India Narrative

Wiped-out in the five states during recent polls, the Congress cannot hope for better days in Himachal Pradesh, slated to witness elections by the year's end. Having run -out of leadership in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress is seeing a hope in the legacy politics ahead of the polls. It precisely aims to encash the sympathy factor in favour of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. Six-time Chief Minister, a Congress stalwart indeed, died last year at age of 87. On Tuesday, the Congress appointed his wife Pratibha Singh, a sitting MP as new state party president, apparently unable to find a potential second line leader to lead the congress to the poll, against the well-entrenched BJP or  counter AAP's buzz in the Shimla hills. The congress has also revamped the party organisational structure and appointed four working presidents for 'caste and regional balance'. A former PCC president Sukhwinder Singh, one of Chief Ministerial post aspirants has been made Chairman of the

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Kyiv should take "political responsibility" for the Ukrainian servicemen and "militants of the nationalist battalions" blocked on the territory of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, the strategic  port city in southeastern Ukraine. Discussing the situation in detail, and especially in and around the key port on the Sea of Azov, Putin told Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone conversation today that Mariupol has been liberated and there were no military operations there. "As for the Ukrainian servicemen and militants of the nationalist battalions blocked on the territory of the Azovstal plant, the Kyiv authorities should take political responsibility and, guided by humane considerations, order them to lay down their arms. Prisoners of war are guaranteed life, medical care and treatment in accordance with international legal standards," said the Kremlin.   Quoting Denis Pushilin, the head o

“Nobody in India should be credit starved,” says Shruti Aggarwal, co-founder of Stashfin, a neo banking startup, which focuses on small ticket size loans between Rs 1,000 and Rs 10 lakh essentially helping the un-banked or the underbanked take care of sudden unforeseen needs. With a total funding of $75 million, Stashfin is now making headlines. Launched in 2016, it has raised funds from a host of investors across the globe including China based Tencent, Hong Kong headquartered Integrated Capital, Singapore based Saison Capital and Snow Leopard Technology Ventures among others. The US based Uncorrelated Ventures and Altara Ventures from Singapore have also invested in the company. Notwithstanding the Covid 19 pandemic and the slowdown in the economy, the Indian startup ecosystem last year raised $24.1 billion worth of equity investment. Stashfin, in a span of just six years, has now spread into 68 cities with a a customer base of 2.5 lakh customers. “What we offer is more a credit line

Afghanistan’s rulers, the Taliban, have designed a new formula , which apparently conforms to their puritan religious norms, of educating boys and girls. Girls will go to university on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday while boys will attend classes on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. In a bizarre decree  the Taliban Ministry of Higher Education has announced the allocation of specific days in a week for male and female students to attend universities separately, similar to an odd and even formula. According to the new timetable for the universities, three days of the week are allocated for all-female students during which no boy will be attending classes while the remaining three days will be given to boys with no female  presence. Based on this decision, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday are allocated for girls and Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday for boys. And this pilot project will be implemented first at Kabul University and Kabul Polytechnic University, reported Khama press. “With the new a

The World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded an alert about a mysterious liver disease outbreak affecting children in Europe and the United States as it said at least one death has been reported due to the ailment. The WHO said that it has so far received reports of at least 169 cases of “acute hepatitis of unknown origin” from a dozen countries. The cases were reported in children ranging from one month to 16 years of age, and 17 of those who fell ill required liver transplants. The UN health agency did not mention in which country the death occurred. The first cases were recorded in the UK, where 114 children were infected. “It is not yet clear if there has been an increase in hepatitis cases, or an increase in awareness of hepatitis cases that occur at the expected rate but go undetected,” WHO said in a statement. Experts say the cases may be linked to a virus commonly associated with colds, but further research is still going on. “While adenovirus is a possible hypothesis, inve

