Manoj Sharma is Metro Features Editor at Hindustan Times. He likes to pursue stories that otherwise fall through the cracks.
Articles by Manoj Sharma
A haircut above the rest: Outdoor allure a win for roadside barbers
While the business of salons and hairdressers has suffered since the pandemic began last year, Delhi/ NCR’s ubiquitous roadside barbers are getting new clients who desperately need a haircut but are fearful of walking into the air-conditioned salons for fear of contracting the Sars-Cov-2 that causes coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Updated on Jun 28, 2021 04:15 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Pangs of displacement in Jewar
Villagers in Jewar, whose houses are being demolished for the development of an airport, say their displacement is an emotionally distressing experience and will forever alter their cherished rural lives
Updated on Jun 14, 2021 02:30 PM IST
People with disabilities suffer as Covid limits access to care
The pandemic, people with disabilities say, has brought to the fore the inadequacies of the healthcare system in responding to their needs.
Updated on May 31, 2021 06:12 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi:
Sharing meds and pain during pandemic
Medicine Banks—where people can donate their unused medicine and those who require them can receive them free of cost-- are coming up across the country.
Updated on May 24, 2021 02:03 PM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Future of migrant kids uncertain amid spike
There has been limited assessment of the pandemic’s wider effects on the children of migrants. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court, in response to a petition filed by NGO Child Rights Trust, asked for data from all states and Union Territories on children of migrant workers.
Published on Apr 19, 2021 04:51 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Fear of 2020 rerun grips Delhi's migrants amid Covid-19 infection spike
There is fear and anxiety among the thousands of migrant workers in villages such as Shahpur Garhi, Tikri Khurd, Bhor Garh, and Singhola.
Updated on Apr 12, 2021 10:52 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
‘In search of tolerance’: Why Capital’s African nationals moved to west Delhi
In the last few years, west Delhi colonies, such as Tilak Nagar and Vikaspuri, have seen an influx of Africans from south Delhi localities such as Khirki Extension, Chhatarpur, Kishangarh and Mehrauli in the perpetual quest for what Chukwuebuka calls “an affordable and tolerant” neighbourhood.
Published on Apr 05, 2021 01:09 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Pandemic prompts Sarojini and Sadar to go digital
A year after the lockdown, digital is the new buzzword in some of the oldest and most popular markets in Delhi.
Updated on Mar 29, 2021 03:51 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Tepid demand chokes small-scale industries
A year on, these Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises continue to be beset by many of these problems — and a few new ones. While the supply chains remain disrupted and the demand is far from reaching pre-pandemic levels
Updated on Mar 22, 2021 04:28 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Indian water gun manufacturers giving China a run for its money
In February that year, just before Holi, he went back to the Sadar Bazar trader with the water gun he had produced and also the Chinese one.
Updated on Mar 08, 2021 06:03 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Elderly make the digital switch during Covid-19 pandemic
India has about 104 million people aged above 60 — just a shade below China —according to the 2011 Census. But digital inclusion has been a distant dream for them. The government’s National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) aims to empower at least one person per household.
Published on Mar 01, 2021 03:34 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Pandemic prompts the elderly to make a digital switch
New Delhi It is 11am on Friday and a digital literacy class has just begun on video communication platform Zoom
Published on Feb 28, 2021 11:33 PM IST
A Delhi village that celebrates Subhas Chandra Bose like no other
Singh is not the only one with a Netaji story in Tikri Kalan, a village on the western fringes of the city, which celebrates Subhas Chandra Bose like no other.
Published on Feb 08, 2021 06:26 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
A Delhi village that celebrates Subhas Chandra Bose like no other
New Delhi: It is a balmy afternoon and Ran Singh is sitting in the courtyard of his house
Published on Feb 07, 2021 11:20 PM IST
‘Notorious’: Another tryst with infamy for Delhi’s Palika Bazar
By the mid-1980s, as the popularity of audio and video cassettes grew, many gifts and garments shops in the central hall of the market began selling electronics items.
