A trial for clinical trials
A few issues back, I wrote on how foreign companies use poor illiterate Indians as guinea pigs and test drugs on them that lead to permanent physical and mental disabilities in these patients.
Docs, please pull up socks!
A couple of days back, one of my colleagues went to Delhi’s one of the best nursing homes to consult a physician for his ulcer problem. The doctor during consultancy told him that ulcers are not curable and there is no permanent solution.
Line of control
Cinema has always been the reflection of the society that we live in. So if fifties saw scores of movies on the independence struggle, the sixties saw lot of movies based on class struggle, black marketing and corruption. The seventies and eighties saw the evolution of the angry young man who questioned and fought the clutches of the licence quota raj.
Off-track
India’s rank in Doing Business Report, 2011 is a dismal 134 – a pathetic rank when compared to its regional counterparts (Malaysia 21, China 79, Pakistan 83 and Sri Lanka 102). But what is worse is the manner in which the ranks of its important parameters are falling year after year.
Independence to corrupt
In last 64 years of Independence, India has come a long way. From a GDP that was all of Rs.9,000 crore in 1947, it has touched Rs.63,00,000 crore, putting India into the coveted trillion dollar club. Interestingly, the members of these trillion dollar economies are a handful of billion dollars corporations and their well endowed billion dollar promoters, who have also made it to the Fortunes and the Forbes of the world.
The business of donations
The series of scams and money-swindling by various political parties can’t be brewed without a continuous inflow of funds from ‘various’ external sources. Most of the time, political parties receive money in the name of donations or for political lobbying.
The legacy of distrust
Innumerable reports have epitomized that India is among the most corrupt nations in the world – owing to the fact that the amount of black money that's being stashed in various tax heavens, globally. So, at least, there is no debate as far as this obscene reality is concerned.
No method in this madness
Board exams are over, results are out. These are the busiest days for students – of course, only for those who have successfully cleared their exams. Traditionally, 10th is considered to be the most important exam in a student’s life, while 12th is apparently the career setter. However, the good part is that the percentage of successful students is all time high. The total pass percentage of 10th for CBSE board students climbed to 88.84 percent in 2011 from 87.08 percent last year that of 12th has gone up to 81.71 per cent from 79.87 per cent last year. Chennai topped with 91.32 per cent passing rate while Delhi faired above national average with 85.45 per cent. Schools are proudly proclaiming and promoting their incredible performances and performers. Amidst this celebration, most of us overlook the hapless faces of a handful of aspirants who were disqualified to take exams by the school administration, primarily on the ground that they may ruin the school's records. Unfortunately, this dangerous trend is becoming a common practice for the schools.
The tri-polar world
Post the end of the cold war, the world has undergone a considerable change. The world today is not simply divided into capitalist and communist blocks. The world today is more fragmented than what it used to be during the cold war.
The Golden bird!
As per various estimates, India as a nation possesses anywhere between a staggering 25,000 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes of gold. Though most of this gold is in the form of jewellery, and mostly in personal possession!
Life on lease
While my dad was struggling with his sudden multi–organ failure (septicemia), along with us there was another lady struggling for her husband to recover from the deadly dengue in the same nursing home.
Issue Dated: Feb 5, 2017
