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. 

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Pakistani actor Mahira Khan joins Commonwealth campaign against domestic, sexual violence

Renowned Pakistani actor and National Goodwill Ambassador for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mahira Khan, has joined a Commonwealth campaign against domestic abuse and sexual assault

Two more Indian beaches get coveted international Blue Flag certification, total now 10

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Unifying power of music: Sri Lankan hit song captures Indian hearts, Bollywood bewitched

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Renowned Indian astrophysicist and science populariser Thanu Padmanabhan dead

Eminent Indian theoretical physicist and cosmologist Thanu Padmanabhan died in Pune, aged 64, on Friday after a massive heart attack, The Hindu reported

New Zealand abandons Pakistan tour; big blow to Pakistan and PM Imran Khan

In what is seen as a big blow to Pakistan's bid to show the world that it was capable of providing a safe and secure environment for international sports, New Zealand’s first cricket tour to the country in 18 years was abandoned Friday following a “government security alert”

Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia, to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary

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Afghanistan’s girl footballers escape to Pakistan

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Pakistan has much to prove as New Zealand cricket team begin tour

In what is seen as a litmus test of Pakistan's ability to provide a safe and secure environment for international sports, a New Zealand cricket team has arrived in Islamabad after a 18-year hiatus and will play One-Day International and Twenty20 games amidst a promise of “extraordinary” security

Taliban allows women in universities with gender segregation; mixed response to announcement

In what comes as a big relief to Afghan girls and women, the Taliban announced that women will be allowed to study in universities in the country but with gender-segregated classrooms

Former captain Ramiz Raza becomes head of Pakistan Cricket Board

Ramiz Raja, former captain of the Pakistan Cricket team, was on Monday elected “unanimously and unopposed” the new chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the PCB said in a statement

Indian success story: Para-athletes got a level playing field with able-bodied athletes with government, private support

A level playing field for para and able-bodied athletes, encouraging support from the government, timely hand-holding by private players, mushrooming of exclusive arenas and incentives contributed to the impressive showing by in Tokyo Paralympics for the disabled where it had its best-ever showing of 19 medals, including five golds, The Indian Express said in a despatch

India registers Its best showing at Paralympics with a 19-medal haul In Tokyo

India registered its best showing to date at the Paralympic Games for athletes with disabilities, finishing with five gold, eight silver and six bronze medals in Tokyo

Bollywood veteran Naseeruddin Shah condemns Indian Muslims celebrating Taliban's return; says Hindustani Islam is different

Veteran Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah has condemned what he says are "sections of Indian Muslims celebrating the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan", calling it dangerous

Bangladeshi woman scientist Firdausi Qadri receives Ramon Magsaysay Award

Bangladeshi scientist Dr. Firdausi Qadri on Tuesday received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for her contributions to science as a recognition of her role in discovering vaccines that have saved millions of lives

India's Ladakh gets world's highest-altitude movie theatre

India's Ladakh - the stunningly scenic Buddhist-dominated Himalayan region - got its first mobile digital movie theatre at an altitude of 11,562 feet, making it the highest cinema theatre in the world, according to news agency ANI