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Based on the United Nations’ world population report, it is estimated that India’s population will increase past China’s some time this year. For The New York Times, Alex Travelli and Weiyi Cai have charts to show how and why.
Tags: China, India, New York Times, population
Posted by in china, India, New York Times, population, Statistical Visualization
Mukesh Ambani has an estimated net worth of $90.7 billion, because his company controls many facets of Indian daily life:
Ambani’s wealth comes from the enormous Reliance Industries conglomerate. Since taking over from his father, Ambani has turned Reliance — once known for textiles and petrochemicals — into a digital powerhouse. He’s grown the company’s reach through acquisitions and partnerships to reach retail, telecommunications, media, and so much more, creating an empire with unimaginable reach.
The piece from Rest of World drives the point home with a stroll through illustrations that start with a single phone and keeps zooming out until you’re looking at the whole planet.
Tags: illustration, India, Mukesh Ambani, Rest of World
Posted by in illustration, India, Infographics, Mukesh Ambani, Rest of World
Prasanta Kumar Dutta and Manas Mishra reporting for Reuters on the slow rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations in India:
Compared to many Western countries, India was late in procuring vaccines. Modi’s government placed the first advance order for an unapproved vaccine only this month, after being criticised for being slow. Countries including the United States and Britain signed orders last year.
Tags: coronavirus, India, Reuters, vaccine
Posted by in coronavirus, India, Reuters, Statistical Visualization, vaccine
The New York Times measured pollution exposure during the day for two kids who live in New Delhi. Usually just described in terms of micrograms of particulate matter, the piece puts in more effort to give a feel for each person’s day-to-day. Side-by-side video along with a scrolling line chart provide a clear contrast between the two lives.
Tags: India, New York Times, pollution
Posted by in India, Infographics, New York Times, pollution
By Benjamin Waldmann Selvarasu, a coconut farmer in Erode, India, met his fate with a bite from a Russell’s viper. With his life hanging in the balance, it wasn’t until he reached a third
The nesting grounds of sauropod dinosaurs where absolutely astonishing, covering hundreds of square miles in cases, forming vast playgrounds to rear their young. Some of the most exquisitely preserved sauropod hatcheries are from Jabalpur inPosted by in Crocodilians, Crocodylomorphs, Eggshells, featured, Hatcheries, India, Sauropods
Today President Obama announced the United States and 30 other nations have committed to join together to achieve the targets of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA). APHL is proud to be a key partner in the effort to make the world safe from infectious disease threats.
APHL is working closely with US federal agencies as well as domestic agencies within African and Asian partner nations to achieve the following GHSA targets:
APHL in Africa
Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda
To address the limited laboratory capacity and capability in many African nations, we are currently partnering with the African Society of Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) to provide technical and management assistance for design, development and implementation of the African Public Health Laboratory Network (APHLN). Working with ASLM, APHL will convene stakeholders to develop the operational rules for the network, support laboratory accreditation and set goals for national public health laboratories. We will leverage existing laboratory models, notably the US Laboratory Response Network (LRN), to design an effective laboratory network for the continent.
As our GHSA work moves forward, APHL is also planning to initiate laboratory assessments, inventory and review of laboratory policies, training and mentoring of laboratory staff, support for development of biosafety facilities, and review of specimen referral systems, quality management system programs and capacity for detecting anti-microbial resistance.
APHL in Asia
India, Indonesia, Vietnam
In Asia, APHL is working directly with ministries of health and other national health officials to develop laboratory systems capable of safely and accurately detecting and characterizing pathogens causing epidemic disease. Lucy Maryogo-Robinson, APHL’s global health director, is traveling to partner countries in southeast and central Asia to plan activities under GHSA. In November she traveled with an APHL team to Vietnam to discuss projects to expand APHL’s longstanding relationship with that country. Ongoing development of informatics systems and strengthening of capacity to respond to infectious diseases will be priorities.
Women in bright dress walk by a fountain with the Taj Mahal in the background, 1959. Photograph by Melville B. Grosvenor, National Geographic Creative
Workers swarm over scaffolding to erect the Nagarjuna Sagar dam in India, May 1963.
Photograph by John Scofield, National Geographic
Image courtesy of Carl Parkes
Technology and poverty seem to be intrinsically at odds with one another. Technology is a luxury, right? While the “smartphone” has been hugely influential in wealthy nations, simple pay as you go cell phones have also transformed poor, rural areas and they are being used to monitor market prices of crops via text messages. This critical information can help a farmer decide what to bring to market and where, to get the best prices. The stripped down basic cell phone could greatly improve a farmer’s income. It’s possible that science and technology could be key components in alleviating poverty all over the world.
India, which is home to 1/3 of the world’ poor, is trying to use science and technology to improve the quality of life in a variety of ways. To make their education system more competitive globally, they are challenging electronics companies to develop prototypes of a $50 tablet so that the government can provide 5 million tablets to improve student’s learning. The National Knowledge Network is establishing the infrastructure for high-speed internet to link all villages in India. These basic technologies will broaden the reach of education and improve the prospects for employment for all.
Other projects use science to address very basic needs. Scientists are improving access to drinking water by analyzing underground flow with monitored isotopes. This helps villagers establish wells at the most optimal position. Other scientists are hard at work developing vaccines that are affordable and targeted to diseases that thrive in impoverished areas with poor sanitation like hepatitis B and rotavirus.
Jairam Ramesh, the leader of the Ministry of Rural Development, has a conservative view of the role that science plays in bringing Indians out of poverty. He says that while science can solve some problems, there are deeper issues in the diffusion of knowledge and societal barriers to change. It’s important to use technology to provide what help it can, but there will need to be a social and policy component to the attack on poverty.
How can we encourage scientists to work on issues critical to poverty vs. those issues that will garner a Cell, Science or Nature paper? Why aren’t those issues one and the same? Some institutions, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, are tackling these issues and beginning to see return on their investment. Hopefully, researchers and inventors will continue to increase their investment in technologies that can alleviate the detriments of poverty.
Posted by in Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Follies of the Human Condition, India, poverty, STEM