Innholdsfortegnelse for Monday, October 2, 2023 i India Today

The recent assembly bypoll loss in Ghosi in Mau district of Uttar Pradesh has come as a setback for the ruling BJP. Party candidate Dara Singh Chauhan, who was the sitting Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA before his flight to the BJP, lost to the candidate of his former party, Sudhakar Singh, by a fairly massive margin of 42,759 votes. More than the specifics of the case, it’s the general truth they reveal that offers the party food for thought ahead of 2024. A likely delay in a planned cabinet expansion, flowing as a consequence, is also reflective of a certain introspective turn. A minister in the first term of the Yogi Adityananth government, Chauhan had left to join the SP just before the 2022 assembly polls. But with the SP…

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s troubles seem far from over. The Supreme Court on September 18 dismissed his plea to stay the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money-laundering case, and instead asked him to approach the high court first. His hopes dashed, the CM may now have to appear before the agency on September 23—unless he takes the high court route and gets a ruling in his favour. This is the fourth summon issued to Soren in less than two months after he failed to appear for questioning twice in August and once this month. The ED, which has been probing several money-laundering cases and allegedly illegal land deals in Jharkhand, wants Soren to record his statement regarding the properties he owns, possesses and occupies. On…

On September 13, the opposition INDIA bloc announced in Delhi that a rally would be held in Bhopal in October. However, soon after, there was another communiqué saying it had been cancelled, reportedly because Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath was against holding it in the state. Some said that the state Congress did not want to be on the same stage with AAP and SP as both parties were fielding candidates in MP in the upcoming assembly polls. The real reason, though, seems to be more pragmatic. The Congress is the main opposition party in the state and doesn’t need allies. Nath, being a seasoned politician, did not want to spend money on organising an event that is unlikely to yield him any electoral dividend.…

IN 1925, delivering a speech at a women’s conference in Gujarat’s Sojitra village, Mahatma Gandhi had said: “As long as the women of India do not take part in public life, there can be no salvation for the country.” Nearly a century later, the Narendra Modi government has sought to institutionalise women’s participation in public life at the highest level by introducing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Salutation to Women Power Bill), which will reserve a third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies for women. With five states going to the polls this year and the general election coming up next year, the bill has been timed to directly appeal to women voters, who have been the backbone of the BJP’s electoral success in the…

A conducive environment for starting industrial projects in Uttar Pradesh as been created through strong law and order, good governance, vestment-friendly policies, advanced infrastructure, and ease of doing business. The outcome of these endeavors became evident during the Global Investors Summit held in February this year, when Uttar Pradesh received more than 24000 investment proposals worth more than Rs 36 lakh crore. A substantial number of investors are eager to establish their projects in Uttar Pradesh. Recognizing the economic potential of these enterprises, banks and financial institutions have shown remarkable enthusiasm, swiftly granting approvals for project funding. The Reserve Bank of India (RBll’s August 2023 bulletin sheds light on a transformative investment environment in the state of Uttar Pradesh. According to the bulletin’s findings, Uttar Pradesh continues to lead the…

According to state government officials, several areas in the Shimla district, as well as the town, are sinking. The situation is reportedly grave in Labrot, Khauni, Chanderpur and Ghunsa villages of Jubbal; Thaitwari, Janglikh and Dhamwari villages in Rohru; Khaltu Nala and some areas of Kotkhai and Kumarsein and Chini Bangla in Kufri. In Shimla city, the sinking zones included areas of Comley Bank, Krishna Nagar, the Police Lines area in Kaithu, Jutog Cantt, Dhingu Dhar near Dhalli, the Fruit Apple Mandi in Bhattakuffer and areas near the ISBT (inter-state bus terminal). This constitutes about 25 per cent of the city.…

