Online classes not a hit

For large numbers of Indian students, attending classes on the Internet is both exasperating and exclusionary, due to connectivity issues Deepak Kumar Gupta is a visually impaired student at Delhi University. Of late, he has been busy petitioning the vice-chancellor against online classes and examinations. Why? He believes they are discriminatory to large segments of […]

Keep the gut healthy

Very few know about the microbes that humans play host to in their gastrointestinal tract, but they have an important role to play in the proper functioning of a healthy immune system The human body is a mix of complex mechanisms that work together to ensure a healthy life. An imbalance in diet, exercise and […]

War of the video platforms

YouTube has become the Establishment and TikTok the upstart that is being denigrated for giving play to content created by people who are less sophisticated and urbane. The fight is getting nasty  The pandemic has thrown India, like the rest of humanity, into a great crisis. It is an unprecedented challenge not only for the […]

‘Carrot and stick policy’ needed for cleaner air 

The Coronavirus brought about a dip in pollution levels in the country. The lockdown offers an opportunity to find out the options among greener fuels and make a switch With Lockdown 4.0 came multiple relaxations as central and state governments moved to revive the economy. And with these relaxations, unfortunately, came a rapid deterioration of […]

The pain in Spain 

​Indians in Spain are desperate to get home.  On 31 May, the first evacuation flight from Madrid to Delhi will bring some of them home — if they want to spend a wad of cash There’s a clear case that Spain didn’t get the kind of attention from the Indian authorities like other European countries […]

What ails Pune

From the first patient to 100 cases a day: Pune has become one of India’s first coronavirus hotspots, an audit of the cases in the city, its response, and what went wrong Rubal Agrawal, Pune’s additional municipal commissioner, remembers where she was when she received the news of Pune’s first coronavirus case. It was the […]

Suddenly untouchable

In Delhi’s red light area sex workers on GB Road are surviving on meagre savings and food supplied intermittently by NGOs. The government hasn’t provided any help, they say Sarita is worried. She has meagre savings and an 11-month-old daughter to care for, but she may not find work even after the coronavirus lockdown is […]

No love lost for labour

Far from looking after the interests of their vast  workforce, states like UP and Gujarat seem to be exploiting their desperation by doing away with their right to decent, regular employment  Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to suspend all labour laws, except three, for three years has come as a shocker. The stated intent is to […]