Nearly a month after recovering from the coronavirus, actor Zoa Morani says she has donated her blood plasma to do her bit in helping the patients currently suffering from the novel virus. The actor, who was quarantined and kept under medication in April, also urged those who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their plasma. "Donated my blood today for the Plasma therapy trials at Nair hospital. It was fascinating! Always a silver lining I suppose. The team there was so enthusiastic and careful. There was a general physician on standby just incase of emergency and the equipment brand new and safe (sic)," Zoa wrote on Instagram on Saturday. She thanked the doctors for taking care of her and hoped patients benefit from the donation. "All #Covid19 recovered people can be a part of this trial, to help others covid patients recover! I hope this works #IndiaFightsCorona. They even gave me a certificate and Rs 500. Wont lie, I felt super cool today (sic)," she added. Zoa, along with her ..

: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has instructed officials to prepare a comprehensive agriculture policy for the state with an aim to make the agriculture sector profitable. Rao said he would be talking to farmers through clusters, farmers groups such as Rythu Bandhu Samithis and agriculture officers through a video conference very soon, an official release issued late on Saturday night said. Rao, who held a review on the agriculture department, instructed officials concerned to prepare the comprehensive agriculture policy and stressed the need for everything to happen in tune with it. "The government should decide on which crops the farmers should cultivate. Planning should be done in such a way that crops should be cultivated based on the food needs of people in the state and the crops, which are in demand in the markets in other regions," Rao said. Alternative crops should be identified and suggested to farmers and cultivation done on these lines, he said,

A massive dust storm barrelled through the national capital and neighbouring areas on Sunday, a day after the mercury touched the 40.9 degrees Celsius mark in the city -- the season's highest so far. Light rains were also reported from isolated places in Delhi-NCR, weather experts said. Gusty winds and rains led to a significant drop in the mercury. The maximum temperature is expected to settle around 35 degrees Celsius. Delhi residents on social media shared videos of gusty winds with plumes of dust engulfing the streets. Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecasting centre of the IMD, said it was a result of a fresh western disturbance. Winds gusting up to 70 kilometers per hour swept across the national capital accompanied by light rains, he said.

Notwithstanding the ongoing lockdown which has mostly restricted the movement of vehicles to essential commodities only, the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway has become a nightmare for the commuters due to the pathetic condition of the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country. The people living along the strategic highway, especially in the most slide prone Ramban-Banihal sector, are also exasperated over the slow pace of work on the four-laning project being undertaken by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) over the past nine years. "This is not the road but has become a virtual death trap. You can see the drivers of all types of vehicles, both light and heavy, moving out of their lanes to avoid the massive potholes dotting the highway right from Samroli to Qazigund, a distance of almost 120-kms, thus increasing the chances of accidents on the hilly road," Rajinder Singh, a frequent traveller between the twin capitals, told PTI. Singh said ..

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday came to the help of 13 girl students from the Northeast studying in Delhi University, after they were asked to vacate their hostel, and he made it clear that they can continue to stay in their current accommodation "as long they as wish". The minister for Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) intervened after the DU administration asked the students to vacate the North Eastern Students House for Woman by May 31. The provost had asked the students to leave the hostel as soon as possible due to the expiry of mess contract by month-end. While the hostel has a capacity of about 100, currently 13 students are stuck there because of the lockdown. "I have spoken to vice-chancellor of the Delhi University Prof Y C Tyagi regarding the students and resolved the issue. They can continue to stay comfortably in the hostel as long as they wish," Singh said here. The minister said no one should bother students and put them under any kind of ...

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said 75 per cent of COVID-19 cases in the city are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms. The chief minister said the government has also issued an order for requisition of ambulances of private hospitals, adding that the decision has been taken in the wake of shortage of state-run ambulances. "They (private ambulances) will have to be pressed into service when the government requires their service," Kejriwal said while addressing an online media briefing. The government has made arrangements for treatment of those at their homes with mild COVID-19 symptoms in accordance with the Centre's guidelines. "Out of 6,923 COVID-19 patients, only 1,476 are admitted at hospitals, rest getting treatment at their homes and COVID-19 centres," Kejriwal added.

Nomadic communities make up about 7 percent of India's population, but policy makers have largely ignored them, says Bahar Dutt.