₹ 5,000 cr. for the ring road around Varanasi. Has 18 projects including roads, railway over-bridges, bridges and elevated highways ₹ 712 cr. for a cricket stadium in Ganjari area and the Dr Sampurnanand Sports Stadium in Sigra ₹ 305 cr. for the Deen Dayal Hastkala Sankul, a trade centre built by the ministry of textiles ₹ 172 cr. for Varanasi police’s city command and control centre; 4,500 CCTV cameras installed ₹ 1,171 cr. for the Madan Mohan Malviya Cancer Centre; Rs 183 cr. for a 430-bed superspeciality hospital at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) ₹ 416 cr. for a multi-modal water transport terminal on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi ₹ 308 cr. for the construction of a 55 MLD sewage treatment plant at Bhagwanpur under Namami Gange for International…

New Town Kolkata Green Smart City has created an entire ecosystem with an efficient Integrated Command & Control System, Co-living and Co-working, an Eco park, and a thriving IT & Fintech environment Bengal Silicon Valley, a 250-acre New Town site in Kolkata Smart City, houses India’s top three data centres. Several companies in data centres, software development, drones, robots, augmented reality, Al, loT, data analytics, and research analytics have already invested in the region. Furthermore, The Bengal Silicon Valley tech area is embracing the manufacturing, assembly, and R&D of IT hardware and software co-designed systems. Significant allotees include Bengal Tech Park (a company ‘ - of Adani Enterprises Ltd.), Reliance Corporate IT Park, L&T InfoTech, Tata Consultancy Services, Nxtra Data Limited (a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel) and many more. This…

KIA SELTOS The Kia Seltos facelift retains the overall look of the older car, but has a new front end—with a different grille, headlamps and bumpers—which looks sportier. The rear features updated tail lamps along with a full-width LED strip and dual-tip exhausts (turbo petrol only). The cabin gets a facelift with a panoramic sunroof, dual-zone climate control, ventilated front seats and a lot more. Kia has also added Level-2 ADAS to the Seltos, which gives the SUV advanced safety features, including automatic emergency braking. MG COMET This new EV from MG Motor India comes with a 42 bhp/110 Nm electric motor, paired with a 17.3 kWh battery pack, giving it a range of 230 km. The battery can be charged from 10 to 80 per cent in five hours…

SUVs are what buyers want. They are driving growth across segments, and affordable small cars have been driving volumes in the Indian market. As Tata has proved with the Punch, there is scope for smaller and thus more affordable options. To cash in on that demand and go after Tata’s almost unchallenged presence in that space, Hyundai has introduced the Exter. Exter’s height, upright stance, flat nose, body cladding and 185 mm ground clearance help reinforce its positioning as an SUV, albeit a very compact one. Hyundai’s new design philosophy brings with it several distinctive elements like the H-shape LED DRLs (daylight running lamps) and the car’s name spelt out on the nose. Like the DRLs up front, the tail lamps, too, get an H-shaped LED signature. There’s a fully…

A Ferrari with a V6 engine that’s a plug-in hybrid and isn’t even built around a carbon fibre tub—the 296 GTS brings with it all kinds of contrasting emotions. The blue livery work on this two-seater spider (convertible) is a homage to the 250 LM and exclusive to the Assetto Fiorano pack available on both the 296s. In short, that means carbon fibre appendages on the bumper, interiors and the dash, and GT racing-derived adjustable Multimatic shock absorbers. The pièce de résistance is the powertrain—the 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 hybrid that gives the 296 its name and helps it achieve 200 kmph in 7.6 seconds. In pure EV mode, this Ferrari can drive up to 25 km and do speeds up to 135 kmph from a 164 bhp onboard electric motor.…

Novelist, poet, essayist and musician Amit Chaudhuri is a man of few words, but he chooses them with care. This slim volume—its main text runs to just 71 pages with generous use of white space—is a dense distillation of his thoughts, in this case on India’s current sociopolitical environment. And he doesn’t pull his punches. On Being Indian had its origins in a Parisian apartment, where Chaudhuri lived for several months in 2018-19 while his daughter worked on her two final-year college theses. The subject of one of these was the ‘organic intellectual’. That’s how Chaudhuri first encountered the term coined by Antonio Gramsci in his Prison Notebooks, although the Marxist thinker did little to delineate it. While the book takes off from the anti-CAA protests that swept the country…

