Blogs

High blood pressure is often called the “silent killer.” It is silent because most people do not experience symptoms until serious complications arise. Yet, it is deadly because uncontrolled hypertension significantly increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and premature death. In India, the challenge is particularly alarming. Rapid urbanization, sedentary lifestyles, stress,…

The multidimensional risks of a crude oil glut should be viewed from both a price and a supply-disruption perspective. To reflect on the risks and ramifications of the crude oil crisis, a look at the track of 77 days (May 16) since the Israel-US attack on Iran on February 28 is kept in view, showing…

By Deepak Ranade The human brain, particularly the neocortex, is anthropologically the latest upgrade. The frontal lobes have blessed mankind with the faculty of abstraction. To perceive the intangible. It has also blessed us with the power of restraint and the benediction of discretion. Restraint is one of the most powerful tools when coupled with…

My mother lived with diabetes for twenty-four years. She was very conscious and action oriented about it  – the way she was action oriented about everything. Medicines. Diet. Walks. A kitchen reorganised around what her sugar could tolerate. Medications managed with a discipline that put the rest of us to shame. Daily blood sugar measurement…

Suppressing an insurgency is never easy, anywhere in the world—whether through dialogue or through the gun. Such operations are also rarely completely successful, as has happened this time against the Maoists in central India. In Bengal, the government had crushed the same Naxalites in 1972. In the Northeast too, the government has reached agreements with…

Three legal parents? A welcome thought If two parents weren’t enough – eyeroll – a 4-year-old, in Europe, has three legally recognised parents. Upside: those teen tantrums, coming in the future, can be shared three-ways. Jokes aside, it’s the story of a child who lives in Germany, with two men, who are married, one of…

Oil’s up, finally. Not by much, happily Petrol, diesel and CNG became pricier yesterday. The hike was anticipated from the time war started in Iran, and Hormuz Strait shut down, cutting off roughly 20% of world’s oil and gas supplies. PM’s call for judicious use of these fuels, last Sunday, signalled a hike was imminent….

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in Secunderabad recently about India’s need to conserve foreign exchange, he made a special mention of copper — a metal the country once produced in abundance. The remark did not receive as much attention as his warning against purchasing gold for a year or avoiding foreign trips. What may have sounded…

The arrest of Muhammed Najeeb, an alleged organ trade kingpin, has put hospitals, oversight bodies and the exploitation of poor donors squarely back under the lens On May 7, the inspector of Vadakkekara police station Biju KR knocked on the door of a 43-year-old woman in Chittattukara in Paravur, Ernakulam. Accompanied by a woman officer…

Six years after the launch of National Education Policy 2020, its implementation across India remains uneven, fragmented, and unbefitting of a transformative policy that emerged after one of the most extensive consultative exercises in Indian education. The optimism and intellectual excitement that NEP 2020, and the multiple National Curriculum Frameworks, once evoked, has now given…