Having a loved one in intensive care at a hospital is an experience many of us have gone through, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s a stressful time, what with the strain of a relative being ill, the decisions you may have to take, and the costs you have to tackle. What should ICU care look like in India? The Union Health Ministry recently released a list of guidelines that list out criteria for ICU admissions and discharges, the role of intensivists or critical care specialists in th...
Jan 18, 2024•27 min
Relations between India and Maldives seem to have hit a rough patch. First came some controversial remarks from Maldivian politicians on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lakshadweep visit, prompting a ‘boycott Maldives’ campaign on Indian social media. Then came a joint press communiqué with China, which committed to “elevating strategic cooperation” between Maldives and China. This was followed by remarks from Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, on his return from China, that although Maldives was...
Jan 17, 2024•25 min
The Telecommunications Act, 2023 was passed by Parliament in the Winter Session of Parliament last year. The Act consolidates much of the telecom laws that existed beforehand, and repeals colonial-era laws that have been updated over the course of over 137 years. While the Act is short in length at just over 45 pages, much of its implementation will be done through notifications and orders that will be passed directly by the government, with no prior approval necessary from Parliament. What does...
Jan 04, 2024•18 min
For at least a year and a half now, most of us have relegated Covid-19 to the back of our minds. Cases of the virus had drastically reduced, it was not mentioned in headlines any more, and life seemed to have got somewhat back to normal as we learnt to live with Covid. It’s difficult however to ignore the news of yet another coronavirus mutation – this latest sub-variant, JN.1, a descendent of the Omicron variant, has been classified by the World Health Organisation as a ‘variant of interest’ be...
Dec 28, 2023•27 min
This month, there’s been a lot of excitement in the medical world over the approval given to treatments for diseases that based on genome editing. What’s this all about? In 2020, the Nobel Prize for Chemistry was given to two women scientists, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for their discovery of what is essentially a genetic scissors, a tool that allows scientists to cut specific sites of a human being’s DNA, or to edit it, by making minor changes. This tool, known as the CRISPR/Cas...
Dec 22, 2023•28 min
This has been a question that has triggered a lot of research, a lot of debate and a lot of questions. A recent meta-analysis of 34 studies looked at excessive screen use and its links to your cognitive functioning. The results of the analysis, conducted by researchers in Australia, says that there is a clear link between disordered screen behaviour – or persisting with screen use even when it’s harmful for you, and your cognitive performance, specifically your attention and executive functionin...
Dec 21, 2023•27 min
As Israel continues its indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza, causing thousands of civilian deaths, it has continued to enjoy unconditional military and political backing from the United States. Last week, as the US vetoed yet another resolution at the UN calling for a ceasefire, it found itself almost completely isolated on the world stage. A few days ago, President Joe Biden said that Israel risks losing international support if it continued to bomb Gaza indiscriminately. Does this suggest the U...
Dec 20, 2023•36 min
In August this year, the Union government introduced three Bills to overhaul the country’s criminal justice system. The were – the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 to replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 to replace the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973; and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 to replace the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Last week, the government withdrew these three bills and reintroduced newer versions of them. It has said claimed the re...
Dec 19, 2023•50 min
A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has upheld the abrogation of Article 370 and the subsequent reorganisation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. While the judgement has been hailed as a historic one, it has also raised concerns regarding the federal system, which is understood to be part of the basic structure of the Constitution. So, what exactly was the judicial reasoning behind the Supreme Court judgement, and what are its larger implications, espe...
Dec 18, 2023•57 min
This year’s edition of the United Nations climate summit, COP-28, concluded in Dubai earlier this week. It began with a lot of expectations – especially on the key issue of phasing out fossil fuels. In the end, a deal seems to have been worked out – to transition away from fossil fuels. What exactly does the ‘Dubai Consensus’ entail? What are the other major takeaways from the summit? What progress, if any, has been made on climate justice? And given the slow and limited progress in CoP meetings...
