How I got the 2019 election all wrong

Confessions of an economist who thought he can’t get it wrong It was close to midnight, sometime during the first week of May. I and a childhood friend were sitting in the AC upper deck of a restaurant near the Metro cinema in South Mumbai and having mutton seekh kebabs. Or rather, I was having […]

As flights are grounded, Jet staff faces turbulence

From pilots to engineers to cleaners, the sudden cessation of salaries has left jet airways staff in dire financial straits. These are their stories Anil Kumar Kashyap could have never imagined that it would be his last day as a senior engineer with Jet Airways as Flight No. S2 3502 took off from Delhi for […]

The foliage man

Chandan Kumar Tiwary’s life was transformed after he started communing with trees. He calls trees ‘healer’ and shares his passion on social media platforms Chandan Kumar Tiwary, 40, ‘deals in law’(he is a law officer in a government undertaking), and has been living in Delhi for the last 15 years. Less than a year ago, […]

Fire hazards at home

In a quest to beat the rising mercury levels, people are becoming careless in buying air-conditioners. Some of these low cost ACs are defective and lead to fire accidents Given the rate at which air conditioners and coolers are selling in the city, second hand and otherwise, it’s no surprise that a flurry of accidents […]

Sheer waste

Recycling bins which are supposed to give rewards in return for bottles are a non-starter in connaught place The dry waste collection machines installed two years ago by NDMC in places like Connaught Place and India Gate are a non-starter. An expert on waste management calls it an initiative which will not tackle even 1% […]

Why one won, the other lost

Being a well-meaning candidate in the electoral fray isn’t enough. This is what Atishi’s defeat and Pragya Singh Thakur’s win tell us about India More than 100 years ago, in the iconic Citizenship in a Republic speech, US President Theodore Roosevelt outlined the key drivers of a successful republic: the quality of its citizens and […]

33%: A goal too far

A country which had a woman prime minister for 15 years has managed to put a measly 78 women in the Lok Sabha this time. Only Bengal’s TMC and Odisha’s BJD made a conscious effort to boost the numbers For those interested in gender issues, three standout images on TV after the poll results were […]

Keeping up the flow

Haryana has accused Delhi of taking too much water, while the High Court observed that the former has restricted Yamuna’s flow into the Capital. In all this, the people suffer The requirement for water is year-round but come summer months, with temperatures soaring above 45 degrees, water is a commodity along with electricity whose consumption […]