Author: Prof Neera Raghav
Nowadays, when everyone craves a little appreciation, let us welcome ourselves and give us a standing ovation for the revolutionary achievements during the Industrial 1.0 to 5.0 by working tirelessly. But wait! Look around, we at the same time sabotaged Earth’s health. A time to rethink as we replaced blue skies with grey filters of smog, water contamination factories everywhere have transformed rivers into chemical cocktails, pumping out greenhouse gases, industrialisation has gifted Earth a free heating system where global warming comes as a subscription service nobody asked for, and above all, biodiversity reduction with forests and animal ecosystems are…
Since my childhood, whenever I got hurt, Dadi maa would always give me milk fortified with turmeric and cow ghee (clarified butter from cow milk) and say, ‘haldi wala garam doodh pi le subah tak tu thik ho jayegi’ (take turmeric infused milk, you will get better by morning). With poor digestion and bad eating habits just like every second child my age, I suffered a lot with unbearable stomachache which evanesced with jadui churan, ‘made by rubbing jeera, ajwain seeds, baking soda and salt with a drop of desi ghee. Faster than the pain killer, Pudin Hara used to…
The thick blanket of toxic smog chokes the National Capital Region again, forcing authorities to implement stringent emergency measures. The Air Quality Index (AQI) exceeded 400-mark, falling under the ‘severe’ category. In response, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) had to activate Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across the National Capital Region (NCR) on 11 November, mandating a complete ban on non-essential construction and demolition activities, restrictions on the operation of older-model BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers, and the closure of stone crushers and industries using unapproved fuels. As the air remains toxic, the…