DIEGO GARCIA WRITES– Bangladesh, a small country with a GDP of 250 billion (2017), is rapidly industrializing— giving stiff competition to two Asian giants: China and India. Even though most of our apparel is made in China, Bangladesh does not fall far behind; in 2017 it was the world’s second-largest…
Full Article WORLD: Who is China and India’s New Industrial Rival?
PAULA MARKOW WRITES– Outfest Fusion, a film festival that showcases the LGBTQ community, ran from March 1 to 5 at the Chinese Theatre, offering an array of short films. One segment that caught my attention was a series of shorts about the LGBT community in India. The first short, Yaman,…
Full Article LGBTQ: The Indian Films From Outfest You Need to See
Despite the positive effects of online social communities, easy access has led to a spread of so-called “fake news,” where false stories are forwarded among family members and friends. To manage such abuse, WhatsApp, a messaging platform, has launched a campaign in India to filter out such messages by deleting…
Full Article India: WhatsApp’s Fight Against Fake News in India
(Certain names in the story have been shortened to protect the person’s identity.) AASHNA MALPANI WRITES– I hear a piercing wail in the background. My source puts the phone on hold for a minute, then returns with apologies: “Sometimes I wish I never had him.” She sounds exasperated, complaining about…
Full Article INDIA: Postpartum Depression, Women, and the Indian Society in Between
OLIVIA AMEZCUA WRITES — The smog that has been polluting New Delhi for decades has reached a new intensity, according to recent reports, with pollution levels 20 times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit. In fact, the New Delhi Air Quality Index hit an all-time high reading of 999. Last…
Full Article India: Choked by Smog
SAUD AL RASHED WRITES – Social media is a relatively new phenomenon, and, due to the fact that it is relatively new, it is not very clear how it should be handled. The matter is complicated by the fact that social media platforms are evolving every day -and sometimes things…
Full Article INDIA: THE NEW, RAZOR-FAST TECHNOLOGY OF HATRED AND THE URGENT NEED TO DULL THE EDGES
YOUSEF AL HOMAIDHI WRITES — Aadhar is an ambitious project started by the Government of India which functions under the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and came into existence in 2009. Aadhar is a 12-digit unique identification number that is given to each and every citizen by UIDAI. It…
Full Article INDIA: NOT UNLIKE FACEBOOK, WILL ‘AADHAR’ PROVE A BOON OR A CURSE?
FASSA SAR WRITES – Amazon and Netflix are now battling it out to gain the eyeballs of millions of Indian television viewers. These two company giants are moving away from the traditional Hollywood strategy where television and film are created for American audiences with the hope they catch some international…
Full Article FILM: AMAZON AND NETFLIX TURN INDIA INTO A HUGE CREATIVE OPPORTUNITY FOR ITS BEST YOUNG TV AND MOVIE TALENTS
DIANA JABLONSKI WRITES – Riots and protesting broke out in India last month against the release of the controversial Bollywood film “Padmaavat.” Protesters have filled streets, vandalized cinemas, ransacked shops, burned vehicles, and called for the film’s ban. In fact, protests started a year before the film’s release, with vandals…
Full Article INDIA: PADMAAVAT FILM LEADS TO CONTROVERSY REGARDING RELIGION
FASSA SAR WRITES – Arunachalam Murugunatham’s community once even labeled him a pervert when he decided to create a low-cost sanitary pad for women in rural India. He noticed that the women’s menstrual cycles were considered so taboo, it led to women using old rags, sand, leaves and even ash…
Full Article FILM: WHOEVER SAID INDIA HAS NO SENSITIVE MALES?
MURAD BASRAWI WRITES – Pakistan has condemned Indian soldiers for the brutal killing of three innocent civilians, and the injury of several others, in the Ganowpora Village of Shopian—a district in India-Occupied Kashmir this past month. Pakistan’s Foreign Office in Islamabad delivered an angry statement to the media claiming that…
Full Article PAKISTAN: MORE CIVILIAN KILLINGS, MORE CONDEMNATIONS – WILL IT NEVER END?
AASHNA MALPANI WRITES – Stories of harassment and violence in India made headlines all over the world again when a Swiss couple was brutally assaulted by a group of five young men at Fatehpur Sikri near Agra late last month. Marie Droz and Quentin Jérémy Clerc, both 24, decided on…
Full Article INDIA: INDIA HATES WOMEN (EVEN MORE) WHEN THEY’RE WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX
JESSICA LEGASPI WRITES — Indians around the world can turn to the media to see the Diwali celebration in India, but for those living in New Delhi, they can barely see the hands in front of their faces. On October 31, the day after Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights,…
Full Article INDIA: THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT BLANKETS PEOPLE IN SMOG
FASSA SAR WRITES – Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s new Bollywood film, Pink, combats underlying sexism and androcentrism within Indian culture. The film points out the misogynist culture that justifies violence against and control of women. The film, Pink, tells the story of three girls, Meenal, Falak, and Andrea, who attend a…
Full Article INDIA: NEW BOLLYWOOD FILM GIVES MISOGYNY THE PINK SLIP
ADRIAN NARAYAN WRITES — It’s become quite clear that the rest of the world has turned its eyes towards the United States when it surveys ongoing civil unrest around the world. And how sad is this? Some countries have had to issue travel warnings due to recent internal protests, but…
Full Article USA AND CHINA: COMPARING TIANANMEN SQUARE’S ‘TANK MAN’ AND BLM’S ‘STATUE OF LIBERTY’