Bigwire

Mr. Ranjan Panda, an internationally reputed water and climate expert, founded and mentors the Youth4Water campaign. Since March 2019, the campaign has connected young people to nature through unique initiatives driving grassroots climate action. Now, Mr. Panda has conceptualized a fresh campaign focusing exclusively on urban sustainability. The Big Wire caught up with “Odisha’s Water Man” to discuss the upcoming launch of the “My 500-Meter City” initiative.

When the first reports emerged of Indian men being lured into Russia’s war in Ukraine, they were treated as isolated incidents. A few job seekers had allegedly been cheated, a handful of families misled, and some unscrupulous agents had exploited desperate young men searching for work abroad. Two years later, that explanation no longer holds. The problem has not disappeared.

For more than a century, the architecture of the United States financial system rested upon a simple principle: access to the FederalReserve belonged primarily to banks. Every payment, settlement, and liquidity transaction ultimately flowed through commercial banking institutions acting as intermediaries between the public and the central bank.

Eavesdropping; a bad manner, known to every individual since their childhood, but on some occasions, the situation compels the person to behave like a nosy! On that morning, as I started walking from my home, two individuals just crossed me and started walking in front of me in my morning walk route.

Eavesdropping is a bad manner, known to every individual since their childhood, but on some occasions, the situation compels the person to behave like a nosy! On that morning, as I started walking from my home, two individuals just crossed me and started walking in front of me in my morning walk route.

Shillong, March 22,As part of the centenary celebrations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, its Sarkaryavah (General Secretary) Dattatreya Hosabale addressed a Prominent Citizens’ Meet in Shillong, emphasising social unity, cultural identity and civic responsibility. The event, organised by RSS Meghalaya, was held at Courtyard by Marriott Shillong and brought together distinguished members of society for dialogue and exchange of ideas.

The world no longer pauses before it strikes. There is no council that commands restraint, no forum that compels reflection, no order that moderates impulse. What once passed for global governance now resembles a hollow echo, institutions watching as power asserts itself without consultation, without consensus, without consequence. Consider the pattern. Actions unfold first; explanations follow later, if at all.

In the month of March, when the world is celebrating International Women’s Day with so much fanfare, I amreminded of my granny’s story of the river,its nourishing energy, and its gender classification! “Granny! Granny! Do you know, even the rivers too have a gender category?”, in a shrieking, screaming voice, I uttered those words in a squeaky way, as I entered our apartment from the school, holding the bag at my back. At that point in time, Granny was busy with her balcony-bound gardening task.

Four years into the war between Ukraine and Russia, a growing number of families across northern and western India say their sons were lured abroad with promises of high paying jobs or study opportunities, only to be coerced into signing military contracts and sent towards combat zones.

Across India, urban water reform is still imagined through concrete – treatment plants, elevated reservoirs, new distribution lines. Yet the most fragile part of any utility system is rarely the pipe. It is the relationship between the household and the provider: the accuracy of billing, the willingness to pay, the trust in quality, and the credibility of the state. At first glance, the Jalasathi appears to be a revenue collection mechanism. And in part, SHE is.