News and Views

14 year old Prerna took her own life after she failed two subjects in her Class VIII half-yearly exams. She is one of thousands of Indian students who commit suicide in India every year.

A 2014 study from the government of India reported that over 32,000 Indians in the 15-29 age group took their own lives that year. And this number has only grown over the past 20 years.

On this podcast, we’re looking at India’s student suicide crisis.

Exam-related pressure was the largest cause of suicide in India’s youth. On this podcast you’ll hear from people who work with suicide support groups, doctors, as well as the last words of several students taken from their suicide notes. 

Listen to the podcast for the full story.

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Saurabh Vishwakarma, 34, is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator from ward number 63 in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur. His ward, with nearly three thousand voters, abuts the Gorakhnath Math headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Vishwakarma was 15 when he joined the Hindu Yuva Vahini, Adityanath’s vigilante group or private army. He is a three-time BJP corporator and was re-elected in 2017, on a BJP ticket, even after he had a bitter falling out with Adityanath, who had declared a bounty of Rs 25,000 on his head.

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In a letter on 4 August 1987, as I left the PMO to take up an assignment in Lakshadweep, classified by the MHA as a ‘punishment posting’, Rajiv Gandhi wrote: “Thank you also for your hard work and cheerful assistance over the last five years; first with my mother, and then with me. We shall miss you, especially in our forays into the countryside. You are going to an important assignment. I look forward to seeing you in Lakshadweep at the winter meeting of the Island Development Authority.”

A paradise set in the heart of the Arabian Sea is the archipelago of Lakshadweep –Sanskrit for ‘one hundred thousand islands’. A Union Territory since 1956, this tiny chain of 36 coral islands of which 10 are inhabited, with an estimated population in 1985 of 44,000, is home to a unique civilisation.

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In light of the horrific bombing in Sri Lanka in April, it is vital that Muslims across the world unite against violence being perpetuated in the name of Islam. In fact, a few hours before this article was published on 8 May 2019, at least eight people were killed in a blast, claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, outside a major Sufi Muslim shrine in Lahore, Pakistan.

There are episodes in recent history which clearly indicate the malice and hostility of those committing acts of terror and mass violence in the name of Islam. Amjad Sabri, the famous qawwal, was killed in June 2016 by the Pakistani Taliban.

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Everyone loves a good fight. In Bengal, the high-octane verbal spat between Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee this election season, is a huge source of entertainment and amusement. It’s being watched with rapt attention, and is getting more eyeballs than TV soaps.

Unlike most fights, however, there’s no suspense about the outcome of this one. “Didi will win. No-one can defeat her in Bengal,’’ says an iron merchant in north Kolkata’s Shyam Bazaar, where Mamata’s former right-hand man, Sudip Bandyopadhyay – out on bail after 136 days in prison, in connection with the Rs 17,000 crore Rose Valley scam – is locked in a tight contest with prominent BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha.

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