Even as India grapples with its estimated 101 million cases of Type 2 diabetes, a new type of diabetes has recently hit the headlines – Type 5. At the International Diabetes Federation’s meeting held recently, an announcement was made: a working group is to be formed to develop criteria and guidelines for Type 5 diabetes. Estimates indicate that this form of diabetes affects 25 million people across the world, primarily in Asia and Africa. Though this form of diabetes was first recorded over 75 ...
Apr 22, 2025•24 min
The Income Tax Bill, 2025 was introduced in the Lok Sabha recently. It seeks to modernise and simplify the Income Tax Act, 1961. While the Bill is indeed shorter in length than the original Act it seeks to replace, there is one major concern: privacy experts believe it institutes a regime of tax surveillance, in complete violation of the Supreme Court judgement in the landmark Justice Puttasamy case where it ruled that privacy is a fundamental right. Tax experts hold that under the provisions of...
Apr 21, 2025•40 min
Every day, millions of posts are made online — tweets, videos, memes, reels. Some content is violent, misleading, or even dangerous. This is where content moderation comes in. However, deciding what stays up and what comes down isn't as simple as it sounds. In fact, X has sued the Union government in the Karnataka High Court for the SAHYOG portal, which it says is a “censorship portal” that allows local police and different parts of the government to demand takedowns. The Karnataka High Court di...
Apr 17, 2025•45 min
Customers of private health insurance policies in India have noticed a worrying trend – their premium costs are shooting up, and, going by the many stories on social media, rejection of claims is also on the rise. Add to this the 18% GST that is charged on premiums, and it is no wonder that many say they are choosing to not renew their policies altogether. Healthcare remains one of those most expensive aspects of an individual’s life in India – with medical inflation rates at 14% and about 60% o...
Apr 15, 2025•44 min
A new report by the NGO Common Cause and Lokniti- Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) has surveyed the attitudes towards torture by policemen across India. ‘The Status of Policing in India Report 2025: Police Torture and (Un) Accountability’ has, for the first time, produced empirical data on the justifications for torture that permeates the Indian police. Uniquely, this report approaches torture not from the perspective of human rights activists, but from the standpoint of the m...
Apr 14, 2025•43 min
The internet has been flooded with AI-generated images in the style of Studio Ghibli, the animation studio founded by the famous Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. What made Studio Ghibli’s work so special was not only its distinctive style but also the fact that the images were all hand-drawn. The contrast between the high skill and hard labour of the original Studio Ghibli images and the Ghibli-style pictures churned out by ChatGPT-4o couldn’t be starker. The easy proliferation of Studio Ghibli...
Apr 10, 2025•52 min
On April 2, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new set of tariffs against countries that, according to him, charged high tariffs and imposed barriers that made products made in the USA more expensive. These tariffs are essential to Trump’s plan to reduce trade deficits and increase domestic manufacturing. The “baseline” tariff of 10% on imports from all countries came into effect on April 5, 2025. A new set of tariffs would come into effect on April 9. The Trump administration imposed...
Apr 09, 2025•46 min
The Right to Information Act was a historic piece of legislation that gave ordinary citizens a legally enforceable means to seek information about the government’s functioning – a small step towards accountability. But over the years, governments have progressively diluted the provisions of this law. The latest blow to the RTI is in the form of Section 44 (3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. This law will come into force once the Rules under it are notified, which is expected t...
Apr 03, 2025•46 min
On March 18, 2025, the Election Commission of India announced that its officials will hold talks with UIDAI experts for linking the Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) with Aadhaar. This linking is supposed to be voluntary, but there is some confusion as to whether the voter will really have any choice in the matter. There are also concerns that linking EPIC with Aadhaar could lead to voter profiling, selective disenfranchisement, targeted campaigns, data privacy violations, and possibly under...
Mar 31, 2025•55 min
Cancers are rising and rising fast in India. The Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Cancer Registry Programme estimated a 12% increase between 2020 and 2025. This year, cancer numbers were estimated to hit 15.7 lakh. A worrying trend in this rise, is the spike in cancer cases among young persons. We know of and we are battling risk factors such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption and obesity and while these are still responsible for a significant chunk of cancers in India, other facto...
