Focus: Tricks Of The Trade - Divine Tongues For Work

Translation work offers new career options to madrasa students, many of whom train to become imams or maulanas.

When Mohammad Arif, a 26-year-old master’s candidate in Arabic at Jawaharlal Nehru University, graduated from Madrasa Taleem-ul-Quran in south Delhi a decade ago, his career prospects seemed dim. After years of religious education, and without having studied subjects such as economics or the sciences, he had few lucrative skills. 

BJP's Amit Shah Vs Trinamool's Mamata Didi: The Next Battle Of Plassey Will Be A Dirty Equation

Will the next Battle of Plassey (well, figuratively) be fought between the BJP and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC)? Wherever it is fought, around Plassey or well to the south of it, it promises to be a dirty war. It will be driven by religious demography.

The original Battle of Plassey was fought in 1757, when the forces of the British East India Company defeated Siraj-ud-Daula, the French-backed Nawab of Bengal, paving the way for British domination over eastern India.

'My Husband Made Me A Prostitute': Take A Driver, Add Alcohol, Garnish With Sexism

What is the worst thing that can happen to someone who drinks and drives? That the person will get into a road accident and die, or become comatose or a paraplegic or an amputee. Or maybe the person will be responsible for others meeting the same fate. That’s what most reasonable people would assume.

But not, sadly, the makers of the latest “don’t drink and drive” video to go viral on the internet. Dramatically titled, “My Husband Made Me a Prostitute”, this video is being shared wildly by people on Facebook, most of whom are singing its praise.

Analysis: Dance Of Democracy In The Terror Heartland

In the terror heartland, drumbeats have replaced the deafening gun roars. Thanks to elections, this terror sanctuary is reverberating with the music and dance to cheer up the candidates. Nested in the gigantic mountains with dense forest cover, the area, over 100 kilometers from Srinagar, has been the terror corridor for more than two decades.

Jungles in the upper reaches had been providing an apt cover to militants. This area used to be the transit camp for the militants who used to infiltrate from across the Line of Control (LOC). This area has witnessed fiercest encounters between army and the ultras in the last 24 years of militancy.

Indian Islamic Youth And The Glamour Of The Terror

What draws young people to terror? Is it gullibility? Is it youthful angst? These are some of the questions that Indian experts are struggling to answer as investigators try to understand what drew 22-year-old Kalyan youth Areeb Majeed and his friends to join the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

What is worrying is that Majeed is hardly an exception. One of the facets of Islamic State that has been grabbing headlines - apart from grisly videos of beheading style executions - is its frighteningly effective recruitment of young men from around the world.

Model Turned Anchor Gauhar Khan 'Slapped' During 'India's Raw Star' Reality Show Finale On Star Plus

Model and actor Gauhar Khan was slapped by an audience member while she was hosting 'India's Raw Star', a reality show on Star Plus, at Film City in suburban Goregaon in Mumbai, police said.

What was supposed to be a glittery event and a musical extravaganza turned out to be a nightmare for Raw Star anchor and model Gauahar Khan. Reportedly, a man slapped the Big Boss Season 7 winner during the grand finale of Star Plus show Raw Star.

Shocking: Odisha Doctor Uses Bicycle Pumps For Sterilisation, Inflates Women Abdomen During Laproscopic Tubectomy

It seems no lesson has been learnt from the horrific Chhattisgarh sterilisation tragedy where about 13 women lost their lives. A new case has emerged in Bhubaneswar wherein a doctor used a bicycle pump to inflate the abdomen of 56 women while conducting laparoscopic tubectomy on them. This has triggered public outrage in the area, officials said. 

The doctor Mahesh Prasad Rout operated the women at a sterilisation camp organised by local authorities at Banarpal village, about 150 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.

Mental Health: Is Schizophrenia A ‘Real’ Illness?

British Psychological Society launches new guidance but it’s unlikely to settle any argument with psychiatrists.

In an attempt to move away from the traditional language used to describe psychosis and schizophrenia, the British Psychological Society has launched an update to its thinking on this issue.

The foreword of the report it has published sets out the vision:
'We hope that in future, services will no longer insist that service users accept one particular view of their problem, namely the traditional view that they have an illness which needs to be treated primarily by medication.'