More on Open Forum

Sermons and substance: Did the Indian state abandon all responsibility towards the poor?

The novel coronavirus is causing havoc worldwide.  For a country like India,  on top of the creaky public healthcare system and scanty health care data, lies a widespread social media campaign recommending yoga, inhaling cannabis and consuming cow urine and dung as measures to prevent infection has made the battle against COVID-19 even more challenging

When I feel ashamed to be a Muslim

I had penned articles under the same agonising title in 2006, followed in 2007, in the spate of terrorist attacks by some wayward Muslim youth, who, totally misinterpreting Islam, took innocent lives either as murderers or as suicide bombers

Lockdown musings: When elephants return and peacocks fly away

I cannot remember when it came to invade our mind. Whether it was in the early hours of the morning or late evening or perhaps, at night. I ought to because it announced its arrival with fanfare and drums

Islam at crossroads: Moderates need to assert themselves

Islam and Christianity are two religions that are well entrenched in all countries in the world. However, other religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism have only a marginal presence in most countries

India's stark inequalities make social distancing much easier for some than others

With the coronavirus pandemic continuing its spread around the world, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced a three-week complete nationwide lockdown of 1.3 billion people on March 24. The government advised people to observe social distancing even before the lockdown came into place – but it was only partially effective.

Our new-born mind

I am learning many things anew

SAMDEN protests actions against Mir Shakilur Rahman and The Wire

Leading editors and media professionals from South Asia today protested actions against the media in Pakistan and India - the detention of Pakistani editor and publisher Mir Shakilur Rahman in Lahore and legal action against the independent Indian online portal, The Wire

We will win, surely

Invisible virus, invading all over, at the speed of light,

Respect human rights while enforcing lockdown: Guidelines for police in India from CHRI

Responding to vivid accounts of police brutality and arbitrariness across India during the nationwide lockdown, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative has framed a set of guidelines to assist police departments to enforce the lockdown within the Constitutional framework

To revive economy, India needs massive investments in multiple sectors

It has been reported that all over the world, recession has set in after the COVID 19 disaster

Let’s not give In to the virus

It’s Corona yes, but don’t crib

India's coronavirus lockdown will hit women and migrant workers hardest

In Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, I woke up to an eerie silence yesterday. The night before, India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced a 21-day national lockdown would start at midnight.

Lockdown and Isaac Newton: Remembering a pioneering scientist in challenging times

One of the greatest thoughts of mankind came from Isaac Newton. Interestingly enough he developed all his mathematical and scientific theories when he was banished from Cambridge University, where he was studying, to his native place in rural England during the great plague of the 1660s

Requiem for an iconic Indian paper

A requiem was written this week for India Abroad, the New York-based weekly newspaper, that shut down after 50 years of publication. A note from the present publisher, Suresh Venkatachari, regretted the closure of the iconic publication, calling it "heartrending" for its thousands of readers "for whom India Abroad has been an integral part of their India-American journey..."

Collective efforts, self-quarantine necessary to curb corona transmission

Health is the first and the foremost asset which should be protected as in the absence of life there is no livelihood