaches him. As a monk, Waradhammo is a rare - but welcome -

New Delhi, August 21 (IANS): New aspects of the Coronavirus infection are coming to the fore as the pandemic continues its vice-like grip. New symptoms are being discovered and so are residual symptoms. Complications and threats involved with catching the infection are also evolving. The latest issue being witnessed and discussed is the Covid-19 re-infection. In the last few weeks, as many as five cases have emerged from Delhi alone. This month, the Delhi government-run Rajiv Gan

(Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj passed away on August 17 at the age of 90 in New Jersey. Daughter Durga Jasraj recalls her Bapuji beyond the legendary classical vocalist, as a man who loved many things from learning zoom call to singing online during lockdown to encouraging fitness among youngsters) BY DURGA JASRAJ Mumbai, August 21 (IANS) On one hand, my brother (musician Shaarang Dev) and I feel blessed and fortunate, to have Bapuji as our father because we all know about his co

BY VISHNU MAKHIJANI New Delhi, August 20 (IANS): Coronavirus might have given nature a break in the sense that people are increasingly staying at home, thus bringing down pollution levels, but sustainability needs to be ingrained into our planning DNA for long term solutions to environmental apathy and deterioration - pandemic or no pandemic, says green activist, thought leader and author Meghaa Gupta, whose new book traces the impact of events like the Bhopal gas tragedy and the s

Hard hit by loss of tourism revenue due to the pandemic, indigenous communities in the Caribbean return to traditional roots to survive BOGOTA, August 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Indigenous cultures in the Caribbean, struggling as their tourism-dependent economies are ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, are returning to traditional farming and fishing roots for their livelihoods, local experts said on Tuesday. Being forced to look to older, more organic ways of surviv

Residents of the Middle Juruá Extractive Reserve worry that less rain could decimate livelihoods and leave them at risk of forest fires   CARAUARI, Brazil, August 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As the dry season got underway in the Amazon rainforest this month, it brought a new wave of fear to inhabitants of the Middle Juruá Extractive Reserve, a conservation area in Amazonas, Brazil's largest state. In his 52 years, Manoel da Cunha, manager of the rese

India faces double-hit as coronavirus siphons off resources for tuberculosis care   NEW DELHI, August 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When India's strict coronavirus lockdown left migrant worker Brijesh jobless overnight, he had to make a quick decision - leave for his home village or wait to collect his tuberculosis medicine. With no public transport to get to the local tuberculosis (TB) centre, he decided to pack up and head to his home more than 1,100 kms away in e

BY SOUDHRITI BHABANI  Kolkata, August 17 (IANS): As Netaji Subhas Chandra Boses death anniversary on August 18 nears, the clamour for his ashes, believed to be kept in a temple in Japan, to be subjected to a DNA test and brought back to India is getting louder. IANS spoke to Rajashree Choudhury, great-grandniece of Bose. She is also the national president of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM). Q: Amid the raging controversy about the end of Netaji, last year his dau

New Delhi, August 17 (IANSlife) In a shocking study published recently, nearly 40 years of satellite data from Greenland shows that glaciers on the island now lose more ice than what is replenished by snowfall each year - pointing to a continuous shrinking of glaciers and rise in sea level even if global warming stops. The finding means that Greenland's glaciers have passed a tipping point of sorts, where the snowfall that replenishes the ice sheet each year cannot keep up with

BY SAEED NAQVI IANS | August 16 Rahat Indori was five-years-old when the much loved poet Majaz died of a stroke after he was found on the freezing terrace of a country liquor shop in Lucknow's Qaisar Bagh. As someone born to a poor cloth mill labourer, Rahat's nightmare of financial insecurity increased watching the economically circumscribed lives of Urdu poets. Majaz was only one of them. Rahat worked hard educating himself right up to PhD on a subject which was to stand

The rate of COVID-19 deaths among indigenous people in Brazil's Amazon is nearly 250% higher than in the general population, new data shows SAO PAULO, August 15 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The rate of coronavirus deaths among indigenous people in Brazil's Amazon is nearly 250% higher than in the general population, for reasons ranging from a lack of access to healthcare to invasions of indigenous land, researchers said. The fatality rate among COVID-19-infected indigen