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Manoj Sharma

Manoj Sharma is Metro Features Editor at Hindustan Times. He likes to pursue stories that otherwise fall through the cracks.

Articles by Manoj Sharma

Cities switching to robots to tackle water, sanitation issues

Indian cities are increasingly using AI-powered robots to tackle water and sanitation challenges. Robots are being deployed for tasks such as cleaning manholes, inspecting water pipelines for leaks, and clearing trash from water bodies. Start-ups led by young engineers are at the forefront of developing these robotic solutions. These robots offer sustainable solutions and eliminate the need for humans to work in highly hazardous environments. They also help improve the efficiency of water distribution networks and address water pollution issues. The use of robotics and AI in urban ecosystems is seen as transformative and has the potential to create autonomous cities in the future.

The Bandicoot robot being used to clean a manhole in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. (SOURCED)
Updated on Sep 26, 2023 04:14 PM IST

How two global events left a mark on Delhi

The 9th Unesco general conference in 1956, and the Asia 72 global fair in 1972 gave the Capital three modern icons synonymous with Delhi.

India undertook a massive redevelopment of what was then known as Exhibition Grounds to set up Pragati Maidan hosting the Asia 72, an international trade fair.(HT Archive)
Published on Sep 04, 2023 10:04 AM IST

Old Delhi’s havelis now reborn as new cultural centres of city

In the three months since its opening, Kathika has become one of the most popular cultural spots by hosting book readings, poetry recitations, workshops

A Kathak performance at the Kathika cultural centre. (HT Photo)
Updated on Aug 27, 2023 11:57 PM IST

Indian cities using QR codes for services

QR codes are essentially two-dimensional barcodes that can store information, and cities across India have begun using them for a host of purposes.

A Delhi Metro passenger shows his QR code-based ticket on his mobile. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)
Published on Aug 07, 2023 05:09 AM IST

Cities across India are remaking their streets

The idea behind the redevelopment of these streets is to make them spaces that are attractive, accessible, and prioritise the safety and mobility of all users

The redeveloped road stretch between Dhaula Kuan and Moti Bagh in New Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)
Updated on Jul 23, 2023 11:40 PM IST

Chronicling the living heritage of India's cities

A growing community of architecture and history buffs documenting on Instagram the built heritage of their cities across India

Abu Sufiyan, who runs the Instagram page Purani Dilli Waley, which is dedicated to Delhi’s people, culture, and heritage, at a haveli in Chandni Chowk in New Delhi on Friday. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)
Updated on Jul 10, 2023 05:37 PM IST

Cities reclaim space under flyovers

Indore pioneered the concept in 2021, when it set up an exclusive sports complex under the Pipliyahana flyover, but many other cities across the country seem to have taken cue

The sports facility under Navi Mumbai’s Sanpada flyover is already a hit with local residents. (Bachchan Kumar/ HT Photo)
Updated on Jun 29, 2023 04:17 PM IST

Town halls, symbols of civic pride, see revival

Built between the early 19th to the early 20th centuries, most of these colonial mansions built in Greco-Roman style, have been restored over the past few years

The Town Hall in Chandni Chowk in New Delhi, a yellow brick-and-stone building with carved white trims, was built in 1863 and bought by the municipality in 1866. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)
Updated on Jun 19, 2023 06:01 PM IST

Bhiwadi: NCR’s low-cost industry, housing hub

Once a sleepy village in Rajasthan’s Alwar, Bhiwadi — located 70km from Delhi’s Connaught Place — has over the past two decades emerged as one of the biggest industrial hubs in NCR

Property prices have remained stagnant in Bhiwadi because of a real estate boom due to which supply has far outstripped demand, as well as poor connectivity with Delhi and lack of colleges and hospitals in the city. (Manoj Sharma/HT Photo)
Updated on Jun 07, 2023 05:36 PM IST

Rohtak: Haryana’s new education, industrial hub

HT spotlight on lesser-known NRC towns, their rise to becoming cities in their own right, and the challenges that have been brought within

Rohtak is one of Haryana’s fastest growing towns. (Manoj Sharma/HT Photo)
Updated on May 23, 2023 06:19 PM IST

