Social media are interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation or sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.The variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available introduces challenges of definition; however, there are some common features:

1. Social media are interactive Web 2.0Internet-based applications.
2. User-generated content such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions, is the lifeblood of social media.
3. Users create service-specific profiles and identities for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.
4. Social media facilitate the development of online social networks by connecting a user’s profile with those of other individuals or groups.

Users usually access social media services via web-based apps on desktops and laptops, or download services that offer social media functionality to their mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets). As users engage with these electronic services, they create highly interactive platforms through which individuals, communities, and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, participate and modify user-generated content or self-curated content posted online. Networks formed through social media change the way groups of people interact and communicate or stand with the votes. They “introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities, and individuals”.^[1]These changes are the focus of the emerging fields of technoself studies. Social media differ from paper-based media (e.g., magazines and newspapers) and traditional electronic media such as TV broadcasting, Radio broadcasting in many ways, including quality,reach, frequency, interactivity, usability, immediacy, and performance. Social media outlets operate in a dialogic transmission system (many sources to many receiversThis is in contrast to traditional media which operates under a mono-logic transmission model (one source to many receivers), such as a newspaper which is delivered to many subscribers, or a radio station which broadcasts the same programs to an entire city. Some of the most popular social media websites, with over 100 million registered users, include Facebook (and its associated Facebook Messenger), TikTok, WeChat, Instagram, QZone, Weibo, Twitter, Tumblr, Baidu Tieba and LinkedIn. Other popular platforms that are sometimes referred to as social media services (differing on interpretation) include YouTube, QQ, Quora, Telegram, WhatsApp, LINE, Snapchat, Pinterest, Viber, Reddit, Discord, VK and more.

Observers have noted a wide range of positive and negative impacts of social media use. Social media can help to improve an individual’s sense of connectedness with real or online communities and can be an effective communication (or marketing) tool for corporations, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, political parties, and governments.

Information and communication technology has changed rapidly over the past 20 years with a key development being the emergence of social media.

The pace of change is accelerating. For example, the development of mobile technology has played an important role in shaping the impact of social media. Across the globe, mobile devices dominate in terms of total minutes spent online. This puts the means to connect anywhere, at any time on any device in everyone’s hands.

Source: Smart Insights

Why People Share Information

Afascinating study by the New York Times Consumer Insight Group revealed the motivations that participants cited for sharing information on social media. These include a desire to reveal valuable and entertaining content to others; to define themselves; to grow and nourish relationships and to get the word out about brands and causes they like or support.

These factors have caused social networks to evolve from being a handy means for keeping in touch with friends and family to being used in ways that have a real impact on society.

Social media is being used in ways that shape politics, business, world culture, education, careers, innovation, and more.

In flood hit Assam, over 50 thousand displaced people are taking shelter at relief camps. The current wave of floods affected 28 lakh people and washed away houses, cattle stock. 1.28 lakh hectare crop areas are also under water.

96 people lost their lives due to floods so far. Majority portion of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries are also under water. Meanwhile, the Panchayat and Rural Development department would give priority in allocating works under MG NREGA at flood hit areas. Talking to AIR, Principal Secretary J B Ekka said that MG NREGA works are affected to some extent due to floods. Mr. Ekka said that as soon as the flood water recedes priority basis works will be done.

Air India has brought back more than 2.5 lakh Indians from 53 countries under the Vande Bharat Mission. In a tweet, Air India said, phase-5 of Vande Bharat Mission will be launched from 1st August of next month.

It said, Air India has added many more flights to several International destinations for which details will be announced shortly.

Civil Aviation Ministry has extended its order imposing curbs on airfare till 24th November. The order was issued on 21st May after airlines were allowed to operate after the lockdown.

It had prescribed a range for airfare depending on the flight distance. In the wake of coronavirus outbreak, the Ministry had implemented a cap on domestic airfare. The domestic flights have a cap on fares with both an upper and lower limit. While the upper price limit is aimed at preventing any sharp rise in fares due to increased demand, the lower limit will help ensure that financial viability of airlines does not suffer amid high costs.

India has achieved a remarkable feat by conducting a record number of 4 lakh 20 thousand COVID-19 tests in a single day yesterday.

In a tweet, Health and Family Welfare Ministry said, India has ramped up its testing facilities within a span of few months. As of now, more than 1300 laboratories are conducting the test of corona virus samples in the country. 

Centre has asked nine high Covid caseload states to ramp up testing with special focus on containment zones. These states are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. These nine States are driving the present spurt of the active caseload in the country.  Cabinet Secretary chaired a high level virtual review meeting with Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of these states as part of Centre-State coordinated strategy for effective containment and management of the pandemic. Cabinet Secretary had a detailed review on the State specific COVID response strategy with the Health Secretaries and other State officials as well as on the factors that were leading to rising case-load in these States in recent times. Areas of concern with respect to low testing in certain states were highlighted. It was reiterated that sustained and aggressive testing is crucial for early identification of cases and to prevent spread of infection.

Cabinet Secretary stressed the need for prompt and proper delineation of containment zones as per the guidelines of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, intensive contact tracing and  house-to-house active case search within the Containment Zones so as to effectively break the chain of transmission.

States were advised to have a clear focus on health infrastructure availability including requisite number of beds, oxygen and ventilators across the State with implementation of clinical protocols ensuring the prescribed Quality of Care and seamless patient management. Effective ambulance management with zero refusal rate was also highlighted in the review meeting. Cabinet Secretary also emphasized the imperative of keeping the fatality rates low. For this, mapping of high-risk population must be done, particularly the elderly and aged people and those with co-morbidities.

