14 days ago
Destroying Mumbai's cosmopolitansim: Citizens must speak out
After Sachin Tendulkar, it is Mukesh Ambani who has said the obvious - Mumbai belongs to all Indians. That it takes a sports icon and a business magnate to articulate a virtual axiom points to the deplorable context in which such truisms have to be emphasised. Nothing can be more damaging to Mumbai's reputation than the need for such assertions because Tendulkar's and Ambani's statements point to ... read more

20 days ago
Controversial ad: Was it meant to be Rajyavardhan Rathore?
New Delhi, Jan 24 - Who did the creators of the controversial ad have in mind when they in an apparent goof-up pasted a former Pakistan Air Force chief's photo along with those of Indian heroes in a government advertisement? Could it be Olympian Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, a sports icon from the Indian Army? 'The ad makers must have been looking for someone from the Indian armed forces who has a ... read more

1 year ago
Threat to Dhoni family: Fan club lodges complaint
Ranchi, Jan 6 - Fans of Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni Tuesday formally lodged a police complaint against unidentified people after his family recieved an extortion letter. 'We have lodged an FIR - against unknown persons threatening Dhoni's family and seeking Rs.5 million in extortion,' Jitendra Singh, president of the Dhoni Fan Club here, told IANS. Singh handed over a complaint ... read more

1 year ago
Warm homecoming for Sourav Ganguly
Kolkata, Nov 11 - Hundreds of fans mobbed local hero Sourav Ganguly, who returned to the city Tuesday, a day after bidding adieu to international cricket. Bouquets in hand, the cricket buffs shouted slogans eulogising the former Indian captain and constantly cheered 'Dada', 'Dada' - as Ganguly is lovingly known. They held aloft the tricolour, Ganguly's photographs and waved posters thanking him ... read more

1 year ago
Bengal sports minister makes oblique remarks about Ganguly
Kolkata, Nov 10 - Even as West Bengal was singing paeans to home-grown cricketing hero Sourav Ganguly, whose international career ended Monday, state sports minister Subhas Chakraborty sang a different tune at a programme here. Attending a media meet where the itinerary of soccer legend Diego Maradona's visit was announced, Chakraborty made oblique remarks about Ganguly when asked whether the cr ... read more

1 year ago
Small Car's long drive to Gujarat
New Delhi, Oct 7 - The following is the timeline of events surrounding the small car project of Tata Motors, that finally resulted in the company pulling-out of Singur and relocating to Gujarat: 2006 May 18: Tata group chairman Ratan Tata announces small car project at Singur, 40 km from Kolkata, on the day when Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was sworn in the state's chief minister. May 25: Angry demon ... read more

1 year ago
Nano saga: twists and turns so far
The agreement between the West Bengal government and the Trinamool Congress-backed agitating farmers Sunday night has removed the roadbloack before Tata Motors' project to produce the world's cheapest car Nano. Here's the timeline of the Nano saga: May 18, 2006: Tata group chairman Ratan Tata announces small car project at Singur, 40 km from Kolkata, on the day when Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was sw ... read more

1 year ago
Will Bindra's blunt truths wake up Indian sports?
India's latest sports icon Abhinav Bindra told the country quite bluntly that it had no sporting ethos worth the name and that politicians, ministers, bureaucrats and others of the ilk should not be controlling sports bodies. These words, coming from a champion sound punchy. But such sound bites have sparked animated debates every time our athletes have failed in international arenas like the O ... read more

1 year ago
The Singur saga - hope, conflict, despair...
Timeline of developments at Singur, 40 km from Kolkata, where Tata Motors is producing the world's cheapest car Nano amid protests that part of the land for the project was acquired from farmers forcibly: May 18, 2006: Tata group chairman Ratan Tata announces small car project at Singur on the day when Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was sworn in the state's chief minister. May 25: Angry demonstrations b ... read more

1 year ago
Abhinav Bindra returns to a hero's welcome
New Delhi, Aug 14 - India's first individual Olympic gold medal winner Abhinav Bindra returned from Beijing Thursday to be immediately engulfed by an adoring crowd, followed by a series of meeting with dignitaries. President Pratibha Patil invited the ace shooter to Rashtrapati Bhavan within hours of his arrival. Similar meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and chairperson of the ruling U ... read more