Author: Kamala Nambiyar

India Meteorological Department has issued a heatwave alert for seven states, officials said on Sunday. Heat wave conditions are very likely over some areas of Uttar Pradesh and Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, south Haryana, West Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and north Madhya Pradesh, according to the department. Hot and discomforting weather is expected over Odisha during the next five days, as well as over Konkan region, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala until Monday. As the blistering summer heat continues to grip several states, people have been flocking to ice cream shops and cold drink joints in search of relief.

Sri Lanka Tourism continues to expand its warm bilateral and cultural ties with its Indian counterparts by venturing into a series of Road Shows in key Indian cities from 24th –  28th April 2023. The first roadshow will be held in Chennai on April 24, followed by Cochin on April 26 and finally in Bengaluru on April 28. Sri Lanka is witnessing a considerable increase in tourist arrivals with India leading the way and securing the number one position. The event also focuses on promoting a myriad of tourism experiences while focusing on converting potential travellers to make bookings and…

Nineteen-year-old Manisha works as a full-time maid at a house on the outskirts of the Indian capital, Delhi. Back home in Jharkhand, she dropped out of school as public transport was irregular and sexual harassment on the roads was common. She travelled to the Indian capital, and got herself a job in an apartment. But still she does not venture out much, citing difficulties in commuting and lack of safety. “I am working but I only go out once or twice a month. I don’t feel comfortable on the streets,” she says. Nineteen-year-old Manisha works as a full-time maid at…

Thirty archers armed with bamboo bows and arrows sit on a platform awaiting instruction. Then they take aim at a straw cylinder 18 metres (60 feet) away. They each have 34 arrows to shoot in four minutes. They release one arrow after another, their movements languid and practised. The next round of the competition soon follows, when the archers must shoot 24 arrows in three minutes. The ancient skill of archery thrives in Shillong, the capital of the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya. Every day, behind a row of liquor shops and next to a motor garage, this event is…

India’s rising tide of Hindu nationalism is an affront to the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, his great-grandson said ahead of the 75th anniversary of the revered independence hero’s assassination. Gandhi was shot dead at a multi-faith prayer meeting in January 1948 by Nathuram Godse, a religious zealot angered by his victim’s conciliatory gestures to the country’s minority Muslim community. Godse was executed the following year and remains widely reviled, but author and social activist Tushar Gandhi, one of the global peace symbol’s most prominent descendants, said his views now have a worrying resonance in India. “That whole philosophy has now…

An ambitious conservation project spanning 20 years has helped restore an over 200-year-old colonial building in India. Restoration of the Telangana Mahila Viswavidyalayam (formerly Osmania University College for Women) in Hyderabad city in the southern state of Telangana was completed this month. The heritage building was once the residence of Colonel James Achilles Kirkpatrick, the British representative to the court at Hyderabad from 1797-1805 and was later converted into a university. Over the years the building fell into disrepair due to heavy local traffic, poor maintenance and faulty repairs. In 2002, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) – a non-profit that…

An eight-year-old girl in India who was due to inherit a multimillion-dollar diamond fortune has instead been admitted as a nun to a strict religious order after renouncing worldly pleasures. Devanshi Sanghvi was, until this week, an heiress to the Sanghvi and Sons jewellery business in the western city of Surat, known locally as Diamond City for its prominence in the global gem trade. Her family are also members of the Jain faith, a small but ancient Indian religion that preaches non-violence, strict vegetarianism and love for all creatures. This week, she was feted in a four-day ceremony to herald…

New York: United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) President Csaba Korosi is scheduled to visit India at the end of this month and meet with senior officials, according to the spokesperson for the General Assembly president, Paulina Kubiak Greer. Addressing a briefing here on Tuesday (local time), the spokesperson said the visit of the UNGA President who has been invited by the Indian government will likely begin on January 29 and will include an address to the Indian Council of World Affairs, a foreign policy think tank. He is also slated to meet with scientists and tour a water conservation project…

India and Russia want to completely switch to rupee-rouble transactions for bilateral trade settlements but will have to first address the issue of trade imbalance, which is heavily tilted in favour of Moscow. India and Russia plan to stop using the dollar and Euro for bilateral trade settlements, and plan to do all such transactions in rupee and rouble, a senior official of the Russian foreign ministry said. Zamir Kabulov, head of India division in Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs told Russia’s state-run news agency RIA Novosti that the decision is necessary to address the trade imbalance for a full-fledged transition to national…

Dubai: If you are travelling to India over the winter break, there are new guidelines that you would need to keep in mind with regards to the COVID-19 protocol. India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) issued the new ‘Guidelines for International Arrivals’ “in light of the increasing trajectory of COVID-19 cases being noted in some countries across the world”. The Ministry said that the protocols that should be complied with by international travellers as well as points of entry and comes into effect from 10am Indian Standard Time (8.30am UAE), December 24. Here are the details of the updated…