It is generally believed that the sanitary behaviour of Keralites when compared to other states in India is better. This may be partly true. The better sanitary behaviour is a naturally and culturally evolved artefact which has its foundation in the ecology of the region and especially the abundant availability of water. But this cultural artefact is being challenged and[Read More…]
The virus has left a lasting imprint on the present generation. Many people have not yet recovered fully from the infection and many others still lamenting on the loss of their dear ones and coping with the new realities. It is understandable that the pains will take long time to perish. Apart from such tragedies all over the world, which[Read More…]
The present world is dominated by a scientific world view which places undue focus on practicality mainly arising out of a market-oriented economic philosophy. Technological advancements have definitely helped the present society in many ways especially communication sector, education, health, travel etc. Of course, in this ‘new world’, basic sciences have become marginal and this has tremendous implications for education[Read More…]
A futuristic vision was very much evident in India at different points of time starting with the Bhore committee report. At the international context, a futuristic orientation in health and wellbeing was discernible from an official and institutional framework related to proclamation of goals, firstly the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), followed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Around the same[Read More…]
Family Planning was a lynchpin of our health services at one point of time especially in the seventies and it almost resulted in health services becoming an ancillary and essential health programs getting overshadowed by intensive drives and forcible sterilizations. This also led to negative stereotyping of health services in many states of India. India evolved a comprehensive national population[Read More…]
A cursory observation and popular perceptions reveal a ‘fatigue’ with respect to the current trends. In plain language, people are fed-up with the unusual control on their lives and this is especially severe among young people and the children. The fatigued also include parents who have to manage the dichotomy with respect to professional and personal lives with extra efforts[Read More…]
We have heard about ‘at a snail’s pace’ which normally describes slow action or movement especially when we think that doing it faster would be much more better. These days snails move faster than the State. It is possible to come to this conclusion even before the introduction if we assess the way our health system functions. We have a[Read More…]
Co-Written by K Rajasekharan Nayar; Arathi P Rao; Lekha D Bhat; Anant Kumar and Parul Malik The World Health Organization has recently published the latest World Tuberculosis Report (2020) and there are many trends which are of serious concern regarding elimination of this age-old disease from the world (1). At one time, the Tuberculosis did not even spare some very[Read More…]
Knowledge society, information society and industrial society are all interlinked concepts with a particular ideology which places undue faith on science, technology and development. The origin of the terms especially knowledge society is attributed to various scholars culminating in the description of ‘post-industrial societies’ which depend on material production as a key to growth and human welfare. These conceptual developments[Read More…]
During this pandemic period, virtuality has taken over many facets of our life and especially education although it could be a temporary phase. But the academic world may be realizing the immense potential as well as drawbacks of the virtual medium in the ‘give and take’ process of education. It is a near certainty that the hardest hit is pre-primary[Read More…]
According to WHO, “Universal Health Care (UHC) means that all individuals and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. It includes the full spectrum of essential, quality health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. UHC does not mean free coverage for all possible health interventions, regardless of the cost, as no[Read More…]
People wear masks and use handwash to keep the virus away as a result of fear of infection. One may also find this new behaviour as a formality among many persons and as a result of legalities. And this is happening in a society which is least concerned about sanitary practices. In this new sanitary culture, the prominent internalised attitude[Read More…]
The online teaching due to the lockdown is a new experience for many students in the country. It has gone through many glitches due to lack of facilities, lack of expertise among teachers, and lack of exposure to the new medium devoid of collegiality, lack of interpersonal exchanges that people are used to in class room teaching. This has resulted[Read More…]
Many of our daily life events are governed by dichotomies. The world is witnessing a reorientation and reconsideration of such dichotomies and even several assumptions regarding human existence and outlook. This is not just in terms of moral aspects like honest or dishonest, love and hate, good and bad, right and wrong etc. In the backdrop of the pandemic, the[Read More…]
Co-authored by K Rajasekharan Nayar, Anant Kumar, Arathi P Rao, and Lekha D. Bhat When unknown entities affect humans, they become unsteady especially during crucial times. This leads to ambiguous decision-making with respect to a number of key issues and factors. What happened when COVID-19 struck the world in the form of a pandemic is not different. A number of[Read More…]
