GENRE: Explainers

Is it safe to donate blood? This is the first question that comes to mind when we see messages requesting for blood donors, especially when COVID-19, masking up and social distancing are still actively being talked about. During the COVID-19 lockdown, regular donors were avoiding hospitals and blood banks, fearful of catching the virus. There were understandably fewer blood donation camps organised. Most blood banks were running on reserves. April 2020 newspaper clip about blood shortage. Mumbai's daily blood requirement pre-COVID was about 1,000 units per day. During COVID, with fewer surgeries demand dropped but it's returning to those pre-COVID…

63-year-old Punniadhas' mother passed away twenty six years ago in 1995 and his father passed away in 2009. Caught up in other immediate formalities and responsibilities at the time, Punniadhas, who is a resident of Chennai and an only child to his parents, managed to apply for their death certificates only in 2018 — over two decades after his mother's death and almost a decade after his father's. For Punniadhas, this delay in registration ended in a prolonged back and forth between the officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation and the police station of the locality where he resided. Despite…

After much discussions and deliberation, the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank on September 30th formally approved a $150-million programme to assist the Tamil Nadu government in its vision of transforming Chennai into a world-class city. To quote the official statement of the Bank itself, the objective of this Chennai City Partnership is to make the capital a city that is “more green, livable, competitive, and resilient to climate change and other shocks.” So what is the programme all about and why has the international financial institution decided to partner with Tamil Nadu’s capital? For starters, this is…

As India celebrated the 74th anniversary of its independence in 2020, Prime Minister Narendra announced the launch of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), also known as Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. Terming it a revolution in the country’s healthcare system, Modi added that a digital national health ID for citizens will be generated to ensure easy and one-touch access to all their health information.  This digital health ID comes as a follow up to the National Health Policy 2017 that had provided for establishing an integrated health information system. The objective is to improve efficiency and promote transparency across all…

The threats induced by COVID-19 continue to warn the masses against large crowds and uncovered faces. Since masking became the norm, cases of flu viruses and common colds saw a rapid decline, but have resurfaced with the onset of the monsoon season. This might bring confusions in diagnoses, and people might wonder if they have COVID-19 or a viral fever. With so many viruses in the air, it is important to understand the differences between them for an accurate diagnosis and preventive practice. Read more: Walk-ins introduced in Mumbai’s vaccination centres to help local residents Mumbai | Masking norms had reduced…

In 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) found that roughly 7.5 per cent Indians suffer from some form of a mental disorder, and predicted that by the end of 2021, close to 20 percent of Indians will suffer from mental health illnesses. With a shortage of mental health professionals, a culture of denial and hesitation, a majority that cannot afford professional help, these statistics confirm that there is a desperate need for informed discourse around mental health and the systems that affect it.  Read more: Mental health helpline received 72,000 calls in a year, thanks to the pandemic Below is…

As fears towards an impending third wave – set to reveal itself in October according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) – have set in the city, there is a deeper concern among parents of young children who are yet to be vaccinated. To ensure the safety of their wards, many parents have restricted their children from playing in common premises where they would normally interact with other children.  On September 13, only ten children were admitted in Mumbai hospitals (nine in the NESCO COVID-19 care facility and one in Seven Hills Hospital) with moderate or severe symptoms of the…

Translated by Sandhya Raju இம்மாத தொடக்கத்தில், அண்ணாநகரில் உள்ள ஒரு முக்கிய சந்திப்பில் தன்னை முன்பின் அறிந்திறாத நபர் ஒருவர் பின் தொடர்ந்ததாக சென்னையைச் சேர்ந்த பத்திரிகையாளர் கிரீஷ்மா குத்தார், தனது ட்விட்டர் பதிவில் குறிப்பிட்டிருந்தார். தன்னை இடைமறித்து பேச முயன்றவரை கண்டு கொள்ளாமல் சென்றதாகவும், ஆனால் வேகமாக பின் தொடர்ந்து மீண்டும் இடையூறு செய்ததாகவும் தெரிவித்திருந்தார். காவலர்களிடம் புகார் அளித்ததை அடுத்து அந்த நபரை காவலர்கள் பிடித்து விசாரித்தனர். அதன் முழு விவரமும் கீழே: படம்: கிரீஷ்மா குத்தார் தன்னுடைய தோழிகள் பலருக்கு இது போன்று இடையூறு ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது என குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார். பொது முடக்கத்திற்க்கு பின் அலுவலகம் செல்ல ஆரம்பித்த மடிப்பாக்கத்தை சேர்ந்த 25 வயது ஆர். ரெஜினா தனது அனுபவத்தை பகிர்ந்தார், "என் வீட்டிலிருந்து இரண்டு தெரு தள்ளி வசிக்கும் ஒருவர், சில வாரங்களாக பின் தொடர்கிறார், எப்படி அதை தடுப்பது என தெரியவில்லை" என கூறினார்.…

The Centre's Ministry of Environment, Forest  & Climate Change recently notified the  Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Amendment Rules, 2021, to phase out certain types of single-use plastics by 2022. The ban applies to the manufacture, sale, use, import and handling  of some plastic items. The amendment is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment of eliminating single-use plastic by 2022. What is single-use plastic? According to the PWM Rules, 2021, ‘single-use plastic commodity’ means a plastic item intended to be used once, before being disposed of or recycled.  The Expert Committee on ‘Single Use Plastics’, constituted by the Department of…

There is value in sifting through the remains of what we discard. And each act of sifting, collecting, sorting, grading, trading is a revolution of sorts. But what does this have to do with Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR)? The moment of truth came in when my colleague Krishna, a former child waste picker and a manager of a dry waste collection Centre in Bengaluru, made a statement at one of the meetings on Inclusive EPR. “We talk about producers' responsibility and stewardship, in terms of environment and economic angle but there is a more pressing issue that needs to be…