The curved white wall imagined by artist Jitish Kallat at Chemould Prescott Road is akin to a black hole, where the fabric of space and time warps and takes you to another moment. It’s the mid-’80s, and an eager fourth-grader is led up the stairs near the iconic Café Samovar by her grand-mother. They step into a wondrous world of colour and shape, a first for the child but a familiar ethos for the professional artist, a graduate from the Sir JJ School of Art. For the young grand-mother, it’s a bittersweet symphony, as the work displayed is by artists that were her contemporaries at art school, but who have since moved on from realistic forms to more abstract expressions, while she refused to reinvent. She wants to introduce her…

The fourth Nipah virus out-break in Kerala in six years has tossed a few questions in the air. To be sure, the disease has claimed only two lives till now—the state’s redoubtable public health apparatus, going into over-drive with its well-rehearsed control measures, has largely tamped down on its spread. But the very reappearance of Nipah, a fruit bat–borne virus with a very high mortality rate of 40-70 per cent, has spread a different kind of infection: fear. The question on everyone’s mind is, what makes the state seemingly uniquely prone to vector-borne and zoonotic diseases? Ever since chikungunya claimed nearly 100 lives in 2006, Kerala has been stalked nearly incessantly by serial killers of the microbic ilk—being the first port of call in India for Covid was only a…

The Gujarat assembly on September 16 passed the controversial Public Universities Bill, 2023, which repeals 11 separate laws concerning as many public universities in the state and instead lays down common guidelines for their governance. The bill was introduced by the Bhupendra Patel government with the aim of aligning the state’s higher education with the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020. “Better governance, better academic standards, enhancement of quality of education for academic autonomy and excellence”, and “regulating higher education” and “nonagricultural, non-medical and non-sectoral universities in the State of Gujarat in more effective manner” are the stated objectives. The Patel government no doubt seems to have taken care—and rather zealously at that—of the ‘regulation’ aspect, but it’s the irony of the ‘autonomy’ part that critics, including academicians and opposition parties,…

SALONI SETHI, ENTREPRENEUR Saloni Sethi is a woman who fearlessly chases her dreams, shattering gender stereotypes along the way. As an active Director in her company, she’s proven her mettle over the past 11 years, starting as an intern and now leading the entire P&L for YellowDigi / advertiCe. Her expertise in Digital Marketing for India’s top clients is commendable, and she also mentors start-ups her company has incubated and invested in. Saloni’s passion extends beyond the corporate world. Under her brand BeyondStree, she uplifts and empowers "Women in Business" by organizing events and meetings with industry leaders and mentors. She provides them with a stage to grow together and serves as a catalyst for their success. Saloni Sethi is a woman who fearlessly chases her dreams, shattering gender stereotypes…

7 PER CENT Women ministers in the Modi cabinet, as against a global average of 23 per cent across 156 countries 13 COUNTRIES in which women hold 50 per cent or more of the positions of cabinet ministers 18 PER CENT Women’s contribution to India’s GDP, among the lowest in the world, with only 25 per cent of India’s labour force being female…

“Uttar Pradesh is setting new standards of development in all sectors under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The state has emerged from the shadows of disappointment and treading the path of its aspirations and expectations. As security strengthens and conveniences increase, there is bound to be prosperity. New development projects will further strengthen the path of prosperity.”- Narendra Modi, Prime Minister To implement investment proposals successfully, maintaining continuous and effective communication with investors is paramount. Swiftly addressing their needs and expectations is not merely a preference but an absolute necessity. It is imperative in every scenario to ensure that each investor receives a prompt and appropriate response. With this objective in mind, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has established an 'Investment Implementation Unit' in all government departments. These units…

For decades, the beginning of autumn meant travelling to the hills, Shimla and its neighbouring tourist spots being a favourite for many families in north India. The cool air, clear skies and the tree cover flush after the rains made every trip a picture-postcard experience. The recently commissioned Kalka-Shimla highway only added to the allure. But not this year. The ferocious rains, initially in the first week of July, then in mid-August and in the last week of the month led to one of the worst calamities in the hill state’s history. The debris from the landslides scattered across the hillsides on the new highway and the big machinery parked there to clear it are ample evidence of the devastation unleashed. Across the state, there are over 1,500 spots where…