Mar 28, 2025•33 min
India is up in arms again, over the words of a stand-up comedian known for political jokes. Kunal Kamra’s remarks on Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were not liked by the latter’s supporters, who responded with violence – vandalising the venue where Kamra had performed, with the police not intervening to protect private property. Kamra has been inundated with threat calls. The Maharashtra government has also threatened to freeze Kamra’s bank accounts, and has demanded an apology....
Mar 26, 2025•45 min
The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) and 22 players have filed a class action lawsuit against the sport’s governing bodies in a US court. The case has been filed against the ATP, the WTA, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). The lawsuit alleges that professional tennis players are being exploited and abused by the unfair business practices of the sport’s governing bodies. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that the ATP, WTA ...
Mar 25, 2025•49 min
Blinkit, a quick commerce company was recently in the news after it announced the launch of its 10-minute ambulance service, to be rolled out, beginning in Gurugaon and with plans to expand to other cities over two years. The launch, while praised in some quarters and criticised in others has thrown into focus a larger question: why does India not have a national emergency service helpline and an adequate number of ambulances to cater to its population? Considering that we are a country with one...
Mar 22, 2025•23 min
Ukraine and the US have jointly proposed a 30-day ceasefire deal to Russia. They reached an agreement following a meeting between Ukrainian and American officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to the ceasefire proposal with caution. He has said that he agrees with it in principle but any ceasefire offer must address the root causes of the ‘crisis’. So, what does the ceasefire deal offer Russia and Ukraine? Will Russia agree to this ceasefire proposal in ...
Mar 18, 2025•34 min
The Trump administration’s trans-Atlantic policy has made a sharp break from that of the Biden administration, and in fact, from the entire post-World War II paradigm where the US was the prime guarantor of European security. Three quick, successive developments have underscored this departure. First came US Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February, where he said that the biggest threat to Europe’s security is “from within”. Second, the very public spa...
Mar 17, 2025•44 min
The United States is India’s biggest trading partner. In 2023, the U.S.-India bilateral trade in goods and services stood at $190.08 billion -- $123.89 billion in goods and $66.19 billion in services trade. 17.7% of India’s exports are to the US. In 2024, India enjoyed a goods trade surplus to the tune of $45.7 billion. American exports into India also face a higher rate of tariffs than India’s exports to the US. Now President Donald Trump has said that the US will mirror Indian tariffs from Apr...
Mar 14, 2025•42 min
The Indian rupee is on a downward trend. It logged its fifth straight monthly fall in February, weighed down by foreign portfolio outflows and increased hedging in the onshore and the non-deliverable forward market. Persistent outflows from the stock markets have also hit the rupee. Foreign investors have net sold over $14 billion worth of Indian stocks so far in 2025, playing a role in making the rupee one of Asia's worst-performing currencies. The Reserve Bank of India has a mandate to address...
Mar 10, 2025•44 min
Earlier this week, the United States recorded its first death due to measles after over 10 years. Why is this significant? The US had declared the eradication of measles, a highly infectious viral disease, from its country in the year 2000. Over 150 people, mostly children, are currently ill in Texas, and the outbreak has now spread to other States, as per US news reports. In Texas, all but 5 cases were in people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. The country’s Health...
Mar 06, 2025•31 min
The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) has released documents showing that some voters in West Bengal have the same EPIC numbers as some voters in states like Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab. The elector photo identity card (EPIC) is a unique number, and the fact that it is unique is critical to avoid voter impersonation or other kinds of fraud. The Election Commission has attributed the duplication of EPIC numbers to a manual, decentralised system of allotting EPIC system that predated the current ...
Mar 04, 2025•32 min
In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. In the three years since, the US and Europe rallied around Ukraine, supplying it with military and financial support to take on the Russians. Russia was also placed under severe economic sanctions. Russia, when it began its ‘special military operation’, may have hoped for a quick resolution by forcing Ukraine to the negotiating table. But the conflict dragged on, and as of today, Russia holds 20% of Ukrainian territory, and for the first time, the US has...
