The Hindu's latest e-book does a deep dive into all aspects of geriatric care
The total fertility rate is falling, life expectancies are increasing, and despite differences across States, this is a scenario that will play out in every part of India, sooner rather than later. And with this, will come rising healthcare costs as well as the social and economic costs of an ageing nation: one that is already seeing household savings straining while a potentially shrinking workforce could slow overall growth.
How prepared is India to deal with its greying population? Are our healthcare systems prepared? Is our public infrastructure up to the mark? Are our pension and other care systems geared? Have we trained an adequate number of personnel? The Hindu's e-book 'Shades of Grey: Geriatric Care and its Social and Economic Facets' looks at all of these aspects and more, with in-depth and detailed articles from medical and media professionals.
The digital book is available free for subscribers of The Hindu's online edition, and non-subscribers can purchase the e-book on Amazon.
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The Wire
a day ago
- The Wire
Starve, Silence, Disable: New Weapons in Israel's Genocidal War
Rights This is not 'collateral damage'. It is the deliberate, systematic creation of disability. An injured man is taken to the Al-Ahli hospital following overnight Israeli army airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, on March 18. Photo: AP/PTI. "Give me a voice of thunder that I may hurl imprecation upon this cannibal, whose gruesome hunger spares neither woman nor child." – Rabindranath Tagore In Gaza, the cannibal devours relentlessly – its hunger insatiable, its thirst for blood unquenched. The savagery unfolding is unprecedented, more brutal than anything recent memory can bear. Its crimes are so grotesque that one would be tempted to draw parallels with those tried at Nuremberg. The thunderous plea of Tagore seems to pale when faced with the indescribable and unsurmountable suffering that Gazans are subjected to. One must be a heartless monster to remain unmoved by the cries of children undergoing amputations without anaesthesia, lying on blood-soaked floors in overcrowded spaces. Writing in The Hindu of October 5, 2024, Farhat Mantoo of MSF-Doctors without Borders, South Asia Chapter, narrates the story of 15-year-old Abdul, who ventured out on February 10, 2024, to surprise his mum with some 'salt or flour' amid the devastation in northern Gaza. As he scoured abandoned homes, he was grievously injured during an Israeli airstrike. Abdul crawled for more than an hour before help arrived and he was taken to a hospital. With hospitals overwhelmed with casualties and critical supplies lacking, doctors were forced to perform surgery on Abdul without anesthesia. The situation has far worsened now. Denied wheelchairs and other assistive devices and robbed of caregivers, the disabled are forced to flee from one bombardment zone to another on foot – many of them crawling, dragging their bodies maimed by the violence. Homes, hospitals, rehabilitation centres – any building in the path of the Israeli Defence Forces – are reduced to rubble. This is not "collateral damage." It is the deliberate, systematic creation of disability. As a powerful submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) to its hearing in August 2025, argues, this is the "mass production of disability." The submission, by Women Enabled International (WEI) endorsed by several global organisations, including India's National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD), documents an appalling reality: "Thousands have been made newly disabled due to amputations, traumatic injuries, psychological trauma, and the denial of essential medical care." According to a UNICEF/WHO update in early 2025, between 3,105 and 4,050 limb amputations were reported since October 7, 2023, in Gaza. Approximately 25% of these victims were children, equating to around 780 to 1,000 child amputees. A May 2025 report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and Christian Aid Ireland cites the total number of amputations as 4,700, with 850 of those being children. The bombs maim bodies; the siege prevents treatment; trauma decays the spirit. Disability here is not an unforeseen tragedy – it is an intended outcome, a weapon in the arsenal of genocide. Oldest logic of genocide: Target the disabled first What is unfolding in Gaza is not an isolated tragedy – it is part of a grim historical legacy. In 1994, in Rwanda, persons with disabilities were locked in churches and burned alive. In Srebrenica (Bosnia, 1995), the elderly and disabled were abandoned to die. But the most horrific was what happened in Nazi Germany where disabled individuals were the first to be exterminated, targeted under the concocted logic of racial hygiene. Under Aktion T4, an estimated 2,00,000 disabled individuals were annihilated. This program, which began in 1939, was a precursor to the Holocaust, marking the first phase in the Nazis' campaign of "racial purification". The disabled were considered "unworthy of life', a 'burden on earth' and were sent to gas chambers before the mass slaughter of Jews and other "undesirables". The submission to the CRPD Committee notes: 'History has shown that persons with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by genocides, yet they remain perpetually excluded from protection, recognition and remembrance.' In Gaza, disabled bodies are not mere casualties of war – they are actively targeted. Bombs destroy rehabilitation centres; sieges prevent access to wheelchairs; orders to displace people render the disabled incapable of fleeing. Starvation as