GLOBAL SNAPSHOT Over half of global population lives In urban areas. Of the urban growth projected upto 2050, Asia and Africa will contribute 90%. India, China, and Nigeria are expected to account for 35% of this growth. India will add approximately 500 million people to its urban population by 2050. Cities’ vulnerability to climate change, disasters, and conflicts increases due to concentrated people and assets. Smart city development focuses on planning and management for growth, prosperity, and sustainability. INDIA’S MULTIPRONGED APPROACH India’s cities are at different stages of development. There is a lot of heterogeneity in cultures, contexts, legal frameworks, and achievements. Therefore, a three-level strategy, as highlighted below has been followed by the Government of India: MoHUA strategy WHAT DO WE MEAN BY SMART CITIES? Smart cities in common…

HERITAGE CONSERVATION Under the Heritage Conservation programme, the city collaborated with IIT Madras to repair significant landmarks like Gandhi Hall, Rajwada Palace, Gopal Mandir, Krishna Pura Chhatri, and Boliya Sarkar ki Chhatri, as well as to improve public areas. Every Sunday at 10 monuments and 2.49 kilometres in length, Indore City offers educational heritage walks. Four specifically hired historians provide accurate information. GOOD GOVERNANCE With the use of quick-resolution systems, ITMS, ICCC, computerised building permissions, and other tools, Indore is serving as a model for effective government. 39 modules with multilingual features for grievance redress, message broadcasting of important information, sabji Kirana Order Facility in Covid, enabling citizens to receive soft copies of Birth & Death Certificates, etc. are included in the Indore 311 Application, which is operational. The city…

Surat Municipal Corporation has played a pivotal role in growth of the city. SMC is considered as one of the leading ULBs in India having implemented various administrative reforms and undertaken futuristic projects. Under Smart Cities Mission, with a vision to make Surat city more liveable, sustainable and improve the quality of life by creating better infrastructure and implementing smart solution, Surat Smart City has taken up diverse projects spanning across different municipal domains right from heritage conservation project on restoration of Surat’s historic fort to creation of Integrated Command & Control Center. SMART GOVERNANCE Surat Smart City promotes digital governance and citizen engagement through the use of technology. To strengthen the IT infrastructure, Surat has created 128 km dedicated OFC network and data center. Under Suman Eye Project, CCTV…

IT IS A CELEBRATION OF THE PASSION, EXHILARATION, FREEDOM AND JOY THAT’S EXPERIENCED FROM BEING BEHIND THE WHEEL With its strong portfolio of stellar products backed by German-engineering, safety and fun-to-drive experience, Volkswagen has been in the business of bringing the pleasure and joy of driving to lakhs of customers for over a decade. The brand’s unwavering commitment to creating vehicles that go beyond the practical aspects of buying and owning a vehicle by tugging at your heartstrings has made Volkswagen a name with unparalleled appeal. Its customers swear by its vehicles, whether it’s the exciting and exhilarating premium cars like the Virtus and Taigun or the flagship luxury SUV, Tiguan, owners just can't seem to get enough of them, jumping at every single of prospect of driving their Volkswagen.…

The Jimny existed earlier as a three-door model, but, somehow, Maruti Suzuki thought that wasn’t apt for India. So, the company has created a brand new, 5-door version. The new Jimny looks very much like the older version, and, as a result, comes with boxy proportions and a nearly bug-eye-like front-end design. The short bumpers are chiselled much like proper off-road bumpers and, thus, the SUV gets generous ramp over angles. In profile, one can spot the flared wheel arches and the extended wheelbase as compared to the three-door version. While the front door is similar in size, the rear one is a small unit that allows access to the back seat. The only odd sight is the 15-inch wheels, which look small for the SUV. While at first glance,…

MarutiSuzuki Driving School (MSDS) has achieved the milestone of two million learners under its training programme. MSDS commenced operations in 2005 and now has a widespread network of 520-plus schools spread across 250 cities across India. The milestone of a million learner trainings was achieved in 13 years, but the second million took just five years. MSDS offers a number of practical and theoretical courses, in English, Hindi and seven other regional languages, and utilises advanced training methodologies, which include driving state-of-the-art driving simulators. The driving schools also conduct multiple road safety programmes with schools, NGOs, fleet owners and government sectors to impart safe driving habits and road safety measures.…