Mar 01, 2025•34 min
About one month ago, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his country’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization. This was not a completely unexpected decision – Mr. Trump had taken steps during his first term to do so too, but the Biden administration had chosen not to exit. The WHO has called for the US to reconsider its decision – the US is the largest contributor of funds to the WHO. In the weeks since Mr. Trump’s announcement, the WHO has said it plans to cut down on spending signific...
Feb 24, 2025•36 min
The doping controversy over world no. 1 Jannik Sinner has divided the tennis world. In March 2024, Sinner tested positive for clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid. As per the rules of the International Tennis Integrity Agency and the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC), this would result in an automatic provisional suspension pending an appeal. Sinner, however, appealed the provisional suspension, and an independent hearing convened by the ITIA found that he bore “no fault or negligence” for the posit...
Feb 19, 2025•35 min
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made a spectacular entry into Delhi politics in 2013. It rode the wave of an anti-corruption movement, and connected with Delhi’s middle classes by positioning itself as an anti-political force. It cashed in on a general disgust with self-serving career politicians. Once in power, it built a formidable support base on the back of welfare initiatives in school education, health, electricity, water supply, and free bus rides for women. Now, after nearly a decade in power,...
Feb 18, 2025•29 min
Four days after N Biren Singh resigned as chief minister of Manipur, President’s rule has been imposed in the state. Singh’s resignation is seen as a belated one by many. Since May 2023 when violence flared up, more than 250 people have been killed and 60,000 have been displaced and unable to return to their homes. There has also been a huge proliferation of armed groups running amok. Given Singh’s abject failure in the past 21 months to quell the violence, what took him so long to resign? Will ...
Feb 14, 2025•29 min
Ahead of the Budget, there was an expectation that the government would provide some relief for the middle class, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered. In her budget speech, she announced that there would be no income tax for incomes up to ₹12 lakh. Of course, this stole the show, but it wasn't the ONLY big news. The Union Budget 2025 had several schemes, tax reforms and initiatives to improve infrastructure, ease of doing business, and financial inclusion. Guest: Prof. Bhagwan Das,...
Feb 12, 2025•31 min
Two weeks ago, the World Health Organization released a set of guidelines recommending the use of the lower-sodium salt substitutes. These products reduce the amount of sodium chloride in the salt, replacing it with potassium chloride. Reducing salt intake – or sodium intake, has long been held by experts as one of the easiest and cheapest ways to reduce our burden of non-communicable diseases. The WHO’s recommendation is 5 grams of salt a day but Indians eat far more than this at around 8 grams...
Feb 11, 2025•23 min
Five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen and the chess world’s governing body FIDE were embroiled in a public spat until a few days ago. Carlsen, in collaboration with a German businessman, Jan Henric Buettner, has launched a new chess tour, titled the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, and FIDE objected to their use of the term ‘Word Championship’, which it believes undermines FIDE’s exclusive right to that sort of branding. Things got ugly as they exchanged allegations and counter-allegations on socia...
Feb 10, 2025•31 min
US President Donald Trump has often said that ‘tariff’ is his favourite word. Within weeks of taking office, he imposed 25% tariffs on all imports from America’s two biggest trading partners, Mexico and Canada, and 10% tariffs on goods from China. Subsequently, he paused the tariffs for 30 days, after Mexico and Canada promised to take certain measures to curb illegal migration and cross-border fentanyl smuggling. Given his repeated statements that he is looking at tariffs as a source of revenue...
Feb 06, 2025•34 min
More than 100 people have been killed and over 50,000 displaced in violence that has erupted in north-east Colombia, near its border with Venezuela. The scale and nature of the violence -- described by President Gustavo Petro as “war crimes” -- has prompted the government to declare “a state of internal commotion” and a “state of economic emergency”. Media reports indicate that the violence was due to rivalry between the guerrilla group National Liberation Army (or ELN), and remnants of the Revo...
Feb 05, 2025•36 min
Uttarakhand becomes the first Indian state to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) since Independence. On January 27, 2025, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami officially rolled out the UCC, a move that promises uniformity in civil laws but comes with key exemptions—tribal communities and the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) remain outside its purview. What does this mean for minority communities? How do the new provisions impact live-in relationships? And what are the broader implications of this ...
Feb 04, 2025•43 min
