Cover Story

OF VISION, MISSION AND MASTERSTROKES

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Surface Transport, Highways, and Shipping, on the strengths of the current Central government, future challenges and promises, and his plans for Indian roads and rivers Union Minister for Surface Transport, Highways, and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari, has an easy smile â...

Editorial

A river of love

Last week, I found myself humming alongside B J Thomas’ lovely “Raindrops keep falling on my head”. The Delhi skies, which have become kind, had various radio stations making the most of the pitterpatter and played some of the best rain song collections I’ve heard. After all, isn’t rainfa...

Up-To-Date

MODI’S HISTORIC VISIT TO BANGLADESH SEALS BORDER PACT 6-9-up-to-date_DW-CoverStoryTemplate.qxd 6/26/2015 2:25 PM Page 6

DIPLOMACY// Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 7 said the ratification of the over 40-year-old Land Boundary Agreement was a bridge to join hearts and cited a media report that compared it to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bangladesh and India sealed a historic land pact to swap territories, which w...

BJP BLEEDS AS LALITGATE ROW DEEPENS

POLITICS// The BJP battled a deepening row involving two of its top leaders, Vasundhara Raje and Sushma Swaraj, for helping Lalit Modi, tainted former IPL Commissioner, “an economic offender and a fugitive”. Modi moved to London amid an avalanche of corruption charges and has refused to return t...

PM Narendra Modi leads thousands in celebration on the first ever International Yoga Day

YOGA// Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the first International Yoga Day, on June 21, as heralding a “new era of peace”, moments before he surprised thousands in New Delhi by taking to a mat himself to celebrate the ancient Indian practice. Modi, a yoga enthusiast himself, led more than 35,00...

BANGLADESH SEAL HISTORIC SERIES WIN OVER INDIA

CRICKET// Two-time world champions India managed to grab a face-saving 77-run victory against Bangladesh in the third and the last one-day international, in Mirpur, saving themselves from the embarrassment of a humiliating whitewash. The beleagured team is set to return home on a winning note follow...

Sepp Blatter resigns as FIFA president, following allegations

SCANDAL// The soccer world is abuzz with the allegations that officials at FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) were engaged in racketeering, money laundering and other criminal activities. The officials at FIFA are engaged in a “24- year scheme to enrich themselves through t...

Bobby Jindal announces his presidential run with a hidden video

ELECTIONS// Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a one time rising star from the Republican Party, has officially announced his US presidential campaign for 2016. “My name is Bobby Jindal and I am running for President of the United States of America,” Jindal, who is the first person of Indian-Ameri...

HEATWAVE KILLS MORE THAN 1000 IN KARACHI DURING RAMADAN

CALAMITY// More than 1000 people have died from a heatwave in southern Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, as medics battled to treat victims after a state of emergency is declared in hospitals. Most of them have died of heatstroke, dehydration or other heat-related illnesses as mercury touched 45 de...

Foreign Despatches

The cornerstone of India-US ties

More than diplomacy and governmentto- government engagement, it lies in stronger people-to-people relations THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN the United States and India has been a tumultuous one during the past 60 years. The ties between two of the world’s largest democracies suddenly declined to one of ...

Tech Talk

Huawei TalkBand B2

At first look, the Huawei TalkBand B2 gives a feel of consistency in its design. Unlike most traditional watches and modern smartwatches, where a leaner strap would give way to a bulging device in the middle, the width of both the strap as well as the removable watch face is the same, giving the Tal...

Platform1

Fat women don’t dance

Here's a strong case to support comfort over style - even when it comes to the unmentionables THE BRITISH SUMMER was almost here and, if I didn’t get my act together, it would be gone before I’d had a chance to air my handful of cotton tops. Winter is a good time to ignore all the bulges and sa...

Denomination

A MATTER OF TRUST

The benefits of forming private trusts go beyond tax benefits How do you ensure the wealth you have made in your lifetime is used properly for the benefit of your loved ones in your absence? While making a Will avoids any dispute over the control of the wealth among the legal beneficiaries, creatin...

Heart & Soul

BEAUTY IN MOTION

Apart from a strong and toned body, aerial silks also gives you a chance to try out something that is new and different Until sometime ago, we saw aerial acts only in circuses or maybe high-end musicals. Now aerial silk performances have become fairly common in dance shows and competitions on stage...

Looking Back

THE MONK ON A MISSION

With nearly 1,000 monastic centres and millions of followers worldwide, His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa, the spiritual head of the 1000-year-old Drukpa Order has one aim — to promote universal harmony and inner peace How do you remain of the world, and yet be untouched by it? Be a monk at heart,...

Platform2

Trust issues

In the international arena, only pursuing one's vital interests will eventually matter PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi’s much publicised visit to the Peoples Republic of China in May 2015 was termed “more in style but less in content”. The description, perhaps, underplayed the level of unhappine...

Issue

Two minutes and more

Discovery of high amounts of lead led to the ban of India’s favourite noodles, Maggi. Will it bring about a lifestyle change in consumers? Is Maggi the only evil in the market? ajay ahluWalia// I have personally never liked Maggi — and although I’ve worked on the brand as well as others in th...

Good Karma

Clean India Mission gets another champion

Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif answers the prime minister’s call for a cleaner nation Best remembered for his never-say-die attitude, amazing commitment and desire to be the best, former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif is an inspiration to the current crop of youngsters, who strive to repli...

Broad Canvas

The visual storyteller

Seema Kohli’s art is a journey into self-discovery with the artist undertaking a journey that is motivating, relevant and communicative We are in the middle of our conversation when Seema Kohli, one of India’s best known contemporary artists, narrates a story. It was at a time when she was in M...

Reading Room

Against all odds

Invaluable lessons from women who changed the rules of the game at workplace THE PROVERBIAL glass ceiling has already been broken in India — be it banking, law, media, advertising, government services, healthcare and what have you. But as the pioneers of this movement would like to tell you, noth...

Life’s little pleasures

A CHILDHOOD habit passed on by a doting father to his young son has become a treasure trove of memories, as author Ruskin Bond dips his pen in nostalgia in his latest book A Book of Simple Living, published by Speaking Tiger. This 150-page personal diary records small moments that constitute a life ...

Hitchhiker’s Guide

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE TRIPPY

It is a place for those who want to leave behind the world, forget the date and the day My heart pumped wildly even before I was exposed to the trippy air of Kasol. The road leading to this popular hill station in Himachal Pradesh is so dangerous that every time the bus took a sharp turn (and there...

Garnish

FOOD SCIENCE

Restaurants are trying to attract customers using molecular gastronomy, but it may not be so easy to please the picky Indian Palate, says VIDYA DESHPANDE Has the Indian palate experimented enough to enjoy the subtleties of molecular gastronomy? I will answer that question last. First, let’s see w...