Dec 14, 2023•30 min
Argentina’s president-elect Javier Milei, a self-described ‘anarcho-capitalist’, has threatened to disband his country’s currency, the peso, and adopt the US dollar in its place. Argentina has been grappling with hyperinflation for a long time – it was above in November 2023. Milei has argued that dollarisation of the Argentine economy will bring inflation down, and usher in a stable climate favourable for investment. How exactly does dollarisation work? What are the risks it entails? And what h...
Dec 06, 2023•32 min
Reports of a spike in respiratory illnesses in China have recently caused some amount of panic. Perhaps this is not surprising considering that next month will mark four years since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out and changed the world as we knew it. The current surge of illnesses however, have been reported primarily among children. On November 22, the World Health Organisation requested information from China about these infections. Subsequently, Chinese authorities have said that the outbreak...
Dec 05, 2023•18 min
The BJP has won the elections in three of the four states whose results were declared on Sunday. It has won in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress bagged Telengana. In Mizoram, the Zoram People’s Movement is headed for a majority. The BJP has stamped its dominance in the Hindi heartland. The results, however, seem to have taken many by surprise – especially the margins of victory. What went wrong for the Congress, especially in Chhattisgarh, where it was expected to wi...
Dec 04, 2023•40 min
A politician known as the ‘Dutch Donald Trump’ has won the general elections in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders, the leader of the far-right Party for Freedom, or PVV as it is known, is a frontrunner to be the next Dutch Prime Minister after his party won 37 seats, ahead of the outgoing PM Mark Rutte’s VVD, which got only 24. Wilders is both anti-Islam and anti-immigration. He is also anti-EU and is opposed to sending weapons to Ukraine. His victory in a country known for its tolerance and multic...
Dec 01, 2023•22 min
The 28th UN climate conference, or COP28, is starting today in Dubai, and will go on till December 12th. Delegates from almost 200 countries, as well as climate scientists, business leaders, and other stakeholders will take part in the meeting. It is clear the world is not on course to meet the target set in the Paris Agreement – which is to keep the global rise in temperatures within the 1.5-degree Celsius limit. There are indications that if we continue with our current climate policies, the e...
Nov 30, 2023•35 min
After winning ten matches on the trot, India could not win one more and bring home the World Cup. It started the final as favourites, but things did not go according to the expectations that fans had built up over one month of pure magic. So, what went wrong for India? Was the match lost with the toss itself? Was Australia too good on the day? Or did India make mistakes? If it did, what were they, and what are the positives we can take away from this tournament? Learn more about your ad choices....
Nov 21, 2023•28 min
Most of us would remember the sudden shortage of semiconductor chips during the pandemic – how it affected automobile manufacturing, delaying deliveries, and in many cases, even caused manufacturers to deliver cars without some features. But semiconductors form an integral component of not just cars but almost any high tech device we use today – from smartphones and laptops to televisions, satellites and, of course, all kinds of advanced military hardware. As nations jockey for geopolitical domi...
Nov 20, 2023•50 min
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) released a set of guidelines last month for the Central and State governments to tackle the problem of Child Sexual Abuse Material or CSAM on the internet. Over the past few years, there has been a colossal increase in the availability of CSAM online. In its 2023 report, WeProtect Global Alliance, which consists of governments, companies and charities working together for digital safety, said there was an 87% increase in such cases since 2019. What is ...
Nov 17, 2023•31 min
As we keep hearing everyday, artificial Intelligence is on the verge of fundamentally changing the way human beings live and work. There are also many fears about the dangers posed by AI – which range from mass disinformation and privacy risks, to extinction of the human race itself. Amid this debate over how to regulate AI so that we are able to benefit from it while keeping it safe, governments around the world have been coming up with proposals for AI governance. The latest is the Biden admin...
Nov 16, 2023•40 min
Just about a month ago, Rescurity, an American cyber security firm, said that personal information of 815 million Indians was being sold on the dark web. This included details such as Aadhar numbers and passport details. The persons selling this information claimed that it was from the Indian Council of Medical Research or ICMR, the country’s premier scientific research body. This is not the first time ICMR has been subject a cyber attack – 6,000 such attempts were reported just last year. The A...