Meerut on cusp of great socio-economic change

HT’s spotlight on lesser-known NCR towns, their rise to becoming cities in their own right, and the changes that have been brought within

Meerut has always had a strong entrepreneurial spirit, has been home to diverse businesses and industries (Manoj Sharma/HT Photo)
Updated on May 08, 2023 01:38 PM IST

Fields to apartments: The silent rise of Haryana’s Sonepat

Over the next few weeks, in a series of stories, HT will turn the spotlight on the lesser known NCR towns, their rise into cities in their own right, and the change that has brought within. The first: Sonepat

Sonepat, an NCR town about 55km from Connaught Place, once known for the Atlas Cycle factory, the dhabas in Murthal, and its high-performance government sports centres, has seen a rapid socioeconomic transformation in the past decade. (Sanjeev Verma/ HT Photo)
Updated on Mar 29, 2023 08:14 PM IST

The eclectic world of Delhi Metro’s lost-and-found

It’s around 1pm, and a sling bag has just been brought to Anil Kumar’s desk at the Delhi Metro’s Lost and Found Office (LFO) at the Kashmere Gate Metro station

Every year, at least 10,000 articles make their way to the Lost and Found Office at the Kashmere Gate Metro Station. Only about 10% of the items here are ever claimed. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)
Updated on Mar 24, 2023 11:39 AM IST

Delhi bookstores turn new chapter as better sales, lower rent push growth

In 2010, Ajay Jain, a travel writer and photographer, opened Kunzum Travel Café in Delhi’s Hauz Khas village

Bahrisons has registered a 15 percent jump in sales at its stores(HT Photo/Sanchit Khanna)
Updated on Jan 18, 2023 06:43 PM IST

Class act: 2 decades of Delhi Metro, the great leveller

The first Delhi Metro train rumbled out of the Shahdara station on this day two decades ago. Since then, the service has become the city’s transport backbone, being used by millions a day and bringing nearly every corner of the Capital together.

The first Delhi Metro train, at Seelampur station, on December 24, 2002. (HC Tiwari/HT Archive)
Published on Dec 24, 2022 04:50 AM IST
By, New Delhi

Upgrades give Constitution Club brand new lease of life

Set up in 1947 to provide members of the Constituent Assembly a space to socialise outside Parliament, the club fell on bad times in the 1980s due to neglect and became a derelict place. But in recent years, its footfall has more than tripled and in its restaurants and cafe, one can see not just politicians and their families but also ordinary city residents

The Constitution Club of India on Rafi Marg, which was called Old Mill Road when the club opened during British colonial rule. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)
Updated on Dec 12, 2022 12:27 PM IST

How Delhi became the setting for racy crime novels

In the past few years, an increasing number of writers, some famous and some not-so-famous, have been exploring the dark underbelly of Delhi in their novels

Some books based in Delhi.
Published on Nov 22, 2022 08:25 PM IST

Urdu publishers struggle to stay afloat as readership bottoms

Till the late 1990s, ​there were more than 100 Urdu publishers in Delhi, most based in the walled city, bringing out hundreds of titles every year – fiction, non-fiction, biographies and children’s books. However, most of them have shut shop along with Urdu printing presses, and barely 20 have survived

Nasir Khan, owner of Farid Book Depot, at Daryaganj in New Delhi on Saturday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)
Updated on Nov 22, 2022 06:09 PM IST

Inside India’s 200-years quest for vernacular medical textbooks

The initiative by the Madhya Pradesh government marks an important chapter in India’s 200-year-old quest to impart medical education in vernacular languages.

Prof Trilok Chandra Goel, 85, a former professor of surgery at King George Medical University, ( KGMU), Lucknow, is perhaps the first writer to have written books in Hindi for medical students. (HT Photo)
Updated on Oct 31, 2022 04:58 PM IST
By, New Delhi

Are analogue cameras making a big comeback in the Capital?

With an uptick in sales, it appears that there is a revival of the old-fashioned cameras, primarily as an art form

Courtesy: Museo Camera Centre, Gurgaon. 
Published on Oct 11, 2022 07:31 PM IST

Electric cabs find niche in Delhi’s green mobility push

In the past few years, several electric cab services—such as BluSmart, Plug Mobility, Evera, and eeeTaxi—have been launched in Delhi/ NCR.

