News and Views

Over the years, the annually-held Indian Science Congress has been in news for all the wrong reasons. The dais of the Indian Science Congress has become the platform of absurd claims made by Indian academics and politicians.

In the recently-held Indian Science Congress, the Vice Chancellor of Andhra University claimed that ancient India had fighter jets and airports, while another person claimed that the theories of Einstein and Newton are wrong, and yet another academic from Punjab claimed that dinosaurs found mention in the Vedas.

At the height of the dissatisfaction with Dipak Misra’s tenure, senior advocate and the de facto Bhishma Pitamah of the Indian legal world, Fali S Nariman, is reported to have said that any action against Misra was pointless.

Nariman also said that we would have to wait for Justice Ranjan Gogoi to take over, for any real changes in the system. Well, Nariman has been proved wrong. By Justice Ranjan Gogoi himself.

At their best, books aid our own efforts at making meaning, and stories help us narrativize our own lives. But they can only do that if we give them room— carry them to our journals, our work, and our conversations with friends.

So, while we may not follow Marie Kondo’s advice to cull all the unread tomes, making this room requires that we buy— and read—fewer books.

This is my story of making room.

The coal mine tragedy in Meghalaya, where 15 miners are feared dead, trapped in an illegal rat-hole mine for a little over a month, has come as a shock to many. There have been calls for stringent action against errant miners, dealers and government officials, so as to prevent such tragedies in the future.

Even as around 200 rescue personnel of the Indian Navy, Coal India, NDRF, Odisha fire service and private pump-maker Kriloskar are involved in rescue operations, apart from volunteers from other quarters, the Supreme Court is hearing a PIL in the matter for immediate and stringent action.

But as someone like me who was born and grew up in Asansol, a mofussil town in eastern India’s coal belt, incidents like this are routine. Sometimes so routine, that a single column mention in the newspapers is all it warrants, if at all.

The rise of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ajay Singh Bisht aka Yogi Adityanath, has posed an unprecedented threat to the innate culture and intrinsic nature of Hinduism.

Furthering the Yogi government’s hobby of changing the names of everything that doesn't align with their vichar-dhara, the ‘Ardha’ from ‘Ardha-Kumbh’ has been dropped, and is now being incongruously called just the ‘Kumbh’, which is different.

On the occasion of Javed Akhtar’s birthday, The Quint presents a special podcast of his poem ‘Naya Hukmnama’ (new ordinance) and parts of the hard-hitting farewell speech he delivered in the Rajya Sabha two years ago.

In response to transfer letters given to four Kerala nuns, who campaigned against former Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal for sexually assaulting a nun in Kerala, the nuns have refused to leave. “Let them send the letters. But we are not going anywhere. Till this case is complete and we get justice for our Sister, we will not go,” said Sister Ancitta. Listen in for more.

In response to transfer orders of 4 Kerala nuns,who campaigned against Bishop Franco,the nuns have refused to leave. “Let them send the letters. But we are not going anywhere. Till this case is complete and we get justice for our Sister, we will not go,” said Sister Ancitta. Listen in for more.

Podcast | Where were you when the VP Singh's decision to provide 27% reservation for OBCs led to violent protests and self-immolations in 1990? Tune in to this podcast!

The new year has begun with great excitement about India’s proposed human space mission. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) says it is all set to enter a new phase, with the addition of the human element in its operations.

Till now, the agency has been dealing with rockets, propulsion engines, satellites and payloads in all its missions. Now it has to gear up to deal with humans.

This adds a completely new dimension to ISRO’s working.