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2 weeks ago | 
rediff.com | Aditi Phadnis
Many states are realising that hosting mega events puts the spotlight on them and raises their profile. IMAGE: Miss World 2024 Krystyna Pyszkova speaks at the Miss World press conference in Hyderabad, March 20, 2025. On her right is Julia Morley, chairman and CEO of the Miss World Organisation. Uttar Pradesh had the Maha Kumbh 2025. Telangana will have Miss World 2025. By comparison, Telangana's effort will be modest, but it could be a turning point for the state. As always, not everyone agrees.
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2 weeks ago | 
business-standard.com | Aditi Phadnis
Patna is fizzing with excitement. It is getting a new international airport, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate on April 24, and an elevated roadway. And come August 15, the city will get a metro line - Bihar's first; it is only the first phase, covering five stations and stretching just over 6 km. But even this has sparked anticipation, especially as further lines are expected to follow.
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4 weeks ago | 
medium.com | Aditi Phadnis
Aditi Phadnis·Follow2 min read·--FREE WILL- A mere Illusion? Last December, I had a long debate with my little sister about something that has always baffled me~ are we really in control of our lives? It’s only when everything begins to slip out of our hands, when situations, thoughts, and emotions seem beyond our control, that we realize we were never really the doer of anything. Neither success is ours, nor are failures.
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1 month ago | 
rediff.com | Aditi Phadnis
One fact is irrefutable: Nepal's recent political history tells us that the route to a return of monarchy cannot go through India despite friends in high places, asserts Aditi Phadnis. IMAGE: Nepal's former king Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev is welcomed by pro-monarchy supporters demanding the restoration of the monarchy, which was abolished in 2008, outside the Tribhuvan international airport in Kathmandu, March 9, 2025.
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1 month ago | 
rediff.com | Aditi Phadnis
Since the IPKF's withdrawal from Sri Lanka in March 1990, the LTTE's once-powerful influence in Tamil Nadu has faded. IMAGE: Members of the LTTE women's wing march in Killinochchi, northern Sri Lanka, in 2002. On March 24, 1990, as the last batch of soldiers in the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) boarded the Indian naval troopship INS Magar at Trincomalee Harbour in Sri Lanka, they were informed of a change in plans.
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1 month ago | 
business-standard.com | Aditi Phadnis
"Please don't call it an entry fee," implored Sikkim Principal Secretary (tourism) C S Rao on the phone from Gangtok amid reports that the state government has begun imposing a ₹50 'entry fee' on all tourists coming to the state beginning March 14. "It is not a tax or a cess at all. It is not an entry fee. It is just our way of infusing ownership of sustainable tourism in Sikkim's hospitality industry," Rao said.
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1 month ago | 
business-standard.com | Aditi Phadnis
Since their cohort was created in 2005, Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers have been a bulwark of India's basic health care delivery system. But as their strike in Kerala enters its 30th day, activists camping under makeshift tents outside the Thiruvananthapuram Secretariat have pledged to escalate their protest. At its core is a single demand: "Pay us what you promised."
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1 month ago | 
rediff.com | Aditi Phadnis
'Will the LG be ready to rule with a light hand, having been vested with powers that amount to using a hammer to kill a fly?' asks Aditi Phadnis. IMAGE: Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena administers the oath of office to Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, February 20, 2025. "Mazaa aa gaya" chortled a functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi after the assembly election results, which installed the party in power in the city (the party lost power in 1998).
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2 months ago | 
rediff.com | Aditi Phadnis
As the US gets tougher with visas, the prayers of US-bound devotees in India are getting more fervent, and their purse strings looser. Called Visa Hanuman temples (there are half a dozen all over India), some of them ask for a 'fee'. Kindly note the image has been posted only for representational purposes. As the White House signals it might become harder for Indians to legally live and work in the United States, business is booming for those who provide support services to secure the US visa.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
rediff.com | Aditi Phadnis
'Women' as a political constituency appears to be an idea that has come of age. It is changing India in ways that we only dimly understand, asserts Aditi Phadnis. It looks, at first blush, like an exciting new winning political formula. Empower women -- with cash grants, free transport, and safety both in public places and within the family -- and the votes will come pouring in. The central premise is that female voters no longer vote as directed by the male members of the family.
