Passionate activist and journalist (1949-2015) When news reached India that Praful Bidwai had passed away in Amsterdam on 23 June 2015, where he was participating in a conference, there was a palpable sense of disbelief. Journalists, peace activists, academics, scientists and environmentalists could not believe that the prolific, passionate, quintessential journalist-activist was no longer going to be around – to harangue, cajole, argue, convince readers, listeners and sceptics that nuclear disarmament was the only way ahead for the human race. No subject that concerned human rights, politics, social justice, environment and international peace escaped his interest and researcher’s intellect. His…
Author: oiop
Pragamatic patriot (1933-2015) SV. Raju was born on 24 September 1933, in Mumbai. His mother passed away when he was four years old. Seeing the ill-treatment meted out to him by his stepmother, Raju’s grandfather entrusted his upbringing to his uncle in Matunga, Mumbai. The trauma of his difficult childhood did not make him cynical. Nor did he have any ambition to be successful in the traditional sense of money and material comforts. He studied at Don Bosco School, Matunga, and passed his M.A. in political science from Khalsa College, Matunga. His first job was with Garlick and Co. at…
A visionary technocrat (1929-2015) Kunnath Puthiyaveetil Padmanabhan Nambiar, known as K.P.P. Nambiar, who passed away recently, was one of India’s finest technocrats who made significant contributions in the field of industrial development and technology. He founded and nurtured many institutions, and the Government of India recognised his contribution by awarding him a Padma Bhushan in the year 2006. Nambiar graduated in Physics from the Imperial College of Science & Technology, University of London, and one of his earliest assignments was with the Texas Instruments in the U.S. Heeding a clarion call from the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to Indian…
This is an incredibly tasty and healthy salad…yes, taste and health do go together! Ingredients 1/2 cup couscous (prepare it by adding it to 3/4 cup boiling water, switch off the gas and keep it covered for 15 minutes. Remember: couscous cooks very fast) Add a blob of butter and ruffle up the couscous, but this is optional. Add a little salt to the water if you intend to avoid butter. 1 cucumber peeled and cut vertically, deseeded n roughly chopped into crescents 7-8 florets of broccoli blanched in boiling water to which a pinch of salt and sugar have…
Gender budgeting is the need of the hour, as is evident from the increase in crimes against women. Never has there been a more pronounced need for better budgetary allotments to make women’s spaces safe and convenient, says Dr. Vibhuti Patel. Urbanisation often goes hand in hand with a rise in urban violence and crime that manifests itself in stalking, sexual violence, blackmailing and extortion rackets. Children and women are seen as soft spots who can be victimised by predators. Smart cities, also safe cities? Town planners, policy makers and budget experts need to do gender budgeting, incorporating facets such…
Here’s a silver lining in the dark cloud of the dismal education sector in India. A school in Chattisgarh and its Principal prove that it just needs a genuine love for education, parent participation and some creativity, to make learning enjoyable. Purusottam Singh Thakur reports. As far as schools go, the Government Primary School in Motwada village in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh, is innovative, unusual, progressive, and inclusive. That’s a whole lot of adjectives to describe a learning institution located in the otherwise violence-affected and poverty-ridden North Bastar region, but then the amazing work being done here by Headmistress Anusuya Jain,…
Neeta Mohindra is a multi-faceted person gifted in two different forms of art – fine arts and theatre. Her involvement with painting is research and academic oriented. Her work in theatre is performance and experiment oriented. Backed with a Ph.D. in ‘Tribal Arts of Southern Rajasthan’, Neeta has been teaching fine arts for over two decades and has exhibited her work in around twenty solo and several group exhibitions across the country and abroad. But theatre remains her belief, her love and her passion. Recently in Kolkata to perform her latest play Chanda Mama Door Ke directed by M.K. Raina…
Nothing enhances a woman’s beauty as much as a line of lovingly applied kaajal or kohl in her eyes. Used by brides, dancers, queens, courtesans and young girls alike, the kohl is truly a beauty enhancing product. Its health benefits just add to its allure, says Shoma A. Chatterji. Eyes are the windows to the soul”, is a saying we have heard since we were knee-high. The beauty of the phrase did not register then. But as time went on, the elaborate eye-make-up on Vyjayanthimala’s eyes when she performed a Varnam from her repertoire of Bharat Natyam at a Mumbai…
When we talk of global warming and climate change, we have to understand that it affects every ecosystem on Earth, including the very vulnerable coastal ecosystem. Shanta Ghosh dwells at length on the impact of global warming on India’s vast coastal zone. In recent years there have been a lot of discussions about climate change. Why it occurs, how it occurs, and how it affects our life. The climate change phenomenon is not a new occurrence. What is new is the understanding of climate change from various dimensions, through the understanding of ‘science of climate change’. Research carried out by…
The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings held in Germany this year concluded with an appeal to fight climate change and reduce carbon emissions. The Lindau Meetings also focused on the crucial role that India could play in this, reports Anuradha Sharma, who attended the colloquium. India, along with China, will play a crucial role in the global fight against climate change. This was once again underlined by Nobel-winning scientists at the 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings held in the Bavarian island of Lindau in Lake Constance, South Germany, from June 28 to July 3, 2015. On the concluding day of the…