• ANIMESH ROUL & NIHAR NAYAK, August 21, 2021

    Seven people including six Assam police personnel were killed by the Mizoram police firing on July 26, 2021, during an armed standoff at the Assam-Mizoram borders. The situation remained tense but came under control after the Union Government deployed two companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) along with the disputed areas on the Assam-Mizoram border.

    • DEBOPAMA BHATTACHARYA, August 07, 2021

    The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), along with the commercial institutions in the country, has been actively testing its digital fiat currency, the Chinese electronic yuan (e-CNY), with almost 21 million people (personal wallets) having taken part in the tests as of June 2021.[i] Further, China has been accelerating its efforts to make the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics “technology savvy” by the wide adoption of e-CNY.

  • TTP Umar Media screenshot
    • ANIMESH ROUL & NIHAR NAYAK, July 20, 2021

    At least 12 people, including nine Chinese citizens, were killed after a bus carrying construction workers plunged into a ravine following an explosion on July 14, 2021, when the workers were heading to the Dasu hydropower project located in the Upper Kohistan region situated between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB). No one has claimed responsibility for the incident, though the nail of suspicion is on Pakistani Taliban formation infamous as Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP).

    • ANIMESH ROUL & NIHAR NAYAK, June 30, 2021

    In the last 13 years, one of the significant achievements of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh has been to maintain strict control over the growing Islamic radicalism in the country.

  • Staff of Asclepius
    • AJEY LELE, June 03, 2021

    A very passionate debate is ongoing in India on the relevance and effectiveness of Allopathy and Ayurveda, two different (modern and traditional) branches of medicine. In respect of Covid-19 handling, there was an attempt to debunk the relevance of allopathic treatment. In response to this, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), an NGO, has taken a very aggressive stance and stood against demeaning allopathy.

    • ANIMESH ROUL & NIHAR NAYAK, May 24, 2021

    After over a month-long debate and discussion, the Sri Lankan cabinet, on April 27, 2021, imposed a ban on wearing Burqas (full-face veils in public used by Muslim women) and closing down madrasas (Islamic Seminaries) across the country. The government defended the decision by stating that these restrictions would improve national security and prevent radicalisation in society. As expected, few Islamic countries and groupings termed the decision as anti-Islamic.

    • RAJAT KUMAR KUJUR, May 18, 2021

    There is an upsurge in Maoist related incidents in Chhattisgarh, a central Indian province.  The violence on April 3, 2021, has raised a big question mark on the government's anti-Maoist strategy. Between 2018 and 2020, Chhattisgarh accounted for 45% of all Maoist related incidents in India and causing 70% of security personnel deaths (Ministry of Home Affairs, Annual Report 2019-2020)  

  • https://mars.nasa.gov/
    • AJEY LELE, May 17, 2021

    China successfully landed its rover on Mars on May 14, 2021. After landing, it took 17 minutes to unfold the solar panels attached to this system and send a signal back to Earth. It may be noted that the current distance to Mars from the Earth is 320 million km, and it takes about 17/18 minutes for radio messages to reach Earth. Presently, this rover is situated inside a lander and would take few more days to get out of the lander's belly and start moving on the Martian surface. It is expected to operate for three months.

  • Pic:Karachi,  July 2009, Reuters/HRW
    • NIHAR R NAYAK, April 19, 2021

    Surprisingly the number of terrorist-related incidents in Pakistan has relatively gone down in recent months, but there is an increase in sectarian violence and atrocities on the minority population. The international community has expressed serious concern. Recently, the US State Department issued travel advisories to its citizens visiting Pakistan, citing terrorism, sectarian violence and COVID-19. It also asked its citizens not to travel specifically to Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces due to cases of terrorism-related incidents and kidnappings.

    • AYUSHI NAYAK, April 15, 2021

    In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that had left many governments scrambling towards lockdowns and led to a massive failure of numerous public sectors worldwide, especially in the US, the public health crisis is now about to become a phase of the past. Vaccines against the novel coronavirus made harnessing cutting edge m-RNA techniques are being developed by national and international teams of scientists at a breakneck pace never seen before. Amidst all the gloom caused by the virus, these vaccines have finally emerged as the silver lining in the darkest cloud.