Nearly three weeks before five Dalits entered a Shiva temple at Purba Bardhaman district under police protection, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a statement about her caste in the State Assembly that largely went unnoticed. On February 18, while participating in a debate in the Assembly, she emphasised that she was not only … Read more
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. AP/PTI(AP04_03_2025_000071A) | Photo Credit: Mark Schiefelbein U.S. President Donald Trump’s move on April 2, 2025, or “liberation day” as he calls it, — unveiling sweeping tariffs targeting countries around the … Read more
A ‘reconnect’ The election of M.A. Baby as the new General Secretary of the CPI(M) party marks a new chapter in the annals of the party’s history. The challenges before the general secretary, who has inherited a crown of thorns, are manifold. The biggest failure of the Left movement in India has been its inability … Read more
‘India should look to jurisdictions such as Singapore and the United Kingdom, which have built strong and specialised arbitration systems catering to the aviation sector’ | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto In 1934, India’s skies were not its own. Under British colonial rule, the Aircraft Act of 1934 governed aviation in India, a law that was … Read more
In its March 20, 2025 issue, The Economist lamented how “India is obsessed with giving its people unique IDs”. It mocked how various arms of the Indian state announce new unique IDs nearly ‘every month for everyone from doctors, teachers, athletes, judges, gig workers to even cows and buffaloes’. The Economist got it half wrong. … Read more
The National Education Policy (NEP) places sex education within the broader category of “ethical and moral reasoning.” This component aims to support “basic health and safety training, as a service to oneself and to those around us.” It offers limited references to topics such as consent, harassment, respect for women, safety, family planning, and prevention … Read more
Most of us tend to think of air pollution in terms of what is outside the house or building we are currently in: exhaust from motor vehicles on the streets, smoke and industrial fumes perhaps, but is the air we are breathing inside, any better? Is it posing a risk to our health? And can … Read more
Daily Quiz | On William Wordsworth The daffodil is the national flower of Wales, about which Wordsworth wrote one of his most celebrated poems. File START THE QUIZ 1 / 8 | Apart from Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who is part of the ‘Lake Poets’ trinity? 2 / 8 | Name Wordsworth’s semi-autobiographical magnum … Read more
Branching away from the bustle of London’s Oxford Street, one encounters the Oriental Club at Stratford House, an institution that once served as a gathering place for the men of the East India Company. It remains a silent custodian of their colonial legacy, its walls imbued with the weight of history. Charles Dickens once remarked … Read more
Photograph used for representational purposes only | Photo Credit: Getty Images 1968: I entered Medical School 57 years ago. Trained in the BC era, my generation today, belongs to the Neanderthal Age. I injected air into the brain, and dye directly into a major artery going into the brain. Displacement of normal anatomical structures was a … Read more