Shobhan Singh, 25

Living alone since: 14 years

They set hearts racing with their scorching act on the ramp. But off it, these beauties play another role with equal élan: that of the yummy mummy.

Looks like the fun-loving ladies in the capital need no excuses to let their hair down on a breezy summer evening.

Every nation can proudly count its child population as part of its census programme to ascertain the strength of their future citizens. In their supple hands, lies our tomorrow.

On September 6 and 7, 2009, 43-year-old Jhintu Bariha of Chabripali village under Khaprakhol block in Bolangir district of Orissa lost two of his three children: 10-month-old daughter Gunduru Barih

The massacre of 24 personnel of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) in one of the deadliest ever attacks by Naxals on their camp at Sildah in West Midnapore district of West Bengal is yet another reminder of the glaring deficiencies and drawbacks in policing, particularly the way police forces are being used, how they are being treated and the utter lack or absence of training in the light of the threats they are meant to tackle.

Much has been written recently on the various contributions that the late Dr. K.N. Raj made to India’s development. He was not only the architect of the First Five Year Plan, but the architect of India’s economic policy “thought” if that word could be used to describe a domain.

THIRTY-EIGHT years ago, Indira Gandhi was the only Prime Minister to attend the historic UN Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972. Fifteen years later, when Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway’s youngest woman Prime Minister, prepared the now famous Brundtland report — also called Our Common Future — she admits to having been influenced by Indira Gandhi’s commitment to the environment. Her report helped focus for the first time on the interdependence of nations — that they must follow a sustainable development path in order to survive. Brundtland — now a UN envoy on climate change — says that environmental concerns will have to be followed by decisive political action.

Atiq Rahimi belongs to the diaspora generation of Afghans. The generation that witnessed the gradual transition of the rugged terrain of the country to the ruins that now is Afghanistan. “At the moment, Afghanistan is invaded by the world,” Atiq says in an obvious reference to the presence of the Nato forces there.It was almost three decades ago when, like many of his countrymen, the repercussions of the Soviet invasion eventually forced Atiq to cross the border to Pakistan. A year of uncertainty followed until France provided a safe haven to the man and his creativity.

Man is the only living species that can think and is considered to be the most intelligent of all. Man is a social animal, a gregarious butterfly that shifts from one cluster to another, thus forging new bonds with different communities, races, religions, castes and creed.The other creatures, insects or organisms find it hard to fight out humans under the vast firmament. The latter has time and again vanquished the rest to constitute his own sustenance over the terra-firma. It’s all in the name of survival instincts.