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Dear Reader,
Last week, 32 doctors from India, the US and Canada wrote to the Union Health Ministry and the Indian Medical Association, appealing for discouraging expensive diagnostics and medications – including antibiotics – that have no evidence of efficacy against Covid. It warned against “repeating 2021”, where unnecessary prescription of drugs gave rise to “opportunistic fungal infections”. Mojo Story discusses the issue with a panel of doctors and scientists.
As we approach the runway to the assembly polls to the five states, the question of women’s representation in the echelons of political power is an issue that is on the table.
ThePrint argues that while women are routinely and symbolically deployed in the elections, and India has produced its share of women leaders, it has not translated into real and effective empowerment nor has it made a dent in gender disparity and discriminations women face. It argues that the party that genuinely bridges this gap between female political leadership and gender justice can capture the “elusive women’s vote bank”.
The Election Commission has banned political rallies until January 22, and may extend the ban further, as a measure against the spread of Covid, in the five states going to polls next month. In a counter-intuitive assertion, Swarajya argues that “no statistically significant evidence has been found between election rallies and Covid spikes”.
As the political heat rises, there have been calls for the “reclaiming” of the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura, which abuts the Shahi Eidgah. Live History India delves into the past and points out that the issue has been long "settled" in a '1968 Agreement'.
And, the pandemic and the almost miraculous development of an antidote in record time has vividly brought home the point that there is no substitute for science and scientific temper. The India Forum dwells on what ails scientific research in India – meagre outlays, unbridled government controls, less than par compensation, general lack of an ecosystem for creative thinking – and suggests measures to unshackle science in India.
For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.
Warmly,
Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF
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