Co-Written by K. Rajasekharan Nayar and Arathi P. Rao The possibility of developing vaccines and drugs against COVID-19 is being closely watched by the world. The journal ‘Nature’ reports that there are about 115 vaccine development initiatives in the world of which 78 are confirmed as active and 37 are unconfirmed and of the 78 confirmed active projects, 73 are[Read More…]
Co-Written by K Rajasekharan Nayar, Bindhya Vijayan & Muhammed Shaffi The proactive strategies adopted by the Government of Kerala for controlling the COVID 19 pandemic have been appreciated world-wide. The strict enforcement of the age-old strategies and the almost near compliance by the people are exemplary. These may help in sailing through the pandemic to the next stage. Unfortunately, the[Read More…]
A lot had already been written about the high morbidity conscious Kerala society and especially what was being called in the early eighties as the ‘Kerala Paradox’. This essentially is a conceptual complex which meant that the morbidity rate was very high in Kerala compared to the low mortality and it also meant that the state could achieve better health[Read More…]
Please do not think that this is a note which supports the virus in any way but it is examining the behaviour of the virus differently in different contexts and the changes or status quo that it brought on humans. Various hypotheses are already going around regarding the virus which actually made the writing of this note a bit cumbersome[Read More…]
Co-Written by K Rajasekharan Nayar, Muhammed Shaffi & Anant Kumar When human beings face uncertainties, they invent justifications to overcome the anxieties that accompany them. The COVID pandemic is especially characterized by such a phenomenon which affected not just ordinary people but even the scientists and governments. The science of the infection played a major role in shaping our response[Read More…]
In 1962, Rachel Carson wrote the book named ‘Silent Spring’ which influenced lots of academics and environmentalists also leading to environmental movements in the US and elsewhere against human onslaughts on nature. It appeared a romantic view on environment but highlighted the negative impacts of the pesticide use in agriculture and generated debates especially when the world was trying to[Read More…]
Unusual behavioural or emotional responses are normally expressed when abnormal situations like emergencies or tragedies happen in our society. Some try to justify such situations by attributing them to supernatural powers, our own past conduct, or even past life. But in the case of the present pandemic, we have sometimes gone to the extreme- a new syndrome, a pandemic of[Read More…]
Co-Written by Kesavan Rajasekharan Nayar, Shabanaroze Chowdhury and Arathi P Rao The body fluids and transmission of infections have been now well-known. The role of intimate contacts between males and females during sexual intercourse have been held responsible for transmitting HIV/AIDS. History reveals many diseases which have been acquired through genital contact. Syphilis, a bacterial disease, for instance, is transmitted[Read More…]
WWII & Holocaust Could Never Have Happened Without American Corporations Investing & Joint Venturing with Hitler’s Poor Nazi Germany – Chapter 1 
A doubtful American Invention 
Why Ukraine Is Increasingly a Nuclear Headache for World Powers 
Why EU Strategic Autonomy Apart from the U.S. Is Currently Impossible 
Selective Outrage in Palestine: The Problem is Not Just Smotrich but Zionism 
Israeli Protests: Racist Western Mainstream Media Ignore The Palestinians 
The Boys of my Town at Ram Navami Day 
Will the court act against hate speeches ? 
The Convulsive Journey Of The Naga Peace Process: A Pursuit Towards Mutual Coexistence And Autonomy 
The Sound of the New War Drum Goes Tik-Tok 
To Hell and Back – America’s Remarkable Unwillingness to Support Its Veterans 
Time Ticking: US Ambassador to India Promised Human Rights Focus 
Perils of Complacency – Recent Indian experience of democracy 
In difficult times for education, smooth flow of pre-matric scholarships is important 
Targeting China, US Navy to purchase 100 new ships 
Fifty Years of the 1973 Yom Kippur War 
History archives in Bikaner and Mumbai 
In memory of 35th death anniversary of Jaimal Singh Padda 
Whither democracy after Rahul Gandhi’s unseating? 
An Ordinary German Pogrom 
The Sudden Death of Giant Panda Lele Highlights Systemic Failures at Memphis Zoo 
Fresh investigation needed on the 2008 Jaipur bomb blasts 
Adani Stock Scam An Opportunity To Curtail Hindurashtra Conspiracy 
Urgency of Stepping Up Backward Class Schemes as only 6% of Allocated Funds Spent in First Nine Months of Financial Year 
At least 40 immigrants dead in fire at US-Mexico border 
Contemporary Anti-Semitism – A Jewish View from Germany 
In memory of 40th Anniversary of Military Dictatorship in Argentina 
Poor work conditions, non-compliance with Constitutional provisions seriously impact adolescent girls in workforce 
Take action against K Surendran for insulting Women 
Calculated Exoneration: Command Responsibility and War Crimes in Afghanistan 
DOJ Called Upon to Investigate Environmental Activists Abuses 
The World’s Coffee Shops Have Emerged as Plant Milk’s Front Line 
Lara Sheehi’s ordeal, like Steven Salaita’s, is not quite over 
“Facing Clear Evidence of Peril” in a Country of Lies 
The case of Kashmir: A Gandhian Resolution 
Non-Availability of Badly Needed Funds for Dalit Students Increases Their Difficulties 
A bureaucrat-turned- minister in a mess 
Hundreds Of Thousands Of Workers’ 24-Hour Mega Transport Strike Halts Germany 
Oldest Interfaith Organization in America Calls for Children to Have More Rights Than Guns 
What’s the Best Way Out from the War in Ukraine? 
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
