A suicide is always a crushing tragedy. It is legally considered to be extreme and irrational, as we all believe that human life is our most precious triumph. Ironically, the suicide note always argues the opposite: That there are rational motives which compel people to end their lives. Such is what we learn from the young 25-year-old IT engineer Gopalakrishna Durga Prasad  who jumped off the fourth floor of a Pune […]

Pigeons and doves used in kabutarbazi, a popular sport, are being fed opium in water and injected medicines, claim PETA activists. Causing pain or death to birds is punishable under the Prevention of Animal Cruelty (PCA) Act. In the land of ‘Udta Punjab,’ not just humans, but animals are also being given drugs, it seems! Pigeons and doves used in kabutarbazi — a popular sport in the State’s rural parts […]

Hundreds of pilot whales and dolphins have been slaughtered as part of an annual ritual on the shores of the Faroe Islands, an archipelago between Iceland and Norway. Locally known as Grindadrap, whale harvesting is a centuries-old practice dating back to 1584. Due to the remote location of the island, the locals have historically relied on the meat and blubber of pilot whales as their major source of food. Graphic […]

A road safety awareness music video by police in the southern Indian city of Chennai (Madras) asks parents to beat children if they flout traffic rules. Set to a racy beat and sung by popular Tamil singer Ghana Bala, the video combines footage of reckless youngsters on motorbikes with those of road accidents and funerals. Police said they wanted a video that would “appeal” to the youth. India has one […]

On the occasion of International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, celebrated across the globe on Monday, India remembered 168 soldiers, who died in various corners of the world, for the cause of peace. “India is contributing around 6,900 military personnel among 115,000 peacekeepers in various missions,” Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Sarath Chand told ANI. “168 Indian peacekeepers lost their lives since UN operations began. In 2016,117 peacekeepers […]

Modi government’s new rules on sale of cattle for slaughter in market places is illogical and can push the farmers into distress. The government has banned sale of cattle for slaughter at market places. Not just cows, the regulation will cover bulls, bullocks, buffaloes, steers, heifers and camels, first reported by Hindustan Times (read here). Cattle can be sold only to a person with documents to prove he is an […]

Suddenly media circles are rife with the need for tax-free sanitary napkins, better menstruation hygiene and what not. You hear people talking about how the lack for sanitary napkins is keeping girls away from schools and how only 12% of Indian women are using sanitary napkins. As a middle-class Indian girl brought up in a tier II city in the country and working in its commercial capital, I have quite […]

A staggering 2,305 sq km of forest cover in northeast India and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands — slightly more than the size of Mauritius — could disappear by 2025, a simulation study by ISRO scientists has predicted. “The overall predicted loss of forest cover by 2025 is estimated to be 2,305 km square in the Northeast and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The modelling results predicted widespread deforestation in these […]

While the economy is growing at just over 7% per year, jobs increased by just 1.1% last year, according to a recently-released report covering eight key sectors of the non-farm economy. An earlier report had pegged joblessness at a fiveyear high of 5% in 2015, and under-employment at a staggering 35% of the over-15 years labour force.” Seen in this context, the government is facing a growing employment crisis which […]

Over 3,000 youngsters die every day, totalling 1.2 million deaths a year, from largely preventable causes, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). Around 1.2 billion people, or one in every six persons, are adolescents aged between 10 to 19 years. The report entitled ‘Global accelerated action for the health of adolescents (AA-HA!): Guidance to support country implementation’, was scheduled to be launched on Tuesday in […]