Indian rower Dattu Bhokanal has battled adversity to secure Olympic qualification and his journey to Rio has been made even more remarkable following a childhood bout of aquaphobia and fears for his mother's health during his final preparations. Hailing from a drought-hit region in Maharashtra, the daily fight for the treasured commodity led him to develop a fear of water as a youth and it was not until he joined the army in 2012, that he learned to swim. His phobia conquered, the 25-year-old Bhokanal booked his ticket to Rio after winning a silver medal in the men's single sculls event at the Asian and Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta at Chung-ju in South Korea in April. Bhokanal gave up his studies to support his family after his father died of cancer in 2011 and his qualification can also be regarded as a reward for his ability to perform through another tragedy, which almost derailed his Olympic dreams. Shortly before he was due to depart for South Korea, his mother suffered brain damage in a fall resulting in almost total amnesia.
The move came after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directed Kolkata Police commissioner Anuj Sharma to deploy a nodal police officer in every hospital.
The sea training also included 'how to fish', something that made Kasab think that 'he had got a job and he could earn a respectable living'.
'More people will come out of the BJP. You just wait and watch.'
Gautam Gambhir lived a charmed life but the famous grit was displayed in abundance on way to an unbeaten 92, his final knock in competitive cricket guiding Delhi to 190 for one.
'In our country, there is a lot of checks and balances, the figures cannot go wrong.' 'Because they are being checked by not only the governments, but by doctors themselves.'
'Farmers love cows but find it uneconomical to afford fodder expenses'
'You don't peak every week. One has to keep playing.' 'It's a sport where you have to play at least 25, 30 weeks a year.' 'You have to keep your head down and go with the flow.'
There is quiet a bit of history behind NCP chief Sharad Pawar's recent outburst about the Maharashtra chief minister, says Neeta Kolhatkar
'A number of facts are still left unaddressed by the Supreme Court judgment.' 'I think there are enough grounds for an inquiry to be ordered.'
Resident Doctors' Association of the AIIMS in Delhi, which earlier decided not to join the strike, announced withdrawal of all non-essential services from noon after a junior doctor at its trauma centre was assaulted in the early hours of Monday.
Gujarat has topped with a score of 71.14% on ease of doing business list.
'These are challenging times and we get energised by that.' 'I don't feel that 'I am tired now and I should relax', because even if someone calls us at 12 o'clock I have to answer his call.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi stirred up a hornet's nest when he said that 'if there is electricity during Ramzan, there should be electricity during Diwali too'. Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf speaks to Shailendra Dubey, chairman, All India Power Engineer's Federation, to ascertain the truth.
The Centre said that there was no legal provision to declare a disaster as a national calamity, amid demands for declaring the floods as a national disaster.
'In the last six years, there have been 29,140 fire incidents in Mumbai in which 300 people have died and 925 people have been injured.' 'So, at least 10 to 12 fire accidents take place in Mumbai every day.'
'Most of the cases in Mumbai are asymptomatic -- 85 per cent you can say.' 'Only 10 to 15 per cent are symptomatic.'
'The government lights lamps for nurses but when we demand what's due for us, they don't listen at all.'
The government will also evacuate Indians on Friday from China's Wuhan city, the epicentre of the deadly Coronavirus, which has spread to at least 17 countries already.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and other top leaders paid rich tributes to senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who died on Saturday.
'The previous (Congress) government at least did not veto provisions of the cattle laws.' 'The BJP is actively weakening the provisions.' 'The BJP government tried to export goats from Nagpur for slaughter to the Middle East.' 'The whole country was aghast and offended. We are a country of Ahimsa.' 'The BJP has incentivised the butcher industry so meat export has gone up, live animal export has gone up, leather export is on the rise, smuggling has gone up.'
Several people are feared trapped under the debris of the structure.
Roads are of great importance to win the war against the rebels in Sukma
As India gets increasingly urbanised, one man tries to minimise its silent casualty.
Amid heart-rending scenes, the mortal remains of five army jawans killed by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control were on Thursday consigned to flames with full military honours in their respective villages in Bihar and Maharashtra.
Round-up of the Day Three action in the Ranji Trophy matches being played in different part of the country.
The Manmohan Singh government's rush to pass the Food Security Bill reflects extreme paucity of logic and action, says Neeta Kolhatkar
The Supreme Court will continue its hearing on the mercy plea of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Abdul Razak Memon on Tuesday.
Radhakishan Damani is the only billionaire to see his wealth grow by around 20% during the lockdown.
Iqbal wanted to land the smuggled goods by helicopter on the Andaman Islands. DK asked, 'Iqbal, a helicopter will bring the consignment to the island, drop it there and then return. Won't radars detect it?' 'No.' 'How?' 'Radars can't detect aircraft that fly at a low altitude. Our helicopter, after entering India's air space, will dive and fly at four feet above the sea level.' 'For that, I have a German pilot in mind. He was an ace aviator in the last world war.' An enthralling excerpt from Aabid Surti's Sufi: The Invisible Man Of The Underground.
With the Maharashtra government doling out pieces of the lush green Aarey forest to various utilities, the tribals living in it for generations are feeling increasingly insecure. Hepzi Anthony reports.
Recent statistics show that the situation is no different across the country with several hospitals lacking the infrastructure to manage a breakout of a blaze.
Most farmers want to give Modi a second chance. They hope that the BJP loses at least 50 seats, so that it is dependent on its coalition partners who will then keep a check on Modi.
In just 18 frames, the photograph of the dainty Sheena, with her winsome smile and starry eyes, dissolved, flesh falling off her facial bones, into what the CBI alleged was her corresponding yellowed, morose-looking skull with hollow, haunting eye sockets.
Nurses in government hospitals across the country on Saturday called off their indefinite strike after reaching a compromise with the Centre, in a major relief for Delhi and some other cities battling rising cases of dengue and chikungunya.
The virus continued to spread its tentacles to new states, including Mizoram.
How Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar find themselves in a huge controversy.
Home-grown taxi booking companies which have a business model similar to Uber's might have stricter security norms imposed on them.
Midcap stocks continued to remain on buyers' radar with BSE Midcap index up 0.1%.
This is not the first time IFS officer Devyani Khobragade has found herself under the scanner, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
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