Articles by Harini Raghavan

In July 2024, the Bengaluru Film Forum, in collaboration with Goethe Institute, commemorated the birth anniversary of the Indo-German filmmaker Harun Farocki, with a three-day festival. Harun Farocki was a celebrated filmmaker with an expansive body of work. With a career spanning over five decades, Farocki made intellectually stimulating thematic films on labour, war, and cityscapes in modern, post-industrial environments. His filmmaking style ranged from "fly on the wall" to "observational" to "direct." The festival showcased over 15 of his films, many from Goethe's film archives and a few directly sourced from the Harun Farocki estate in Germany. This is indeed…

As we celebrate Deepavali, the festival of lights, a day when homes are decorated with lights and greetings are shared, bursting of crackers is also part of our tradition. However, the Supreme Court mandates the use of eco-friendly green crackers due to their less harmful effects on health and the environment, especially in a post-covid scenario. In 2018, a couple of fathers, concerned about their newly born infants’ health, filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court due to the increasing pollution in New Delhi, especially from October to December Further, the crackers used during festivals such as Deepavali, Christmas…

The Kannada movie, 777 Charlie, not only beautifully showcased the relationship between dog and man, but also highlighted the perils of indiscriminate breeding. The film also stressed the essential narrative of ‘adopt, don't shop’. The reality is that dogs are bred indiscriminately, pups and dogs do get abandoned, and there are still many dogs looking for homes.  An abandoned St Bernard. Pic courtesy: Voice of Voiceless Dog Breeding and Marketing (DBM) rules, 2017, and Pet Shop rules, 2018, lay out the broad structure,  regulations and controls to ensure responsible breeding and to avoid cruelty. While the framework exists, does it…

The recent Kannada blockbuster 777 Charlie attempts to tell a story that can change hearts and perceptions about dogs; Indie dogs in particular. The film, directed by Kiranraj K is the story of Dharma, a man who suffers from terrible trauma having lost his entire family in a road accident. Dharma, played by Rakshit Shetty, becomes a recluse and attaches no significance to his life till a rambunctious, pesky pup shows up at his doorstep his life upside down for good. Dharma takes in the abandoned pup Charlie. In turn, Charlie gives him a sense of purpose in life. Making…

The COVID-19 pandemic, a global public health crisis resulting from a virus of potential animal origin has put the spotlight on the idea of One Health. One Health is an approach that is based on the fact that the health of people is closely connected to the health of animals and our shared environment. It brings focus on the interactions between people, animals, plants and the environment. Health risks have increased with trade globalisation, global warming and changes in human behaviour, providing pathogens multiple opportunities to colonise new territories and mutate. While zoonotic transmission (transmission of pathogens from animals to…

COVID infections are on the upswing, with the World Health Organization announcing an 80 percent average increase in infections over the past four weeks in five of the health agency’s six regions, a jump largely fuelled by the Delta variant. “Delta is a warning that the virus is evolving but it is also a call to action that we need to move now before more dangerous variants emerge,” said Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme, in a briefing. Statistical models seem to suggest that the third wave in India could be three to four times more severe than…

As the BBMP began to streamline its bed allocation system, private hospitals in Bengaluru -- under the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) -- were quick to launch their own bed allocation system through their online portal. While 50% of their beds are set aside for patients coming through the BBMP's triaging system, Bengaluru's private hospitals and nursing homes are allowed to allot the other 50% themselves. PHANA was set up 20 years ago and currently has over 400 members in Bengaluru and many affiliate members across the State. The association set up 'Search My Bed' which gives real-time…

Karnataka’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), the scientific adviser to the government on COVID management, had predicted a second wave in January and February of 2021. While the TAC’s prediction was off by a couple of months--in UK and USA, the second wave had wreaked havoc in the final months of 2020--they did forewarn the State government that a faster spreading and more debilitating second wave of the pandemic was just waiting to happen. And it did. In the end April 2021, the State was clocking approximately 50,000 cases per day with capital Bengaluru alone averaging 20,000 cases per day.    The…

With Bengaluru Urban district recording 1,280 COVID-19 cases on March 23, the city has been witnessing a sharp rise in its spread.  With two young people in Ballari testing positive for the South African variant of COVID, the Karnataka government has begun tightening up its safety measures.  In Bengaluru, the BBMP has been asked to ramp up its testing to 40,000 RT-PCR tests per day. However, so far only about 37,000 tests are carried per day and the BBMP Commissioner says that the lag is a result of people’s reluctance to get tested. BBMP continues to ensure through its team…

Last week, the new SARS-CoV-2 variant was revealed to be the reason behind the rapid surge in Covid-19 cases in South and East England. It is being referred to as VUI (Variant Under Investigation) 202012/01, or the B.1.1.7 lineage. 1108 cases of this strain have been identified so far. While this new variant spreads more rapidly than other strains, there is no evidence yet that this variant causes severe disease or mortality. Given this all travel from and into the UK has been halted as a precautionary measure in our country. For the first time in the last few weeks…