After a week of open voting for favourites, and selection by a global jury of Nature Research editors and designers, we are ready to roll out the verdict of the Nature India Photo Contest 2020. Read more
“Newly married couple Avishek Bachhar (25) and Puspa Jana (22) leave the Siddeshwari temple in north Kolkata after seeking the goddess’s blessings. They tied the knot with only a handful of relatives due to strict restrictions on assembly of people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Marriages in India are generally grand events with hundreds of people participating. Despite the measures, West Bengal recorded over 5.5 lakh cases of infection and 9712 deaths in 2020.” — Partha Paul … Read more
“The annual Durga Puja festivities end with the immersion of the gods’ idols in river Hooghly, a tributary of the Ganges. Every year thousands of people take part in the idol immersion processions. Following COVID-19 restrictions, the West Bengal government created temporary water bodies to ‘immerse’ the clay-made idols by dissolving them with high power water jets, like in this picture taken at the Tridhara Sanmilani Puja Pandal, Kolkata on 26 October 2020. The benefits were two-fold – no processions, and no pollution of the Ganges’ waters.” — Amitava Chandra … Read more