Category: Politics

Culture & Life · Medicine & Doctors · Politics · Public health

Doctors, Academics, and Artists Bear the Brunt of Mob Violence in India: Here’s How They Can Help Each Other

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This appeared in theWire.in on 15 March 2017. Here is the link. Below is an excerpt: While the medical community regularly (and rightfully) demands and expect protection from mob violence, is it morally justified that it looks the other way when other citizens are subjected to similar violence? Mob bullying and violence are among the most deplorable aspects… Continue reading Doctors, Academics, and Artists Bear the Brunt of Mob Violence in India: Here’s How They Can Help Each Other

Culture & Life · Politics · Recommended movies, books etc.

New Science on Why People Believe Fake News

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This was published by theWire on March 5, 2017. Here is the link. Below is an extract. “To sum up, Mercier and Sperber claim that our faculty of reasoning is perfect for making, and accepting or rejecting, argumentive claims. They say this is its primary evolutionary function. But our reasoning faculty is imperfect – though not… Continue reading New Science on Why People Believe Fake News

History · Politics · Recommended movies, books etc.

Conversing With Gandhi in Digital India

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This was published on Gandhi’s death anniversary this year, Jan 30 2017. Here is the link. Below is an extract: In a documentary on the making of the movie, Attenborough expressed phenomenal admiration for one of young Gandhi’s most profound insights: “It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honored… Continue reading Conversing With Gandhi in Digital India

History · History of Medicine · Politics

Black Money and White Violence: How 2016 India Brings Back Dark Memories of Colonized India

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This piece was published in TheWire.in on January 4 2016. Here is the link. Below is an excerpt: “While such absurd colonial arguments do not exist, the colonial attitude surely does, even today. It is this attitude that makes ‘digital India’ devalue the lives of those it refuses to empathise with – the millions of… Continue reading Black Money and White Violence: How 2016 India Brings Back Dark Memories of Colonized India

Medicine & Doctors · Politics · Public health

Demonetisation and Public Health: Only a Welfare-Intensive Budget 2017 Can Now Help BJP Save Face

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This was carried by HuffPost India on Nov 28 2016. Here is the link, and below is an excerpt. “It’s because, just like with demonetisation, the nation leaves them with no other choice. We let government hospitals crumble, and force our poor to go to those, ostensibly for the “greater benefit of the nation”. Because… Continue reading Demonetisation and Public Health: Only a Welfare-Intensive Budget 2017 Can Now Help BJP Save Face

History · History of Medicine · Politics · Public health

Black Money and the Black Death: What The Indian Govt Can Learn from the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897

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This was published on Nov 24, in theWire.in. Here is the link. Below is an extract: [Just like the demonetisation policy] It was a hastily drafted Bill, barely a page long, but ‘extending to the whole of British India’ and coming into force immediately. It was referred to a Select Committee (of four British and two… Continue reading Black Money and the Black Death: What The Indian Govt Can Learn from the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897

Medicine & Doctors · Politics · Public health

Modi’s Mom and a Chaiwallah’s Mom: The Case for Universal Health Coverage in India

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This was published in the Times of India as an op-ed, on Oct 13 2016. Here is the link. Below is an extract: “Few phrases in the public health literature capture the kind of raw agony that ‘catastrophic health expenditure’ does. I know that well, for my family is a rickshaw-walla’s family. A fractured bone… Continue reading Modi’s Mom and a Chaiwallah’s Mom: The Case for Universal Health Coverage in India

Politics · Public health

Ranks 143 and 149 in 188 Nations: What India and Pakistan Have Lost Through Decades-Long Military Quests

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This article, batting for peace and human improvement in the South Asian region, was published in Scroll.in on Oct 2 2016. Here is the link. Below is an excerpt: When one looks at such data, one realizes how hollow the self-congratulatory attitudes of Indian and Pakistani citizens are. It is amazing to see how a… Continue reading Ranks 143 and 149 in 188 Nations: What India and Pakistan Have Lost Through Decades-Long Military Quests