Epidemics know no borders. They know no race, no language or religion. The WHO has declared the H1N1 (Swine flu) as the first global pandemic in 41 years. As of 17:00 GMT, 15 June 2009, 76 countries have officially reported 35, 928 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 163 deaths.

In 2 weeks, India has moved from cautious to infected. The numbers continue to grow on a daily basis. For a disease that is highly contagious and with symptoms that could be easily mistaken for common ailments, the danger is omnipresent for a nation like ours – rich in people, average in medicare and poor in awareness.

Thankfully, India has finally raised a travel advisory yesterday. They have also requested for infected nations to screen air passengers at the source rather than just at the destination. The media is trying to bring in awareness to the masses and doctors and hospitals immediately refering suspect cases to the Govt. medicare centers.

Despite all this, a suspect escaped from a hospital quarantine a couple of days back. Officials were seen desperately trying to track down fellow passengers from flights that brougnt in confirmed cases to the country. Govt. centers are trying to arrange for adequate stocks of Tamiflu and Relenza. All this as research is now showing that H1N1 can further mutate to resist these drugs and yet hoping for a vaccine in then next 3 months.

As science tries to find a solution, and research better ways to counter the threat, we must acknowledge that no one  is beyond this danger. Thankfully H1N1 is still treatable and many nations are already prepared to (hopefully) contain it.

Prevention is better than cure. If you are interested to know more about H1N1, visit the WHO pages for:
- All about H1N1 and latest updates
- What each of us need to know about reducing risk of infection
- How we can help our our communities fight this dread

Spread the word! Awareness is the need of the day.

Image Courtesty: WHO

Popularity: 31%

In the brief moment it takes me to press the button of my choice on the voting machine, I become the master of our rulers and that feeling is exhilarating, though only in fleeting. Democracy above all forms of government is the most natural and enduring because in principle, every individual citizen is counted and respected.

Unfortunately, in our country, the power I wield is very ephemeral. Till I get another chance after 5 years at pressing that button again, the people whom I am supposed to have anointed to rule over my destiny run amuck. They amass wealth, plunder, and run rough-shod over the people on whose behalf they govern. During those 5 years, I become part of an amorphous, formless crowd. Let me tell you the sad story of Dr.Binayak Sen so that you may understand the other side of the dance of democracy.

Young Binayak wanted to be a doctor and he went to C.M.C, Vellore to do his M.B.B.S in 1966. He was a gold medalist and was selected to do M.D course in paediatrics. Here again he excelled and was among the top students. He then joined the faculty of the Centre for Social Medicine at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Though as a bright doctor the world was his for the asking, his idealism led him to join a rural health programme in Madhya Pradesh.

Later, he And his wife, Illina, a teacher, chose to go to rural Chattisgarh, to work with mine workers’ unions. The husband-wife team plunged headlong into various projects aimed at improving the rural health and education of the community. The tribal Adivasis lived in a world of abject poverty, injustice and a system that bred exploitation. He then worked for a salary of Rs.600.

Dr. Sen and his wife, Dr. Ilina Sen, founded Rupantar, a community-based organization aimed at training and supporting community health workers in several villages, fighting against alcohol abuse and violence against women. Dr. Sen has been involved in various other organizations committed to developing a low-cost, effective, community health programme in the tribal and rural areas of Chhattisgarh. He holds the postion as the Vice President of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

It soon became clear to him that health of the community he sought to serve was linked to organized movement towards attainment of human rights. He raised his voice against human rights violations and the fake encounters involving supposed Maoists. He also spoke up against the war waged by the government of Chhattisgarh against the adivasis in Dantewara in the name of Salwa Judum which is an army of private citizens armed and supported by the government supposedly to fight the menace of the Maoists. What Salwa Judum initiative has achieved is to pit Adivasis against Adivasis and break their bond and unity.

On 14 May 2007 Dr Binayak Sen was arrested and thrown into a Raipur prison on trumped up charges of supporting Naxal activity in Chhattisgarh. He is charged under various draconian laws pertaining to sedition, waging war against State under various sections of the repressive Chhatisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005 and the Unlawful Activities Act, 2004 (Amended) and various sections of the IPC. He has been denied bail though the case against him is very weak. To compound matters, Dr.Sen has a weak heart condition and he has been denied permission to get treated in Vellore Medical Mission hospital.

