Author: Akanksha Bishnoi

As the Delhi government readies itself to spray bio-decomposers free of cost all over the paddy fields in the city yet again this year, AQI levels reach the severe category with the withdrawal of monsoons, all before winter arrives. Stubble burning is the leading cause of life-threatening pollution in the National Capital Region, a method to get rid of paddy crop residue by burning the leftover stubble is practiced in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab. Where once Delhi winters were romanticized in songs and couplets, the rising pollution problem had forced people to mask themselves way before covid…

In the light of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin inaugurating the breakfast scheme for students of classes I to IV serves as a delightful reminder of how the southern states of India have fared among the highest in the literacy ranking for decades now. The attention and capital spent on education reform by such states depict that they have cracked the growth formula just right. Education being a state subject, it’s hard not to compare the existing models and the steps taken in policy-making by various state governments in its reform. Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mizoram and Goa have…

Travel takes on a new meaning in this post covid era as the New tourism Policy is underway. There was a time when travel was borne out of necessity and holidaying translated into a yearly trip to our maternal grandparents. Those in school looked forward to summer camps, government servants waited for their LTA for that annual family trip, and corporate employees saved up to visit their relatives abroad. To travel was to come back with one good picture of you and your family at each place so an album could be filled; as digital cameras came with memory cards,…

Asiatic Cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus venaticus once ranged over India, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, and the Middle East grasslands. And now these wild cats are endangered because of environmental causes like desertification and bounty hunting by humans. India’s second attempt to bring this breed to our land has finally culminated in a deal with Namibia which will send 50 cheetahs over five years and India will house them at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Before the country even laid out a law (Prevention Of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960) to prevent poaching, hunting, and cruelty to animals, the Asiatic Cheetah was…

featured image source The Sports Authority of India observed National Sports Day on August 29 with the theme “Sports as an enabler for an inclusive and fit society” under the Fit India Mission. The declaration was a solid attempt at broadcasting the need to create a conducive environment for promoting sports culture but I wonder if it resonates with the Indian demographic. Is the call for awareness reaching the roots of our society? Is sport a subject or an interest as fundamental as tv cricket would like us to believe? SAI commemorates National sports day Iga Swiatek’s glorious victory at…

Source: Representation of Women in Bollywood The “love interest” existing just to enable the Hero’s journey Hero, heroine, and action! Typical ingredients for a blockbuster movie. Does it come with a plot/storyline? Definitely yes. Is the plot based on the hero’s quest for freedom, stardom, success, or self-actualization, or is the hero the savior, leader, underdog, or even a social pariah? Mostly yes. What do we find the women in such movies doing? Aiding the lead’s character development, as the female lead or the so-called love interest helps the hero fulfill his purpose, more often than not women in Bollywood…