The novel coronavirus is one of the most devastating epidemics in the world right now. It is spreading from one end to the other
Whither Commitment to Truth? How AI, Media, and Visuals Shape Our Sense of Threat
The social media takes advantage of the reward systems in the brain, especially the dopamine circuits within the basal ganglia and the prefrontal cortex. Using signals of micro-engagement, including the duration of time a user hovers over a video or the number of times a user rewatches a clip, algorithms develop a feedback loop that over time redirects the feed of a user to more intense or provocative content.
Mental Health in Schools and Colleges: An Ignored Chapter in Bangladesh's Education System
The loss of 403 young lives is a stark wake-up call for Bangladesh. Schools and colleges are meant to nurture dreams, not silently witness the suffering of students. A collaborative effort involving the government, educational institutions, and families is urgently needed. With empathy, awareness, and institutional support, many of these young lives can still be saved.
The Hormuz Lifeline: Why India’s Energy Security Still Runs Through A 33-Km Strait
India’s diversification strategy, often cited as a mitigating factor, provides only partial relief. The country now sources crude from over 40 countries, and in recent years has increased imports from Russia, the United States, and West Africa. In fact, about 70% of crude imports are now routed outside Hormuz, reflecting a conscious shift in sourcing strategy.
South Asia’s Cities Are Growing - But May Not Remain Livable
What is unfolding across South Asia’s cities is not just an urban crisis, it is a reflection of deeper tensions within development itself. Growth is happening, but it is not translating into stability. Opportunities exist, but they are unevenly distributed. Systems are expanding, but not fast enough to keep up with demand. Cities, which have long been seen as places where people come to improve their lives, are increasingly becoming spaces where people struggle to sustain them.
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The pandemic has held a mirror to humanity
2019 and 2020 – the former, closing, and the latter, enclosing a decade - have emerged victorious in warning us of our fragile existence
Only inspired leadership can fight COVID-type pandemics; not shock and awe
Mankind in the last 100 odd years has faced much bigger perils than the COVID-19 pandemic
Unique Hackathon: India's young techies take on the app challenge
Indian entrepreneurship and technology potential, lying dormant in its universities, has now been summoned when a unique hackathon was launched by TERRE Policy Centre and MIT ADT University in Pune on July 18, 2020
Rulers are using pandemic to amass more power; Bangladesh is an example
If you think rulers are now using the pandemic to grab more power then you won’t be wholly wrong. Around the world, the pandemic is being used by the ruling elite as a chance to grab more and more power
How South Asian cultural mores affect pandemic management
At first glance, the COVID-19 pandemic seems pervasive, unsparing, and indiscriminate
India's studied silence on Hagia Sophia conversion
It is interesting that India opted not to be part of an international chorus of protests against the Turkish president’s decision to revert Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque, a decision which not just hits at the foundation of the modern Turkish state, envisioned in the early 20th century by Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, but also against the universal values of secularism
Twilight
Twilight, that time between sunset and nightfall
When truth-telling is replaced by agenda-setting: Media in an 'illiberal democracy'
India ranked 142nd out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, 2020, an annual document published by Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF)
CHRI urges court-monitored investigation of encounter killings in Uttar Pradesh, ‘investigate each officer under suspicion’
New Delhi, July 13, 2020 – The India Executive Board of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) today called on the Allahabad High Court to institute and monitor an investigation into the encounter killing of Vikas Dubey and his associates, in line with the requirements laid down by the Supreme Court in the 2014 landmark judgement (PUCL v. State of Maharashtra and Ors)
Environment as an enabler of identity in South Asia
Appreciation of the natural environment has been an integral part of human society
Wishes aren’t horses...
The Morning Sun, that intrepid Ball of Fire
Eleven million saplings to be planted in 2020 under Cauvery Calling
"Cauvery Calling is currently running at a project scale, we need to transform this into a movement," said Sadhguru, Founder, Isha Foundation, speaking at the Rally for Rivers (RfR) Board meeting
