People in Punjab, India, say they’re seeing parts of the Himalayas clearly for the first time in decades as the country’s government has linked its coronavirus lockdown to a recent improvement in air quality.
Pretending not to be a Dalit took a heavy toll on the young Yashica Dutt.
Her mother, Shashi, was so determined to protect her three children from the discrimination of the Hindu caste system that relegates Dalits to the periphery of society that she pretended the family were Brahmin.
Every Indian who has ever watched porn has come across a Gujarati housewife named Savita Bhabhi, who stands out by breaking the stereotype of an Indian bhabhi by indulging in her lust.
India’s oldest music label is bringing hope to its indie filmmakers.
Set up in 1901, Saregama India has been in the business of music for over a century. But it was only three years ago that it turned its ear to the $2-billion behemoth film industry. It set up the brand Yoodlee Films, headed by Siddharth Anand Kumar.
INTRO:
When Akbar, at the age of only 13, succeeded to the throne in 1556, the Mughal empire was vast and powerful. When he died, in 1605, he left it three times the size: It was a flourishing empire that encompassed much of the Indian peninsula, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, which gained him the epithet of Akbar the Great.
One of the key factors of his success was tolerance of diversity, and a harmony amongst different rulers. The Mughals were Muslims, a minority in the land they ruled, so it was vital to involve Hindus and other non-Muslims in the running of the state. That’s what Akbar did: Non-Muslims held positions of all levels within the administration—from generals to ministers, from artists to scribes. He didn’t impose an Islamic rule, and he discontinued the levying of the jizia, a tax on non-Muslims, and of any taxes imposed on Hindus traveling to their pilgrimage site.
Most Indian families still prefer marriages arranged within their religion and caste. Marriages outside these rigid boundaries have often led to violent consequences, including “honour” killings. But some young Indians are still willing to defy their families and communities for love, reports the BBC’s Divya Arya.
The BBC report, citing a UK-based price comparison site, said that 1 gigabyte (GB) of mobile data cost $0.26 in India (£0.20), compared with $12.37 in the US, $6.66 in the UK, and a global average of $8.53.
But many Indian users said they were actually paying less than $0.10 a GB. Customers in the US and UK too said they were paying less than what the survey reported.
Up until Monday, Esha Gupta was just a Bollywood actress with a passion for Arsenal football club.
That changed after the actress decided to share a screengrab of a WhatsApp conversation in which a friend mocked the team’s Nigerian star, Alex Iwobi, as a “gorilla” and “Neanderthal” who “evolution had stopped for”.
India’s aviation industry is currently stuck in an air pocket. The sector has been constantly plagued by mounting debt, losses, and high fuel costs, among other things.
Hence, airlines will be pinning all their hopes on Feb. 01, when the annual budget, the last by prime minister Narendra Modi’s government, will be presented.
Many families in India still mourn the birth of a girl. But when Leena was born, people celebrated.
Sagar Gram, her village in central India, is unique that way. Girls outnumber boys. When a woman marries, it is the groom’s family that pays the dowry. Women are Sagar Gram’s breadwinners. When they are deemed old enough, perhaps at the age of 11, most are expected to start doing sex work.
