Real Estate in 2021: What We Can Expect

Over the years, millennials had begun to favour rentals rather than buying their own, thus shifting from the convention of settling down at a place they can call theirs’. With the year 2020 showing us the tougher aspects of life, people have realized the need to own a home, especially when working in a metropolitan city such as Kolkata. With the advent of remote working option post-Covid and the workplace shifting to home, people are looking for spacious homes to stay rather than rent out or invest in. The trend…

Read More

Why we need government schools: They are the only educational lifeline for 60% of India’s children

There is change in our government schools if one cares to look for it. In a survey my colleagues conducted in 2005 in northeast Karnataka, only four out of ten schools had obtained uniforms and books in time for the start of the academic year. Today, this number has more than doubled. Nearly every school I visited had planned and procured books and uniforms well in time, even if it meant that their teachers had to sacrifice some holidays. In most schools that we visited, attendance was over 90 per…

Read More

Why Do We Crave Alcohol? Here’s The Answer

Most people like occasional drinking or what’s called as social drinking, while some like binge-drinking on a daily basis. Some people are able to enjoy alcohol in moderation; others can’t seem to get enough of it. If you are in that stage when you need a drink or two to end your day with, it may mean that you crave alcohol. However, if you struggle to stop after one or two drinks, chances are you may be dealing with intense alcohol cravings. Why do we crave alcohol? What are the…

Read More

We are facing a silent epidemic. ‘Disturbingly high rates of diabetes’ found in India

India is facing an epidemic of diabetes and high blood pressure, often called “silent killers” because they lead to heart disease, said a report today involving more than 1.3 million people. The rate of diabetes in India is over 6%, while around one quarter of people have high blood pressure, said the first nationally representative figures on the topic, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine. While these rates are lower than the United States and China, experts say a combination of widespread tobacco use,…

Read More

Are we ignoring the psychological impact of skin conditions?

If you had acne as a teenager, you’ll likely know that skin problems aren’t just a cosmetic issue, they can also massively affect your self-esteem. And chronic dermatological conditions, from psoriasis to eczema can have a huge impact on psychological health. But until recently, this hasn’t been talked about much. The British Association of Dermatologists considers the need for more psychological support for dermatology patients to be pressing. But with many trusts facing significant budget cuts, this is proving a tricky prospect. There’s a lot of stigma around certain skin…

Read More

We give people their humanity back’: inside Croatia’s pioneering mental health centre

High walls still surround the oldest asylum in the Balkans, an 18th-century building pocked with the artillery scars of last century’s civil war, but the gates are no longer locked. Handles have been replaced on internal doors and bars removed from windows. “The jail,” said Darko Kovaoic, a 53-year-old poet with schizophrenia who lives here, “has broken open.” The institution in Osijek, eastern Croatia, is run by Ladislav Lamza, a former social worker who is taking on the government, the health minister, and his own staff to transform the lives of…

Read More