a weapon of reproductive genocide The submission bears witness to horrors that words can scarcely capture: "Mothers must deliver babies without anesthesia. Doctors use cellphone flashlights to conduct operations. Mothers who are starving cannot produce milk. Babies die prematurely because there is no fuel for incubators." For women with disabilities, this nightmare is compounded. They are unable to flee, deprived of privacy, and at heightened risk of sexual violence. Reproductive care is denied, amplifying the terror. The Palestinian Feminist Collective has named this for what it is: 'reproductive genocide'. Occupation as a machine of disablement Even before the current onslaught, Israel's prolonged occupation of Palestine was a monstrous machine producing disability. Settler violence, home demolitions, military checkpoints and apartheid-like healthcare systems have been a form of daily warfare for Palestinians. The current destruction only deepens this crisis: "Disability-based dispossession is entrenched by the occupation. Impairment is worsened through violence, deprivation, and denial of access to care, education, and freedom of movement.' In the West Bank, disabled women and girls live under constant threat of settler violence. Hospitals are either blocked or destroyed, further exacerbating the ongoing crisis. The genocide is not only impacting people with disabilities, especially women, girls and gender diverse people with disabilities, in unimaginable ways, but the genocide has also been a mass disabling event. It has produced large scale disability – both visible and invisible. An unending mental health crisis In Gaza, mental health has collapsed under relentless siege. Continuous bombardment, loss of loved ones, forced displacement, and witnessing unspeakable horrors have pushed entire communities into collective trauma. Children and adults alike wake screaming from nightmares that never end; parents mourn silently, numb with grief. The destruction of hospitals and the shortage of mental health professionals mean that psychological wounds go untreated, deepening despair. Anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress have become widespread, yet there is no safe space to heal. Here, trauma is not a moment – it is daily life, passed from one generation to the next in an unbroken cycle. Numbers that the world refuses to see A report in Al Jazeera, dated July 24, 2025, records the death of over 59,000 Palestinians and injuries to 1,43,000 in Israeli attacks. According to Harvard Dataverse, an estimated 3,77,000 people have "disappeared," buried under rubble and left uncounted. Among them are the disabled, who are left to die because they could not escape. "Due to the actions of Israel, it is close to impossible to obtain accurate and timely data,' the submission warns. Erasure, too, is a weapon. Profiting over bodies The economy of genocide – as described by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese – is built on the dispossession and disablement of Palestinians and disability justice helps us understand and name how war, surveillance, and militarism profit from the destruction of bodies and communities. International arms sales, border militarisation and the blocking of humanitarian aid are capitalist ventures that produce and sustain disability on a mass scale. Israel's bombardment of Gaza serves as a live testing ground for AI-guided weapons, surveillance technologies and riot control tools – all of which are then exported worldwide including to India. As the submission notes: "War, surveillance, and militarism profit from the destruction of bodies and communities." From Nazi doctors conducting experiments on disabled prisoners to modern arms manufacturers boasting of "battle-tested" weapons, genocide and capitalism have always walked hand in hand. Not to speak of the 'Riviera of the Middle East' that someone is dreaming of. Convention betrayed Israel ratified the CRPD, thereby obligating itself to protect persons with disabilities, particularly in conflict. The Fourth Geneva Convention demands medical care and protection for civilians. Yet, hospitals are bombed, aid is blocked and disability services are wiped out. "Non-compliance with these obligations may constitute grave breaches of international law and warrants independent investigation and accountability." Yet, bombs continue to fall, and words like "proportionality" fill press releases. How many more? In Gaza, children wake to find their limbs gone. Mothers bury babies – premature and stillborn. Disabled women crawl across a wasteland where homes and rehabilitation centres once stood. From Aktion T4 to Srebrenica, from Rwanda to Gaza, genocide begins by marking some lives as disposable. "Persons with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by violence yet are consistently excluded from protection and remembrance." History asks us: how many more limbs, wombs, and futures must be shattered before we say enough? The silence that speaks: India's disability movement and Gaza The Indian disability movement has been strikingly silent on the unprecedented suffering of disabled Palestinians in Gaza. While global disability organisations have condemned Israel's deliberate targeting of persons with disabilities and joined calls for a ceasefire, most prominent Indian disability groups continue to look away. This silence is disturbing. It not only betrays the foundational principles of the disability rights movement – supposedly built on the rejection of hierarchies of whose lives matter – but also echoes the position of India's current ruling establishment to side with Israel. Many have been unequivocal supporters of the neoliberal trajectory and stand