The year is coming to an end and overall, it's been one hell of a year! We have had our share of ups and downs and we look forward to a better 2020. While we count down the days to the new year, let's also reflect on those who gave us strength to stand up in what we believe, the courageous who didn't bow down and the ones with gumption who inspired us to be better. We, Rediff.com, have selected 26 personalities, who we think are worthy of the title -- HERO OF THE YEAR -- and we want you, dear readers, to choose your hero!
'If we want a better life, we have to treat nature better, and behave properly.' 'That's nature's message to us.'
A high-powered submersible pump from Coal India Ltd will be put into operation on Thursday.
"My heart goes out to the families of the victims and the injured," Modi said.
'Fearlessness, courtesy, humour, wide interests and wisdom, deep commitment to science and technology, passion for the environment, objectivity and the ability to see many things through not only a national but also an international prism.'
In the Narendra Modi-Shah masterminded regime, organisational elections have acquired the gravity, authority and colour of a national or state poll, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
Detailed order, to be passed on Monday, will consider green tribunal's decisions
Not far from Delhi, the orchards of Rataul offer a wide variety of mangoes, including one that rarely makes it to the market
A G Padmanabhan's dream is to make India a 'no food waste economy' and promote sustainable ideas.
These photos prove that we live in a rather strange world.
Presenting the best of Sanctuary Asia Wildlife Awards 2015.
Getting a good night's sleep, it seems, isn't as easy as it is made out to be.
As Melania Trump arrives in Ahmedabad, Sheela Bhatt offers the First Lady Of The United States a primer on one of India's oldest, and historic, cities.
A look at the top tweet from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
Promoters have not proved they mean well for the community.
Filmmaker Mansoor Khan turned his back to the movies, to live a simple life off the land. He has another passion now -- Mother Earth.
From linking innovation with supply of inputs to providing contract farming, the private sector can help agriculture move to the next stage of development.
Sanjeeb Mukherjee, who was eight years old when the deadly gas leaked from Union Carbide's factory, gives his account of living in the city during that fateful period
On International Yoga Day, South Delhi-based yoga teacher Saudamini Chandra found herself shepherding the young girl students to their first taste of India's heritage that was being celebrated across the world. This is her experience.
'I wanted them to explore beyond samosas, tandoori chicken, naan and tikka masala, which were all delicious, but only represented a tiny portion of India's rich culinary diversity.' In Shared Tables, Kaumudi Marathe shares family stories and recipes from Pune to Los Angeles.
Celebrations, of course, will happen when Congress scion, Rahul Gandhi, who anointed himself as the 'sepoy of Niyamgiri tribals in Delhi' at a public meeting here in 2008, visits the area again shortly.
PM has asked the Reserve Bank to prepare a 20-year road map for financial inclusion
"I had kept the first fruits of the Modi mango variety solely for the prime minister but I do not have a medium to send them to him."
Finalists in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition have been revealed and the stunning images have to be seen to be believed.
Eminent Punjabi writer and Padma Shri winner Dalip Kaur Tiwana decided to return her award protesting "recurrent atrocities" on Muslims in the country, as another Kannada writer joined authors giving up their Sahitya Akademi Awards against "growing intolerance".
Because no other leader cared for Indians as selflessly as he did -- and it all started from a remote corner at the edge of this vast country, 100 years ago.
Interrelations of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday took centre stage at the Jaipur LitFest where panelists discussed the upswing in talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan besides India's ties with its neighbour.
'May it be the guardian which calls for breaking down narrow walls of the mind.' 'May it continue to invite everyone to celebrate the possibilities of humanity's one-ness.' Claude Arpi salutes 50 years of Auroville, a Grand Experiment in Living.
Import duty on PVC, at 7.5%, is far lower than that prevailing in comparable economies.
What is it about the charm of the Northeast and its mountains that it takes prisoners?
'Goa is about community living, but blending in takes time.'
'Our Lockdown Life has a sort of schizophrenic, Dr-Jekyll-and-Mr-Hyde personality about it,' says Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Modi government is pushing GM food crops without adequate safety assessment and transparency, claim activists.
'Visiting my friend in his affluent locality, I realised that the Delhi weather had become the great equaliser.' 'Pollution was always in the air, everywhere, and had become the primary subject of all conversations,' notes Ambassador B S Prakash.
Talented photographers from across the world have been named as winners of diverse open categories at the Sony World Photography Awards -- and the champions were judged on just a single image. Faced with hundreds of thousands of entries, the judges have chosen a winner for each of ten categories that include architecture, culture and landscape. Also announced were the winners of the National Awards. Chosen from the same pool of images as the open competition, the National Award recognises the best entrant from each of 62 countries.
Sher Shah Suri ruled for only a few years, but his huge influence on India continues six centuries later, reveals Farhat Nasreen.
'Understand one thing, if you want immediately and magically that things should become cheap, it's not possible. It's a long-term policy.' 'Inflation is linked to the storage system and with the production system. Whenever production rises, prices go lower. So if we store when the prices are low and release them when prices rise, prices can be maintained.' 'The problem is that in our country fruits and vegetables worth Rs 110,000 crore go to waste as they rot. And grains worth Rs 85,000 crore rot. So the storage system is another big reason for inflation.' Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in an exclusive interaction with Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
Commander Abhilash Tomy of the Indian Navy sailed the oceans and conquered likely death after a storm badly injured his spine and destroyed his boat. Archana Masih/Rediff.com met the decorated sailor who fought all odds to return home alive.
