Articles by Manoj Sharma
Growth is mushrooming: Delhi farmers harvest success at temp-controlled farms
In the last two years of the pandemic, over a hundred mushroom farms have come up in Delhi-NCR, especially in outer Delhi’s Najafgarh, Bawana, and Bakhtawar areas

Updated on Jun 06, 2022 02:57 PM IST
Gramin Sewa autos chug on despite unchanged fare
Most drivers have operated the autos at a minimum fare of ₹5 for the first 3km for 12 years now, even amid the sharp increase in fuel prices

Updated on May 23, 2022 01:02 AM IST
Uncertainties of pandemic era build traction for the common man’s biographies
The Covid-19 pandemic shutdown when life came to a grinding halt led to common people writing their autobiographies, memoirs, or biographies of their family members, and publish them on their own.

Updated on May 16, 2022 04:58 AM IST
DU at 100: Schools of excellence made a varsity shine brighter
In early 1946, Dr BN Ganguly, who taught economics at Hindu College, invited his student PN Dhar and former colleague Prof VKRV Rao for dinner. It was a conversation that eventually led to the birth of the Delhi School of Economics (DSE).

Updated on May 03, 2022 12:15 PM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
DU at 100: The judge who envisioned DU as a miniature Oxbridge
Born in London on 25 April 1878, Maurice Gwyer was appointed the vice-chancellor of the Delhi University in 1938. In fact, he had been also appointed the first chief justice of the Federal Court of India, a year earlier in 1937

Updated on May 02, 2022 05:39 PM IST
DU at 100: Delhi and its university: How an institution helped shape a city
The first three universities in India were established in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1854. A 1917 commission set up to suggest improvements in Calcutta University paved the way for an independent varsity for the new imperial capital

Updated on May 02, 2022 05:35 PM IST
Samosa to kulfi, tea to pakoras, street food in Delhi gets pricier
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year, prices of crude oil and edible oils have been on the rise. India’s annual retail inflation shot up to a 17-month high in March.

Published on May 01, 2022 11:43 PM IST
The judge who envisioned Delhi University as a miniature Oxbridge
Maurice Gwyer, was appointed the vice-chancellor of the Delhi University in 1938, is widely credited with single-handedly transforming it.

Published on Apr 30, 2022 03:19 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Delhi and its university: How an institution helped shape a city
The first three universities in India were established in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1854. Delhi just had three colleges — Ramjas, Hindu and St Stephen’s. A 1917 commission set up to suggest improvements in Calcutta University paved the way for an independent varsity for the new imperial capital.

Updated on Apr 30, 2022 04:52 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Landless in Bakkargarh: A village suffers for its role in Revolt of 1857
Bakkargarh is perhaps the only village in Delhi where almost 90% of the land is owned by people outside the village.
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Updated on Apr 25, 2022 01:20 PM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
‘It’s Greek to us’: Sectors in G Noida to get fresh names
Narain wanted it to have better infrastructure than Noida, and one of his concerns, as he set about planning the brand new city, was to find a nomenclature for its neighbourhoods that would suit a futuristic city.

Published on Apr 18, 2022 05:51 AM IST
At Delhi’s Daryaganj, bibliophiles can weigh their options — literally
Daryaganj may no longer be home to the iconic Sunday Book Bazar, a 50-year old popular weekly books market that was shifted to the nearby Mahila Haat about two years ago, but over a dozen permanent bookshops have come up in the central Delhi market in the past few years.

Updated on Mar 21, 2022 10:41 AM IST
Said-ul-Ajaib village carves its niche as unlikely start-up hub in south Delhi
Over 100 early-stage startups have made the south Delhi area their home, operating out of its multi-storey buildings and several co-working spaces.

Updated on Mar 14, 2022 12:38 PM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Café culture a whiff of fresh air for Delhi’s Najafgarh
A café culture is brewing in Najafgarh, with several trendy cafes and restaurants coming up in the past two years of the pandemic.

Updated on Feb 28, 2022 05:21 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Saving the written word from the pandemic’s assault
Educators, handwriting experts and occupational therapists say that two years of online classes have taken a severe toll on children’s handwriting. A survey published last year also said that the handwriting of around 75% of the students in the country had been adversely affected.

