Author: Shreyas Adhikari

India is an Asian tiger. Armed with a booming economy, a powerful military, a diplomatic oeuvre so robust other nation-states are scrambling to do business with it, it certainly is one of the biggest names on this side of the world. Thus, it is pretty natural to expect that with such tremendous progress in the fields of Science and Technology, Arts and Commerce, there would be simultaneous progress in the society as well. Unfortunately, news on that front remains bleak as ever, especially regarding mental illness. Mental illnesses have been a taboo in India as long as there have been…

It has been the long, time-honored tradition of our country to invite a foreign dignitary as the chief guest during the annual Republic Day. Next year, that honor has been accorded to five, not one, dignitaries: – the heads of state of the Central Asian countries which include Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. However, this goes deeper than merely extending a courtesy to fellow Asian countries. The geopolitical realities of the region are shifting fast and India is scrambling to cement its place as an Asian giant before the rivals get there. In another words, Central Asia is ripe…

Doping, or using illegal substances to enhance a player’s performance in a particular sport, has long been a thorn in the side of professional sports. Many high-profile cases of doping have emerged in the past few decades, including that of the legendary former cyclist Lance Armstrong who was stripped of many of his titles after admitting to doping. All the bodies that govern national and international sports take it very seriously, and strict measures are put into place to ensure that no athlete has an unfair advantage over their fellow competitors. If caught, one tends to lose many things, including…

Punjab is much affected by the national and international nexus of drug trafficking. It has been a bone of contention for parties contesting elections in the state. Many celebrities frequently raise awareness campaigns against drugs and ways to rehabilitate the large chunk of addicted youth. In recent years due to media glare and the clamor to take proactive steps to combat this problem, several high-profile arrests have also been made, and quite surprisingly, now it allegedly also involves the former revenue minister of Punjab- Bikram Singh Majithia. On January 6, 2014, the arrested kingpin of a 1000-cr drug racket Jagdish…

The last time we saw Geralt of Rivia, the legendary monster hunter, was blundering through a forest in the aftermath of a massive battle searching for his estranged lover, Yennefer, the sorceress. The eight-episode first series of The Witcher, available on Netflix, is now back with another season that chronicles the journey of Geralt on a journey both spiritual and physical. An epic finale to a series that rapidly gained an enormous fan following worldwide due to its well-written plot, excellent character development, and gorgeous action scenes. For the uninitiated, The Witcher is a multimedia franchise that began with Polish…

Poaching refers to the illegal hunting of animals in a country that are protected by national or international laws. One glance at history will tell you that poaching has happened as long as mankind has hunted animals for food or recreation. In medieval England, all deer in the kingdom were the property of the King, and yet intrepid poachers would often risk public execution to hunt a good buck for that good joint of venison. As the twentieth century dawned and people became more conscious regarding the environment, hunting most animal species in the world became illegal. But has the…

As many experts have rightly pointed out, this is very rightly the age of new trends and fads. New gadgets, new gizmos, new forms of digital currency and a variety of relationships…that about sums up the new millennial life. Needless to say, the said fads are also seeping into lifestyles as well. For quite some time now in the West and many posh parts of India as well, young men and women are renting their new lives instead of purchasing them. To clarify, they are seeking out fully functioning, decked up homes in good neighborhoods and renting them as they are rather…

In more ways than one, the cryptocurrency boom across the world and India especially is very much like the IT boom of the 1990s, both characterized by an increase in usage by the general public and the potential to affect and considerably change the face of finance in the country. Many businesses are already figuring out how decentralized technology like crypto and blockchain can benefit them. Moreover, the key benefit of cryptocurrency is that it enables many people to participate in the burgeoning economy. A bit about bitcoins What is a cryptocurrency, one may ask? In quite simple terms, a…

In the month of August earlier this year, as the last of the American forces deployed in Afghanistan finally began leaving after a long-drawn vigil of twenty years, their bitterest foes immediately swept into the power vacuum left behind. The dreaded Taliban, a radical Islamist outfit that believes in implementing their own version of the Sharia law and enforcing their hegemony in the country with guns and knives, is now the authority in Afghanistan. The national army surrendered with little to no resistance and the president Ashraf Ghani fled rather unceremoniously as the armored trucks rattled towards Kabul. According to…

The National Conference led by party president Faruq Abdullah released several demands for the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir at a meeting on Tuesday. Among the needs were the usual clamor for the reinstating of Article 370, which granted J&K several special privileges and full statehood. Also, the National Conference called upon the Centre to allocate them a special tourism package and a legal guarantee to slash prices for essential commodities. All in all, there were seven demands made. How the Modi government responds to these demands and negotiates is yet to be seen.   The Demands J&K has…