Post Tagged with: "India"

Alumni, Health, welfare and well-being

A mid summer night’s nightmare: the second wave of COVID-19 in India and why nobody is surprised

A mid summer night’s nightmare: the second wave of COVID-19 in India and why nobody is surprised

I am into the second month of self-imposed isolation at home to escape from the hell outside called the second wave of COVID-19 in India. Grappling with despair, grief and anxiety, I cut cable connection and stopped reading newspapers to avoid seeing the horrendous images of stacked dead bodies in hospital lobbies, corpses floating down the river and collapsed people battling for breath on the streets.

by × 01 June 2021 ×

Faculty, Governance, cooperation and law

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, arrives in Argentina for the G20 in 2018

How India exemplifies the world’s democratic recession

India, long the world’s largest, most diverse and most hopeful democracy, is officially no longer a democracy. For the first time in almost fifty years, the world’s foremost democracy assessor, Freedom House, downgraded India’s rating from Free to Partly Free. The change this marks is considerable. For nearly three quarters […]

by × 12 March 2021 ×

Alumni, Health, welfare and well-being

Managing COVID-19 in Kerala, India – an alumna’s experience

Managing COVID-19 in Kerala, India – an alumna’s experience

As a civil servant working in the state of Kerala, India, for the past seven years, I have been on the foreground while the state has dealt with various challenges – from severe flooding in 2018 and 2019 to the outbreak of Nipah virus in 2018. However, dealing with a […]

by × 24 June 2020 ×

Faculty, Governance, cooperation and law

Anti-Trump protester in London in 2018. Photo by Alisdare Hickson. Source: Flickr.

Democracies in danger

By abruptly revoking the special, constitutionally protected status of Jammu and Kashmir, India has become the latest major democracy to act against a minority community for short-term political popularity. Kashmir will henceforth be ruled more directly from the government in New Delhi, and Hindu nationalists are thrilled. Carefully maintained constitutional […]

by × 21 August 2019 ×

Alumni, Governance, cooperation and law

Design thinking in government

Design thinking in government

When I first suggested the topic of this blog to a friend, he said it was an oxymoron. Design and government? Thinking and government? If design thinking is all about putting people first, many do not believe that policies really put people first. The design thinking process involves many steps […]

by × 23 May 2019 ×

Alumni, Science and technology

Upcycled shirts developed by NIFT students as part of design curriculum

Circular fashion ‘sparks joy’

First up, I can’t do what Marie Kondo does. Discard. In her new Netflix series, people who have accumulated clothes over time are seen decorously breaking down and seeking the help of Marie to check whether their shopping sparks joy. If not, the alternative is one: discard. Discarding is so […]

by × 27 March 2019 ×

Alumni, Health, welfare and well-being

New York's Central Station. Photo by author.

Design, not decay in government buildings

As a fresh faced civil servant on her first posting to Bangalore in 2003, it thrilled me to bits to read the motivational etching on the Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru’s postcard monument that houses the State Legislature. It says in native Kannada first: Sarkarada kelasa Devara Kelasa and below it, the […]

by × 27 June 2018 ×

Alumni, Science and technology

Generic vs patented drugs: Could voluntary licenses be the answer?

Generic vs patented drugs: Could voluntary licenses be the answer?

It is not an overstatement to call India as the generic drug supplier of the world. A recent study indicated that India is the largest exporter of generics (by volume) in the world, accounting for 20% of global export volume. Low prices, strong scientific ability and high quality are the […]

by × 20 December 2017 ×
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