Author Posts
BlogSajikumar Nair

Ample lessons from ants

Ants follow an infallibly systematic life and jointly work hard to live in perfection. They maintain their colony safe and use their incredible talent to make their abode wonderful. Though an ant has a lifespan of fewer than four years, it follows the tradition of a million years without any change ever. A species non-extinct for over a million years speaks for their invulnerability to vagaries of climate and calamity thanks to their organic planning and execution. They have dominated the land to the extent they wanted and consolidated their position that humans cannot challenge. A big lesson from an insect is not an insult to humans, but a requisite.   We call the ant in many ways, mongi, cheeiti, urumb, etc. This insect, the largest group in the arthropod phylum, has i...

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BlogSajikumar Nair

Can we have a fearless life without any virus?

Today, after an exhausting life with the so-called Covid-19 (Coronavirus), the world is out of the blue, maybe for fear of another virus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) seems to bat for it. Yet there is no fear on the pitch because people had the worst of the virus to fear. What some high echelons expected was never in place completely.  The WHO seems unconcerned about the consequences of human-created “heating” or climate changes. But it does not want to co-relate these reasons. It is keen to divert the public attention to the rising ‘heat’ and engage the world in the talks of “global warming”. The global health body finds it illogical that the increase of a few degrees Celsius temperature variations is causing global warming. It simply manifests that a certain degree of tem...

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Uncategorized

Meeting pandemic miseries

The government has to design a comprehensive social protection plan for covering those who lost all their financial resources after the death of the only bread earner. The Central government wanted employers to protect the interest of workers, specifically nursing mothers during the ongoing pandemic time under Section 5(5) of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017. It has sent an advisory to all the States and Union Territories to encourage work-from-home. It can be construed as the government’s preparation for facing the much feared third wave of the pandemic. The work protection measures also include encouraging employers to retain nursing mothers’ employment. Nevertheless, the concern of many workers who have already lost their jobs can hardly be addressed unless closed compani...

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Counter View

Starker talent crunch Young minds, poor brains

The pool of India's young talents below 40 years constituting over two-thirds of the working-age population gives the country a major advantage in the 21st century. Though apparently, we can boast about our young population, their employability in line with their “qualification” and overwhelming expectation sends out a worrying signal. The heavy turnout of youngsters from workplaces and unavailability of the right talent for meeting emerging business challenges are serious issues of human resources development. Be it micro or mega-size business, every one faces the challenge of right talent obtainability and its retain-ability. There are reasons to believe that the challenge has become more acute after the lockdown that has made many youngsters lazier. On one side when there is a m...

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philanthropist

A S MADHAVAN

After being a successful executive and entrepreneur A S Madhavan is now overwhelmingly engaged in various social initiatives that would ensure a helping hand to underprivileged Adivasis with shelters, derelicts with cares for a better future and victims of calamities withrehabilitation. Many helping hands and generous minds put together can stave off the agonies of many impoverished souls, he believes and works for it. Hard work is the principle that A S Madhavan used to grapple with since his school days. He reflected this in his autobiography, Retrospection through various anecdotes of his early days in his native place and by recalling his toilingearly days in the British firm, Gordon Woodroffe. He dwelt on his awful office tasks in the autobiography and marked it unrecognised. The ...

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Guest Columnjournalism

Scandalous TRP Sad state of the fourth estate

Even if there are alternatives to measuring television viewership, the industry is unprepared to accept, because this is the easiest way to manipulate at the cost of enumerable ambiguities. Still, astonishingly, TRP continues to be a big determiner of a broadcaster's survival and prospects, writes Dr Sumesh Ramankutty, a well-known media analyst. January this year there were reports of a massive scandal in the television industry. The Chief Executive Officer of BARC, one of the celebrated positions in the industry, was accused of manipulating the ratings. Yes, we heard it right! Partho Das Gupta was the first CEO who was onboard to ensure a fair and transparency in television audience measurement. He was appointed to that position when there were many deserving candidates, who had ...

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HealthcareInsurance

Health insurance : Increasing awareness

In India, health insurance awareness is increasing as a rapid jump in business in the first half of the current year indicated. According to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the total number of lives covered under the health insurance business, excluding personal accident and travel business stood at 498.70 million in 2019-20. For a period between April 2020 and September 2020, the total number of lives covered under the health insurancebusiness stood at 302.20 million compared with 178.30 million for the same period of the previous year, showing a growth of a whopping 70 per cent. ...

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Healthcare

Ayush Products Loading for the world market

Ayurvedic medicines have huge growth potential in the global market, especially in the post-pandemic period. Amiable export promotion for Ayurvedic products and healthtourism can make India a healthcare sanatorium of the world. The indian traditional medicines have huge export potential in the post-pandemic world market. Naturally, the prevailing climate offers India's AYUSH products and services huge export opportunities all over the world. The Ministry of AYUSH, in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has proposed to set up an ExportPromotion Council (AEPC) for medicines and products of Ayurveda, Homoeopathic, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Unani systems and services. The government has given the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) the responsibi...

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Mutual FundNew Launch

IDFC MF’s Two fixed-income funds

The IDFC Gilt 2027 Index Fund will mature on June 30, 2027, and the IDFC Gilt 2028 Index Fund will mature on April 05, 2028. IDFC Mutual Fund has launched two innovative fixed income open-end funds - the IDFC Gilt 2027 Index Fund and the IDFC Gilt 2028 Index Fund. These are maturity index funds that will invest in government securities and treasury billsthat constitute the CRISIL Gilt 2027 Index and Gilt 2028 Index respectively. Target Maturity Funds have a defined maturity date, unlike regular open-end mutual funds that remain open indefinitely. Upon maturity, the net asset valueof these funds will be paid back to unitholders. Additionally, IDFC's Gilt Index Funds will invest only in sovereign rated instruments - which are guaranteed by the Government of India - thereby reducin...

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Covid-19New Launch

Oral Covid-19 Vaccine on the way

Premas Biotech, a developer of novel biotherapeutic and vaccine candidates, with Oramed Pharmaceuticals, announced the development of an oral Covid-19 vaccine that has shown efficacy after a single dose. Premas, Oramed and other shareholders, have formed Oravax Medical, which has received exclusive licenses from Oramed and Premas to develop oral COVID-19 vaccines. After a single dose of the Oravax COVID-19 capsule, efficacy was evident through antibody production in a pilot animal study. Oravax's vaccine promoted both systemic immunity through Immunoglobulin G (IgG), the most common antibody in blood and bodily fluids that protect against viral infections and Immunoglobulin A (IgA) protects the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts against infection. Premas'protein-based VLP (vir...

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