New Delhi, January 17 (IANS) Donald Trump began and served his term as US President amid controversy, polarisation and general ignorance. He is set to leave office under the shadow of an unprecedented second impeachment, with the country reeling under a devastating pandemic, its society bitterly divided and its international credibility at its lowest ebb. What do we make of it? While posterity will hold the final judgement on his epoch, with "Trumpism" set to outlast its f

Patna, January 16 (PTI): The Bihar government has chosen "bicycle girl" Jyoti Kumari, who had pedalled 1,200 km from Gurugram to Darbhanga taking her injured father on the rear carrier during the nationwide lockdown, as the Brand Ambassador for an anti-drug abuse programme, an official said. The state government has selected the 15-year-old "real life hero" to sharpen its campaign against the use of narcotic drugs and intoxicants by youths, Dayanidhan Pandey, Dir

New Delhi, January 16 (IANSlife): As every year 1,32,000 Indian women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 74,000 die of the disease, it is considered as one of the deadliest forms of cancer that leads to mortality in women. If we see the Indian statistics, a large population of 436 million women falls into the age bracket of 15 years and above and they all are at the risk of contracting the disease. The cervical cancer develops in the lower part of the uterus that opens into the

New Delhi, January 15 (IANSlife): Fashion's top trending topic this week: the Kamala Harris, AmericanVogue cover. It seems everyone has a reason to critique it--even though Vogue's Anna Wintour has explained the magazine's approach to this unusually casual and relaxed cover. There is an endless list of the accusations against the images, especially the print edition cover where the Vice President Elect wears a blazer and Converse sneakers, all pulled from Harris's own w

New Delhi, January 15 (IANSlife): Sikkim-born author Pankaj Giri, who began his writing career with a book review blog and after several years of honing his writing skills, wrote his debut solo novel 'The Fragile Thread of Hope', says readers are tired of the "bestselling commercial fiction authors who churn out the same ordinary, cliched stuff again and again. Even they want to read original, heartfelt stories about real people with flaws, the complicated relationships be

New Delhi, January 15 (IANS): Its an anthology that took 10 years to compile but thats not surprising given that it takes in 200 years of Indians writing prose and poetry in English and what emerges is a priceless collection of something that has never been attempted before. "We started talking about the book, or one like it, about eight or ten years ago. But it was only an idea and it never got anywhere, mainly because I did not know where to begin or where to find the essays,

New Delhi, January 14 (IANSlife): As we turn a whole new year, it's time to go back to doing more of what we missed the most in 2020 -- travelling. With the vaccine rollout managing to uplift spirits of all, the year brings along many opportunities for people who are looking forward to travel again. And, while you set sight on the big dream vacation in 2021, MakeMyTrip shares a curated list of mini-vacations on long weekends that will keep you going as you juggle between work oblig

New Delhi, January 14 (IANS): The US-India strategic partnership is likely to continue on the same upward trajectory, albeit with some millstones under Joe Biden's presidency which will assume office next week on January 20. Even as outgoing President Donald Trump lost in the November 3, 2020, elections, his broader foreign policy agenda, sans his brashness, has more or less shaped the future agenda for his successors. Going by Biden's statements and that of crucial membe

New Delhi, January 13 (IANS): Elated at Indians, including top entrepreneurs and celebrities, rushing to join his encrypted messaging app Signal, Brian Acton, who co-founded WhatsApp with Jan Koum before selling it to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for $19 billion, aims to add 100-200 million users in India over the next two years. In a candid interview with IANS, Executive Chairman of Signal Foundation Brian Acton who left WhatsApp in 2017 over a dispute with Facebook regarding monet

New Delhi, January 12 (IANSlife): Visualising how the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing affected the social map of Mawbri, a small matriarchal Meghalayan village, an intricate woodcut titled 'Circles' presents an intriguing introduction to the body of work of Treibor Mawlong, an emerging artist from the Khasi hills of the northeastern state. In a village "already locked away from the rest of the world even before the pandemic", as the artist says, the dignity of