  With his frequent visits to Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created a record of sorts. If his scheduled visit of 24 April 2022 materialises, he will become India’s first PM after 1980 to have visited J&K as many as 21 times. Modi is known to have toured Kashmir in the thick of militancy in 1990-94. According to the local BJP leaders, he visited all the valley’s six districts in 1993 when most of the mainstream politicians had resigned under the fear and diktat of gun. Former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah had escaped to London. Several of his ex-Ministers and MLAs had been killed by terrorists and others—with exceptions like Aga Syed Mehmood, Mohammad Shafi Bhat and Mohammad Sayeed Akhoon—had migrated and settled in Jammu. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who worked as the union Home minister for 11 months in 1989-90, used to live in Delhi. Ghulam Nabi Azad, another former Union Minister from J&K, had reduced his visibility after his brother-in-law was kidnapped and

When Imran Khan had to unceremoniously give up the office of Prime Minister, he left behind a troubled legacy. Pakistan’s economy was in shambles and the relations with several key foreign powers in free fall. However, in one area where he tasted some success was in forming an “Islamic alliance” with pal Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Mahathir Mohammed of Malaysia, and in crying himself hoarse about 'Islamophobia’, instigating an almost riot like situation near the French Embassy after caricatures of prophet Mohammed were published in France.  He feverishly tried to internationalise the Kashmir issue, taking it after decades to the UN Security Council where nothing came of it. And he managed to get the UN to adopt a resolution to mark an international day for combating Islamophobia. Under Imran Khan's watch the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) strengthened its position in Pakistan, while Khan himself became an unofficial spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban on the internatio

In December 2021, a vessel MV Seago Piraeus, was repatriated from Port Mombasa, Kenya for emitting radiation from a container (TCKU3337296), booked by M/s Prama Exports. Upon reaching the Indian port JNPT on December 25, 2021, the cargo was duly inspected by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) officials, who concluded presence of “Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material” (NORM)-Thorium-232 with marginally higher radiation levels. The radiation background of the container at 1 mtr distance was found to be 0.02 to 0.04 µSv/h and at container 1 mtr – 3 mtr height from base (two locations at opposite outside walls of the container: 32 µSv/h and 8 µSv/h). BARC officials determined that the amount of material would be in larger content, resulting in a marginally higher radiation field. According to BARC officials, NORM is non-hazardous and is not dangerous to a person coming in close proximity to it and allowed in small quantities under exemption certificate which is issued by the Atomic E

Whenever an animal is seen licking its wounds most people react by saying that it is something natural for them to do so and that it helps heal the injury. All sorts of creatures, including dogs, mice, ants and cats do it. Why do they do it and does it truly help questions a report in livescience.com? Creatures indulge in this action since licking brings a sense of self-soothing and the spit has attributes that assuage. Dr. Benjamin Hart, who is a retired veterinarian and University of California, Davis professor emeritus stated that licking is an instinctual response which has come across through evolution and it gives relief from pain and irritation, while also accelerating the healing process. Yet in the case of pets including dogs this can be ineffectual as modern medical science enables better treatment of wounds. University of Minnesota’s animal behaviour expert and vet, Dr. Kristi Flynn observed that for animals "without thumbs or medication”, licking is "the best they

President Ram Nath Kovind's recent highly engaged visit to Turkmenistan may hopefully infuse new life into bilateral relations. The country, which follows a “neutral” isolationist policy is, however, much like the rest of the Central Asian countries linked to India through shared historical and cultural ties that date back to antiquity. While much of the attention has been focused on the Turkmenistan Afghanistan Pakistan India (TAPI) gas pipeline and connectivity projects, Turkmenistan, with its rich history and an abundance of exotic sites dotting its landscape, is a tourist's delight. Unfortunately, there are few, if any, tourist links between our two countries. Yet, Indians would find it interesting to know that the country has an amazing Buddhist heritage. Turkmenistan has traditionally been considered to be at the "cross-roads of history". It has been an important stop on the ancient Silk Route, and a melting pot of different cultures even before that.  It was in