Nov 14, 2023•34 min
Can breathing in polluted air, day after day, increase your risk of diabetes? A study conducted in India and published in the BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care journal last month, says, yes. Researchers studied over 12,000 adults in Chennai and in Delhi over a period of seven years from 2010 to 2017. Their blood sugar levels were measured periodically. A satellite-based hybrid exposure model was used to check for pollution levels – this assessed the daily average ambient PM 2.5 concentrations ...
Nov 13, 2023•23 min
A court in Qatar has handed death sentences to eight Indian citizens, all of them former personnel of the Indian navy. The ex-navymen were convicted on espionage charges. India has termed the sentencing ‘deeply shocking’ and has said it is exploring all legal options. The Indians were all employees of a defunct company, Doha-based Dahra Global, and had been arrested in August 2022. How did these Indian nationals end up in this situation? What are the chances that their lives can be saved? And wh...
Nov 08, 2023•35 min
This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Prof Claudia Goldin for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes. Prof Goldin’s work has looked at women’s participation in the labour force, changes across decades and the gender gap in earnings that continues to exist even today. In fact, the 2023 Global Gender Gap report pegged the gap score at 68.4%, and said it would take 131 years to equalise earnings between men and women at the current rate of progress. But ho...
Nov 06, 2023•38 min
Maldives has elected a new President, Mohamed Muizzu from the Progressive Party of Maldives. In the elections that concluded in September, he defeated the incumbent, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the Maldivian Democratic Party. The elections were also viewed by many as a referendum on the country’s foreign policy. While Solih was perceived as pro-India, Muizzu is seen as pro-China. One of the main election promises made by Muizzu was to end any Indian military presence on Maldivian territory. Muizzu ...
Nov 03, 2023•26 min
Five states go to the polls this month – Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Mizoram. Political analysts have taken to describing them as the ‘semi-finals’ before the finals, the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Part of the reason for this characterisation is that in three of the states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – the elections will see a direct face-off between the BJP and the Congress. How do the contesting parties stack up in different states, and what is the s...
Nov 02, 2023•33 min
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said earlier this month that India will leave no stone unturned in its bid to host the 2036 Olympics. While India has hosted major multi-nation, multi-discipline sports events --- the Commonwealth Games of 2010 and the Asian Games of 1982 come to mind – the Olympics is of an altogether different order of magnitude. Several questions pop up as India aspires to host the Olympics. How does the bidding process work? What are the costs likely to be? Can India afford it? A...
Oct 27, 2023•36 min
Earlier this month, a married woman, who was 26 weeks pregnant, approached the Supreme Court, asking to be allowed to terminate her pregnancy. This was the woman’s third pregnancy, and she told the Court that she did not want to have the baby. She also said she was suffering from post-partum depression and other health issues. She did not know of her pregnancy until quite late, as she was breastfeeding, which can temporarily prevent pregnancies. The Court first agreed to allow her to terminate. ...
Oct 26, 2023•34 min
In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the origins of this conflict, which began with the steady influx of Jewish settlers in Palestinian territories and culminated in the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. In the second part, we explored the key developments of the conflict from 1948 to the present – the wars that took place in 1948, 1956, 1962, 1982, the First Intifada, the Second Intifada, the Oslo process, the rise of Hamas, and so on. In this final episode of the three part series, we...
Oct 25, 2023•39 min
In the first part of this series, we looked at the origins of this conflict, which began with the steady influx of Jewish settlers in Palestinian territories and culminated in the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. In this episode, we explore key developments from 1948 to the present – the wars that took place in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, the Camp David agreement, the First Intifada, the Oslo process and reasons for its collapse, the Second Intifada, the rise of Hamas, and other aspects of t...
Oct 24, 2023•49 min
When it comes to taxes, there is one definitive trend in all countries: the wealthiest entities, be it billionaires, or multinational corporations, enjoy the lowest effective rates of taxation. And this is in a context where governments around the world are cutting down on welfare programmes because they ostensibly can’t afford the resources to sustain them. To reduce inequality, fair and effective taxation is absolutely critical, and yet, largely missing. The European Union Tax Observatory (EU ...
Oct 23, 2023•33 min