Hyundai Motor India Foundation has inaugurated multiple telemedicine clinics in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. They are part of HMIF’s Sparsh Sanjeevani social outreach programme, which focuses on providing affordable medical services to rural India. HMIF has added five telemedicine clinics to Odisha and UP each, taking the number of clinics under the Sparsh Sanjeevani programme to 30, which includes clinics in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. More clinics are planned for Uttarakhand. These are nurse-assisted clinics where the patient is assessed by the nurse, who then connects the patient to the right medical specialist via video call. This allows for followup visits as well, with the entire service costing just Rs 100, including medicines. Pathology labs are empanelled with the clinics to conduct tests, while serious cases are referred…

The last time Aditi Ashok competed at the Asian Games, she was a 17-year-old amateur golfer. The Bengaluru girl heads to Hangzhou as a world rank #48. Two years back, she had the nation spellbound with her inspiring showing in Tokyo, where she narrowly missed a medal. Part of India’s seven-member Games contingent, five of whom come from Karnataka, Aditi has been in good form on the LPGA tour circuit, playing 17 tournaments in 21 weeks. “I’ve had a few great weeks this season and, hopefully, my preparation and practice will help me put together four good rounds to have a podium finish,” she says. Any golfer who puts together four good rounds can win, whether amateur or professional, highly-ranked or not Women’s golf will be a particularly competitive event,…

Shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Reddy or SatChi, as they are popularly known among their fans, possess a zeal and flair that once made Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi a.k.a. the Indian Express a duo to root for. Their pairing is proof how yin and yang relationships click. Shetty hails from Mumbai and likes to sample international cuisine; Reddy is from Amalapuram in Andhra Pradesh and is the sort to seek out Indian restaurants even while playing abroad. If Shetty takes off his shirt after a win, Reddy would rather show off his dance moves. Shetty is the more vocal of the two on court, exhibiting a Virat Kohli-like winner’s instinct. “When I am aggressive, I feel a lot more at peace on the court and confident in my stroke…

↘ On the G20 sidelines, PM Narendra Modi called out the continuing anti-India activities by “extremist elements” on Canadian soil, while Justin Trudeau alleged “foreign interference” in Canada’s internal matters ↘ On Sept. 18, Trudeau hinted at a link between “agents” of Indian government and the killing of Hardeep Nijjar, a wanted pro-Khalistan terrorist, in Canada in June ↘ Canada even expelled a top Indian diplomat, inviting a tit-for-tat move from India, which has also rejected Trudeau’s allegations as “unsubstantiated”…

On September 15, Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused the Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee of trying to chase two hares—allegedly maintaining a tacit relation with the BJP as well as trying to establish herself as one of the strongest players in the Opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). Chowdhury was speaking at a party event in Diamond Harbour, a constituency that Mamata’s nephew and Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee represents in the Lok Sabha. “Mamata Banerjee needs to save her nephew. This is why she maintains her connections with the BJP. But she can now feel that the Congress is re-emerging across the country and that is why she has surrendered to our party by being an INDIA constituent. She is trying to catch…

While Canada PM Justin Trudeau’s allegation of New Delhi’s complicity in the assassination of Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Nijjar has got the entire BJP machinery up in arms, the Punjab unit has maintained a relative quiet. The state BJP did organise protests in front of the Canada consulate office in Chandigarh on September 19, but called it off later at the instructions of Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar. This is certainly a role reversal for the saffron party in Punjab, going soft on Khalistani elements. Incidentally, Nijjar is alleged to be the mastermind in the 2016 murder of then state RSS chief, Jagdish Gagneja.…

In its three-decades-long presence in India, Pernod Ricard has made an unparalleled and remarkable contribution to Indian society through its well-thought-out social initiatives. Living up to its vision of ‘Good Times from a Good Place,’ the company over its 30-year-long journey has genuinely left an imprint on the lives of billions of Indians. The company has brought the ethos of its rich global legacy to the core of its societal development interventions at the grassroots level in India making the experience truly ‘Gloeal’ for every Indian. Their strategically designed programs have imbibed the holistic developmental vision of the Government of India and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with the aim to ensure gender equality, quality education and good health and well-being for all. As a responsible corporate citizen, the…