Russia was expelled from the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) at a Special Session of the UN General Assembly on April 7, 2022. Like on earlier ten occasions during discussions in the United Nations on the Russian aggression against Ukraine, India abstained in this vote also. In the Explanation of the Vote delivered after casting his vote, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN asserted that if it has “chosen” any side, it is the side of “peace and it is for an immediate end to violence. Since the inception of the Ukrainian conflict, India has stood for peace, dialogue and diplomacy. We believe that no solution can be arrived at by shedding blood and at the cost of innocent lives.’’ He said that India’s action was dictated by ‘’reasons of both substance and process.” India has adopted a balanced approach in all discussions at the UN on this issue. This has been predicated by the necessity to uphold and promote its core security and developmental interests as well as t

Dispelling the western media narrative, faithfully echoed by a section of the Indian national media that Kashmir as a deserted ghost territory after withdrawal of its semi-autonomous status in August 2019, as many as 15 million tourists and pilgrims visited Jammu and Kashmir, notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic, in the last 15 months. According to the most authentic official statistics, a total of 1,51,66,887 tourists have visited Jammu and Kashmir in 15 months from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2022, notwithstanding the Covid-19 pandemic. It breaks all the records of the corresponding period in the last about 10 years. “The pandemic and terrorism are a reality, now both diminishing, but parallel to it runs the inflow of over million tourists—at an average of 0ne million each month”, said a senior bureaucratic source. As usual, the Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims account for more than 90 percent of the visitors who have visited the Union Territory during the last 15 months. Even if all th

In multiple messages both to his corps commanders, especially the upstart former ISI chief Lt. Gen. Faiz Hamid, and the raucous hordes of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, Pak army Chief, Qamar Javed Bajwa has declared that he is boss, and the simmering rebellion against him must end. Amid the speculations of differences between the former ISI chief Lt General Faiz Hameed and the Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the military establishment has declared  that there is a planned propaganda campaign to create division between military, society and the various institution but the “Pakistan army has always stood by the state institutions to guard them.” This was the first time when Gen. Bajwa came out openly since the ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. “Pakistan Army is aware of its responsibilities and shall continue to defend territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan against all internal and external threats under all circumstances,” the  Baj

There are natural catastrophes which are remembered for hundreds of years and impact several generations. One such remarkable event is the earthquake triggered by a gigantic tsunami that hit northern Chile 3,800 years ago that devastated the population on the coasts. So deep was its effect, says an article in sciencealert.com that following the quake, people returned to the shore only after 1,000 years! This mega quake would have a magnitude of 9.5 and so potent it was that boulders were hurled in New Zealand’s inland even though it was thousands of miles away. The occurrence of this event is proved by the uplifted land structures or what is called littoral deposits and discovery of marine rocks, shells and sea life in Chile’s higher regions of Atacama Desert. Sharing details on this, James Goff who is a geologist and tsunami expert from Australia’s University of New South Wales said: "We found evidence of marine sediments and a lot of beasties that would have been living quietly

How will Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his team fix the rapidly dwindling economic situation in the country? Most importantly, Sharif will have to carefully choose the next finance minister. Pakistan, under PTI leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, saw four finance ministers in just a span of three years.   Last year Khan appointed Shaukat Tarin as his finance minister. Tarin was the fourth finance minister appointed within three years. While the road ahead will be tough for the next finance minister, renewing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the earliest and wooing back the Gulf countries will be on the agenda as the Sharif government’s immediate focus will be on the revival of the economy. The 70-year-old, brother of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Sharif, took charge on Monday after PTI leader Imran Khan lost the no confidence motion on Sunday. Read more

