236 items in this section. Displaying page 20 of 24
The Lake and the Birds
Where: Himachal Pradesh, India March 8, 2001: The picturesque Pong Dam lake region in the mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh, is losing its lustre. A great deal of its charm has lain in the fact that it is north India’s largest refuge for migrating birds escaping harsh winters abroad. But not for long, if recent trends are any indication. A low water level in the lake this year has forced the migratory birds to fly away one month in advance, says a report in The Indian Express....
More Disturbing Attacks on Indians in Australia
Where: Canberra, Australia February 3, 2010 : A large number of Indians living in Australia have become the targets of violence in the past months*. Most of the victims are students, who have been beaten, robbed, and in some cases, murdered. The most recent case was that of Nitin Garg, who was stabbed to death on January 2, 2010. In 2007-2008, there were almost 1500 cases of crimes against Indians in the state of Victoria alone....
Spate of Attacks on Indian Students in Australia
Where: Melbourne, Australia May 31, 2009 : A number of Indian students were attacked in a series of violent incidents in Melbourne over the last few days. One of the most shocking incidents was the one in which 25-year-old Shravan Kumar was stabbed by a group of teenagers who forced their way into his house. Kumar, who almost died on the way to hospital, had to be put on life support systems. Days later he was reported to be out of danger, but doctors expressed doubts that he would ever recover fully....
India's Software Giant Satyam Computer Services in Country's Biggest Corporate Scandal
Where: Hyderabad, India January 09, 2009 : Satyam, India’s fourth-largest software company, is at the centre of the country’s biggest corporate scandal. The group’s Chairman, Ramalinga Raju revealed on 7 January, 2009, that around US $1.04 billion (Rs. 5000 crore or 94% of the company’s cash assets, was non-existent, and that figures and account books had been ‘cooked’, or modified, to show profits. Raju resigned from the Board of Directors, and his location is at present unknown....
When Everyone Counts
March 28: Have you been counted yet? But you must have been! There’s one head count that cannot afford to leave anyone out. It is the Census 2001. Census is a small Latin word meaning register. But to the people responsible for conducting it, it implies a marathon task. Census means counting each and every person in the country and gathering data related to them. In India, the first Census was conducted in 1872. Thereafter, it has been held every 10 years....
Truant Teachers
July 31: Think of a school or college where classes are not held everyday. Sounds like a dream school or college? But, a dream college like this is also a place where students don’t really learn much. The reason is very simple. Their teachers don’t have the time to teach them. The Delhi University is such a place. Where teachers make a habit of not attending classes. Naturally, their students also do the same. Truant Teachers [Illustration by Shiju George] But, it’s not only the teachers and their students who shirk work....
Killing them Surely
Where: Surat, Gujarat, India November 4, 2000: When a member of the Parsi community dies, according to their religion, the body is not buried or consigned to flames. It is placed in the “Tower of Silence” for the scavenger birds or vultures to feed on them so that even in death the body is of use. In Surat, Gujarat, till a few years ago, the body would be eaten up in no time in the Tower of Silence or the Dhokma as it is locally called....
Plane Crash in New York Kills Fifty
Where: New York, USA February 12, 2009 : A commercial air plane crashed into a house in Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground. The plane burst into flames on impact. The Continental Airlines plane was on its way from Newark, New Jersey before crashing some distance away from the airport. Two people in the house were injured. The house itself was completely destroyed, and the authorities evacuated people from the neighbourhood, so that investigations could be carried out....
The Famous Five
Meet the “Famous Five” — Arjun Bansal, Vijay Kumar, Shruti Chandrsekhar, Arvind Thiagarajan and Sundeep Venkataraman. These five teenagers have just got jobs in the Research & Development wing of the India branch of Lucent Technologies — the famous American company. The teenagers were handed offers of employment in the company recently. They can join the company as soon as they complete their graduation. The Famous Five [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] But first, they had to score the highest marks in a test done to discover the “best and brightest minds” in the cities of Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad....
The Common Man's Film-maker
September 23: From the rollicking ‘Chupke Chupke’ and ‘Golmaal’ to the shades of jealousy in ‘Abhimaan’, from the quiet seriousness of ‘Anupama’ to the tragic ‘Anand’, veteran film maker Hrishikesh Mukherjee has covered an entire range of emotions and relationships in his films. In a career spanning more than four decades, he became known as the man who touched a chord in the common man – the middle class in particular. And the ordinary film viewer responded to his quiet flowering in the only way he or she knew – by seeing Hrishi_da_‘s films again and again....