Two years of continuing sentence in jail is the price a non-violent, peace loving Dr.Binayak Sen has paid for giving three decades of his life for the sake of the poor and the voiceless. It is a shame that we in India allow a person like him to be sent to jail while carrying on our shoulders some elected looters and murderers masquerading as our leaders. Just as we celebrate the greatness of our democracy through these elections, Dr.Sen’s case should prick our conscience. In this case, the less said about the Indian judiciary, the better. It has repeatedly denied Dr Sen bail for two years.

Is it not frightening when the state wages a war against its own citizens and the rights of the individual is confined only to the constitution? What is even more depressing is that Dr.Sen is a non-issue for most of us Indians.

There is a nice quote from Martin Niemoller to wake us up. “First they came for the Jews. I was silent. I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists. I was silent. I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists. I was silent. I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me. There was no one left to speak for me.”

At the heart of democracy is the right of the Individual. The rights of the individual should last beyond the act of voting. It should last a life time. We have a long way to go.

Image Credit: contact@binayaksen.net

Popularity: 36%

An apple a day, says the doctor,
Obey or disobey, they have the final say;
You eat the fruit and you get the sugar,
They get you finally, one way or the other!

Where there is a will, there is a lawyer,
There is a way, they will always say;
You win or you lose, it doesn’t matter,
End of the day, they are the ones richer!

Make hay in sunshine, says the banker,
When in trouble, they point to the bubble;
Going up or going down, they always have an answer,
Come rain or come shine, only their bonus is fine!

Time and tide, wait for no engineer,
Every problem, they jump up to conquer;
By design or not, no invention is perfect,
What they make sure, is to have questions after!

Image Credit: Sophiea

Popularity: 18%

In order to savour the taste of the outer world and prepare for the coveted institution called ‘school’, my little daughter was lately inducted into a ‘play school’, as they name it these days. Play schools were not heard of, a decade or two back and now they have mushroomed all over the place. You might find one in your friendly neighborhood. With dreamy eyes and expectations  no less than a Harvard student, you set out to get your child to embrace the new world.

Hallucination meets reality once the child frequents the ‘school’ for a couple of days, and makes you ponder if it was a desirable decision. The school, where majority of the times children are left alone to play with little or no attention. If at all you get to hear some music in the school, it’s the latest Bollywood number, and the teacher with their wannabe students dancing away to it’s tune. Talk about Nursery rhymes, any.

Fewer schools have play grounds and fewer still extra curricular activities and sports. You may squabble and contend, “Why not knock the door of the next big school, offering quality education and development of a child”. Differ, I claim, as my right, for the mass doesn’t have the might to chose the right, instead a change in these foothills of education is the need.

I introspect my days in school, where not analytical and reasoning but test of memory was the Caesar. Memory enrichment skills was the prime, be it the pristine Kindergarten or the High school. Pupil with higher memory staked claim to all the accolades and were the chart busters of sorts. Stronger does my belief gets when I recall my yesteryear classmates, now orthopaedic surgeon in Gangaram hospital and another a barrister in Delhi’s High Court, who never saw a mention in the toppers list through out.

Cut to recent and the trend is not worthy of a praise, if not lambaste. Ever growing need for specialized coaching to conquer the epitome of Indian education, vis-a-vis the IIMs, RECs & IITs, are adequate attestation of the education, the young students are being doled out. Ranking system and not the much needed grading system still in use. It’s disheartening to know India’s expenditure on education, is a meagre 4.1% of GDP, 82^nd of 132 nations. India produces 2.5 million graduates each year -of which 350,000 are engineers, twice the number produced by the US. Contrast this with the success rate of these graduates. Depressing are the number of these graduates who pursue higher education and PhDs, contributing to only 2% of the world’s research.

Our education system is dated, and need for an immediate overhaul would be to say the insignificant. The impending revolution in education can be brought about, when corporates and individuals join hands with the government and establish Universities which can rise to meet the talent, ambition and intelligence of Indians. Until then the brain drain may continue and the west will bear our fruits of labour.

With the progression of time,as my daughter inches closer to mainstream education, my soul prepares and warns me to the imminent risk of type casting her in the age old mould of our education system and produce, may be, just another housewife or money minting machine!

Image Credit: Alon Laudon

Popularity: 15%