Miscellaneous
Politics, health, economy, society, history, and more
The menace of vanishing snows now haunts the Himalayan region, taking away the very essence of the mountains for Indians and people from around the world. By Vipin Labroo
With a potential scenario of a water Armageddon looming for India, Vipin Labroo argues that the fight to avert a total crisis must be no less than a national crusade.
Extreme climate change and the environmental catastrophe in towns like Joshimath are another reminder for the need of a sustainable, tenable, and all-inclusive model of growth. By Vipin Labroo
Popular historian Sanjeev Sanyal pushed the account of India’s intellectual decline post the Islamic conquests. In his research essay, Joshua Fernandes challenges Sanyal’s stance by presenting a connected history through a survey of Sino-Tibetan literature.
The advent of the metaverse will present new challenges, and even require a new definition of what it means to be human. Vipin Labroo explores the curious frontiers of the future, and how Eastern and Indian philosophies may have already prepared us for this brave new world.
The Advaita Bodhi Foundation—working in digital literacy and rural enterprise—has set about pushing entrepreneurship among the Lodha community in West Bengal. By Medha Dutta Yadav
With today’s fast-paced digital connectivity and the slew of productivity tools at their disposal, critiques of the office spaces asked if the cost of infrastructure, the inconvenience of the daily commute, and the needless increase in the carbon footprint was worth it. The pandemic proved them emphatically right. By Vipin Labroo
Streaming music giant Spotify’s ad campaign blurs the line between fact and fiction, a meta conversation that offers the listeners less annoyance with more upgrades. Does it work? By Shambhavi Gupta
‘The idea is not to renounce the good things in life, but to actually understand them.’ Vipin Labroo argues why India—with its vast inequality, unemployment, and environmental concerns—needs a shot of minimalism in the lifestyles of our burgeoning population.
In India, our approach and understanding of mental health concerns are often further complicated by the historical weight of the caste-system and a yearning for cultural ‘purity’. By Sadaf Vidha
Survival in the pandemic continues to favour the powerful and privileged, while those in the margins face a scarcity and failure of the health care system. Aryan Somaiya and Sadaf Vidha confront this imbalance from a queer lens.
Narratives of pseudoscience and ‘alternative’ remedies have proven to be extremely harmful during the pandemic in India. With many refusing to take the vaccine, Shefali Saldanha argues that the worst may be yet to come.
In the crippling second wave of the pandemic, that pleasant Instagram reel is a distraction for some—and a privilege for others. Barkha Kumari dialled in the social media generation and mental health experts for their take on the dilemma of the public display of happiness.
For decades, abandoned and alone in a desolate jungle mansion in Delhi lived Wilayat Mahal and her self-proclaimed royal family. After the death of the last prince at Malcha Mahal, Abhimanyu Kumar decoded history, personal accounts, and mysterious texts to explore if the family were the true inheritors of the House of Oudh.
After a lengthy lay-off, Indian academic institutions have begun to re-open and welcome students back to campus. In interviews with students from around the country, Sadaf Vidha explores how visible and invisible structures in academic spaces affect their mental health.
90% of India’s workforce remains informal and unaccounted for. Until more of our small businesses and employment contracts are formalised, this vast majority will not have access to the rights and protections that should be afforded to all citizens. By Shefali Saldanha.
In a continuing large-scale protest, farmers have taken their stands in multiple borders around the New Delhi, prepared to force the government to blink first. Abhimanyu Kumar visited the Singhu border to find a spirit of resilience and revolution.
There are no special provisions for mental health for India’s sexual minorities, considering that they are often more likely to be economically marginalised, and may need more support. Sadaf Vidha explores the gaps and possible silver linings.
Historically, religion has had a complicated role in serving as an alternative to therapy. Sadaf Vidah explores the opportunities and challenges from both Indian and Western religious traditions in regards to mental health.
COVID-19 has again put the failures of our health care system in the spotlight. Shefali Saldanha argues that an overhaul should bring to the forefront the conversation about preventing sickness, before treating the survivors of our failed health policy.
How a for-profit society creates not just joblessness, productivity cults, and work anxiety, but also other forms of inequality, leading to a mental health crisis in the country. - By Sadaf Vidah
In recent years, journalists have been attacked, intimidated, and the likes of Gauri Lankesh and Shujat Bhakari murdered. Nikita Chatterjee explains how violence, government pressure, paid news, and more have shackled India’s press freedoms and landed a major blot upon our idea of democracy.
India has to grapple with both caste and colonisation to get a holistic understanding of mental health issues, stigma, treatment and community interventions. - By Sadaf Vidah
An interview with Analyst & Writer Shefali Saldanha on the COVID-19 vaccine research, logistical challenges for India, promoting hand-washing, fighting disinformation, and much more.
Even assuming a COVID-19 vaccine is discovered soon, past logistical challenges in India show that it is unlikely to be a quick fix. Instead, we need to address the structures in place that are causing the disease to spread rapidly around the country. By Shefali Saldanha
2020 has enforced upon us a crash course on the human and economic cost of disasters. The pandemic and the lockdown have exposed the horrors of the worst-case scenario for India’s internally-displaced migrants. We need to be better prepared for the disasters looming ahead. By Shefali Saldanha
The lockdown has worsened systematic failures in the Indian police, rooting from implicit biases and leading to more violence. Sadaf Vidha takes stock of the American movement against police brutality to frame against the glaring issues back home in India.
India’s economy has failed the most-vulnerable half of the population. Shefali Saldanha argues that the pandemic could be an opportunity to change the system.
Extensive research in recent years helped Surbhi Agarwal discover an unlikely sojourn between Mahatma Gandhi and Mussoorie. Here, she presents a brief account of the details she gathered of Gandhi’s trips to ‘The Queen of the Hills’ between the 1920s-40s.
India’s high youth unemployment should be a cause for greater alarm. Not only is it a question of under-utilization of the most precious resource of a nation—its young people—but it also raises the spectre of social tension and unrest. By Vipin Labroo