Kishorechandra Wangkhem, 41, is one of the petitioners who have challenged the controversial sedition law in the Supreme Court. This outspoken Manipur-based journalist has been booked twice for sedition, twice under the National Security Act (NSA) and once for defamation. As he walked out of jail on July 23—after spending more than two months in Manipur Central Jail in Imphal on an NSA case—he said he has become more confident and fearless to speak the truth.

Nepal’s anarchic monarchy had an unceremonious end after the notorious palace massacre of 1 June 2001. The incident was a kind of implosion within an exclusive system. King Gyanendra was able to drag on the dead and defunct monarchy for the next five years simply because the 9/11 incident took place and subsequently the US declared a “war on terror”.

Every year, World Hepatitis Day is celebrated on July 28 to raise awareness and understanding of the disease. This date remarks the birthday of Nobel prize-winning scientist Dr Baruch Bloomberg who discovered the hepatitis virus and developed the diagnostic test and vaccine against the virus.

Sustainable land management is a complex process which calls for a holistic approach. An interdisciplinary and inter-institutional coordination mechanism is a must but is lacking and/or ineffective at present. In order to reverse land degradation processes, we require appropriate incentives and actions to change the behavior of the land users.

Nobody is safe until everybody is safe. So a large chunk of the world population needs to be inoculated against COVID-19 so as to develop herd immunity in the population.

In order to emancipate and liberate oursewlves from the caste system, we have to, first and foremost, erase and eliminate it from our minds and remind ourselves that discrimination is an act of sin. But that’s a herculean task as the caste system has been stuck deep in our thoughts for over a millennia.

Cooperatives in Nepal offer a wide range of services, including savings and credit, insurance and non-financial services. Their achievements in the field of socio-economic development of the members indicate that they can grow as cooperative players in the development of Nepal.

The very premise of the "special-relations" is flawed, and so are its futile implementation attempts by the Indian side. Undoubtedly, India wants Nepal to be a good neighbor. In that case, Indian policymakers should shun the mindset of 'special relations’ and focus on friendly and good neighborly relations between the two sovereign countries, putting all major bilateral issues -- including the inert 1950 Treaty -- on the table for renegotiation.

With mere 63 seats in parliament which has 275 seats, the Nepali Congress party (23%) was not even fit for an opposition, forget heading the government. But the unfolding of political events and circumstances pushed Deuba to head a wobbling government that could easily fall apart with no reasons rather than holding together with a purpose.

Monitoring and surveillance will enable early detection and investigation into adverse events following immunization and adverse events of special interest.