New Delhi, January 12 (IANS): Amid the ongoing debate around the safety and efficacy aspects of Covid vaccines, the president of Indian Medical Association (IMA) has advised the public to not worry too much about it. Speaking to IANS, Dr. J.A. Jayalal, president, IMA said, "We should not be too worried about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines since enough evidence is available to prove its credibility. "The vaccines are never 100 per cent protective and efficacious

New Delhi, January 11 (IANS): Who is Rana Kapoor and, more importantly, what role did he play in the rise and fall of YES Bank? On September 28, 2018, after announcing that he was going to step down as the managing director of YES Bank, Rana Kapoor had claimed: "Diamonds are forever. My promoter shares of YES Bank are invaluable to me." However, in a span of just 14 months, Kapoor did a complete U-turn. He sold his entire stake in the bank, even as the shares continued

New Delhi, January 10 (IANSlife): Ganesh was only two-year old when his parents left him at an NGO where they had taken him for treating his disability. He is 17 now and helps the NGO administration in paper works. The young boy says even though he is wheelchair-bound, he stands on his own feet and is capable of taking good care of himself. Like Ganesh, there are many other physically challenged children residing at Narayan Seva Sansthan (NSS) in Udaipur, Rajasthan, who were brought

New Delhi, January 10 (IANS): Hockey wizard Dhyan Chand was a "great man, great human being and a great player" and it is a surprise that he has not yet been conferred with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, says former India hockey captain B.P. Govinda. "The Bharat Ratna is conferred in recognition of the laurels that people brought to the country and so on and it is based on recommendations and nominations. I say that (when) so many people have r

New Delhi, January 9 (IANS): Soumitra Chatterjee, the doyen of Bengali cinema who passed away on November 15, 2020 aged 85, leaving behind an oeuvre of over 250 films – a staggering 14 of them directed by Satyajit Ray - five books, four poetry collections, three dramas and an array of paintings, had once remarked that he would have become a carpenter had he not become an actor. It might sound flippant but his admiration for the craft of carpentry was genuine, revealing that he

New York, January 9 (IANS): US President-elect Joe Biden, continuing to fill out top posts to align with a diverse country's shifting demographics, on Friday appointed to his national security council "incredibly accomplished" Indian Americans who will serve under National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Tarun Chhabra, a first-generation American and a graduate of Stanford University, Oxford University, and Harvard Law School, will serve as Senior Director for Technolo

New York, January 8 (IANS): US President-Elect Joe Biden's pick to be associate attorney general, Vanita Gupta, has recalled her experience of racial bigotry as a four-year-old while she pledged her commitment to civil rights and justice reform. Speaking on Thursday after Biden introduced her as "one of the most respected civil rights lawyers in America", Gupta spoke of her parents as "proud immigrants from India", and the family's experience of bias, &qu

New Delhi, January 7 (IANSlife): Think it over: as a mental health expert, I have been asked several times -- 'How will people and societies change and grow in the wake of the pandemic? We don't have a concrete answer yet. But one thing that we can be certain about, is that the virus will continue to test our mental strength and relationships. It will aggravate existing inequalities in society, push us for greater sustainability and demand new ways for us to survive, and thrive

New Delhi, January 6 (IANS): Even as many in the Congress still seem to be in denial about Prime Minister Narendra Modis popularity and the fact that he has earned his victories, former President late Pranab Mukherjee in his memoir clearly says that Modi earned and achieved his success. Recently, excerpts from 'The Presidential Years', the fourth and concluding volume of Mukherjee's memoirs, have started doing the rounds. There are many interesting excerpts that show the

New Delhi, January 6 (IANS): Even as India gears up for the mass-vaccination drive which is slated to begin within few days, about 69 per cent are still hesitant to take the Covid-19 shots, a survey revealed on Wednesday. The Drugs controller General of India (DCGI), on Sunday, announced approval of two vaccines -- Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin -- against coronavirus infection for restricted emergency us