compromised. The disability community, which has historically stood against state violence and exclusion, now risks complicity by omission. Moreover, by refusing to engage with the mass production of disability in Gaza – children losing limbs in bombardments, denial of assistive devices, starvation used as a weapon – the movement distances itself from global disability justice. In doing so, it inadvertently affirms an unequal valuation of lives: solidarity, it seems, is not extended to Palestinians – disabled or otherwise. This selective empathy undermines both credibility and conscience, exposing a silence that itself becomes a form of violence and complicity. Muralidharan is general secretary, National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD). The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Top 8 Whey protein powders at up to 40% off during Amazon Freedom Festival; Get fit and healthy
If you are a fitness freak and swear by whey proteins powders, then here is great news for you. Amazon is offering up to 40% off on Whey protein powders during the Amazon Freedom Festival. Be you're an athlete, a gym enthusiast, or simply someone looking to meet your daily protein needs, whey protein powder is one of the most trusted and effective supplements in the fitness world. Amazon Freedom Festival gives up to 40% off So, if you too are looking for the best protein powder supplements for yourself, then make the most of this sale and get up to 40% off. Loading Suggestions... NAKPRO Impact Whey Protein fuels muscle recovery and growth with a high-quality blend of fast-absorbing whey. Each serving delivers rich protein content with minimal fats and carbs, making it ideal for fitness enthusiasts and athletes. It mixes easily, tastes great, and supports lean muscle development after intense workouts. Free from added sugar and harmful fillers, it ensures clean nutrition. Be you're bulking, cutting, or maintaining, NAKPRO provides efficient protein support for your fitness goals. Loading Suggestions... AS-IT-IS ATOM Whey Protein delivers premium-grade protein to support muscle repair and athletic performance. With minimal processing, it retains essential nutrients, ensuring a clean and effective formula. Each scoop contains fast-digesting whey that kickstarts recovery post-workout. Free from artificial flavours, colours, and preservatives, it is ideal for health-conscious users. ATOM Whey Protein aids in building lean muscle and boosting endurance, making it perfect for both beginners and experienced gym-goers aiming for real results. Loading Suggestions... BON PURE WHEY offers a premium protein blend crafted to enhance muscle synthesis and recovery. Packed with high biological value protein, it delivers essential amino acids that fuel lean muscle gain and athletic performance. This clean formula contains no added sugar or harmful additives, making it suitable for daily fitness nutrition. Its smooth texture and easy mixability ensure a pleasant experience. BON PURE WHEY empowers active individuals to meet their protein goals with purity and precision. Loading Suggestions... Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey is a globally trusted formula for building lean muscle. It combines whey isolate as the primary source with whey concentrate and peptides for fast absorption. Each serving provides 24g of high-quality protein with over 5g of BCAAs to support recovery. With great taste and smooth mixability, it suits both beginners and pros. ON Gold Standard remains a top choice for those seeking performance, purity, and consistent protein support. Loading Suggestions... MuscleBlaze Biozyme Performance Whey is specially formulated for enhanced protein absorption using EAF® technology. It provides 25g of high-quality whey protein per serving, with added digestive enzymes to maximize nutrient delivery. Clinically tested for Indian bodies, it supports faster recovery, lean muscle gain, and strength building. With international-grade quality and low lactose content, it ensures superior results. Biozyme Whey stands out for its science-backed innovation, making it a powerful companion for serious fitness journeys. Loading Suggestions... Wellbeing Nutrition Whey Protein blends isolate and concentrate to offer a balanced, clean, and effective protein supplement. Each scoop supports lean muscle growth, quicker recovery, and overall well-being. Enriched with digestive enzymes, probiotics, and superfoods, it goes beyond basic protein by promoting gut health and immunity. This low-carb, gluten-free formula suits active individuals seeking holistic nutrition. With delicious natural flavours and zero added sugar, it's an ideal daily protein for performance and wellness. Loading Suggestions... Carbamide Forte Whey Isolate Matrix delivers ultra-filtered whey protein isolate for maximum purity and absorption. Each serving packs high protein with minimal carbs and fats, supporting rapid muscle repair and growth. With added digestive enzymes, it ensures smooth digestion and reduced bloating. It's ideal for bodybuilders, athletes, and health-focused users seeking a lean protein source. Low in lactose and free from artificial additives, this product helps elevate training outcomes while aligning with clean nutrition goals. Loading Suggestions... Nutrabay Gold Whey Protein Concentrate offers a pure and effective solution for muscle recovery and strength gain. With 100% high-quality whey concentrate, it provides essential amino acids to fuel performance. Each scoop blends easily and comes in delicious flavours without added sugar or harmful fillers. Ideal for post-workout nutrition, it supports lean muscle maintenance and energy levels. Trusted by fitness enthusiasts, Nutrabay Gold offers reliable protein supplementation for consistent results and everyday athletic performance. Similar articles for you: Best protein supplements at Amazon: Top 8 picks that fuel your muscles and strength Get nutraceutical supplements at up to 50% off at Amazon Freedom Festival and improve your gut and mental health Best protein powders under ₹5000 at up to 50% off during Amazon Freedom Festival that starts in 2 days FAQ for whey protein What are the different types of whey protein? Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC): Contains ~70–80% protein with some fats and carbs. Whey Protein Isolate (WPI): ~90% or more protein with minimal lactose and fat. Whey Protein Hydrolysate (WPH): Pre-digested for faster absorption; suitable for those with sensitive digestion. Is whey protein safe for daily use? Yes, whey protein is safe for daily use when taken within the recommended dosage. It should supplement a balanced diet, not replace whole meals. Can whey protein help with weight loss? Yes. Whey protein can promote satiety (fullness), reduce hunger cravings, and support fat loss while preserving lean muscle mass when combined with a calorie-controlled diet and exercise. Can lactose-intolerant individuals take whey protein? Whey protein isolate or hydrolysate is best for lactose-intolerant individuals, as it contains little to no lactose. Always check the label for lactose content or opt for plant-based protein if unsure. Are there any side effects of whey protein? Most people tolerate whey well. In rare cases, excessive intake may cause bloating, digestive discomfort, or acne. Stick to recommended doses and stay hydrated. Disclaimer: At Hindustan Times, we help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and products. Hindustan Times has an affiliate partnership, so we may get a part of the revenue when you make a purchase. We shall not be liable for any claim under applicable laws, including but not limited to the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, with respect to the products. The products listed in this article are in no particular order of priority.
India.com
3 days ago
- India.com
Goodbye to Frizz: Top Shampoos During the Monsoons with Irritating Strands
Continuous humidity may even deplete your hair off natural oils leaving it drab and coarse with flyaways. These shampoos are the solution to your hair problems, no matter if it is wavy, curly, chemically treated or simply the feeling of a cloud around the sky, when it is raining. Here are four of the best products avaialable on Amazon at the best prices that will make your hair lively instead of frizzy throughout the wettest season. Pilgrim Patuá & Keratin Hair Smoothening Shampoo Image Source - Order Now Pilgrim Patu and Keratin wonders Patu a Shampoo with Luster deeply fortifies and also straightens frizzy hair. It adds some dry and dead hairs to hydrated and salon finished hair, which is why it is perfect when confronted with issues in the monsoons. Key Features: It contains enriching Patua oil Keratin-armored in smoothness Paraben free and Sulphate free Enhances the health of the scalp It fits in men and women alike However, it may give a heavy feel on greasy scalps or thin hair. Matrix Biolage Smoothproof Anti-Frizz Shampoo Image Source - Order Now The Matrix Biolage Smoothproof is an effective anti- frizz shampoo, which gives long-term control even in high humid conditions. It does not make your hair oily; it makes the hair smooth, light and free of frizzes. Key Features: Max 72-hour frizz control Has the extract of the Camellia flower. Suitable climate in humid areas Free of veganism and cruelty Light and non-sticking design Failing to make their hair sufficiently moisturized, especially the hair that is crisp or super curly. Minimalist Bond Repair Shampoo Image Source - Order Now The minimalist Bond Repair Shampoo is ideal to use with monsoon and heat-damaged or color damaged hair. It makes your hair strong internally and smooth enough to manage and look healthier. Key Features: 3.5 per cent Maleic Bond Repair Complex Amends intrinsic hair bonds Perfect on tinted and injured hair Paraben free & Sulphate free Makes tougher and more palatable But it will require several washes before showing the results with extremely damaged hair. Moxie Beauty Gentle Cleansing Shampoo Image Source - Order Now This cleansing shampoo by Moxie Beauty is a daily jewel in the hairstyle of people with frizz. It conditions and strengthens hair to maintain curls and waves defined without making it dry or harsh with chemicals or drying agents Key Features: Designed specially for frizzy, wavy, or curly hair Paraben Free Silicone Sulphate free Increases softness and strength Feed and poops at the same time It is usable in day to day duties. However, low-lather may make the user feel unsatisfied who is used to foaming shampoos. Monsoon does not necessarily imply hair that cannot be controlled. Having the right shampoo can totally change your hair routine. It will smooth the frizz, keep the moisture sealed and make your hair soft even on rainy days. All the shampoos included in this list are individually formulated to suit particular requirements, whether it is deep bond repair, curl care, and natural smoothening. Grab the one that suits your hair type only on Amazon at the best prices and feel fresh wavy hair without frizziness. Get your hair to breathe, shine and feel confident whether it is raining or not! Disclaimer: At IDPL, we help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and products. It should not be construed as an endorsement to buy. IDPL may make a very small commission from its sale if one chooses to buy the product from any of the links in this article.
