Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2021 i A TO Z INDIA

Mahadevi Varma was not only a Hindi poet but also a freedom fighter and educationist from India. Once a secretive poet, now regarded as the modern Mirabai, she was a prominent leader. Born and brought up in Farrukhabad, Agra, she was originally put in a Convent School, and later joined the Crosthwaite Girls College in Allahabad. Mahadevi initially wrote her poems in secret but her inner talent was exposed by her roommate Subhadra Kumari Chauhan. Both these young girls decided to write poetry together. They would often submit their poems to weekly magazines where they got published. They would also attend poetry seminars and meet eminent poets. Sometimes they also read out their poetry to the audience. Mahadevi Varma often writes about the time when a girl child was considered…

Historically, women around the world have had less opportunity than men in education, employment, and health care, and less political representation. Many global gender gaps have narrowed in recent decades, particularly in education enrollment. Even so, the World Economic Forum estimates that at the current rate of progress it will take 170 years to close the overall global gender gap in economic participation and opportunity. With a prognosis so dire, eliminating gender disparities may seem daunting and perhaps even impossible. The moral argument for gender equality is clear, nonetheless, and the economic evidence for its benefits is mounting. Eliminating gender inequalities can increase female economic participation, boost economic growth, and improve health outcomes for women and children. Large gender disparities in education reduce gross national product. In countries where the…

INDIRA Gandhi’s role and India’s in the liberation war of Bangladesh and its emergence as an independent and sovereign country have been talked about in Bangladesh across all divides but mainly in private spheres, not public ones, and seldom in any details. There appears to be a taboo in the country about giving Indira Gandhi and India too much credit for reasons never explained satisfactorily. A senior political official at the Prime Minister’s Office broke the taboo while speaking at the Victory Day celebrations of the Bangladesh deputy high commission, Talkathon, on December 17, 2019. He doubted whether Bangladesh would be independent today without Indira Gandhi and her decision to support the freedom-loving people of Bangladesh with the might of the Indian armed forces. He further said that since that…

Modern medicine has over the past century helped significantly reduce the burden of communicable diseases and related deaths, it has not been enough to prevent non-communicable diseases. A preventive approach to healthcare requires more than just treatment-based outcomes. It entails the promotion of a healthy way of living to reduce the incidence of lifestyle diseases. Putting preventive care on the front foot can help improve health outcomes and reduce the burden on our healthcare system. Alternative systems of medicine, particularly naturopathy, have a lot more to offer than modern medicine when it comes to prevention and disease management. Naturopathy is one such system that relies on the power of the body to heal itself. Naturopaths factor in physical, environmental, psychological, and social factors when treating a patient. The unique patient-centric…

Lakshmi Sahgal started and ended her career as a doctor, but in between, she became a soldier. Inspired by India’s efforts for independence, she joined the Indian National Army (INA) in 1943 to fight the British Empire. The INA’s founder recognized Sahgal’s tenacity and made her captain of the Rani Jhansi Regiment, a women’s military unit and the first of its kind in Asia. After being taken prisoner by the British, Captain Sahgal (or Captain Lakshmi as she’s commonly called), returned to her medical practice in India. During the partition riots, she gave medical care to Hindus and Muslims alike. In 1981, she helped found the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), which fought for women’s education and employment, among other causes. When anti-Sikh mobs flooded the streets in the…