A wide-cross section of academicians and civil society organisations have come together to express dissent at the threat of closure of a well known rural school in Bandhyali, Rajasthan. They are demanding that the government honour its own commitments to provide free, good education to all children, reports Deepti Priya Mehrotra.

The new government's higher priority to education is seeing experts and activists revisit the 40-year old Kothari Commission recommendations for a common school system. Summiya Yasmeen reports.

Now that the early days of the UPA government are behind us, we must begin to judge the administration not by its responsiveness to advocacy alone. Even when governments listen, deeper gaps in the policy arena can thwart progress, and the challenge is to overcome these as well. The India Together editorial.

Possibly, but perhaps not alone. There are plenty of obstacles within our unjust and deeply hierarchical civil society outside of the media. Still, an important connection exists between journalism and the strengthening of civil society: citizenship. The India Together editorial.

Volunteers for development find mutual encouragement, as well as learning, during the three-day event in Pittsburgh.

Aarti Madhusudhan looks at volunteers, in this third part of her series on non-profit governance.

Sometimes, caste matters only if one expects it to matter. New research suggests that affirmative policies based on caste identity may themselves be the obstacle to reform, rather than tools for achieving it. Tarun Jain reports on a study in UP that appears to confirm this thesis.

While Mayawati's projects to build parks and statues have drawn derision in the drawing rooms of the stately homes in the country, the people at her rallies are in awe of her. Her work is Dalit power, they feel and will make her immortal. Kulsum Mustafa has more.

Some of the hits of the last few years (post-liberalisation) show a decided nostalgia for a traditional way of life where women are the homemakers, says Shahla Raza.

The Maharashtra government recently approved a proposal where a woman in a live-in relationship for a "reasonable period" of time would get the status of a "wife". Ramesh Menon has more.

New electronic trading exchanges promise to give Indian farmers better options for marketing their crops, eliminating middle-men costs substantially in the process. To gain market-share, the exchanges will have to help farmers become familiar with the system. Gagandeep Kaur reports.

The Suryanelli case involved a 16-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually harassed and assaulted continuously for 40 days by 42 men in 1996. A special court convicted 36 accused during 2000-2, but the High Court of Kerala surprisingly overturned that verdict in January this year. M Suchitra reports.

For seven-year-old Sandhya and her siblings, totally dependant on their mother who ekes out a living by making beedis, the state government's relief package, announced nearly 18 months ago, is simply not enough. Many more suffer the same fate. P N Venugopal reports.

Passed in 2005, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act could have been an effective tool to ensure redress for victims of domestic abuse. But an understaffed implementation body has made it yet another selective and often toothless piece of legislation, finds Puja Awasthi.

A recent Bombay HC ruling on the powers of the NCW, with regard to a case involving sexual harassment at the workplace, could have significant implications for gender justice in the long term. Revathi Siva Kumar looks at the facts of the case and the debate that it has stirred up. 

Can a legal ruling, never mind if it is from the apex court of the country, change the socio-cultural and psychological ramifications of unwed motherhood in India? Shoma A Chatterji probes deeper to find out the social and sociological impact of the ruling on the family.

Collective Action for Rural Development (CAFORD) encourages families in Andhra's Prakasam district to keep their children in school.

Outsourcing may have come to stay, but the conditions in which it is undertaken are surely amenable to change. We might wish to consider questions about the future to which IT/BPO employees are being invited to commit themselves, or how much of the work is cutting-edge, says Lata Mani.

Policies of privatisation and globalisation are changing not only economies but societies and cultures. At their core is the fight of ideas, and these will be expressed in words. What these words are, and what they mean, therefore, matters greatly, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

The World Bank's much touted 'knowledge' products are coming out of a flawed process. The bank hires highly paid consultants who are mostly directed through a system of incentives towards arriving at a pre-determined policy consensus. Information and experiences that run counter to the consensus are ignored. Shripad Dharmadhikary on the implications for India.

In India, other states look at Kerala's record of firsts with envy. Dr Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate, has hailed it as a model. But Kerala, caught in a web of paradoxes, is not what it seems, writes Ramesh Menon.