India has said that it has a "decent sense" of what is in its interest and knows well how to "protect and advance it" while emphasising that ensuring their energy and food security remains a legitimate concern of countries as a global fallout of the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia. New Delhi's stand on the situation in Ukraine was once again conveyed to Washington on Monday by Prime Narendra Modi during his virtual meeting with the US President Joe Biden and the face-to-face India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue held between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and their US counterparts, Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. As the US continues to press its allies and partners not to increase their purchases of Russian energy, India highlighted that there are bigger concerns of rising prices, increasing premiums and limited supplies besides energy and food security which demand an urgen

In a shocking and most bizarre incident in capital Dhaka a few days ago, a Hindu woman wearing a red dot (teep or bindi) on her forehead was belligerently questioned by a low-level police man insinuating that it was not on when Ramzan was in progress. The diehard communal cop then tried to run over the woman teacher under his motorbike to vent his ire. Kudos to the courage of the victim for she counter questioned the policemen and boldly filed a FIR. She also went to the media to highlight her affront. It worked to stir public opinion, shaking up the dormant activists from their inertia and slumber. The policeman’s conduct is most condemnable as it shows a good section of law enforcing agencies are not only bent upon imposing moral policing with their own personal agendas but are also fiercely radicalized through tenets of their religion to exhibit a shameful intolerance towards a minority faith. This incident has evoked wide criticism in Bangladesh and as a mark of solidarity and reso

Ousted as Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan is back on the street trying to mobilise mob support while playing the victim card. After his loss, Khan has been telling his supporters to come out on the streets alleging the opposition colluded with the United States to unseat him.  Khan’s strategy is to keep the momentum of street protests to pressure parliament to hold early elections. Contrary to earlier reports, Imran Khan has also decided to field his former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi against the united opposition’s candidate Shehbaz Sharif for the post of Prime Minister. The Pakistan National assembly will convene at 2pm today to elect the new leader of the House. Earlier on Sunday while filing his nomination, former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi raised objections against Shehbaz Sharif’s nomination saying that he was not eligible as was involved in several corruption cases and was out on bail. “Shehbaz would be the first prime minister in the world who is on ba

Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi on Thursday about a key property of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd (JKB) purchased allegedly in violation of rules and for an exorbitant price in 2010. While the principal investigation lies with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), ED’s questioning of Omar is an indication of some bank accounts and properties of the alleged beneficiaries being attached.  According to a preliminary enquiry (PE) conducted by J&K Government’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the 10-floor building at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) was purchased when Omar was J&K’s Chief Minister. The investigation reveals that the deal was struck with the property owner Akruti Gold BKC and token money of Rs 25 crore paid to the developer Vishal Techno Commerce Ltd when Haseeb Drabu was the Bank’s chairman. Subsequently a conveyance deed was registered on 18 September 2010 against a total s

Much action is happening in Sri Lanka but no solutions have been offered by either its leadership or by the opposition parties. Meanwhile, people continue to protest on the streets with a single demand that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa should go. The embattled President  has decided not to resign because his party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), still enjoys a simple majority. He offered an olive branch to the opposition but that has been rejected. Understandably, the opposition has refused to join the unity government as urged by Rajapaksa because it does not want to inherit a mess for which there is no solution in sight. Despite parliamentary debates, the leaders have failed to find a solution to the humanitarian crisis engulfing the country. So, what is happening? Dhananjaya Tripathi, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, South Asian University, told  India Narrative  that the Rajapaksa government is desperately seeking international help—and that is w

It is not just mammals and birds who can do simple addition and subtraction as studies have shown that bees and salamanders are capable of that. Now fresh research has added fishes – cichlids and stingrays – to that growing list as per a report in sciencealert.com. Both the zebra mbuna cichlids or Pseudotropheus zebra and freshwater stingrays or Potamotrygon motoro have exhibited this capability which goes beyond symbol memorisation. Sharing the essence of their study in a paper, Vera Schluessel and colleagues wrote: “Individuals did not just learn to pick the highest or lowest number presented based on the respective colour; instead, learning was specific to adding or subtracting 'one'.” Schluessel is a zoologist at Bonn University. Scientists showed the fish two gates which had cards with different number of shapes. On being shown a card that three blue squares, the correct door would have to be one with four blue squares, meaning that they have to add one and for this they w

Patience is running thin in Pakistan after its Supreme Court yet again failed to deliver the much awaited verdict on Wednesday on whether the deputy speaker of the national assembly exceeded his brief in daillowing a no-confidence vote  against Prime Minister Imran Khan to take place. Since Sunday, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) has been saying to the people of the country that the larger bench wants to wrap up the case on the ruling by National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri to impede the vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan, But breaking its own promise, the court has been announcing adjournments each day.  The court will now reconvene on Thursday morning.  Though the CJP acknowledged that negative statements are being made against the court and it is being said that the court is delaying the matter, he pointed out that the apex court wanted to know more about the alleged conspiracy against Imran Khan by foreign powers before giving its decision. Read more

India said on Wednesday that its approach to the Ukraine crisis remains to promote dialogue to end the conflict; mitigate economic distress for itself and for the world; and to work with its partners to these ends. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, while replying to a discussion on the situation in Ukraine in Parliament, admitted that the conflict has had significant consequences for the global economy and for India's national economy. At the same time, he revealed that after delivering vaccines to countries all over the world, India has been approached by many nations for the supply of wheat and sugar by many nations during the ongoing crisis. "We will step forward where global demands for food, grains and other materials are concerned and we will do it in a manner that is helpful to the global economy; which will not take undue advantage of countries in distress," the minister said.  The EAM said that, like all other countries, India too is assessing the implicati

After more than a month of the Russian invasion into Ukraine, the war is moving into an uncertain direction with no respite to the former’s onslaught on the latter causing unimaginable death, destruction and dislocation of innocent people. About 3.8 million people have already left for neighbouring European countries with Poland bearing the largest burden of hosting them. As the Russians make further advances into more Ukrainian cities, including in the western part of the country which remained unaffected till some time back, more people are likely to move out putting enormous pressure on bordering countries. While the Ukrainians are putting up a heroic resistance to the Russian attack, the military balance in terms of tanks, rockets, missiles and airpower are so much tilted in favour of the Russians that it is a question of time when Kyiv, Mariupol and Kharkiv will also fall to the Russians. Russians and Ukrainian negotiators are conducting their sixth round of talks in Istanbul in T

Kashmir’s top business leaders on Tuesday met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his scheduled visit to Jammu and Kashmir on April 24. This is for the first time during the BJP’s second term that the valley-based business leaders have had an extensive interaction with the Prime Minister who is planning his first  visit to Jammu and Kashmir after withdrawal of the erstwhile State’s special status in August 2019. After August 2019, when J&K was reorganised into the Union Territory, PM Modi visited Jammu’s Rajouri district, only to celebrate Diwali with jawans and officers of the Indian Army on 27 October 2019 and 4 November 2021. Now on 24 April, he is scheduled to address public meetings, hold meetings with the Lieutenant Governor’s bureaucracy and administration, apart from Police and security forces. The Prime Minister’s visit is expected to give a boost to the UT’s Industrial Development Policy. According to highly placed bureaucratic sources, a number of foundation stone

Sometimes an out of the box theory looks like a plausible explanation for something which seems bizarre. Take for example the small arms of the mighty and ferocious Tyrannosaurus rex which couldn’t be clarified despite many suggesting that they were used as slashing machines or helped in grasping the partner during mating, as per a report in sciencealert.com. Though it is really difficult to figure answers by looking at bones which are 66 million years old, a new study has come with a fresh hypothesis, which states that the short arms helped in bringing down the chances of accidental bites by other T. rex when these creatures indulged in eating frenzies. The smaller the size, the lesser were chances of it being bitten off! Elaborating on this new study, its author Kevin Padian, said: "What if several adult tyrannosaurs converged on a carcass? You have a bunch of massive skulls, with incredibly powerful jaws and teeth, ripping and chomping down flesh and bone right next to you. Wha

