Capturing currents

Work From Home Part 2 By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation Not all sectors can adapt to Work From Home Indeed there was some merit in the criticism as many kinds of professionals cannot work on digital platforms: Municipal workers, legal and medical fraternities, teachers, tourism professionals, cooks, domestic maids, cannot work in the digital workspace. “Apart from the sectors that require physical skills, every other sector has a potential to transition to WFH” says Gopikrishna S Garge, formerly network administrator of ERNET in IISc, and IITs in India, in an e mail interview given to Digital Discourse Foundation dwelling on how tele-medicine has succeeded in many parts of the world, India being no exception. But it is amazing how rapidly the non-digital workforce has adapted in India. “Yes, WFH is a reality to accept as well as contend with. However, I would envisage a 70% WFH in terms of time. Face-to-face (F2F) keeps an organisation together, if you consider ...

By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation Work From Home (WFH) emerged as the most practical and viable option in trying to mitigate NCOVID 19 after the World Health Organisation of the United Nations declared on 11 th March 2020 that the Novel Corona Virus or N-COVID 19 has become a global pandemic. Following this, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a one day self-imposed curfew for 19 th March and then a 21 day “Lockdown”. Narendra Modi asked employers not to retrench workers and to pay them during the Lockdown, which he said may be longer than initially envisaged. PM Modi called for Work From Home and reassured Indians that there will be no shortage of food supply, medicines and essential commodities and services. For assuming that everyone is connected to an internet connection on computers, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was criticised by political parties and activists; they accused Modi of not understanding the plight of the mig...

Malini Shankar,  Digital Discourse Foundation  The COVID-19 Pandemic has triggered an unprecedented lockdown worldwide and threatens to annihilate modern industrial society and the global economic order. Humankind today stands exposed like never before. Decades of unsustainable development has led to human society not only digging trenches for its mass suicide but codified its self-destruction. The COVID 19 pandemic is an opportunity for course correction.   Economic growth has come at the cost of equitable growth as trade surpluses have not been re-channeled into social investment. This cancerous phenomenon has manifested as migration in Europe, Africa, North America and South Asia in the past decade with lessons hardly being learnt. Industrial production yielding a trade surplus but did not reinvest was unsustainable. Be it aviation, automobile, agriculture, education, e-commerce, hospitality, horticulture, healthcare,  or Higher E...

Rape is a violent socio economic crime not just a SEXUAL crime. Digital Discourse Foundation By Malini Shankar 7.12.19 On a day the four men accused of rape and murder of a young veterinarian near Hyderabad were killed by police while in their custody, news broke out late the same night that the Unnao rape victim who was burnt by the accused rapists to prevent her from reaching the court in Uttar Pradesh for the case hearing has succumbed to 90% burns. Ghastly indeed that sexual violence has reached such proportions in India today. Sexual crimes against women have increased drastically, even as the anachronistic and primordial political representatives patronise criminals and rapists, with the political leadership turning a blind eye to chronic criminals. Sexual violence has become the unfortunate new normal. Gang rape and murder of meek and marginalised has become legion in Uttar Pradesh. Two minor Dalit girls were raped and killed and hung to a tree branch ...

Neuerfindung des Wasserrades Auf der kürzlich zu Ende gegangenen 14. Konferenz der Vertragsparteien (COP14) des Übereinkommens der Vereinten Nationen zur Bekämpfung der Wüstenbildung (UNCCD) in Noida bei Neu Delhi drehten sich beim Thema Landbewirtschaftung die Diskussionen um politisch korrekte Regierungsführung und finanzielle Transparenz, gerechten Landbesitz, geschlechtsspezifische Sensibilität und integrative sowie nachhaltige Entwicklung. Zu den wichtigsten Überlegungen der COP 14 gehörten vor allem kostengünstige nachhaltige Technologien zur Überwachung der Wiederherstellung degradierter Böden. Von der klimaneutralen Landwirtschaft bis hin zur Verwendung von Apps zur Kalibrierung des Klimaschutzes, von der Sequestrierung von Kohlenstoff bis hin zur Bekämpfung der Wüstenbildung und der Minderung von Torfemissionen und Waldbränden - es bestand die Entschlossenheit zu verhindern, dass der blau-grüne Planet "rot" wird. Indien übernahm bei dieser Ausgabe der ...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the high level ministerial segment at the 14 th  Conference of Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Noida near New Delhi on Monday 9 th  September 2019:  Photo credit: Angeles Estrada IISDENB By Malini Shankar,  Digital   Discourse   Foundation  New Delhi: 9.09.19 India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called for urgent political action to boost ground water conservation and replenishment while addressing the high level ministerial segment at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’s (UNCCD) 14 th Conference of Parties in Noida near New Delhi today. Mr. Modi pledged to restore an additional five million hectares of degraded land in India by 2030, raising the land to be restored in India to 26 million hectares. The pledge to restore degraded lands is part of India’s commitment to achieve land degradation neutrality, a flagship initiati...