Varsha Singh
Passionate about social issues, especially children and women’s rights, rising inequity and human rights, Varsha Singh, a Post-Graduate in English (Hons) from Calcutta University and Mass Communications from St Xavier’s Calcutta, gravitated naturally to journalism in 2013. Varsha has made her passions the subject matter of her work and she has been writing regularly about these issues, besides business, tourism, culture and politics. Of late, Varsha has been pursuing another passion, multimedia journalism making videos reports on social issues and current affairs, looking at them with a different lens. Outside of her work, Varsha is equally passionate about cinema, music, travel and tea. Indeed, she is the inhouse film and music encyclopedia and a full-time chai-o-holic.
Budget 2021: Devil in details
February 3, 2021
For weeks, it had been touted as the most crucial budget that an Indian finance minister has had to place before the Parliament in several decades, if not since the independence of the country. After all, this was the first budget that the government has presented since the full-...
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Is India the Wild West of data privacy?
February 2, 2021
The parliamentary panel on Information Technology has been holding discussions on the Personal Data Protection Bill for almost a year now. Even as the bill stays in a draft stage, on the ground a lot has changed that would make a material difference to data privacy and protection...
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Budget 2021: Focus on demand boost, inequalities & jobs
January 31, 2021
Rare are the occasions when an Indian finance minister would pay heed to a report by a charity about what she needs to do in order to set the country’s malaise right. But on February 1, when union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman steps up to present the union budget for 2021...
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Tales of tractor rally on Republic Day through the lens
January 27, 2021
Violence was the norm of the day, it seems, during the Republic Day tractor rally organised by farmers protesting against the three farm laws passed last year. As the tractor rallies moved from various borders of Delhi, notably Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, the farmers were welcome...
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After Republic Day melee, shocked farmers’ unions say focus on February 1 march to Parliament
January 27, 2021
The mood at Singhu border on Wednesday morning is sombre, to say the least. Weeks of preparations for the Republic Day Tractor Rally lay in shambles on Tuesday evening as violence at the iconic Red Fort and ITO in Delhi by a breakaway group of farmers overwhelmed the main tractor...
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Let Data Protection Authority regulate nonpersonal data, disband panel: IFF
January 23, 2021
Internet and privacy activist group Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) has urged the government to immediately disband the panel headed by former Infosys chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan that drafted the report on nonpersonal data as well as its revised version. The revised draft is...
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Farmers reject offer of holding farm laws in abeyance
January 22, 2021
After the 10th round of talks with the government, media reports said a middle ground could be found over the latest offer of the government to hold the farm laws in abeyance for about 18 months. Media also quoted farmer leader Shiv Kumar Kakka, who has participated in all the 10...
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A Signal to exit WhatsApp
January 16, 2021
Late on Friday, WhatsApp, world’s leading messaging app, announced that it was delaying the implementation of its new privacy policy which would have led to sharing of comprehensive user profile and sensitive data with Facebook, its parent. Users now have till May 15 to accept ...
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Women at Singhu border to lead Republic Day tractor march
January 15, 2021
On each visit the Singhu border looks a bit different. Almost every day something new is built to meet the immediate needs of the tens of thousands for whom Singhu border has become their new home. On the evening of Lohri many dedicated tented sleeping areas for women sprang up ...
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Buckle yourselves for the Great Indian election festival
January 13, 2021
Elections in the world’s largest democracy are always crucial as well as nerve wrecking. If so, get ready for a heavy dose of nerves as terms of the legislative assemblies of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry reach an end between May and June 2021. The stake...
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Artists’ day out at Tikri border in support of farmers’ protest
January 9, 2021
“The government is being government. The day it starts to govern, the day it starts to apply itself as a verb rather than a noun, I think we will see a lot of changes. Because you look at it, it’s just not performing when you walk around here you see what a hellhole it [&...
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A silent yet spirited night at Singhu border
January 7, 2021
It’s around 10:30 pm. The mercury has already dropped below 2°C and a fairly dense fog has descended, forecasting yet another chilly night at Singhu border, on northern fringe of Delhi that has become home to over 100,000 farmers, which remains enveloped in total darkness and ...
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