Updated on Feb 14, 2022 06:41 AM IST
In Jewar resettlement town, new homes, life bring new challenges
Developed by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida), the township will house over 3,500 families from the acquired villages. Over 600 families have moved in, some with their buffaloes as well as new cars bought with compensation money.

Updated on Jan 31, 2022 12:11 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Bleak times for an ecosystem amid Delhi Metro's stop-start Covid journey
Many Delhi Metro stations such as Barakhamba Road, which, before the pandemic witnessed swarms of people, today look jarringly empty

Updated on Jan 24, 2022 02:10 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Zamrudpur is cooking up a revolution in cloud kitchens
Md Shamim, a delivery executive with an online food aggregator, says that since the Delhi government banned dine-in at restaurants last week, the number of deliveries he makes every day has almost doubled

Updated on Jan 17, 2022 01:59 AM IST
Kathputli live: Musicians, puppeteers of Delhi colony to get digital viewers
Hundreds of performing artistes and craftsmen in Kathputli Colony, perhaps the country’s biggest community of performing artistes, have taken to technology in a big way in the past two years of the pandemic.

Published on Jan 10, 2022 05:59 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
How Covid killed the calendar
Paper calendars survived the digital age, but their sales have suffered a massive drop in the past two years of the pandemic, what with unprecedented disruption in social, personal and professional lives, rendering calendaring not- so- necessary

Updated on Jan 03, 2022 07:07 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
For beggars in Delhi, a training drive may hold beacon of hope
Sanjay Kumar Kushwaha, 25, is listening intently to his trainer as he tells a class of 25 students, all beggars on the streets of Delhi until a month back, about various tools of painting a wall—brush, roller, sandpapers and their uses

Published on Dec 13, 2021 12:25 AM IST
Delhi: Mughlai hub Jama Masjid area getting a continental makeover
Jama Masjid area is undergoing a quiet, invisible transformation as a food destination, thanks to many upwardly mobile youngsters who are opening new fine dining restaurants and European-style cafés

Updated on Dec 06, 2021 06:46 AM IST
Key skills: Typewriter finds its place despite digital onslaught
Delhi has many typewriting institutes, where hundreds of aspirants for various government jobs requiring a typing speed test are trained on old Remingtons and Godrej typewriters, even as laptops and touch screens hold sway.

Updated on Nov 29, 2021 12:04 AM IST
For clockmakers in old Delhi, time is a friend and an enemy
Quartz and digital clocks, they say, are more accurate but they have depreciated the timepieces and their profession.

Updated on Nov 10, 2021 08:35 PM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Get savvy or go bust: Street food joints in Delhi reinvent after Covid shock
According to the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), Delhi had about 60,000 street food vendors before the pandemic , but now only about 30, 000 are left

Updated on Nov 01, 2021 02:02 AM IST
Taking stock of the market: Bull run boosts finance literacy programmes in Delhi
Kanika Bhaskar, a resident of Nirman Vihar in east Delhi, expounds stock market trading concepts such as risk management, position-sizing, and stop-loss, among others like a seasoned professional

Updated on Oct 25, 2021 01:31 AM IST
Are your home or office private security guards trained? Probably not
Unlicensed agencies and their reluctance to invest; RWAs and their desire to avoid paying minimum wages; and governments and their lack of oversight are contributory factors

Updated on Oct 12, 2021 11:40 AM IST
Unlikely Covid fillip boosts famous scissors market in Meerut
The Covid-19 pandemic has unexpectedly given a new lease of life to Meerut’s 350-year-old scissors industry, which faced a downward spiral in the past two decades due to the growing popularity of Chinese scissors.

Updated on Oct 11, 2021 05:52 AM IST
Mohammadpur village in Delhi debates its name and past
The village has been in the news after a local councillor sought to rename the change the name of the village from Mohammadpur to Madhavpuram

Updated on Oct 04, 2021 01:31 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Ramlila a non-starter in the land of Ravana worshippers
Bisrakh—a village in Gautam Budh Nagar, about 30 km from Connaught Place, does not organise Ramlila or celebrate Dussehra, which is in fact the day of mourning for villagers. Local legend has it that Bisrakh is the birthplace of Ravana, the demon king and the ruler of Lanka.

Updated on Sep 27, 2021 04:16 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi