On My Mind

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted across India to gather vital data on population, health, and nutrition. It is steered by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and coordinated by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) in Mumbai. This report analyzes the relationships between 101 health, social, and economic indicators across 35 states and Union Territories in India using data extracted from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6, 2023-2024). The objective is to identify correlated parameters to help target policy interventions that yield the highest multiplier effects. Key Actionable Policy Insights By analyzing cross-category correlations, four major actionable pathways for state interventions have been identified:  1. Technology & Digital Inclusion as a Driver of Child Nutrition Women's Mobile Phone Ownership (Indicator 93) vs Child Underweight (Indicator 72) | r = -0....

Buddha said the world is full of suffering, and I have scrolled enough social media to realize that is indeed the case. Heck, it feels like doomsday is around the corner. There is just misery all around. Everyone has got something which needs to be done!   There are problems spanning decades and unresolved issues plaguing generations, and this is without counting the Indian men's cricket team's propensity to lose in knockout matches. Therefore, to no one's surprise, the modern world is looking for problem solvers, people who can deconstruct these multi-layered, nuanced points of contention and arrive at an acceptable solution.   With 29 years of experience at being alive, a few months at an MNC and now 2 odd months in government, I have some ideas that should help a newcomer become the go-to man for any crisis. Like any other success guru, these are not at all well-researched and are purely anecdotal in nature.    Let's start with the primary answer to problems - mon...

My Dear Prime Minister, Yesterday, our jawans were martyred. I don't want to throw around the number. That's for honorable ministers to use in Lok Sabha replies and press conferences. I seek to humanise the situation. The jawans were returning from their homes to hostile territory somewhere in India. Some were fathers, some were brothers. Some had mothers. What they all had in common was their humanness. They could all perceive pleasure and pain. They must have felt the latter when the car exploded. People said the unfortunate tragedy shouldn't be politicised. It mustn't. But surely we must find how it happened? If asking for accountability is scoring petty political points, sue me. Sue the mothers and sisters of those who fell in the line of their duty. They want to know how this happened. Who should they seek answers from? The terrorists, believe it or not, are not accountable to us. Nor is Pakistan. But someone else surely is, my dear Prime Minister; someone w...

Over 19 crore Indians sleep hungry. [1]  I checked for who could be held accountable. Google tells it's been 71 years now since the British passed on the responsibility of keeping Indians hungry to ourselves. We have tried all sorts of conventional means to fail in our responsibility including the public distribution of subsidised food grains, raising the income of poor, and food for work among others. Unfortunately, this has worked second only to Indian batsmen against swing bowling in England. In light of this revelation, it is only imperative that we try something unconventional. Serve Pizzas Indian efforts have so far been limited to providing foodgrains. This is so 20th century. This inward-looking attitude is responsible for the persistence of hunger. The 21st century is globalised. Hungry people don't want rice. They want global cuisines. They want their share of modernity and Pizza is a good start. Make people eat their words I am talking about killing tw...

It was six men of great repute To learning much inclined, Who went to see the roots of India (Though all of them were blind), That each by observation Might satisfy his mind. The First approached the nation, And happening to strand But guided by its broad and sturdy side, At once begins to understand: "God bless me!- the ethos of the country Is very like a Hand!" The Second, feeling the pain of peasants, Cried: "Ho!- what have we bred So very oppressive and bland and dark? Grows hence my sense of dread This colour of the mystic land Is very like a shade of Red!" The Third approached the wild spirit, And in a manner very elegant Awoke the collectivity of outcastes, Which he found relevant "I see," quoth he, "Indianness Is very like an Elephant!" The Fourth reached out his eager hand, And found the other claims bogus "What most this wondrous civilisation is like Has come to my notice; 'T is clear enou...

Lights, Camera, Action! Except this time, it isn't actors performing. IPL is about to start and cricketers from across the globe will take the center stage of the discourse in India. The who's who among cricket giants will hit boundaries, and take wickets as cities fight it out for the glory. IPL has all components required to be a hit reality show - which some would say it is. But is it more than that? I wouldn't get into the cricketing part. That has been discussed and debated much. The Puritans hate the hybrid that is IPL, and the supporters have the list of all cricketers who rose to prominence through IPL ready. What I have in mind is all the other impact IPL has. The first three matches of the previous edition of IPL reached a staggering 185.7 million viewers!  [1]  In 2012, when Kolkata won IPL, they were given a rousing welcome by the crowd. The euphoria in West Bengal can be gauged from the fact that even the CM couldn't afford to skip the celebratory ...

India - a country, a feeling, a sense of identity - is a wonder for some people. An ancient civilization, and a rather tolerant one, this mystic land has fired the imaginations of people all across the globe. For the melting pot culture of the USA, India has claims on a syncretic culture of its own. In the loose dichotomy of India the nation and India the country, there is a subtle tinge of Indianness that most accept. It keeps being defined. It keeps being pointed out. Here's another attempt at the same. The Siddis are a lesser known group of Indians. At first, they don't give the impression of being Indian. They are, after all, an Indo-African tribal community that descended from the Bantu peoples of Africa. Their ancestors were largely brought to India as slaves by Arabs, followed by Portuguese, and the British. They settled in India starting from the 7th century and are currently found in isolated pockets of Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. [1] Despite hav...

"The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis." - Dante Let me be upfront here. The Republic of India has been engulfed by a crisis of monumental proportions. Karni Terrorists Sena has been in news, a certain movie titled Padmaavat has been too. After checking with a reputed journalist, I am confident that the nation really wants to know what happens to the movie. Nikhil has stopped eating and Nikhil's mother has stopped caring. The pertinent issue is the release of a movie, not-marketed by Karni Terrorists Sena. Everyone has taken a stand, mostly in favor of the release of the movie, which perplexes me because I find the arguments of Karni Terrorists Sena compelling. At this time of crisis, I proudly stand in their corner. Karni Terrorists Sena's protest is valid because they believe the movie portrays Rajput women in bad light. And I believe in the power of belief. Mahatma Gandhi said and I quo...

India, they say, is the mystical land of the east. The spiritual aura, ancient texts, and architecture from the past just add to the entire mysticism surrounding it. Apart from the overt spiritualism, traveling through the pages of history, the country has acquired many other traits which now qualify as "Indianness". Having lived my entire life in the Indian India, I was hesitant to visit the utopian ideal we would have had otherwise. My reservations notwithstanding, I ended up visiting this land called Unindia - the much talked about utopian ideal. My experience was disturbing, to put it mildly. One needs to take a good look at Unindia to understand and appreciate the nation we have built. ---------------------------- The train had almost reached Unindia. The window was open. I was staring outside and it took me a good 10 minutes to realize I hadn't seen a single soul defecating in the open. It made me slightly nauseous. I knew I had to prepare myself for more o...

I n 2005, the Central Government constituted a committee headed by former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, Rajinder Sachar to study the social, economic and educational condition of Muslims in India. The Sachar Committee submitted its report in 2006. The report found a range of disabilities hampering the Muslim community in the country. It placed Indian Muslims below Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes with respect to backwardness. It especially highlighted the poor representation of the community in decision making positions like the IAS, IPS and in the police. [1] To understand the intricacies of the issue, we need to go back to the creation of the modern nation of India.  India was independent in 1947. At the very onset, attempts were made by the state to bring reforms in the Hindu (here it implies anyone who was not a Muslim, Parsi, Christian or Jew) personal laws. The first elected government came to power in 1952 and by 1956 it was able to g...