In a sign of changing times, a transgender person, Nazrul Islam Ritu, has been elected as the chairperson of the Union Parishad - a rural council - of Trilochanpur Union of Kaliganj in Jhenaidha district of Bangladesh
The Political Biography of a Former Chief Minister: A Life That Mirrors Mizoram
The enduring lesson of Mizoram is not that the state won and the insurgents lost. It is that both sides eventually found a political space in which neither needed to win everything. That is the essence of accommodation and perhaps the most enduring lesson Lal Thanhawla’s life offers India.
The Empty Chair at Islamabad: When Taliban Saw Women's Rights Subordinated by Islamic Law
The Taliban, therefore, is not challenging whether Islam should shape women’s rights. Both the OIC and the Taliban begin from that premise. The disagreement is over what Islamic rights mean and, more importantly, who has the authority to define them.
Who Defines Where Home is? Confronting Partition Trauma and its Aftermath Eight Decades Later
As of January this year, at least 296 Bangladeshis have died in border areas over the past decade, as India’s Border Security Forces (BSF) pushes “illegal Bangladeshis” across the border in the dead of night.
'The Election Commission Expose': A Seminal Moment for Indian Journalism
It is true that only a handful of newspapers have the resources and persistence to pursue big stories of the kind that came alive in the EC exposé. Nevertheless, to the extent that it inspires others to pursue even smaller news stories with steadfastness this could potentially redeem the otherwise sordid state of affairs in the Indian media.
More on Soft Power, Culture, Society and Gender
Australia India Film Council to build on 'dosti' between the two countries
An Australia India Film Council has been formed to forge greater cultural, economic and creative collaboration between the two countries that are deepening and diversifying their "strategic partnership" across all areas
Women take on rightwing bullies at Christian prayer hall in India
Rightwing activists from the Hindu ultranationalist Bajrang Dal allegedly barged into a Christian prayer hall in Belur city in Karnataka in south India on Sunday, accused the group of conversion and pushed around the faithful before the women in the congregation forced them to leave
Sikhs protest over Pakistani fashion model posing bareheaded in front of Kartarpur Gurdwara: Pakistani minister seeks apology from designer, model
Angry protests by Sikhs and others in India over a fashion model posing bareheaded and with her back to the revered Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan forced the Pakistani fashion brand Mannat to apologise for posting the pictures, while Pakistan Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry demanded that the model tender an apology for the disrespect
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai now graduates from Oxford University
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who survived an attack in 2012 from a Taliban gunman in her native Pakistan while returning home from school, has graduated from Oxford University with a philosophy, politics and economics degree
'Afghan girl', the face of Afghanistan's conflict and suffering, gets refuge in Italy
Sharbat Gula, the famous green-eyed “Afghan Girl” whose iconic photo in 1985 by a National Geographic photographer became the face of the Afghan conflict, has been given asylum by Italy, Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office said
A cricket lover's dream: Dubai offers to host India-Pakistan bilateral series
A bilateral cricket series between India and Pakistan is a cricket lover's dream but, with the current political and diplomatic tensions between the two countries, that seems a distant proposition
Monkeys as unsung Covid heroes: India's Covaxin was successfully tested on 20 monkeys first
India became the fifth country to isolate a strain of the coronavirus as the country recorded several milestones in its fight against the diseases - tracing the contacts of the first case diagnosed in India in January 2020
Pakistani cricket team felt they were 'playing in Pakistan', not Bangladesh
The Pakistan cricket team has received so much crowd support during their Bangladesh tour that after playing in Dhaka and getting enthusiastic support from Bangladeshi supporters, the Pakistani cricketers said that it seems that they are playing in Pakistan and not in Dhaka
Ray’s movies opened a whole new world for me: Hollywood titan Martin Scorsese
Hollywood director-filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who was honored with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award at 52nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, said films of Satyajit Ray opened a whole new world for him, UNI news agency reported
Taliban's moral diktat: No female artists on Afghan TV shows; female anchors must wear hijabs
The Taliban has ordered television channels in Afghanistan not to air soap operas featuring women and said the female journalists will have to wear hijabs as per the group's interpretation of Islamic law, UNI news agency said quoting despatches
Bangabandhu-Bapu digital exhibition opens in Bangladesh city
The 10-day long exhibition of Bangabandhu-Bapu digital exhibition has been opened to the public in Rajshahi
Yoga best way to ensure healthy life, says Nepalese PM while launching Baba Ramdev's Nepal ventures
Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that yoga and meditation are excellent means for a healthy life and claimed that the whole world has embraced yoga
Psychiatrist who treated Taliban fighters killed in northern Afghanistan; doctors raise security concerns
Dr. Alem Naderi, a prominent Afghan psychiatrist and neurologist, has been killed in Afghanistan, as Taliban officials on Friday confirmed finding his body
Sri Lankan parliament to honor music sensation Yohani over her international fame
Sri Lanka's Parliament will felicitate 28-year-old singing sensation Yohani De Silva next week over the global recognition she has achieved for the country
