Hency Thacker

Sugar is considered to be a health hazard by various nutritionists. In fact, several public health experts say it can be as addictive as cocaine. Apart from this, synthetic sugar also increases the risk of cancer; is a chief cause of obesity, heart disease and diabetes; and is also a key contributor to deteriorating oral health around...

With education being the key to socio-economic development, schools play an integral part in a child’s growth. It is thus very important for a school to impart the right values in students. Understanding their responsibility in upbringing a child, a Delhi school is utilising the platform to address the issues that matter among the children of...

Conservation of forests and their biodiversity is very important especially after the UN report that said that a million species may be extinct very soon. This makes the jobs of forest officers and guards of great consequence. Forest is not an easy place to live or work in. With various herbivores and carnivores walking in...

Desertification and land degradation are major threats to agricultural productivity in our country. According to the State of India’s Environment 2017: In figures book by the Centre for Science and Environment, Desertification has increased to 90 per cent of states in India. Out of the total 328.72 MHA of India’s total geographical area, 96.4 million hectares...

Chemotherapy is considered to be one of the most painful treatments. With the physical and mental strain it causes to the patient, it also comes with several side effects. Chemotherapy treats many types of cancer effectively. It mainly works on active cells. Active cells are cells that are growing and dividing into more of the...

Once a bureaucrat proves that they are credible, nobody dares to threaten them directly. This is the experience of a brave IAS officer Dr Renu Raj in the state of Kerala. Dr Raj who scored All India Rank 2 in 2014 batch of the UPSC civil services exam in her first attempt, received her first...

In order to bring scalability in a social welfare program, it is important to bring about a behavioural change, especially in a country like India where the traditions and taboos are deeply imbibed in the psyches of the people. In a 2018 report, “Bold Philanthropy in India,” The Bridgespan Group observed that the barriers to...

The use of artificial intelligence will be critical to delivering truly autonomous vehicles and seamlessly integrated transport in cities one day. The transformation of it has already started in various cities of the world with AI being used in a host of transport applications, cutting CO2 emissions on the roads. In some of the cities...

The Bombay High Court, on July 16, 2019, quashed the coastal regulation zone clearances granted to Mumbai’s civic body and ordered construction on the proposed $1.7 billion (about Rs 12,000 crore) Mumbai Coastal Road project to stop. The project is one of the most expensive infrastructure development projects, stretching 35.6 kilometres and connecting the entire western coast...

Walking is one of the most important means of moving from one place to another. However, as India’s car ownership capacity increases, the lives of these pedestrians and cyclists are more at risk. In the absence of pedestrian-specific infrastructure in the country, the walkability of the Indian cities is getting worse as the number of...

Human trafficking, defined as the illegal trade of humans most commonly for the purposes of sexual slavery and forced labour, currently claims an estimated 24.9 million victims worldwide. Of them, 8 million trafficking victims live within India’s borders according to the Global Slavery Index. In 2017, an IPS officer, Raj Tilak Roushan was transferred from...

As food production needs continue to increase, more land is converted to agriculture. This stresses ecosystems and limits land available for biodiversity preservation, so much so that land conversion to agriculture is thought to threaten wildlife and biodiversity to a degree that is on par with climate change. Two strategies to balance food production and biodiversity conservation...