Kerala is increasingly becominga transgender-friendly society Where have Kerala’s hijras gone?” was the rhetorical headline of my story on transgender individuals (TGI) published in The Hindu a decade ago. The story opened with this sentence: “After a quarter century of tortured life as a woman trapped in a man’s body …

An oxide of arsenic can help fight cancer Arsenic is an acknowledged villain because of the way it has contaminated groundwater reserves. Its reputation as a poison has a long history and stretches back to fourth century treatises on medicine. This has often led inventive physicians to use the metal’s …

Egyptian economist Samir Amin observed the dangers of our world but also its possibilities On Sunday, August 12, Samir Amin died. With him went a generation of Egyptian Marxists who came of age in the time of Nasserism and departed with the world in tatters. Amin was born in 1931 …

How India can tap into new sources of leadership talent Most CEOs are grappling with one particular challenge, irrespective of industry or geography: getting the right leadership talent. Governments face this challenge too. The Indian government has responded to this challenge by taking the initiative to invite executives from beyond …

India may well clock the highest growth rate globally, but more is needed to create jobs and reduce poverty With more than one quarter of the year and two months of the monsoon over, it is time to take a look at what the whole year is going to be …

Seven decades after Independence, the massive obstacle of caste is still difficult to dislodge At a recent lecture-demonstration of Koodiyattam, a complex form of Sanskrit theatre practised in Kerala, one of the leading exponents of this beautiful art, Margi Madhu Chakyar, performed an episode from the epic literature titled “Kailasoddharanam”, …

‘Moderate food inflation to continue till MSP impact hits’ Retail inflation eased to a nine-month low of 4.17% in July as food inflation cooled to its lowest level since July 2017, according to official data released on Monday. Inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) slowed from the 4.92% …

The death toll from an earthquake on the Indonesian island of Lombok has topped 400, authorities said on Monday, as bodies were still being recovered from the ruins of destroyed buildings. The shallow 6.9-magnitude quake on August 5 levelled tens of thousands of homes, mosques and businesses across Lombok, just …

CNPC to replace France’s Total as the majority stakeholder in South Pars 11 project The next episode of friction between Beijing and Washington could be staged in Iran, where a top Chinese energy firm, defying latest U.S. sanctions, is likely to expand its stake in a giant Iranian gas field. …

Central Bank offers liquidity assistance but no rate hike Turkey’s Central Bank on Monday sought to calm markets rattled by the precipitous plunge of the Turkish lira as a defiant President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan chastised the U.S. for seeking to stab Ankara “in the back”. A dispute between NATO allies …

Iranian Supreme Leader blames ‘internal’ factors for present economic crisis Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that there would be neither war nor negotiations with the United States, and that the country’s problems were the result of government mismanagement more than renewed sanctions. Ayatollah Khamenei’s comments add …

Karnataka says it cannot be blamed Karnataka on Monday blamed Tamil Nadu in the Supreme Court for “failing to maintain the quality in the Cauvery river.” “The pollution is highest in the stretch below Mettur and up to Mayiladuthurai, which is the heart of irrigation in Tamil Nadu. The State …

The difference between Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies is in their ability to form policy, says Vikram Sood The main difference between the Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies is in their ability to form policy in the country, said former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing Vikram Sood, listing …

Prasar Bharati wants Independence Day event to gain greater visibility Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech will be live-streamed on the Google homepage. Google had done a similar thing during Donald Trump’s inaugural address in January 2017. When you go to Google search page and search for Independence Day, …

Rules amended by Corporate Affairs Ministry In order to ensure better implementation of the law against sexual harassment at workplace, the Centre has made it mandatory for companies to disclose whether they have constituted an internal complaints committee (ICC) to probe such allegations. Rules amended The Corporate Affairs Ministry has …

Directs Servicesto issue suitable identity cards Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO) in the Indian military are gazetted officers, the Defence Ministry has clarified in an order issued on August 1. The clarification follows a long standing controversy over the issue. The Ministry has instructed the three services to issue suitable identity …

Having learnt his ropes from his father, a ‘moderate’ Hindu Sabha member, the former CPI(M) leader could never be a ‘diehard’ Communist Born into a family of jurists and parliamentarians, the former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had learnt the ropes of politics from his father, Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, a …

MSMEs with a turnover of up to Rs. 5 crore may be exempted from filing returns The run-up to the polls in Gujarat saw a massive rejig of Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates across the board as disenchantment with the regime was at a peak. Ahead of the Assembly …

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to a proposal of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to have hologram-based coloured stickers on vehicles to indicate the nature of the fuel used in them. September 30 deadline The MoRTH told a Bench led by Justice Madan B. Lokur that …

50,000 cusecs from Krishna too Nearly 4.35 lakh cusecs were discharged from the Godavari into the Bay of Bengal and more than 50,000 cusecs from the Krishna which received rain in the lower reaches though 233.87 tmcft are required to fill up two major reservoirs on the river. While Srisailam …