I slept a lot, but I was doing that in any case before the lockdown. I read some but it is becoming increasingly difficult to focus for long with my failing eyesight
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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India needs to be realistic, should lift lockdown
Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared lockdown all over India around 40 days back, which caught the countrymen by surprise and led to a feeling of uncertainty
Ominous are the portents today
If I could swim the meadows and walk the rivers
COVID-19 will leave a temporary scar; world economy will bounce back
In living memory, the worst disaster and miseries took place during the World War II. A large number of manufacturing units, airports, and seaports were destroyed and buildings demolished. Japan suffered the worst when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing the death of millions of innocent people
India's response to coronavirus is based on fear, not planning
There are indications/allegations that COVID-19 or coronavirus was accidentally released from a Wuhan lab
Expand Ehsaas, Extend Lockdown
Pakistan’s health crisis could explode, gravely crippling the economy and national security, if the lockdown is lifted prematurely. The whole world is grappling with the lives vs. livelihoods debate
India can shape the new world order
At a time when America’s role is tragically missing and as the world steps up its scrutiny of China, global leadership is suffering from a crisis. It is India that can step in to fill this void in leadership
Institute a global social contract to defeat pandemics
As the world is under the grip of coronavirus, there appears to be a universal breach of social contract. World leaders in democracies, autocracies or monarchies have grossly failed to give birth to a clear roadmap to mitigate the despair and desolation amid the COVID-19 outbreak
Indian Armed Forces at the forefront of COVID-19 war
India’s Armed Forces and Defence Ministry production units continue their countrywide assistance in combating the effects of COVID-19, a dirty and deadly biological 'weapon', which allegedly emanated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China and spread infection worldwide, though there has been no authoritative corroboration of this so far
1918 flu pandemic killed 12 million Indians, and British overlords' indifference strengthened the anti-colonial movement
In India, during the 1918 influenza pandemic, a staggering 12 to 13 million people died, the vast majority between the months of September and December. According to an eyewitness, “There was none to remove the dead bodies and the jackals made a feast.”
Communal profiling and media hate-mongering may have grave consequences
Arthur Koestler, a Hungarian British author, and journalist, once observed that “Man's deadliest weapon is language. He is susceptible to being hypnotized by slogans as he is to infectious diseases
In India's cities, life is lived on the streets – how coronavirus changed that
India’s coronavirus lockdown of 1.3 billion people is unprecedented in size and scope, particularly in a country where city streets are so thronged with life in all its guises
The wrath of the gods
The frenzy that we see around
The trepidation and the terror,
India should use its temple gold reserve to lift economy
Extreme times call for extreme measures. India is reeling under a chronic economic crisis. If the Indian government takes these measures then it will go a long way in mitigating the economic fallout of the COVID-19
The Ashok Desai I knew: A tribute
On 13 April 2020 Supreme Court advocate Ashok Desai, a legal luminary and former Attorney General of India, passed away in Mumbai. He was 77