Blu Smart Cabs’ charging hub in Nehru Place, New Delhi. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)
Updated on Sep 26, 2022 12:06 PM IST
By, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Plays, politics coalesce at Delhi’s Ramlila

Lavkush Ramlila is Delhi’s biggest and the grandest, which has over the years seen the prime ministers and chief ministers as chief guests on Dussehra day

Delhi BJP MLA Vijender Gupta (in white) playing the role of Rishi Atri at Lavkush Ramlila. (HT Photo)
Updated on Sep 19, 2022 11:30 AM IST

Unfazed by politics over name, revadi makers of Meerut prepare for winter sales

New Delhi/Meerut: Sunil Gupta, an otherwise reserved person, is quite loquacious when he talks about revadis-- the traditional candy sweet made from jaggery and sesame seeds

Unfazed by politics over name, revadi makers of Meerut prepare for winter sales
Updated on Sep 12, 2022 12:37 PM IST

Sprinkled across Delhi, shops hold on to family history, pre-Partition legacy

Even as the country saw a flurry of name changes after Independence, the owners of these businesses have stuck to the original names -- many for emotional reasons, the names being the markers of their personal histories, others for purely business ones

Quetta Store in Sarojini Nagar in New Delhi. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)
Updated on Sep 07, 2022 04:55 PM IST

Toy industry’s Make in India moment

NCR has over 100 small and medium enterprises making toys. Most of these enterprises, which were struggling to survive until a couple of years ago, are now on an expansion drive, and they attribute the turnaround in their fortunes to a slew of government interventions in the past couple of years

Jitender Singh with his daughters at their toy manufacturing unit in Kundli. (HT Photo)
Updated on Sep 05, 2022 01:03 PM IST

Remember Campa Cola? It is set to return this Diwali

The soft drink brand is back in the news with Reliance acquiring Campa from the Pure Drinks Group, and is planning to relaunch it nationally by Diwali in three flavours -- the iconic original, and lemon and orange variants

The company positioned Campa as a “Made in India” drink and said it had “Great Indian Taste”. (HT Photo)
Published on Sep 01, 2022 07:48 AM IST

An unprecedented scramble to meet record Tricolour demand

“Usually, in the build-up to August 15, I make around 5,000 national flags a day. But this year, I’m making over 100,000 every day. And even after that, the phone just doesn’t stop ringing,” says Ansari, who runs Bharat Handloom Cloth House in Delhi’s Sadar Bazar.

Among the recent orders he turned down was one for nine million flags.(HT PHOTO.)
Updated on Jul 30, 2022 05:25 AM IST
By, New Delhi

With all Afghanistan flights cut off, Delhi’s ‘Little Kabul’ takes a beating

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 15,559 Afghan refugees and asylum seekers in India, and most of them are in Delhi.

The area got the sobriquet because of the presence of a large number of Afghan establishments — restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies, and guest houses — most of which catered to Afghans, who travelled to Delhi for medical treatment, education, and business.(HT )
Updated on Jul 12, 2022 10:23 AM IST
By, New Delhi

Delhi: From a granary to creative business street

For the uninitiated, Dhan Mill Compound, a former granary and a cluster of warehouses, has morphed into the city’s modish food, fashion, design and lifestyle destination.

A view of Dhan Mill Compound at 100 Feet Road, Chhatarpur, in New Delhi, India, on Saturday, July 2, 2022. (Photo by Amal KS/Hindustan Times)
Updated on Jul 05, 2022 07:46 AM IST
By, New Delhi

Hindi novels turn a page after Booker fillip

Amod Maheshwari, the CEO of the family owned Rajkamal Prakashan, a well-known Hindi publishing house, which had published Ret Samadhi in Hindi, in 2018, sent out a message to his printers to print 15,000 copies of the book by the next day.

Copies of Reth Samadhi on display at Faqir Chand Bookstore, in Khan Market. (Sanchit Khanna/HT photo)
Updated on Jun 13, 2022 11:29 AM IST
By, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
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