Military courier flights serve as an air bridge between the operational areas and the communication centres or administrative bases located in the hinterland for transportation of personnel and stores. The reduction in travel time also affords an opportunity to troops...
On his 150th birth anniversary, remembering Dr Sam Higginbottom of Allahabad
Immigration is now a lively topic of sociological and political discussion and at the centre of theories about voting patterns and important policy considerations. Even advanced democracies such as the US, France, Canada and Britain have identified vote banks just...
If only we could learn to listen to the voices that hesitate to speak loudly, what a great country we could be
My first meeting with Ratan Naval Tata left an abiding positive impression. It took place in Bombay in 1991, a few months after he had taken over from his illustrious predecessor, JRD Tata, as chairman of both Tata Sons and...
I have yet to come across consumers who do not have a complaint about chatbots that are being increasingly deployed by e-commerce sites to deal with customer queries and complaints. Initially, compared to the highly frustrating experience of going through...
Markhor (Capra falconeri), known for its spiralled horns, quietly roams the rugged mountains in the landscapes of Jammu and Kashmir. Known for its grace and strength, the markhor is more than just a wild goat — it’s a symbol of...
It’s been a tough ride, but the Vietnamese have gone from strength to strength
I can write this now as the person around whom this episode hinges is no more and can’t be harassed, harried, or worse. Yet, for safety’s sake, let’s not take his name and simply call him Mr X. My father,...
The biggest impediment to conservation is the conflict between humans and wild animals
GOOD SPORT: Mahavir seems unaware that even a child should have agency — and that a woman of 30, his niece Vinesh, a decorated wrestler, absolutely must
Sportspersons turn cynics when quite young, for their experience tells them that the sports administrator is venal and undependable
What exactly should a column contain, or proclaim, or aim for? It’s a task that has its own challenges
We need to take ownership of improving our traffic ecosystem
The Solan ragging incident is yet another episode where the desire for aberrant superiority unleashes in the most vile form
Resist clicking on links sent on email, WhatsApp or SMS, or downloading applications sent by anyone
One bright morning in March 1981, my journey to Gangtok was interrupted by a sizeable landslide, about 20 km short of the destination. A functionary of the PWD estimated three hours for the resumption of traffic. Noticing my camera and...
A tribute to Sitaram Yechury, who was often at odds with his fellow travellers, but was also a consensus builder par excellence
DAV College is also the site of samadhis of three members of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s family
In the mid-1970s, I was posted along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Chhamb sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Bunkers and tents were our abode and also the place to secure weapons and other warlike materials. During the monsoon,...
Imagine being a species so old as to be called a ‘living fossil’, which has outlived dinosaurs only to be imperiled in anthropocene because of plastic and beautified stone-pitched water bodies. The species under discussion here is the turtle, which...
Supreme Court needs to enlarge scope of the National Task Force, set up to suggest safety norms for healthcare staff
Grandmothers and old family retainers were champion story-tellers, now often replaced by digital or interactive tools in many urban nuclear families
In translating, we are not merely bridging gaps; we are acknowledging them, respecting them, and allowing them to exist
I was about to go meet my nephew, Balu, when my father told me that a leopard — perhaps the same one that I had photographed — had killed one of Balu’s cows the previous night. I left home but...
She used to watch her father return from playing golf. He was posted in Delhi then. The year was 2006. The golf bag and the gleaming irons used to be laid out for cleaning, and both the kids would observe...
It’s her crusade for justice against powerful men in positions of power that makes Vinesh even more important as a role model
High-minded slokas and mantras are a shortcut we have adopted to replace moral science
Intesar Suhail In the spring of 2016, I embarked upon a trek in the mountains of Drass to look for and, if possible, photograph the elusive brown bear. As the Wildlife Warden of Kargil district in Jammu and Kashmir (now...
A recent order of the apex consumer court holding an insurance company and a bank accountable for their carelessness in implementing a crop insurance scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana highlights how lapses in the implementation of welfare...