Opinion News Updates

By Saeed Naqvi By way of relief from the cacophony that passes for debate on prime time television, India’s ace anchor, Barkha Dutt, did a memorable interview the other night with historian Romila Thapar. It was memorable because the context against which this thoughtful conversation took place was so shoddy, and bleak. A man had […]

By Arun Kumar Washington: Citing talks with India, China and Brazil to reduce the use and emissions of greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the White House announced a suite of new private-sector commitments and executive actions. Announcing the new commitments ahead of the Nov 1-5 Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in […]

By Brajendra Nath Singh Makhdumpur: It is just a road which divides the residents of Makhdumpur assembly constituency of Maoist effected Jahanabad district. On one side voters openly favour the BJP-led NDA while on the other side, the support is largely for the grand alliance. NH-83, which comes from Patna via Masaurhi, goes directly to […]

By Anurag Dey Kolkata: With one in every three Indians suffering from hypertension and heart ailments responsible for over 30 percent of deaths in the country, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are acquiring epidemic proportions in India, warn experts. “Hypertension is a silent killer; all the comorbidities, whether heart problems, brain stroke, kidney or stroke, are produced […]

By Amitava Mukherjee Afghanistan is likely to witness recurrence of Kunduz-like scenarios as the Afghan National Security Force (ANSF), comprising the Afghan National Army (ANA), Afghan National Police (ANP) and the Afghan Local Police (ALP), is now in a shambles. The scenario becomes grimmer when the ANSF casualty figures are taken into account. In the […]

By Vishal Gulati Kathmandu: If you are holidaying in Nepal and want to enjoy sublime experience above the snowy peaks, just fly up to the majestic Mt. Everest. In less than 60 minutes of the flight, you can fly close to Mt. Everest, the world’s highest peak in the central Himalayas on the border of […]

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” along with the silence of institutions like the Sahitya Akademi is permitting a new “degree of thuggish violence” in India, said celebrated author Salman Rushdie. Speaking to NTDV from London, Rushdie said the rising intolerance in India posed a “real grave danger” to liberties. “There are attacks on […]

The brutal killing of a man in Bisada village in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, not far from the Indian capital, on suspicion that he consumed beef after killing a cow was more than a murder. It was an attack on one of our most cherished values, protected by the constitution: secularism. It was an assault […]

By Amulya Ganguli Narendra Modi is probably learning the veracity of Stalin’s insightful aphorism that while one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic. In a country which has seen innumerable communal riots over the decades, and a 25 percent rise in inter-faith violence since Modi came to power, the furore over the […]

By Rajdeep Pathak Gandhi Jayanti was celebrated across the country with fervour and reverence on October 2. The international community along with the United Nations too joined hands in celebrating this day as the “International Day of Non-Violence”. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon in his message reiterated the courage and determination of Mahatma Gandhi […]

Kolkata: The Nobel Prize for Chinese scientist Tu Youyou, who turned to traditional herbal medicine to develop novel malaria therapies, should inspire India to focus on scientifically validating and promoting its rich heritage of folk medicine, an expert said on Thursday. “We have a vast repertoire of traditional medicine and these are documented in our […]

By Firoz Bakht Ahmed Having witnessed the grisly news of the Mohammed Akhlaq killing in Dadri via media, I am reminded of Ameer Khusro, the inspired Sufi poet of northern India. These days, it is sad that we look not for a human but for a Hindu or a Muslim in each other’s eyes. Khusro […]

By Ravi Kiran There is a pattern around Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to many a foreign shore. A visit gets announced, media starts building up some excitement and collecting bytes, people quickly take sides and soon, we have quotes full of wisdom, advice and comments from many an expert. As the prime minister arrives […]

By Kamal Meattle India’s announcement that it will cut emissions by 35 percent by 2030 at 2005 levels is certainly a welcome announcement. We all pray, it is achieved. But the key is to sensitise the the international community and get it to help us with technology-transfer and low-cost finance to achieve this ambitious goal. […]

By Amulya Ganguli It has now become almost a routine feature of Narendra Modi’s trips abroad to take a dig or two at his opponents back home. True, he generally does so while addressing the Indian diaspora who are able to understand his references to a controversial “damaad” (son-in-law) or the sarcastic linking of Sanskrit […]