Opinion News Updates

By Sanjiv Kataria Like many people, I have always been squeamish about entering a prison or a hospital. When Dr Mahendra Bhandari, Director Robotic Research and Education, Vattikuti Urology Institute at Michigan-based Henry Ford Hospital, suggested that I watch a computer assisted surgery using a Surgical Robot (SR) as part of my recent assignment with […]

By Amitava Mukherjee Six months before the Assam assembly elections, there may be another bout of social unrest if the Tarun Gogoi government presses for franchise rights for those voters who bear the “doubtful” tag after their names. In a recent judgment, the Guwahati High Court has rejected the state government’s plea for allowing voting […]

Lucknow: Ever seen the Taj Mahal from 3,000 feet above and from a distance of just 500 metres? Well, this could be your lifetime chance as the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department is hosting a hot air balloon festival in the vicinity of the monument November 14-16. More than 15 hot air balloons from Australia, Belgium, […]

By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Once Upon A Time in Bihar”; Director: Nitin Chandra; Cast: Kranti Prakash Jha, Deepak Singh, Ajay Kumar, Pankaj Jha, Arti Puri, Ashish Vidyarthi and Neetu Chandra; Rating: ** Written and directed by Nitin Chandra, “Once Upon A Time in Bihar” is a poignant tale that reveals the distressing state of affairs […]

By Ankit Sinha New Delhi: The country has been rocked with controversies like the Dadri lynching, rape assaults and attack on freedom of speech. But with the power of music, pianist Anil Srinivasan hopes to “contribute positively and creatively” to a world where grudges and blame-games are the order of the day. “Unfortunately, the country […]

By Amitava Mukherjee His detractors call him the “Buddhist Bin Laden”. He does not deny this although he chooses to liken himself to James Bond for his ” nationalist outlook”. He has no political party and no poll candidates – yet he is turning out to be the most talked about factor in Myanmar’s coming […]

By Amit Dasgupta It is extraordinary how quickly we believe smart slogans. Advertising and marketing are based precisely on the ability to win subscribers and getting them hooked through language and packaging. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has understood this all too well. When he spoke of ‘aache din’, he struck an immediate chord of empathy […]

By Arun Kumar Washington, Oct 27 (IANS) US Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump would not call Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the “Supreme Leader.” He would also put a stop to US meddling in Middle Eastern affairs because women there “don’t want freedom as evidenced by their desire to wear burkas or niqabs, which cover their […]

Sahana Ghosh Kolkata: What has the Swachh Bharat campaign got to do with dogs? Well, Indian experts have found that managing how garbage is dumped and handled can help in controlling the population of strays in urban areas. While dog lovers have a way with free-ranging dogs or strays, for the municipal authorities and health […]

By Arun Kumar Washington: Funded by $6 million in donations, the School of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) has announced three new endowed chairs in Sikh, Jain and modern India studies. The chairs are named the Dhan Kaur Sahota Presidential Chair in Sikh Studies, Shri Parshvanath Presidential Chair in Jain Studies, and […]

By Arun Kumar Washington: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came to the US with a litany of complaints against India with the hope of getting an India type nuclear deal and involving Washington in the Kashmir issue. He got neither. Instead Sharif ended up giving President Barack Obama an assurance that Islamabad would take effective […]

By Brajendra Nath Singh At least one thing is sure. Call drops don’t just affect the common man. Even ministers are victims of the sudden disconnect or silence at other end of the mobile connection. During campaigning in Bihar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communication and IT, was to be contacted by the ‘war room’ […]

By Preetha Nair New Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS) Aiyana Gunjan has done what very few would ever succeed in. Her transition from the corporate world to that of an artist is as inspiring as her work. Gunjan specialises in the highly complex medium of calligraphy with abstraction and her first solo exhibition, titled “The Moving […]

By Amulya Ganguli After being flummoxed for a few days by the decision of several Sahitya Akademi award winners to return their medals, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has finally been able to gather its wits together to respond. If it was initially taken aback, the reason was not only the unusual nature of the […]

By Sahana Ghosh Kolkata: With catchy themes and concepts often reaching great artistic heights and big corporate involvement adding to the glitter, fun and fiesta, the contemporary Durga puja in Kolkata has evolved from what it was decades back. It now embraces those on the margins, and has truly become “glocal” – with both local […]