The protests against discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of citizens that started in many parts of Assam and by students of Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University have now engulfed the entire nation.
Author: Swati Saxena
Citizen Amendment Bill and National Register of Citizens: What it will mean for the secular fabric of the nation
The proposed Citizen Amendment Bill should be seen in the context of National Register of Citizens (NRC) which is a list of names and some relevant information of Indian citizens of Assam state.
It’s a chronic slowdown; it’s not the GDP alone
Industrial production shrank by 4.3% in September, registering the weakest performance in seven years due to output decline in manufacturing, mining and electricity sectors. Data for the eight core infrastructure industries showed output declining by 5.8 percent in October – six out of eight core industries saw a contraction in output.
Flu in India is a bigger threat than it appears
India already has a high AMR burden and more antibiotics are used in aggregate in India than in any other country.
Economic slowdown in India: Where India stands
A large part of India’s economic slowdown is due to domestic factors. As Raghuram Rajan says neither global economic woes or rising oil prices can be blamed for the slowdown in the Indian economy
Illegal and abandoned borewells in India will continue to claim precious lives
According to the National Disaster Response Force, since 2009 over 40 children have fallen into borewells and, on average, 70% of conventional child rescue operations fail.
The unequal distribution of wealth in India has reached a crisis point
This growing inequality is tragic in a nation where 63 million ordinary Indians are pushed into poverty because of health care costs – Oxfam estimates that is two people every second.
In Pictures: Why we need to talk about climate change and environment
Global emissions and atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide have reached a record high in recent years. At the same time, ice loss in Greenland has also peaked.
Malnutrition, alcoholism and drug usage: The health effects of economic recessions
Effects of economic downturn and resultant unemployment and poverty on mental health are obvious. Severe impact on mental health also impacts stress induced chronic diseases.
The controversy on War and Peace: The subversive power of literature
War and Peace, a classic by Tolstoy on Napoleonic era and the Tsars in Russia is regarded as seminal works in world literature.
Microbeads pollution is a fast growing environmental menace
India is facing large-scale microbeads pollution. Though the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) banned the use of microbeads in cosmetics in 2017, it will come into implementation in 2020.
How advertisements continue to perpetuate regressive gender roles and sexism
Advertising gender-specific products is quite common. Most commonly it is being done through use of colours.
Dystopian fiction and films are reimagining what our future might look like
Dystopia – or anti utopia (coined by Thomas More’s work Utopia) – describes a frightening and undesirable society. Common themes of this genre are depictions of a society that has collapsed.
Emily Oster’s Cribsheet is all about data driven, informed choice parenting
Oster’s book is informative when parenting has become a serious of must dos.
Five influential novels by women writers with enduring impact on literature and society
Frankenstein is often hailed as one of the first and finest science fiction novel and Mary Shelley wrote it at the age of 18 as part of a competition between her husband poet Percy Shelley and poet Byron.
Dr Payal Tadvi suicide shows that caste based discrimination is rampant in India
It is vital to recognize the reason for Dr Payal Tadvi’s suicide as what it is – an instance of caste based violence.
Recent exciting developments in global health can greatly impact humanity’s future
‘London patient’ has become second person to be cured of HIV In what can be seen as milestone in AIDS epidemic, a patient in London has become the second person to be cured of AIDS (publicly the scientists are describing the case as a long term remission). Last such case[Read More…]
Amidst tensions, appeals for peace brings hope
George Orwell in Homage to Catalonia writes, “One of the most horrible feature of war is that all the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred,
Global measles outbreak: What we know
Measles outbreak has now affected all the regions of the world with surges in Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean region and Europe.
Ten threats to global health in 2019: Where does India stand?
In 2019, air pollution is considered by WHO as the greatest environmental risk to health.
How friendships are changing?
An increasingly large number of millennials are willing to explore friendships with people different from them and hold off judgments for tolerance and acceptance.
Bollywood movies this year that made news, broke stereotypes, and got conversations going
swaThe year 2018 saw some interesting movies that made the news or generated debates. Here are a few that stood out: Padmaavat: This remained perhaps the most controversial film of the year. Karni Sena, a right wing outfit burned the sets and launched a massive protest against what they believed[Read More…]
New vaccines in development and what it means for developing countries
The Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) was endorsed by the 194 Member States of the World Health Assembly, in May 2012, to achieve the Decade of Vaccines vision by delivering universal access to immunization.
A career and a personal life: Can modern, urban, women have it all?
So can women have it all? Perhaps this is a trick question – for in reality no one can really have it all – no matter how narrowly all is defined.
Statue of Unity: What it really means in today’s India
PM Modi in his speech hailed Sardar Patel for “uniting India” and credited him for making India today’s greatest economic and strategic power. Several government ministers attended the event.