Published on Jan 25, 2021 02:41 AM IST
Disabled face a job crisis in the post-Covid world
Rizwan Safi, 24, gets distressed every time his wife asks him about when he is returning to work
Published on Jan 11, 2021 04:56 PM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi:
They have turned our lives upside down: Singhu village on farm laws, stir
The village is home to about 250 families. Being close to Delhi’s industrial areas such as Narela and Kundli, a rental economy has developed in the village over the years, but more than half of the families depend on agriculture.
Updated on Dec 21, 2020 04:59 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Manoj Sharma
Not making the cut: How coronavirus killed tailoring
These suave, English-speaking tailors, many of who learnt their craft in London, say they survived the ready-made revolution in the 1990s and the 2008 financial crisis—but the pandemic has pushed them to the brink.
Updated on Dec 14, 2020 04:04 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Manoj Sharma
India’s masala king, founder and face of MDH, dies at 97
Mahashay Dharampal Gulati, who died on Thursday at the age of 97 after a cardiac arrest, earned several sobriquets over the years: MDH Uncle, Dadaji and Masala King.
Updated on Dec 04, 2020 01:27 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Manoj Sharma
Final station: Pulp fiction on its last legs, say sellers
Long before the mobile phones came to the scene and water started selling in plastic bottles, these books were among the essential travel companions, especially on long train journeys.
Updated on Nov 30, 2020 12:03 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Covid-19 pushes tourism in Delhi to the edge
Paharganj, once a bustling, thriving market whose entire economy depends on foreign tourists, is a microcosm of the devastation caused by the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the capital’s tourism sector.
Updated on Nov 23, 2020 10:36 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Manoj Sharma
Covid-19 warriors, survivors wield pen as pandemic inspires fiction
Dr Maheshwar Prasad Chaurasia always wanted to write a novel. In May, he attended a webinar on how to write and publish a book. At the workshop, his writing instructor suggested that he start his journey as an author with a non-fictional work. He decided to write a book on Delhi’s fight against the coronavirus disease pandemic.
Updated on Nov 02, 2020 01:11 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Manoj Sharma
Covid-19 warriors, survivors wield pen as pandemic inspires fiction
Dr Maheshwar Prasad Chaurasia always wanted to write a novel. In May, he attended a webinar on how to write and publish a book. At the workshop, his writing instructor suggested that he start his journey as an author with a non-fictional work. He decided to write a book on Delhi’s fight against the coronavirus disease pandemic.
Updated on Nov 02, 2020 01:26 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Manoj Sharma
Hit by pandemic, India’s circuses forced to walk financial tightrope
The Great Bombay Circus was to travel to Delhi where it has been regularly performing in places like Peeragarhi, Rajouri Garden and Karkardooma, in December.
Updated on Oct 26, 2020 03:21 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Manoj Sharma
‘Digital’ the buzzword for police in Covid-19 era
What started with Zoom calls for law-and-order meetings and WhatsApp for sending notices and summons to minimize touch and physical contact, has had a transformative effect on the Capital’s police, with many of its legacy processes and procedures going online.
Updated on Oct 19, 2020 02:41 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Manoj Sharma and Prawesh Lama
Permissions, tests, masks, checks: How a Ramlila overcame the odds
The SBKK’s Ramlila has, over the years, seen the participation of some the biggest names in classical music and dance, and has figured prominently on the capital’s cultural calendar.
Updated on Oct 20, 2020 05:00 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Manoj Sharma
Domestic workers face Covid test, interviews as they return to work
Even five months after the easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions began, thousands of domestic workers — maids, cooks, nannies — have not been able to return to work since employers continue to see them as potential carriers of the coronavirus.
Updated on Oct 12, 2020 06:43 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Manoj Sharma
It’s a battle for survival for Delhi’s budget schools
Hundreds of Delhi’s budget schools in predominately migrant colonies and rural areas such as Hastal, Karawal Nagar, Sangam Vihar and Narela battle for survival as their fee collections drop by as much as 90% with thousands of students missing
Published on Oct 05, 2020 05:21 PM IST
Little bits of China all around us
Ashok Malhotra’s first-floor shop is a fascinating jewel in this crown. Almost all of the lights on display in his flickering shop, Malhotra informs us, are imported from the Guzhen, famous as China’s (and slowly the world’s) lighting capital.
Updated on Sep 21, 2020 03:14 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Manoj Sharma