The United States is working closely with its Allies to provide longer-range anti-aircraft, artillery and coastal defence systems as part of its military assistance to Ukraine which it says is having a "critical impact" in the ongoing conflict with Russia.     Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor, said on Monday that the Ukrainians are "effectively defending themselves" with US-produced air defence systems and anti-tank systems, such as Stingers and Javelins, as well as radar systems that give early warning and target data, and multiple other types of arms and munitions. "The administration is working around the clock to fulfill Ukraine's main security assistance requests — delivering weapons from US stocks where they are available and facilitating the delivery of weapons by Allies where Allied systems better suit Ukraine's needs. This is happening at what the Pentagon has described at an unprecedented pace," said Sullivan at a briefing

Once again, unidentified terrorists, widely believed to be the separatist guerrillas, have greeted the onset of the holy month of Ramzan with bloodshed in the Kashmir valley. In the four separate terror strikes, one head constable of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been killed while one CRPF jawan, four non-local workers and a resident Kashmiri Pandit have been injured in the first two days of the holy month of fasting. According to authoritative sources, two suspected terrorists appeared at the pharmacy of one Bal Krishen aka Sonu at his residential village of Chotigam, near Harmain, in the South Kashmir district of Shopian at 7:30 pm on Monday. One of them, armed with a pistol, fired upon Sonu at point blank range. With three gunshot wounds on his body, he was quickly evacuated and rushed to District Hospital Shopian. On examination, doctors referred him to Army’s 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar. He was stable and responding to the treatment late on Monday night. Most of the

The Baloch National Movement is a revolutionary political party of commoners, who have gained prominence in the Balochistan political landscape in less than two decades. The Party’s current Chairman Khalil Baloch is taking the movement for Balochistan freedom struggle forward based on socialist, nationalist principles which are based on the ideals of their founder Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, who believed mass political movement is the key to Balochistan’s Freedom.  India Narrative speaks to Chairman Khalil in an online interview with Mark Kinra. Chairman Khalil speaks about his journey into the field of politics, non-parliamentary politics, Pakistan Army’s atrocities, their expectation from India and much more. Excerpts from the interview: Q: A lot of people know about the BNM but very few have an idea about your life and background, would you please share something about your personal and political journey with us? KB : I believe living in an oppressed society makes you politically mature

A close look at monkeys from whom humankind has evolved suggests that the love of people for alcohol stems from the liking these primates have for fruits which are ripe, states sciencealert.com report. Scientists discovered during their study of Panama’s black-handed spider monkeys or Ateles geoffroyi that they eat on a regular basis palm fruits that have ethanol in little amounts. Further, the samples of urine from two monkeys showed metabolites that were ethanol specific, thus proving that it was being absorbed and used by the body. Talking about this, Christina Campbell from California State University, Northridge, who is a primatologist said: "For the first time, we have been able to show, without a shadow of a doubt, that wild primates, with no human interference, consume fruit containing ethanol. This is just one study, and more need to be done, but it looks like there may be some truth to that 'drunken monkey' hypothesis." Proposed for the first time in 2000 by

Calling it as "another production by the Kiev regime for the Western media'', Russia has slammed accusations of allegedly killing civilians in Bucha, a town about 26 kms northwest of the Ukrainian capital. Russian troops have been accused of committing atrocities as photos and videos from Bucha depicting killing of civilians in Ukraine have gone viral on social media. While the United Kingdom said that increasing evidence of appalling acts by the invading forces in towns such as Irpin and Bucha is emerging as the Russian troops are forced into retreat, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Sunday called for an independent investigation, saying he is "deeply shocked" by the images of civilians killed in Bucha. "You can't help but see these images as a punch to the gut. And look, we've said before Russia's aggression that we thought it was likely that they would commit atrocities," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Washingto