Guest Column News Updates

By Ashutosh Mishra London: As mercury plunges and icy winds blow across this capital city scores of homeless people are sleeping rough on pavements and shop fronts with pretty little protection against the cold. Deaths are not uncommon. Homelessness is a growing problem here with roughly 9000 people forced to spend their nights in this […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The statistics are horrifying. As many as 119 elephants have been electrocuted in the state in the last 11 years, most of them falling victim to sagging overhead wires. Of these deaths, 24 occurred in 2018-19. The giant beasts have also been falling to the bullets of poachers and dying on […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Islamic State (IS) chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may have killed himself by detonating a suicide vest to avoid capture by the US forces inside a tunnel in Syria on October 26 but his violent legacy is still being discussed amidst fears that his followers may soon re-group themselves under a new […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Two hardcore Maoists, who gave up arms in the hope of leading normal lives, took the wedding vows in a temple in Angul district the other day. The ceremony marked their return to the social mainstream, something that many rebels secretly crave for but find hard to achieve because of their […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The success of the first-ever day and night cricket test match in India played at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens had created a buzz. That India won this pink ball contest with ease has only made the fans more euphoric about test cricket, like the two shorter versions of the game, being played […]

By Ashutosh Mishra London: As the polling day — December 12 — draws closer there are clear indications that it is going to be a close race between the Conservatives and the Labour Party. The gap between them, according to the latest Britain Elect poll, has narrowed to just seven points. Britain’s first December election […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Ruling Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) membership is reported to have crossed the 80 lakh mark which, if true, is quite an achievement. With urban body polls likely to be held sooner or later all parties are keen to enrol new members but the focus has been on BJD and its prime […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Polavaram dispute is going to put the renewed friendship between BJP and the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to a severe test. The multi-purpose project coming up in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh that threatens to submerge several tribal villages in Odisha’s Malkangiri district was granted a two-year work extension by the […]

Migrants’ exodus has started in different parts of the country with the rise of the second wave of Covid-19 Pandemic. Thousands of Migrant labourers working in the big cities of…

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Nearly two decades ago when South Korean steel behemoth, POSCO signed an MoU with Odisha government for setting up a steel mill in Jagatsinghpur district the then government led by Naveen Patnaik touted it as its crowning glory. The agreement symbolized the arrival of Odisha on the country’s industrial scene and […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Odisha is among the top beneficiaries of Centre’s CAMPA fund meant for compensatory afforestation. It has received more than Rs.5000 crore on this account this year which is much more than the share of bigger states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The fund, as evident from its nomenclature, is aimed at restoring […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Forest and police officials face a big challenge with wildlife smuggling in Odisha going hi-tech. Officials who busted a pangolin smuggling racket recently discovered to their surprise that deals were being made online with criminals operating through WhatsApp groups. The same pattern is obviously being followed for the smuggling of other […]

By Ashutosh Mishra London: The month of October saw thousands of climate change protestors laying siege to this capital city. Brought together by the activist group Extinction Rebellion, they marched through the streets of London blocking several roads including those around the Parliament. The protestors, many of whom were arrested by the police, sought changes […]

By Sandeep Sahu Who drove the Rairangpur lady lecturer to suicide? It was certainly not Soumya Ranjan Sahoo, the man who allegedly raped her and was arrested for it – but only after her death. Had that been the case, she would have committed suicide nearly a month back, soon after she was raped by […]

By Ashutosh Mishra London: Struggling to recover from the trauma of last Friday’s killings by a convicted terrorist who had been released from prison this city will seek to build new defences to ward off such incidents in future. The lessons learnt from the bloody rampage that ended with its perpetrator, Usman Khan being shot […]