India starts cultivating hing, a staple ingredient that costs $130 mn each year to import
Hing is currently imported from Afghanistan and Iran, but scientists from the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, have begun growing it in Himachal Pradesh’s Lahaul and Spiti district, reports Mohana Basu.
Bollywood has finally decided to show spine. But only because the fire had reached its own house. After years of political apathy, capitulation and Modi selfies, silence was no longer an option, writes Rachel John.
Why highly placed Muslims became ‘Krishna bhaktas’ in the Mughal period
In ‘Voices of Dissent’, Romila Thapar writes that Rajput-Mughal joint patronage helped make Vrindavan the focus of Krishna bhakti.
Elon Musk’s Tesla is headed to India, but there won’t be any green car revolution here
Sooner or later, oil-run cars are going to become passé and we’ll have, arguably, environment-friendly, less-noisy electric vehicles take over the roads. But has India made the necessary arrangements to embrace the electric future just yet? There are less than 500 electric vehicle charging stations in India, when the current need has been pegged at around 2,600, writes Shubhangi Misra.
This Arunachal waterfall near LAC is being developed for tourism. But China ‘keeping an eye’
The Arunachal Pradesh government and Army are looking to improve infrastructure at the Chumi Gyatse Falls, also known as Holy Waterfalls. But defence sources said the Chinese are keeping an eye, placing a surveillance camera, a projector and a large screen at the border overlooking the falls to get live images, reports Karishma Hasnat.
‘Justice for Sushant’ chorus dies down in Bihar, actor’s death not a poll issue for any party
Not a word is being uttered about Sushant Singh Rajput by any political party during the Bihar election campaign. The electorate is not interested to talk about him either, reports Dipak Mishra.
Trump or Biden? Doesn’t matter to India-US ties as they’re in a full, strategic embrace
The arrival of US Secretaries of State and Defense, Mike Pompeo and Mark Esper, to India in the coming week for the 2+2 dialogue is proof that old hypocrisies are history, and supreme national interest has again driven a strategic choice, writes Shekhar Gupta in this week’s edition of ‘National Interest’.