New Delhi: India and the European Union (EU) are expected to complete the legal scrubbing of the free trade agreement text in the next 15-20 days, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday. India and the 27-nation bloc announced in January the conclusion of negotiations for the trade pact. After the legal scrubbing…
MS Sparsha As India steadily moves towards cleaner fuels through its Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme, the introduction of E20 petrol has triggered an equally vigorous debate. Social media posts, rumours and anecdotal accounts have fuelled fears that E20 could severely damage vehicle engines. But what do the available facts actually suggest? The first point…
Diplomacy has many languages. Some are spoken through treaties. Others through trade agreements. And then there is the newest dialect perfected by Beijing—floating geopolitical balloons, hoping someone else mistakes them for policy. The sudden resurrection of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor falls squarely into that category. The BCIM is hardly a new idea. Conceived in…
India’s Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) is a government programme that lets households, temples and institutions deposit physical gold with banks, get it tested and melted into standard bullion, and receive a deposit that pays interest in rupees and returns in gold or cash at maturity. In plain terms, it tries to turn “idle” home gold…
Water is not just a natural resource, but the foundation of life, civilization, economic development, food security, and environmental balance. Most of the great civilizations in human history developed along rivers, as water has been the fundamental source of life and prosperity. However, in the twenty-first century, increasing pressure on water resources has created a…
When the Telangana government launched the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA), it promised a new era of urban governance. The stated objective was noble and necessary—to reclaim government lands, protect lakes and water bodies, restore drainage channels, and prevent Hyderabad from sinking under the weight of decades of illegal encroachments. Few could…
Upadhyayula Lakshman Rao In the measured cadence of the Trishtubh, the sage Agastya raises his contemplative voice to the divine twins, the Ashvins, whose presence bridges the luminous realms of heaven and the sustaining fields of earth. His prayer unfolds not merely as devotion, but as a profound inquiry into the cosmic cycle, wherein nourishment,…
Sanjaya, addressing Dhritarashtra, spoke with grave intensity: “O King, listen with a steady mind. The Pandavas, impelled by urgency to rescue the valiant Abhimanyu, advanced with irresistible force, cleaving through your armies and casting the resources of the Kauravas into confusion and despair. The warriors of Panchalas, Yadavas, Pandyas, Kekayas, and Matsyas, along with King…
Sri Khadgeshwari Brahmasthana is one of the most revered Shakti shrines in the Tulunadu region of Karnataka, located at Padubidri in Udupi district. Situated amidst a sacred Nagabana (serpent grove), the temple is dedicated to Goddess Khadgeshwari, also known as Vanadurga. Unlike conventional temples, this ancient Brahmasthana preserves the age-old traditions of Shakti and Naga…
Hyderabad: The Telangana Cricket Association (TCA) on Sunday levelled a fresh set of allegations against the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), claiming that the state’s apex cricket body was functioning in violation of legal and administrative norms and calling for structural reforms to restore transparency and accountability. In an official statement, TCA General Secretary Dharam Guruva…
