Main Vaapas Aunga

When Poison Enters the System: Impunity, Vigilantism and South Asia’s Internal Security Failure

Across South Asia, the difference between prejudice and collapse is not the existence of hate. Every society has it in varying shades.  The difference is whether the majoritarian state internalizes hate against the ‘other’,  whether FIRs get diluted, trials get delayed, mobs get garlanded  and impunity driven violence against minorities becomes low-cost. When that happens, the poison is not outside the system. It becomes the system.

In the Quiet Spaces Between Strangers, Sonia Bahl’s Eighteen Inches Apart

And perhaps this is precisely what many readers, particularly South Asian readers navigating fractured contemporary lives, have been missing without fully realising it: fiction willing to slow down long enough to notice the fragile, passing intimacies through which people continue surviving one another.

Robert A.F. Thurman, an academic with a Buddhist monk’s soul

Thurman said that Tibet was not an individual nation-state question but something that goes far beyond that. “It is not about a people yearning for freedom from an invading state. It is about a very valuable society struggling to keep its centuries-old tradition of intellectual evolution alive.” He said that while he was hopeful that the problem would be resolved soon, “and during His Holiness’ lifetime,” it was hard to put a timeframe to it.

A White Strip Exposes New Political Faultlines in Cosmopolitan Mumbai

The perceived push from a political leadership that has roots in Gujarat, the split in the locally rooted Shiv Sena that was engineered, the resentment it brewed among ordinary citizens and the history of Maharashtra -- which was born on May 1, 1960 after a bitter struggle that split the erstwhile Bombay State into two distinct linguistic states of Maharashtra and Gujarat -- are all complex and contributory factors to the evolving political unrest in middle-class Mumbai. 

More on Culture and Society

Courageous Afghan girls defy Taliban’s ban to study in secret schools

One of these secret schools is operated by a 21-year-old girl Nazanin from a house on the outskirts of Kabul. Her students, around ten in number, are almost of the same age as her.

For Pakistanis, residential housing is the safest investment option, find survey

Only 3 per cent of those aged 15 years and above in Pakistan report being able to rely on savings for emergency funds, while 49 per cent report it is not possible to come up with emergency funds, according to Findex, a global financial consultancy firm

Carpooling app comes up in Sri Lanka as fuel scarcity grows

Available both in Sinhala and Tamil, the app will allow people to publish their rides by selecting pick-up and drop locations

First in Indian military history: father-daughter fly fighter jet trainers in same formation

“The biggest, proudest moment in my life, was when flew in the Hawk formation at Bidar on May 30,” Air Commodore Sharma said, adding, “Ananya always used to say, ‘Papa, I want to be a fighter pilot like you.’”

Pakistan deploying shooters at Lahore airport to shoo away birds

In the first six months of this year, around three dozen incidents —eleven at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal Airport—of birds colliding with aircraft and risking their safety were recorded, an official told Express Tribune

Female health workers sans male guardians fired by Taliban in Afghanistan

Since coming to power in August last year, the Taliban regime has announced several measures—including barring women’s presence in the public without a male companion, ban on girls' education, and ban on women from driving among others—restricting the rights and freedom of women

Pani Puri, South Asia’s popular snack, banned in Nepal’s capital

For those fond of street food in the valley, the blanket ban on the sale of pani puri on the streets hasn’t gone down well, with many people taking to social media to question the move.

India’s first Mango Heritage Village comes up in Kerala

The journey to conserve these local fruit variants began almost six years ago with Shyju Mechathi, a civil police officer by profession, who along with his neighbours started documenting and marking every tree in each house with signboards based on their variants.

Cross-border literary exchange: When Indian and Pakistani teen authors met online

Pahal Wasu, 15, from Noida near New Delhi, who now lives in Sydney, and Aminah Alavi, 17, of Karachi turned teen authors after attending schools with good libraries, backed by families which enouraged them to read

Pakistani journalist who visited Israel fired by state broadcaster

The controversy grew this week soon after the opposition party PTI led by ousted prime minister Imran Khan accused the government of trying to attempt to normalize ties with Israel, which remains an extremely emotive issue in the Muslim country of 220 million people. 

No exams till 3rd grade; Bangladesh government seeks to reform primary and secondary level education

The Education Ministry after holding the meeting of the National Curriculum Coordination Committee (NCCC) approved the new education policy, officials said. The policy states no exams will be conducted till grade third and the number of books for grade fourth and grade five have also been reduced to reduce the education burden on children.

India Post delivers by drone, opens up future possibilities in a far-flung nation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Friday inaugurated what was described as the country's biggest drone festival, where he said the use of drones will rise in sectors such as agriculture, sports, defence and disaster management.

Bhutan aims to become free of stray dogs by 2030

Last year, authorities launched the Accelerated Dog Population Management and Rabies Control Programme (NADPM and RCP) with the twin aims of achieving 100 percent sterilization of stray dogs, register, and vaccinate all pet dogs, and control feral dogs.

One in four Bangladesh's health workers who treated Covid patients suffered from stress disorder

Even nurses and technologists, often working for abnormally long hours, were affected during the pandemic. The risk and fear of contracting Covid and lack of protecting gears compounded the impact.

African swine fever outbreak in Nepal; over 900 pigs have reportedly died

The virus, however, is “not a danger” to human health, but it could have a devastating impact on the pig population, according to the World Health Organization. The spread, if remains unchecked, could wipe out the entire population of pigs in the affected areas.