COUNTRIES WITH RESERVATION FOR WOMEN ◼ These countries have some form of reservation for women in their national parliaments France, China, North Korea, Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Niger, Ecuador, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia & Montenegro, Djibouti, Eritrea, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Afghanistan, Armenia, the Philippines COUNTRIES WITH HIGHEST WOMEN REPRESENTATION Women account for half the legislators in national parliaments of these seven nations. In another 23 countries, women’s share in parliament has reached or surpassed 40 per cent HOW TOP DEMOCRACIES FARE IN COMPARISON *Countries with no reservation for women…

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, only TMC fielded more than 33 per cent women candidates Share of women in total candidates fielded in () WHY THE BJP IS WOOING WOMEN VOTERS ↘ Since 1962, when the EC began breaking down voter turnout by gender in general elections, voting percentage among women has jumped from 47% to 67%, marginally higher than men ↘ But, till 2019, more women voted for the Congress at the national level. In 2019, for the first time, BJP became the party with the highest female vote share ↘ The party’s vote share among men (39%) remains marginally higher as compared to women (36%), per a CSDS study SHARE OF WOMEN CANDIDATES Though growing over the years, the share of women candidates in the fray is…

Q. After the recent natural disasters, many people are questioning the development model the hill states are pursuing… A. I have lived almost all my life in Shimla. The ‘intellectuals’ have been writing columns about environmental disasters, but the planned areas in Shimla—where the structures have followed engineering principles—have seen no damage. My belief is that if we ignore structural planning, there will be consequences. Two things are crucial—the soil strata where construction is happening and its load-bearing capacity. Shimla was the summer capital of the British and the current eight-storeyed civil secretariat was built during their time. It was constructed on hard strata. There are other issues as well, such as people getting the architectural drawings cleared at the local government level without consulting the engineers, and the absence of…

Retired bank manager Vimal Rastogi, 70, and his wife always had a place they would go to celebrate special occasions—the banks of the Ganga in Varanasi. Around 15 years ago, though, the visits stopped. Reema got arthritis, and it became impossible for her to use the steep steps on the river’s ghats. But earlier this year, friends and family organised a surprise birthday celebration for her at the spanking new Namo Namah Ghat. Sitting in her wheelchair, Reema performed her beloved Ganga aarti and sought the blessings of the holy river. For people like Reema, the ghat (formerly known as Khidkiya Ghat) has become a boon. It also offers the first glimpse of Kashi if you are coming into Varanasi by train from Mughalsarai (now renamed Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar).…

Rajasthan, the first state in the country to bring such a unique Act. The Right to Health has been enacted in the state. Rajasthan has become the first state to introduce the Right to Health. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring such a law to the entire country. It is to be mentioned that Rajasthan was the first state to implement the Right to Information law. The Right to Information was called the third biggest revolution after the Green and White Revolution. In this way, the Right to Health will prove a Health Revolution. Overall, the picture of treatment in Rajasthan is going for an overall change. Along with this, it is hoped that In coming years, Rajasthan will get the status of…

Empowering Women through Udaan Recognizing the health and hygiene needs of adolescent girls and women, the Rajasthan government, under the leadership of Ashok Gehlot, launched the Udaan Scheme. This pioneering initiative focuses on distributing free sanitary napkins across the state. Rajasthan’s Udaan Scheme stands as a unique and pioneering effort, the first of its kind in the country. This scheme addresses the critical issue of menstrual hygiene, especially in rural areas, where girls often face challenges due to lack of proper sanitary products. In many rural areas, girls resort to using unclean or makeshift materials during menstruation, which can lead to various health issues. Adolescent girls sometimes avoid going to school during their periods, which hampers their education and overall well-being. The lack of access to affordable sanitary napkins compounds…

Smart Cities Mission was launched on 25 June 2015. One of key features of this Mission was 'localizing decision making in cities'. The Mission guidelines allowed autonomy to cities to prioritize their programs, projects and initiatives. The Central Government supported each city with Rs. 500 crore each while equal matching share from the State/local municipality was mandated. Many of the 100 cities selected under the Mission have utilized this opportunity to solve age-old problems which had been delayed, neglected, or remained insolvable due to several reasons. These problems ranged from neglected public spaces, unsafe Riverfronts/water bodies, poor infrastructure, urban flooding, traffic chaos, slum redevelopment, dilapidated historic monuments etc. We know that rivers are the backbone of any human civilization! But the condition of our rivers and its edges have been…

HERO XTREME 160R Hero MotoCorp has launched the Xtreme 160R 4V in India, a step up the ladder with more power and more features. The motorcycle now comes with a golden-coloured 37 mm KYB USD fork and a 7-step preload adjustable Showa monoshock. This, however, is reserved for the top-spec Pro trim with the lower trims using a telescopic fork and a monoshock setup. TRIUMPH SPEED 400 It’s among the first two products that the Bajaj-Triumph partnership has spawned, the other being the Scramber 400 X. Triumph has kitted the Speed 400 with 17-inch wheels wrapped in MRF Steel Brace rubber. It gets a 43mm big-piston fork, a mono-shock and 300mm/230mm front/rear discs for braking. The modern style is quite apparent with the finned cylinder head, traditional exhaust header clamps…

Hero MotoCorp had changed the game many years back with the Karizma and now the legend is back in an all new avatar. Enter the highly anticipated Karizma XMR. In keeping with its Mission to Create, Collaborate, and Inspire, the new Karizma XMR is the result of a unique collaboration between the world-class engineers at Hero’s state-of-the-art Hero Center for Innovation and Technology [CIT) in Jaipur and the Hero Tech Centre Germany[TCG] near Munich. Niranjan Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Hero MotoCorp added, "The launch of Karizma XMR, marks yet another significant milestone in our journey to 'win in premium·. We are rapidly building afull portfolio in this segment, in line with our strategy. The focus will not just be on products with first-in-class and best-in-class features, but also on providing…

This new, second generation of the GLC comes after an eight-month hiatus from Mercedes’ India portfolio. The company had cited substantial demand from customers for the model in its absence. These potential customers for the GLC are now going to get a refreshed new look that’s more rounded compared to the model it replaces. The design changes are apparent in the LED headlamps, the new grille, the redesigned rear tail lamps and the overall look, making it look softer yet more stately. The new 19-inch wheels enhance the aesthetics further, and that’s a good thing as no AMG-line additions are currently on offer for the SUV. The understated yet elegant exterior of the GLC is in contrast with the opulent feel of the interior. The wooden trim with the pin…

Q. HAS CUSTOMER ACCEPTANCE OF EVS IMPROVED? ● BALBIR SINGH DHILLON At Audi India, we have seen continued demand for the e-tron range. We believe that electric car acceptance in the country is happening much faster than anticipated. With the recent launch of the Audi Q8 e-tron and the Audi Q8 Sportback e-tron, we are taking the next step in our electrification journey. We have six electric cars in our portfolio, the widest EV offering in the industry. ● VIKRAM PAWAH BMW Group India remains dominant in the electric luxury segment thanks to its most diverse electric portfolio—BMW i7, BMW iX, BMW i4 and MINI SE. Till date, we have sold close to 1,000 battery electric vehicles (BEV), delivering 11 times more BEVs during H1 2023 than in H1 2022.…

WRESTLING With Vinesh Phogat injured, Bajrang Punia, one of the faces of the protest against former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, will look to defend his title CHESS India go in as favourites in the men’s team event with a wealth of young talent, including Chess World Cup runner-up Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and quarter-finalists Gukesh D., Arjun Erigasi and Vidit Gujrathi FENCING The first Indian fencer to win a medal—bronze—at the Asian Fencing Championships in 2023, CA Bhavani Devi will look to make more history as she hopes to get the nation its first at the Asian Games TABLE TENNIS China reigns supreme in table tennis, but count on Manika Batra and G. Sathiyan, world #8, to shine in the mixed doubles event TENNIS Rohan Bopanna, 43, is on quite…