In the early 1950s, India was undergoing a momentous transformation. The country had achieved independence from British rule, and the people were clamoring for greater autonomy and self-governance. One of the most significant issues during this time was the need to create new states that reflected the linguistic and cultural diversity of India.

The task of creating these new states fell to a commission headed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a charismatic leader known for his unwavering commitment to India's unity and integrity. Patel and his team worked tirelessly to draw up the boundaries of the proposed states, taking into account the interests and aspirations of various communities.

However, the creation of these new states was not without its challenges. One of the most contentious issues was the status of Mumbai, a bustling city that was the economic and cultural hub of the region. Both Gujarat and Maharashtra laid claim to Mumbai, with each state insisting that the city rightfully belonged to them.

During the 17th century plague outbreak in France, a group of thieves robbed dead bodies of plague victims but amazingly never contracted the disease. After being caught, the authorities offered the thieves leniency in exchange for their secret to avoiding the plague. The thieves used a mixture of essential oils, including lavender, which they rubbed on their bodies and wore masks soaked in the same mixture. The authorities were impressed by this revelation and published the recipe, which is now known as "thieves oil". Lavender's antiseptic and calming properties have made it a symbol of protection and healing throughout history, and it remains one of the world's most popular essential oils.

"The youthful cohort of our society is facing unprecedented obstacles as technology and entertainment continue to evolve. The emergence of social media and other platforms has created a maelstrom of distractions that can leave the young feeling bereft and unfulfilled. The strain to stay abreast with everything ‘current’ and the fast pace of society can result in feelings of isolation, loneliness, and despair." ~ Harshit Narang

 -George Sand, a nineteenth century French novelist asserted way back in 1872: “Art for art’s sake is an empty phrase. Art for the sake of truth, art for the sake of the good and the beautiful, that is the faith I am searching for.” Chinua Achebe, a postcolonial African writer in a trenchant way, goes to the extent of hailing ‘art for art’s sake’ as “just another piece of deodorised dog shit.” Art demands a lot of ingenuity whilst being assertively alert to socio-cultural maladies. Truly it is an artiste’s prerogative to conceive cutting-edge expressions to voice it to as many souls as possible- a multitude of emotions that abode a human heart; and the prejudices of the degenerate society. A gargantuan task indeed- which engages the artists’ in commingling a variety of techniques : concocting newer crafts to laundry the system’s rot and affiliating it with aesthetically tailored recital of events, aimed at enchanting the senses of the viewers in sync.

The founding day of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 07 April 1948 is celebrated as ‘World Health Day’ across the length and breadth of the globe. Each year, for this day, a particular theme based on World Health Organisation’s priority area is chosen. Due to the recurrent pandemic from the past two years, the theme for 2022 is “Our Planet, Our Health.”

THERE are fundamental objections to the plan of the government to privatise at least some of the public sector banks. They centre around the fact that such a move will change the pattern of deployment of credit, away from productive activities towards speculation, away from peasant agriculture towards big business (with dangerous implications for peasant viability, food security and employment), and away from domestic to global destinations. These objections are well-known and have been much discussed, and their pertinence has been underscored by the fact that Indian public sector banks were completely untouched

OMICRON, a new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, has rapidly overtaken all other variants in the new waves of Covid-19 cases that are emerging in South Africa, the UK, the European Union and the US. More worrying is that Omicron is able to infect those who have received two vaccine doses or already had Covid earlier. This is supported by laboratory evidence though they are still very preliminary results. The good news, if it can be called good news, is that most of those who have been vaccinated do not seem to progress to a critical stage. This indicates that the body's immune system, primed by vaccine and possibly previous Covid infections, is still able to handle the disease from

In a recent report the People’s Commission on the Public Sector and Public Services has rightly drawn attention to the sheer un-constitutionality of the Modi government’s plan to privatise en masse the assets of the public sector. The constitution of the country is not just a set of procedures and rules for the governance of the polity. It expresses above all a certain social philosophy which is supposed to inform the behaviour of the various organs of the State and which constitutes the foundational beliefs around which the nation has come into being. This is particularly true of ex-colonial countries where the formation of the nation has been the outcome 

The central government is set to introduce a bill to raise the marriageable age for women to 21 years. Given its majority in parliament, this bill will probably become law. Yet there are so many important issues that require deeper consideration that the better course would be for the government to refer the bill to the relevant standing committee, instead of pushing it through.

THERE are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen. In keeping with this adage, Indian kisans wrote a new chapter in history defying all prophecies of imminent defeat and canards claiming that the united kisan movement was petering out. The united kisan struggle with the unprecedented support of the working class and the masses has won a historic victory forcing the arrogant Narendra Modi led BJP government to

PARTICULAR battles often have a significance that goes beyond the immediate context, of which even the combatants may not be fully aware at the time. One such was the Battle of Plassey, which was not even a battle since one side’s general had already been bribed by the other not to lead his troops against it; and yet what happened in the woods of Plassey that day ushered in a whole new epoch in world history.

The historic victory of the kisan struggle in forcing the government to roll back the anti-farmer, pro-corporate three farm laws underlines the importance of the politics of mass struggle. The strength of the farmers' united movements under the leadership of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha put the government on the defensive with the struggle organically transforming into a mass struggle against the BJP and its governments at the centre and states. This transformation

This is a question that demands attention from planners, architects, and governance structures alike. The pandemic has exposed the hollowness of an already corroding system, and it merely became the proverbial “final nail in the coffin”. The disruption it has caused cannot be rectified by the usual lackadaisical approach, which cannot make our cities sustainable. The UN-Habitat has pointed out that, in the initial three months of the pandemic 95 per cent of the cases were reported in cities and

These two years since the Modi II government was re-elected saw the consolidation of the process, with renewed vigour, put in motion seven years ago, post-2014 elections, of the realisation of the RSS project of converting India into their conception of a rabidly intolerant, theocratic, fascistic “Hindu Rashtra”. This was its declared objective on its founding in 1925. Savarkar’s coinage of “Hindutva” as a political project having nothing in common with Hindu religion that followed soon and the ideological construct along with an organisational structure to achieve this project advanced by Golwalakar

It was a culmination and a catharsis of all the emotions that had welled up in the hearts and the minds of the people of India during the last seven years of this oppressive regime. May 26, 2021 will always be marked in history for the massive participation of millions of people across the country in the Black Flag Day to denounce the cruel and heartless attitude of the Narendra Modi-led BJP-RSS government towards the ongoing historic struggle of farmers under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha