Pallab Bhattacharya

Pallab Bhattacharya is a special correspondent for The Daily Star.

India launches AI-based multimodal LLM for Indian languages

India has recently launched an indigenously developed AI-based multimodal large language model (LLM) for Indian languages.

2w ago

Indian startup claims to invent stroke kit to slash paralysis risk

An Indian start-up claims to have come up with a high-end med-tech kit, a life-saving intervention, for patients suffering from for treatment of acute ischemic stroke (brain stroke) which reduces the risk of long-term paralysis and disability.

2w ago

India unveils locally developed weather forecast system

India has recently unveiled the country’s first indigenously developed high-resolution weather forecast system.

3w ago

Indian Navy reconstructs ancient ship inspired by Ajanta Cave paintings

A 1,600-year-old wooden ship, long extinct and no longer in naval service anywhere in the world, has been successfully reconstructed

4w ago

Indian scientists develop a super-fast charging sodium-ion battery

A team of Indian scientists in Bengaluru has developed a super-fast charging sodium-ion battery (SIB) based on a NASICON-type cathode and anode material, that can charge up to 80% in just six minutes and last over 3000 charge cycles.

1m ago

India withdraws export ban on 100% broken rice

The world’s largest rice exporter has revoked the ban to reduce its domestic stockpile

3m ago

Docking, growing vegetables, and manufacturing in space

On January 16, India’s national space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), conducted a successful space docking (SpaDeX) operation by bridging two satellites in space, after overcoming hiccups twice.

5m ago

Could the Indian foreign secretary’s visit create positive optics?

Vikram Misri's visit to Dhaka signals efforts to stabilise Bangladesh-India ties.

6m ago
July 13, 2021
July 13, 2021

India’s new cooperatives ministry

On July 6, the Indian government came out with the announcement of a separate Ministry of Cooperation with the avowed aim of realising the vision of “Sahkar se Samriddhi” (“Progress Through Cooperation”).

July 9, 2021
July 9, 2021

The Modi government’s image makeover

Politics, particularly electoral politics, in India is as much about public perception as about the quality of governance. This comes out quite clearly in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s major expansion of his council of ministers and reshuffle of portfolios on Wednesday night.

July 8, 2021
July 8, 2021

Tribal rights activist’s death: A wake-up call for India

In May this year, India's veteran tribal rights activist Stan Swamy had told the Bombay High Court—where he was being tried after being arrested under the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, for his alleged links with Maoists—that he would die if "things were to go on this way".

June 30, 2021
June 30, 2021

India opens Asia’s longest high-speed track

India today got Asia’s longest high-speed track for testing automobiles including high-end cars.

June 18, 2021
June 18, 2021

South Asia’s Sunshine Moment at UN

On June 8, South Asia acquired a rare salience at the United Nations after the Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid was elected as the new President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) for a one-year term beginning in September.

June 11, 2021
June 11, 2021

Assam’s NRC: Through the prism of a migrants’ descendant

Much has been written about the flawed and controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the northeastern Indian state of Assam and the mammoth humanitarian crisis that it has triggered.

June 10, 2021
June 10, 2021

India’s Sedition Law and Media Freedom

Two orders given by India’s Supreme Court in two separate cases early this month have, once again, brought into sharp focus the issue of the colonial-era law relating to sedition in the context of media freedom. Both cases involve journalists and their reporting.

May 19, 2021
May 19, 2021

Narada Bribery Case: 2 West Bengal ministers to seek bail again

A day after their arrest in the Narada bribery case, two senior ministers of West Bengal and a Trinamool Congress leader are set to appeal the Calcutta High Court’s stay on their bail granted by a court in Kolkata.

May 18, 2021
May 18, 2021

Narada Bribery Case: Mamata’s 2 ministers sent to jail

The Calcutta High Court last night stayed the bail granted by a trial court to two senior West Bengal Ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, and ruling TMC legislator Madan Mitra and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee.

May 16, 2021
May 16, 2021

PM Hasina’s letters to Mamata, Sarma: Beyond niceties

Seldom does an assembly or Lok Sabha election in any Indian state arouse as much interest among the people across the country’s border as in Bangladesh. The results of the recent assembly polls in West Bengal and Assam were keenly watched in India’s eastern neighbour. The interest in West Bengal was, understandably, much greater given the powerful linguistic and cultural connections between the state and Bangladesh.