Category: Notes
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Merit, privilege & public health/policy
Over the past several years, watching raging social media debates and the shaping of merit in public discourse in India spurred this editorial on merit in public health/policy that appeared in BMJ Global Health as an editorial on August 6, 2021. Many thanks to Seye Abimbola, the journal’s Editor-in-Chief for his comments. As noted in…
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Dignity
At a recent workshop for south Indian Adivasi writers, Werner Soors (of Les Petit Roberts fame) wrote this poem rather spontaneously based on a brainstorm of potential themes of interest for writing. He set it to a blues rhythm on his Ukulele and even sang it but meanwhile the English text of the song of…
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Teaching/learning case study for OneHealth approach in zoonotic disease: case of Kyasanur Forest Disease collaborations
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Teaching module on human resources for health by WHO
In November 2017, the WHO’s Alliance for Health Policy & Systems Research came out with a reader on human resources for health. This effort was lead by Asha George and colleagues at the University of Western Cape in South Africa along with Kerry Scott and Veloshnee Govender. As editors, they brought several people together (including…
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Hesaraghatta wetlands
With close to 300 species recorded, the Hesaraghatta wetlands north of Bengaluru is one of the important wintering sites for tends of thousands of migratory birds that winter every year. In addition, its open grassland, marshes and the waterbody needs to be protected from various corporate interests which invariably have an eye on such open…
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ಆರ್ ಎಸ್ ಎಸ್: ಆಳ ಮತ್ತು ಅಗಲ/RSS Aaala Mattu Agala (English translation) [available on Archive.org]
NOTE: I read this book and responded immediately by translating into English assuming that the author’s foreword allowed anyone to do this and based on public statements attributed to him inviting widespread dissemination, and interpreting it as a waiver of his rights. However, the author has noted that translation requires his prior permission. With apologies…
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Kyasanur Forest Disease Vaccine safety
There has been rather little research or innovation in improving the efficacy of the KFD vaccine, a rather old product. Decided to understand vaccine safety using this product as a proxy and here is a compilation of ongoing work to understand this.
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I am not your data | ನಾನು ನಿಮ್ಮ ಅಂಕಿ ಅಂಶವಲ್ಲ | Abhay Xaxa/ಅಭಯ್ ಖಾಖಾ
Sociologist and activist Abhay Xaxa has written this poem that I found deeply illuminating for many privileged folks like myself who work with Adivasi communities. Since the poem in English is not accessible to many of my Kannada-speaking colleagues & collaborators, with help from Latha Chilgod, we produced a crude Kannada translation of the poem.…
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Prasar Bharati’s Flora & Fauna of India Series: Namdapha Tiger Reserve
My Youtube feed offered me a suggestion from one of the recent uploads by Prasar Bharati, the Indian government public broadcaster. It was a documentary film about Namdapha Tiger Reserve, nestled away in the north-eastern corner of India with “pristine” but peopled forests. Literally within seconds, the film became uncomfortable to watch and as the…
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The Biligirirangan Hills: Tracing history of the land, the people and the forests
A shorter edited version of this article appeared in JLRExplore in two parts (read part 1 and part 2). Thanks to Dr. Santosh Kumar (IFS) & S Karthikeyan for help and inputs.