Society

Vikrant said, "Cinema has always been instrumental in shaping society, not just in India but all over the world. Even in the West, cinema played a huge part in ushering revolution and initiating conversations among people. When I say revolution, I am not saying that after watching films people will take to the streets and start chanting slogans. The very idea of taking up a topic can lead to a revolution, and cinema has the power to do so." … [Read more...] about Vikrant Massey Says Cinema Plays An Important Role In Shaping Society

Bimbisar Nagar, GoregaonRoughly eight buildings at Goregaon’s Bimbisar Nagar have been declared COVID-19 containment zone. Restrictions on entry and exit were imposed on Monday and will stay in force for two weeks, said a senior police officer. The eight buildings have around 336 flats. Bimbisar Nagar, comprising 31 buildings, is located off Western Express Highway near Mahananda Dairy. Vanrai police station’s Senior Police Inspector Girendra Bhavsar said that close to 30 per cent of Bimbisar Nagar is now a containment zone. “Barricades have been erected and notices have been put,” he said. The restrictions on movement have only two exceptions -- medical emergency and accessing essential services. Photo by Nilesh Wairkar/MMCL … [Read more...] about Maids barred entry at Mumbai’s housing societies

Earlier this year the couple failed in their initial legal challenge against Tower Hamlets council, which has taken the child, who has not been identified, into care. The mother had implied, without providing any evidence, that her other children’s health conditions might be linked to vaccination. … [Read more...] about Couple who opposed council vaccinating their child lose appeal

A sanitary engineer named George Soper was asked to investigate the phenomenon. He discovered that a cook named Mary Mallon, a middle-aged Irishwoman, had worked for at least eight of the families that had been attacked by typhoid. Mallon, herself perfectly healthy, would leave her employment each time a case broke out and move to another family. Soper set off on a hunt. He traced Mallon’s whereabouts, stalked her to find where she lived, and finally confronted her, accusing her of being a carrier of typhoid. When Mallon refused to cooperate and undergo medical tests, Soper convinced the police to arrest her. … [Read more...] about Pandemics and prejudice: When there is an epidemic, social prejudices resurface

Oversight by an inclusive and transparent advisory board, which includes members of the public.The agreement and publication of ethical principles by which the intervention will be guided. Guarantees of equity of access and treatment.The use of a transparent and auditable algorithm. Integrating evaluation and research in the intervention to inform the effective management of future major outbreaks. Careful oversight of and effective protections around the uses of data. The sharing of knowledge with other countries, especially low- and middle-income countries. Ensuring that the intervention involves the minimum imposition possible and that decisions in policy and practice are guided by three moral values: equal moral respect, fairness, and the importance of reducing suffering.The key selling point of the project, the researchers argued, is that it can work without any rules forcing people to use it, if enough of the public adopts it. … [Read more...] about Could a mobile app control the COVID-19 pandemic and help reopen society?

Red demonstrates how successful businesses connect with their local audience. SoundCloud, a tech startup housed within Red’s RedQuarters, understands the cheap rent is in return for having to potentially close their laptops at anytime. Website addresses, mobile communities, networked societies are all physically rootless and as digital opinion-formers, full of regenerative value.As the city encroaches with increasing rates and rents, creatives are being forced to move on to sex up Peckham, Croydon or Margate. The creative industries bring £21bn to London and employ one in six people and educates 35,000 arts graduates a year. … [Read more...] about The cultural revolution starts here

More recently, mobile phone apps have also taken off in spectacular fashion. Swish, a hugely popular app developed jointly with the major banks including Nordea, Handelsbanken, SEB, Danske Bank and Swedbank, uses phone numbers to allow anyone with a smartphone to transfer money from one bank account to another in real time. … [Read more...] about Sweden leads the race to become cashless society

Grains and other necessary food items were recently distributed among three Adivasi padas by a cooperative housing society in Kalyan with the help of the police. Around 112 houses of the Amivarsha cooperative housing society in Kalyan collected ~55,000 and distributed grains among 150 Adivasi families in Wadeghar, Umbarde and Mohane village. Apart from this, the society members also distributed 1 litre cooking oil, 5kg rice, 2kg wheat flour, 1kg sugar, 1kg toor dal, and spices to the families. … [Read more...] about Kalyan housing society gives grains to 3 adivasi villages

But in a letter to the government – and the BGC – 22 MPs, two Lords and one of the UK’s foremost gambling addiction experts said the measures put forward by the trade body were either weak, vague or already formed part of requirements of their licence to operate. … [Read more...] about Impose strict curbs on gambling during Covid-19 lockdown, MPs urge

Before the lockdown, I went to see a friend who lives a few miles away in south London. I cycled from Nunhead to her home in Blackheath. On the way I passed a tense crowd of people being forced to wait to get into the Iceland store in New Cross. I reached my friend’s block of flats, climbed the stairs to her front door and laid my satchel on the doormat. She opened the door, greeted me from a distance of a couple of yards, removed the groceries she’d asked me to bring, some salmon and a bottle of olive oil, and put them away. We chatted for about half an hour, me sitting on a step out in the hall, her standing in the doorway, neither of us getting closer than two yards. Her husband, whose mild cough a couple of days earlier had triggered her self-isolation, was a disembodied voice offstage. My friend and I always kiss hello and goodbye; we’ve known each other for 10 years. Not this time. I went back to Nunhead, to queue for more food for my family – the butcher, … [Read more...] about Our new normal: why so many of us feel unprepared for lockdown life