Calcutta

Women rush out of a train during peak hours at Churchgate station in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 20, 2023.

Indian women do less paid work. It’s bad news for the economy.

Jobs

Across the world, higher economic growth has seen a rise in women’s employment, according to the United Nations. But India is bucking that trend, where educated women are working less in paid positions.

This Pakistani woman lives in extreme poverty; 60 percent of Pakistanis live on less than $2 per person per day.

Can extreme global poverty end in this century? Here’s why it looks promising

Development
Typists in Calcutta

You can still find street typists in India, but probably not for long

Arts, Culture & Media
Sujaria's emigration pass.

A journalist tells her great-grandmother’s story as a ‘coolie woman’

Lifestyle & Belief

As Washington careens toward shutdown, Saudi cleric tries to keep women from careening anywhere

Global Scan

Haleem a Ramadan food that crosses religious boundaries in India

Lifestyle & Belief

Ramadan just ended and with it the period of daylight fasting observed by most Muslims around the world. In India especially, the fast is often broken with a dish called haleem, a sort of meat porridge that manages to bridge the religious divide and appeal to all manners of Indians.

Indian man, separated from his family at age 5, uses Google Earth to find his mom

Environment

Saroo Brierly was separated from his family when he was just 5 years old. He’d gotten on a train, fallen asleep and woken up in Calcutta, far away from his hometown — a home he didn’t even know the name of. He was eventually adopted by an Australian couple but recently used Google Earth to research where he might be from. He reunited with his mom 25 years after being separated from her.

Yugoslavia, Zaire and other defunct geo names

From politics to revolutions and branding — the history behind geographic name changes around the world.

The World

India’s Female Boxers

Sports

If you drive south from downtown Calcutta, past scores of aging British colonial buildings, past roadside camps, and past the Hindu Temple devoted to violent Goddess Kali, you will eventually reach the South Calcutta Physical Culture Association.

Indian Man Finds His Mother After 25 Years Using Google Earth

Lifestyle & Belief

An Indian man who lost his mother when he was only five has found her 25 years later from his new home in Tasmania, using satellite images. The World’s Aaron Schachter explains.