The Budhan Theatre Group has become the nexus for a movement to change attitudes towards denotified tribes both within Ahmedabad's Chharanagar community and outside it.

Are women in India feeling more "empowered" today, asks Kalpana Sharma on International Women's day.

Where other nationalisms insisted on a homogeneity of attitudes and worldviews, this one - from Gandhi, Tagore, Ambedkar, and Nehru - respected and even celebrated the linguistic, cultural and religious diversity of its peoples. Such was their idea of India. Ramachandra Guha continues his series on the great patriots.

In the vicinity of a private hospital in Patiala district, a 30-ft-deep well yielded 50 dead foetuses, all female. The location of the well near the clinic was not accidental. For, clearly, despite the PNDT Act, the aborting of female foetuses continues virtually unchecked. The 'unacceptable crime' is still flourishing, writes Kalpana Sharma.

Indian regionalism has come in three varieties - regionalism properly so called, parochialism, and secessionism. The odd thing about the Ulfa is that it has simultaneously partaken of all varieties, and this is why the common people of Assam have never turned completely against the militants, writes Ramachandra Guha.

The quality of teaching and research in Indian universities has rapidly declined. Surely this has something to do with the manner in which we appoint those at their helm, writes Ramachandra Guha.

Politicians would like us to believe that tackling the Maoists now is urgent, while development is only possible in the long run. Not true, writes Ashwin Mahesh.

Frederick Noronha reports on the success of World Comics India, which has created successful material, especially for the regional press.

In the immediate aftermath of the 26 December tsunamis, many bloggers visited the affected areas. Their eyewitness accounts brought the horrors of the devastation to distant audiences and were instrumental in garnering widespread relief support, writes Rasika Dhavse.

Bauddhayan Mukherji's film series hands men a proactive role in tackling domestic violence, simply by letting abusers know that they are being observed. Shoma Chatterji reviews Bell Bajao!

Sanjay Kak's latest film Red Ant Dream weaves together disparate stories of people's movements and transports the viewer to hidden pockets of resistance to paint a picture of conflict and revolutionary potential in India today. Freny Manecksha reviews the film.

A mainstream Bollywood production in the making, titled Gulab Gang, draws heavily on the circumstances and even the name of a now-famous real life movement, but purports to be purely fictional. Shoma Chatterji explores the questions of ethics and creative morality that this raises.

Court narrates a compelling story and evolves into a hard-hitting realistic portrayal of the Indian legal system. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film with a deep exploration of all that sets it apart from a regular courtroom drama.

They protest when the BJP or Shiv Sena bans a book or intimidates an artist, should they not do likewise when the CPI(M) does likewise? The Taslima Nasreen case has tested, and will test, the integrity of the Left intelligentsia even more than Nandigram, says Ramachandra Guha.

The rural Muslim women of Murshidabad district in West Bengal have circumvented religious curbs and successfully used a prevalent religious tradition to eke out a living as well as create social awareness. Ajitha Menon has more.

Violence during college union elections, the death of a protesting 22-year-old student in police custody and a resultant chain of events have led to earnest debates in West Bengal over whether students should stay away from active politics. Promona Sengupta explores the reality underlying prevailing sentiments.

The negative terms of trade against agriculture have to be turned around if the country is keen to emerge from the hunger and poverty trap, says Devinder Sharma.
Q&A on the Minimum Support Pricing policy

The depressing sameness of the days for those locked-in as the epidemic rages, is relieved only by the 24X7 flow of electricity – the juice that keeps us all connected, informed, entertained and as summer...

Former Australia captain Ian Chappell has proposed radical changes in the LBW laws, stating that a batsman should be given out leg before as long as the ball is hitting the stumps irrespective of the spot of its landing and impact.

The camaraderie that players share during the Indian Premier League (IPL) is what makes the tournament special for India and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli. He would have been leading RCB in the 2020 edition of the T20 league at this time, had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic forcing the postponement of the IPL until further notice.

The first loan of Rs 322.40 crore from IDBI was issued to Siva’s Finland-based company Win Wind Oy (WWO) in October 2010, which became a non-performing asset three years later.

On the day TOI highlighted the worsening state of Delhi’s air, the National Green Tribunal cited the report and issued a slew of directions to immediately address the problem.