Kasmin Fernandes

These new-age firms driven by Indian whiz kids are firing up the farming ecosystem. Agritech is short for agricultural technology and also goes by the term agrotech. With farming being the main source of livelihood for more than half of our national population, Indian agritech startups have the potential to empower millions of men...

It’s no secret that air pollution in Delhi, and the rest of the metro cities in India for that matter, is of the poorest quality. People and children’s health is at risk and so is the environment. However, it took a scathing remark by American President Donald Trump for the slow-to-act legal system to...

The Indian government is the first in the world to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) mandatory for the private sector. Executed in the right spirit, it would be a boon for Nation Building. Yet companies in India repeatedly find ways to sidestep the spending prescribed by law. Tactics by India Inc to sidestep CSR Various companies...

Citizen social responsibility (CSR) puts the act of categorising your household garbage at the top of the pile of personal duties. Take ownership of the waste your home generates, say local municipal corporations. But why is it so important to segregate waste at home?  If waste is not separated properly, it all gets mixed up...

The penultimate day of Navratri celebrates the divine feminine in the form of Maa Mahagauri. The eighth day is also known as Maha ashtami. She is the most compassionate form of Goddess Durga, hence devotees worship her to ease their earthly and planetary suffering. In honour of Maa Mahagauri, we are looking back on...

Tomorrow is the 75th UN Day – the historic day on which the United Nations officially came into being after the ratification of the Charter by the world's biggest countries. The UN Charter is the founding document of this great non-partisan institution that has been working towards global peace and equality. India commemorates this special...

Today is the sixth day of Navratri, considered to be the most auspicious of the nine days. On this day, Goddess Durga assumes the form of the dauntless Katyayani. The myth goes that the goddess was born as a daughter to sage Katyayana, hence the name. Goddess Katyayani went on to slay Mahishasur and...

The fifth day of Navratri is dedicated to Goddess Skandamata. She is the epitome of motherhood and brings the mother-child relationship to the fore. The most striking thing about her portrayal in popular culture is the way she is holding her infant in left hand. Her left arm is also positioned so as to...

We have begun the third week of LGBT History Month 2020 yet nowhere close to know more about the gay rights movement than when the month started. The movement on American soil has been rather well documented than on Indian shores. However, there isn't much on Indian LGBT activists, without whom the queer community...

World Food Day 2020 falls on the 75th anniversary of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today. There is more buzz surrounding this day than usual. For one, the World Food Programme (WFP) bagged the Nobel Peace Prize this week. The award-winning WFP is the food assistance branch of the United Nations, fighting hunger and...

Globally, LGBT History Month is held every October as a celebration of inspirational personalities who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. As we close one fortnight and enter the second one in LGBT History Month 2020, let's salute queer icons in India. Without these courageous personalities, the queer movement wouldn’t have been alive...

Coronaphobia is affecting more people than the coronavirus. Call it another byproduct of the global pandemic. Or an adverse effect of these “unprecedented times”. Coronaphobia is a relatively new psychological condition that is causing as much distress as getting infected with COVID-19. What is coronaphobia? Coronaphobia is the name for the fear and anxiety of getting...