Kolkata, March 3 (IANS): On the day the West Bengal witnesses the first of its eight-phase state assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may be heading for an unusual shrine in Bangladesh -- Orakandi . Orakandi is not far from Tungipara in Gopalgunj, the ancestral home of 'Bangabandhu' Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and daughter Sheikh Hasina, the now Prime Minister of Bangladesh. It is the most sacred shrine of the 'Matua' community, a Hindu sect whose numbers ar

By Asad Mirza IANS | March 2  In his new book on climate change and its adverse impact in the future, Bill Gates urges everyone to remember two things: Net Zero and 2050. It seems as if, after having grappled with malaria, HIV, Ebola and Covid-19, the billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder has a new passion now, to solve another intractable global problem: climate change. Since the start of 2021, Gates had been trying to focus everyone's attention on the

New Delhi, March 2 (IANS) Punjabi folklore is full of the brave deeds of the two 'Shaheeds' of Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh, who have legendary status, and as a young child, Satvinder Singh Juss grew up listening to stories about them from his grandfather. Upon arrival in the UK at the age of nine, he recalls the annual commemoration of them held by the Indian Workers Association in town halls across the country for the future of a free India and the unfulfilled promise that th

New Delhi, February 28 (IANS): It has been a long journey -- from spending time at his uncle's photo studio as a teenager during his vacations to winning the prestigious Rs 12 lakh Serendipity Arles Grant, South Asia's largest grant for lens- based practitioners, for his work 'Town Boy' recently. When Purushothaman Satish Kumar was gifted a point and shoot film camera by his uncle, he would always carry it with him to school picnics and cricket grounds to shoot the g

New Delhi, February 27 (IANS): Tracing missing children is one of the prominent challenges before the Delhi. In recent times, the police have paid special attention to trace missing children with the Commissioner announcing out-of-turn promotion to policemen who trace and recover missing children. But why do children in various age groups under 18 years of age go missing? A careful analysis of the above question has led to the discovery of a few important reasons why children go

New Delhi, February 27 (IANS): In these days of the coronavirus pandemic, Walter Isaacson, the bestselling author of "Leonardo da Vinci" and "Steve Jobs", returns with "The Code Breaker" (Simon & Schuster), a gripping account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies. When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day

New Delhi, February 26 (IANS): Even as the UK's Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday cleared the decks for the extradition of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi in connection with the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case, District Judge Samuel Goozee came down heavily on former Mumbai High Court Judge Abhay M. Thipsay, saying he "never disclosed" his "party-political affiliation" either in the reports biography, or in relation to his

New Delhi, February 25 (IANS): India is fighting one of the toughest battles against the Covid-19 outbreaks. The battle turned intense after daily cases resurged following a few weeks drop from a peak of over 90,000 infections in mid-September to a little over 10,000 in early February. It has begun to rise again in many states along with thousands SARS-CoV-2 mutations. The genetic diagnostic laboratories in India have detected over 24,000 mutations in the strains of SARS-CoV-2 in th

New Delhi, February 24 (IANSlife): India Inc has joined the global chatter on the four-day workweek. A recent announcement about the much-talked-about new labour code suggests that organisations may be allowed to offer the option to employees. However, the ministry keeps the 48-hour cap on the workweek "sacrosanct". Much before the pandemic, remote work and flexible work policies became a part of our lives, companies around the world had begun litmus testing a three-day we

New York, February 23 (IANS): While President Joe Biden doubled down on the nomination of Neera Tanden to a top cabinet post as it began unravelling, activists are mobilising for and against her. South Asians for Biden, a group that campaigned for him, asked members of the community on Monday to contact key senators who could ensure her confirmation by the Senate as the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The organisation's National Director Neha Dewan said

By Aditi Bhaduri IANS | February 22 The year began on a subdued note with the assassination of journalist and activist Karima Baloch, one of Balochistan's few, fiery and brilliant women freedom fighters. Her dead body was found in a lake in Toronto, Canada. The death is strongly alleged to be that of the Pakistani deep state. It, however, did not ignite international passions as the farmers' protests in democratic India did, for example. Yet, this was not a one-off assassin

Jaipur, February 21 (IANS): This is the story of young expats who left their countries years ago and stayed back in Jaipur, making the Pink City their new home. Happily settled in the capital of the desert state for over a decade now, Marie-Anne Oudejans and Barbara Miolini love India and consider themselves lucky to be in this country at a time when the world has turned upside down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Both of them have not gone back to their families in Europe for over

London, February 20 (IANS): Nature sanitizes about 41.7 million ton of human waste per year before the liquid enters the groundwater -- a service worth about $4.4 billion per year, according to a new study. The study, published in the journal One Earth, estimates that more than 2 million cubic meters of the cities' human waste are processed each year without engineered infrastructure. This includes pit latrine waste that gradually filters through the soil -- a natural process th

New Delhi, February 19 (IANS): She was in London when she saw the image of the hanging children, aged 16 and 14, circulating on Twitter. Though she had planned to write a book about the wave of sexual violence, seeing that visual of two teenage girls -- Padma and Lalli who disappeared from their home in the village of Katra Sadatganj in Uttar Pradesh, author Sonia Faleiro felt that this case, coming barely two years after the 2012 Delhi bus rape, could serve as the focus of her next bo

By Srinath Sridharan and Shashidhar KJ IANS | February 18 The Indian government is planning to ban all operations of cryptocurrencies in the country, except for a state-backed digital currency. The ban will be operationalised with a new law coming to effect. The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill of 2021 is slated to be introduced in the budget session of the Parliament. In context of evolving digital finance globally, the Government of India should rec

New Delhi, February 18 (IANS) She comes to the street with an unburdened mind. You can expect her to paint an asteroid, a doormat or anything she fancies. There is no space for constraint. Aspects of life, death and decay can take shape on the wall. In fact, what really excites Anpu Varkey, a New Delhi-based painter and street artist is imagining possibilities. "Also the generosity of the people who come by and share a story with me, offer me tea, listening to the local gossip,

New Delhi, February 14 (IANS): Disha Ravi has been featured in publications across the world as a young activist voicing her strong opinions about the environmental crisis in India. However, the 21-year-old climate activist from Soladevanahalli area of Bengaluru was arrested by Delhi Police's Special Cell on Saturday for her alleged role in the infamous "toolkit" which, according to police, was behind the January 26 violence in the capital. Graduating from Mount Carmel

New Delhi, February 14 (IANS): Lakshmi Devy was born in New York and obtained a medical degree from India while simultaneously acting in Tamil and Malayalam films. A toxic relationship with a narcissist and the horrific increase in the number of rape cases in India prompted her to direct "When The Music Changes", a powerful and gut-wrenching film that portrays the nuanced aspects of emotional as well as physical abuse of women within a patriarchal society. Lambasting that

New Delhi, February 12 (IANS): Indian author, Ruskin Bond, and British spoken-word artist George the Poet e widely known for kicking off the Royal Wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry with his poem e are among the six prominent authors and poets to have created fifteen original positive short stories of love, friendship, community, work, hope and family, as a signal of love and optimism in these trying times. The stories were commissioned on behalf of Nokia phones and have been

By Major General S.B. Asthana IANS | February 12 China and India have announced the disengagement of troops along Line of Actual Control (LAC), at the southern and northern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake having commenced since February 10. It seems to be a positive step to mark the beginning of a possible end of one of the longest stand-offs, which had tremendous financial and human cost to bear, due to 'LOCisation' of the LAC, in harsh winters. A compulsion to get into some