'How do we ensure that the unlocking, which is desperately needed for earning income and livelihood, will not create ugly spikes in the infection rates?' 'And if it does, what then?'asks Omkar Goswami.
Behold the breathtaking winning and shortlisted images from one of the world's most prestigious photography contests. The amazing shots are from the open competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2020, which received 193,000 entries from photographers in over 200 territories. Scroll down and feast your eyes on our pick of the shortlisted and category-winning entries.
'Isn't it tragic, comic as well as ironic that the people who owe their allegiance to the Constitution of India are declared deshdrohis without an iota of evidence?' 'But this mistake has to be corrected and those who actually and directly fomented the Bhima Koregaon riots and the masterminds behind these people will have to be exposed now.'
'The hotel room number can never total up to 8.' 'I fly First Class and won't take a pre-9am flight.' Check out Bollywood's travel plans.
'Anything that is anti-growth is demonised because growth is the biggest religion.' 'Growth is synonymous with progress. In fact, it is the opposite.' 'Exponential growth is cancer.'
'China's growing nexus with Pakistan and the two countries' unresolved territorial disputes with India continue to pose a formidable national security threat to India,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'Having consumed thousands of the sickly sweet chenna globes of varying textures over the years, I must demur,' says Uttaran Das Gupta.
Modi may take satisfaction from his display of considerable political skill in managing a mercurial, temperamental and unpredictable US president and nudging him into uncharacteristic restraint and even carefully orchestrated remarks. This personal chemistry will come in handy if Trump returns as president in the November elections, says former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Cyberspace is a battleground as important as the traditional domains of air, land, sea and space, says US Defence Secretary Ash Carter, who visits India next week.
'It is time we Indians learnt to believe in ourselves, and stopped questioning our own capabilities every time a space launch is not a glorious success,' says M D Riti.
The South African government and large pharmaceutical companies are in combat mode regarding the proposed national policy on intellectual property that hopes to improve access to medicines for the poorer sections of the population.
Indonesia is not even counted as a next-door neighbour of India, though the southern-most tip of India is less than a hundred miles away from the northern-most tip of Indonesia. Bringing Indonesia back in the mainstream of the Indian strategic calculus is a step long overdue, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
'When a new superhero film releases, China creates figurines based on the film and puts them out in the market along with the film's release.' 'Does our domestic manufacturing sector been able to do it so quickly? No.' 'We have a large millennial population and we have to make products that are more in line with the tastes of those people.' 'The MSME sector can win back its customers only this way.' 'When they change with the consumers's needs, there will be a move towards Indian products.'
'This confrontation could have been avoided by a less arrogant administration that initially listened, used whatever negotiating skills they had and tried to be more credible,' observes Ramesh Menon.
'The attacks made clear to all the Gulf States that Pakistan was the nursery and sanctuary of extremist violence and that this violence threatened all the countries in the region.'
On its 250th birthday, the Survey of India will send 30 mountaineers, armed with the most modern equipment, to measure the height of Mount Everest.
The 'Make in India' vision cannot survive in the long-term without concrete measures to build a concurrent 'Create in India' movement.
Stunning images from the Underwater Photography competition
Travel bloggers Amrita Das and Rutavi Mehta list out their recommendations.
Dr Behera speaks about how the nationwide positive reaction to the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir indicates that the very idea of India is changing. From a diverse, multicultural entity, could India be becoming a place where assimilation is more important than accommodation?
Nearly 100 Indian-Americans are on the ballot for the midterm elections and have emerged as strong contenders.
Rescuers raced against time to search for survivors still feared trapped under mountains of debris in quake-hit Nepal where over 5,000 people have been killed, even as heavy rains hampered global humanitarian efforts in remote areas of the battered country.
Dubbing the next election a choice between governance and development on one side and chaos on the other, the prime minister cited the example of Karnataka, where the Congress-Janata Dal(Secular) alliance 'stole the mandate' to form government with 'development taking a back seat'.
The Left has ideologically become irrelevant globally, says the finance minister.
He said the country has witnessed a journey from indecisiveness to clarity and decisiveness.
Accordingly, 12 affiliated units -- Andhra, Assam, Goa, Jharkhand, Kerala, Mumbai, Rajasthan, Railways, Tripura, Universities, Uttar Pradesh, Vidarbha -- have submitted their suggestions to the amicus curiae and they have reached a common ground.
Darjeeling born Ekom Mamik found her true calling in life in Kenya, when she least expected it.
The Adhyayan Quality Standard engages schools in self-review to improve education standards, says Anjuli Bhargava.
This is the first time the Pakistan army has publicly backed the arrest of India-focused jihadis.
'Cultural property crimes have been linked, by the United Nations and others, to terrorism.' 'These links show the perpetrators to be associated with major criminal and terrorist networks like ISIS.
Women are great team players and collaborators, 'but they don't put themselves forward,' Dr Gagandeep Kang, the first Indian woman scientist to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, tells Veenu Sandhu.
China has conveyed its willingness to enhance cooperation with India on combating the menace of terrorism, including in the United Nations, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday winding up a "fruitful and productive" four-day visit to that country.
'By crudely dragging the topic into the bazaar to flog it for momentary pleasure, we turned it into a dead carcass by the time Modi even got back from Xiamen,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Sania Mirza has said it is too early to take a call on who she would partner in mixed doubles at the Rio Olympic Games.
Recent incidents suggest these safeguards perform well in simulated conditions and mock drills, but often fall short when actual threats emerge.
Protests by central labour unions and widespread criticism from Opposition parties because of job losses on account of demonetisation and the GST have put the contentious labour reform proposals in the slow lane.
Modi said the push towards a gas-based economy where the share of environment-friendly fuel in the energy basket will be increased from 6.2 per cent to 15 per cent by 2030, will create lakhs of jobs and help meet India's COP-21 commitment of cutting emission intensity by 33-35 per cent.
'This is a long haul, god knows where it will end.' 'So it is best to conserve all the funds right now for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.'
Shubir Rishi/Rediff.com continues his jungle adventure and narrates his day at the Kanha National Park.
The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. This plurality of our society has come through assimilation of ideas over centuries. Secularism and inclusion are a matter of faith for us. It is our composite culture which makes us into one nation.
