World News

Ram Vanji Sutar, one of India’s most prolific sculptors, passed away on Thursday (December 18, 2025) at the age of 100 in Noida. Popularly called the ‘Statue Man’, he designed over 50 large-scale public works projects over a career spanning seven decades, including the world’s tallest statue, the Statue of Unity. Laced with dynamism and technical precision, his works were defined by hyper-realistic bronze and stone portraits of national icons, and his death marks the end of an era in Indian monumental sculpture. Born in Gondur village in Dhule district of Maharashtra, into a modest Vishwakarma family, Sutar showed early promise. He trained at Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai, earning a gold medal. His initial inspiration was the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, and he began his career restoring temple sculptures before shifting to independent monumental works in the late 1950s. Italian sculptors influenced the style of drapes in his work, but as far as expression is concerned, he would say he learnt it from his trips to Ajanta and Ellora.

The proposed legislation was aimed at removing outdated laws, correcting errors that had crept in during the law-making process and removing discriminatory aspects of certain laws The Lok Sabha on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) passed a Bill for repealing or amending 71 obsolete and outdated laws, including the Indian Succession Act. The proposed legislation was aimed at removing outdated laws, correcting errors that had crept in during the law-making process and removing discriminatory aspects of certain laws, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said, replying to a brief discussion on the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2025.

In 17 out of 21 major States, more women were willing to donate organs posthumously than men India belongs to a small cluster of nations where living organ donations vastly outnumber deceased organ donations. Ironically, this is not due to a lack of intent; data indicate that posthumous organ donation intent among Indians is relatively high. Crucially, women showed a greater willingness to donate organs after death. This sentiment aligns with the reality that women continue to shoulder the burden of donations. However, men significantly outnumber women among organ recipients — a trend that data suggest is driven not only by social factors, but potentially by a higher need among men.