Opinion News Updates

By Vikas Datta (10:34) Among the foremost thinkers of all ages, his contribution to knowledge spans maths, logic, history, philosophy and computer science at the very least. But he didn’t ignore the world as it was, championing reason, freedom and choice and opposing war, organised religion, nationalism and totalitarian politics. One of the few philosophers […]

By Nishant Arora (13:32) New Delhi: Smartphone shipments are on the decline globally. Devices launched with same features and specifications and price cuts are so far unable to make a visible impact. So what is going to drive the sales numbers? The answer is content, and global and Indian internet-based video streaming service providers have […]

Women are now being courted by some politicians who sense that their appeal to Dalits, backward castes and Muslims is dwindling in the absence of providing more and more sops, or that their rivals are more successful in cultivating these vote banks. In the Hindi belt, for instance, the support base of the Yadavs, the […]

Although India’s use of the internet is lower than many poorer countries, the country’s e-commerce sector tripled – or grew by 209 percent over the last five years – from $4.4 billion (Rs.20,020 crore) in 2010 to $13.6 billion (Rs.83,096 crore) in 2014. This data was contained in a reply given to the Lok Sabha […]

By Tanay Sukumar Young graduate mothers gave birth to 899 girls per 1,000 boys, lower than the national average of 943, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of Census data. Higher education levels have helped in better family planning, but they do not eliminate the preference for boys, the analysis reveals. The reason, experts said, could […]

By Amulya Ganguli Uttar Pradesh is up for grabs in next year’s assembly elections. With anti-incumbency stalking the Akhilesh Yadav government, Narendra Modi losing his earlier appeal and Mayawati yet to live down her statue-building extravaganza when in power, there is no obvious winner. Seeing the empty field, the hero of Bihar’s ‘mahagathbandhanÂ’ or grand […]

Madurai: When 12-year-old Madhu (not his real name) was diagnosed as obese — he weighed 98 kg when his ideal weight was 55 kg — there were no obvious medical issues, except a faulty diet and lack of exercise. After counselling and improving his diet, the Madurai preteen, 160 cm or 5.2 ft tall, lost […]

By Nury Vittachi A woman was sacked for having short hair and wearing trousers to work. “They said I was gay,” she complained to an unsympathetic labour tribunal in the city of Guiyang, southwest China. How could her employers get it so wrong? A pixie cut and skinny pants are what all the babes wear […]

Singur (West Bengal): Seven-and-a-half-years after Tata Motors relocated its Nano small car factory out of this rural belt, the abandoned plant, with its corroded metal gate and deserted sheds, stands like a haunted house besides National Highway 2. And the aborted project is again the ‘key factor’ in West Bengal’s Singur assembly constituency that goes […]

A 65-year-old citizenship issue, reflecting the strains of migration, has resulted in no more than 3.2 percent of Assam’s population being enrolled in Aadhaar, India’s biometrics-based unique identity system, the world’s largest. Voting in Assam has concluded (results are scheduled for May 19th) and the new government will inherit a state with some of India’s […]

London: As the world celebrated Earth Day on Friday, a team of European researchers has found substantially different climate change impacts on Earth for a global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius and two degrees Celsius by 2100. The two temperature limits are included in the Paris climate agreement, researchers said, adding that the additional 0.5 […]

By Abhishek Waghmare India’s biggest reform to transform the life of a crisis-ridden farmer is 91.6 percent behind schedule this year, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promise in five months what could not be done over the last 10. As many as 250 agricultural markets nationwide (of 585 selected) were supposed to have been […]

By Amitava Mukherjee Never before in the political history of West Bengal has there been such an acute leadership crisis cutting across political spectrums as is now being witnessed in the midst of the assembly elections. While the BJP and the Left parties suffer from absence of any worthwhile leader, Mamata Banerjee’s leadership quality is […]

By Amulya Ganguli Even if Narendra Modi hasn’t lived up to the expectations which he aroused two years ago, he is still the best person for turning India into a modern and economically advanced country. The claim about modernity may seem odd considering that the medievalists of the saffron brotherhood constitute an influential section of […]

By Vatsal Srivastava For a government that has been voted by a historic majority on the single promise of “ache din” and “vikas”, today’s agrarian reality can turn into its most potent cause of demise. The agricultural growth rate is creeping towards negative territory from a dismal 0.2 percent seen in 2014-2015. Data from the […]