Delhi Gymkhana

Erasing Colonial Symbols Won't Feed India's Families: A Call for Economic Pragmatism

But tearing down a clubhouse will not lower a family's grocery bill or write a line of exportable code. India's chance to close the gap with the economies that outran it will not wait for a hearing date in September, and neither should the country's attention.

Taslima Nasrin’s Return and the Politics of Selective Protection

Taslima Nasrin’s homecoming deserves to be welcomed. A writer should be able to return to a city she considers home without fearing violence. The harder test will come when the symbolism fades. Will the government protect her if her criticism becomes inconvenient to the people now celebrating her return?

Jewish Footprints and Connections that Shaped Sri Lanka’s History

Today, the Chabad Houses in Colombo and on Sri Lanka's southern coast have attracted considerable attention amid a rise in anti-Semitic incidents and rhetoric. It is noteworthy that Colombo once had an active synagogue, which served as a regular place of worship for British Jewish servicemen World War II

Repositioning India as the Capital of Buddhist Tourism: A Blueprint for a Global Destination

Buddhist tourism as an important tool of India’s soft power. The shared Buddhist heritage can help develop cultural ties with Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Mongolia, South Korea, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, and several other Buddhist-majority nations through cooperation in archaeology, monk-to-monk dialogues, youth programs, academic exchanges, and cultural festivals

More on Soft Power, Culture and Society

Miss India is Miss Universe 2021 - after 21 years

"I believed in myself and that is why I am standing here today." With this winning answer,  Harnaaz Sandhu, 21, representing India at the 70th Miss Universe 2021, held in Eilat, Israel, became Miss Universe 2021, 21 years after a Miss India won the last Miss Universe title in 2000

Indian doctors do 'breathing lung transplant' in Hyderabad

India has become one of a handful of nations where a "breathing lung transplant" can be conducted

World’s largest sapphire found in Sri Lanka; owner ready to sell

The world’s largest single natural blue sapphire has been found in Sri Lanka, according to the National Gem and Jewellery Authority

One-minute Bhutanese film on climate change wins Best Documentary Award

A one-minute Bhutanese film “Snow Lion and The Glaciologist”  has won the Best Documentary Award at the International Mobile Film Festival during the awards ceremony on World Climate Day in Paris on December 8

Much ado over a water bottle: Pakistan opposition politician Bilawal Bhutto under fire for not opening bottle himself

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has come under fire from the public for asking Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani, a man much senior to him in politics, to open a water bottle for him at a press conference

College principal among 40 people indicted in Pakistan over 'objectionable gesture and vulgar dance'

At least 40 people in Pakistan, including a college principal, have been indicted over 'objectionable gesture and vulgar dance' at a college festival after video clips of these events went viral on social media

Malala urges US for more support to Afghan women; says Afghanistan will suffer if girls don’t learn

The United States should do more to support Afghan women and their right to education and work, Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize awardee and human rights activist Malala Yousafzai told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken

First transgender elected as rural council head in Bangladesh

In a sign of changing times, a transgender person, Nazrul Islam Ritu, has been elected as the chairperson of the Union Parishad - a rural council - of Trilochanpur Union of Kaliganj in Jhenaidha district of Bangladesh

Australia India Film Council to build on 'dosti' between the two countries

An Australia India Film Council has been formed to forge greater cultural, economic and creative collaboration between the two countries that are deepening and diversifying their "strategic partnership" across all areas

Women take on rightwing bullies at Christian prayer hall in India

Rightwing activists from the Hindu ultranationalist Bajrang Dal allegedly barged into a Christian prayer hall in Belur city in Karnataka in south India on Sunday, accused the group of conversion and pushed around the faithful before the women in the congregation forced them to leave

Sikhs protest over Pakistani fashion model posing bareheaded in front of Kartarpur Gurdwara: Pakistani minister seeks apology from designer, model

Angry protests by Sikhs and others in India over a fashion model posing bareheaded and with her back to the revered Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan forced the Pakistani fashion brand Mannat to apologise for posting the pictures, while Pakistan Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry demanded that the model tender an apology for the disrespect

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai now graduates from Oxford University

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who survived an attack in 2012 from a Taliban gunman in her native Pakistan while returning home from school,  has graduated from Oxford University with a philosophy, politics and economics degree

'Afghan girl', the face of Afghanistan's conflict and suffering, gets refuge in Italy

Sharbat Gula, the famous green-eyed “Afghan Girl” whose iconic photo in 1985 by a National Geographic photographer became the face of the Afghan conflict, has been given asylum by Italy,  Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office said

A cricket lover's dream: Dubai offers to host India-Pakistan bilateral series

A bilateral cricket series between India and Pakistan is a cricket lover's dream but, with the current political and diplomatic tensions between the two countries, that seems a distant proposition

Monkeys as unsung Covid heroes: India's Covaxin was successfully tested on 20 monkeys first

India became the fifth country to isolate a strain of the coronavirus as the country recorded several milestones in its fight against the diseases - tracing the contacts of the first case diagnosed in India in January 2020