The attention of the States was drawn to the fact that early detection and timely clinical management is the key to contain the spread of COVID-19. A graded, proactive, progressive and well coordinated strategy of COVID-19 management between the centre and States and UTs has resulted in ever-increasing Recoveries in the country, with progressively falling Case Fatality Rate. There are, however, some States which have in the recent past shown high rise in daily number of active cases and are emerging as concern areas from COVID management point of view. 

The ancient Hindu tradition called ‘sati’ (or ‘suttee’), wherein a widow would burn herself to death on her husband’s pyre, was initially a voluntary act that was considered to be quite courageous and heroic, but it later became a forced practice. Although sati is now banned all over India and no longer practised, it has a rather dark history that you must know.
‘Sati’ originally meant a woman who performed the act of immolating herself after her husband’s death. The word is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘asti’, which means ‘she is pure or true’.

In mythological terms, Sati was the name of the wife of Lord Shiva. Her father never respected Shiva and often despised him. To protest against the hatred that her father held for her husband, she burned herself. While she was burning, she prayed to be reborn as Shiva’s wife again. This did happen, and her new incarnation was called Parvati. People used to justify the practice based on this tale, but when Sati burned herself, she wasn’t a window, and thus the practice is quite unrelated to this tale.
According to ancient Hindu customs, sati symbolised closure to a marriage. It was a voluntary act in which, as a sign of being a dutiful wife, a woman followed her husband to the afterlife. It was, therefore, considered to be the greatest form of devotion of a wife towards her dead husband.

With time, it became a forced practice. Women who did not wish to die like this were forced to do so in different ways. Traditionally, a widow had no role to play in society and was considered a burden. So, if a woman had no surviving children who could support her, she was pressurised to accept sati.

History of sati:
Historical records tell us that sati first appeared between 320 to 550 CE, during the rule of Gupta Empire. Incidents of sati were first recorded in Nepal in 464 CE, and later on in Madhya Pradesh in 510 CE. The practice then spread to Rajasthan, where most number of sati cases happened over the centuries.

Initially, the practice of sati was confined to royal families of the Kshatriya caste and only later spread to the lower castes, becoming widely practised among all social classes.

Sati was at its peak between the 15th and 18th centuries. During this period, as many as 1000 widows were burned alive every year, most commonly in India and Nepal. However, records show that the practice was also popular in other traditions and in countries like Russia, Fiji and Vietnam.

Different ways of execution:
Various accounts tell us about different ways in which the ritual of sati was carried out. Most accounts either describe women seated on their husbands’ funeral pyre or lying down next to the dead body. Some say women would jump or walk into the pyre after it had been lit, while others report that women would sit on the pyre and then light it themselves. The practice also varied from region to region. In some places, a small hut was constructed for the widow and her deceased husband. In several other regions, the corpse of the husband was placed in a pit along with combustible raw materials, and then the widow was required to jump in after the fire had been lit.

Some less torturous methods of execution were also prevalent back then. For example, before being placed on the funeral pyre, a woman could take poison or drugs, so that she would either start dying slowly or at least become unconscious. Sometimes, the widow herself would get snake-bitten or use a sharp blade on her throat or wrist before entering the pyre.

Sati hand prints and sati stones
Sati was frequently practised in Rajasthan, more specifically by the women of royal families. A sati stone was created, which was a memorial of all the wives of the kings who died this way. Before giving up their lives, the queens left their handprints on the wall, to be remembered as valiant and devotional wives. Some of these handprints can still be found inside the Mehrangarh Fort.

A different version of sati – Jauhar
Rajputs from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh practised Jauhar. This was collective suicide by the widows of the royal families who preferred dying, rather than being captured, raped and disgraced by soldiers who defeated their kings in the wars. This practice grew in the 14th and 15th centuries, when the Hindu-Muslim wars were at their peak in northwest India. To commit Jauhar, special flammable rooms were built inside the forts out of lacquer and other combustible materials. The practice of Jauhar has been well depicted in the Bollywood movie Padmavat.

China’s Wuhan Institute signs covert deal with Pak military for bio-warfare capabilities against India

China and Pakistan, the all-weather friends, have entered a three-year deal to expand potential bio-warfare capabilities against India, including several research projects related to the deadly agent anthrax. The deal has been inked between Wuhan Institute of Virology and Pakistan military’s Defense Science and Technology Organisation (DESTO) to collaborate research in “emerging infectious diseases” and advance studies on the biological control of transmitted diseases.

It is pertinent to mention that China has been criticized for handling of coronavirus pandemic with speculations that the disease could have emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

What we know about the covert deal

Collaboration for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Studies on Biological Control of Vector Transmitting Diseases.

China is testing biological agents outside its borders (in Pakistan) in an apparent bid to minimize the risk of drawing condemnation from the international community.

DESTO has been engaged in various dual-use research projects related to anthrax under a covert biological weapons program. The covert China-Pakistan project has conducted ‘successful soil sampling tests’ to isolate Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT), which has a striking similarity to Bacillus Anthracis – or anthrax.

The Wuhan lab was providing extensive training on the manipulation of pathogens and bio-informatics to Pakistani scientists ‘to help Pakistan develop its own virus collection database’.

The secret project was detached from the supervision of civilian universities or government health departments in Pakistan and was structured so as to allow ‘unspecified’ future operations.

China’s keen interest in the project is driven chiefly by its agenda to engage Pakistan against India and to conduct potentially dangerous experiments on foreign soil, without subjecting its own land and people to risk.

The plan was part of a move by Beijing to designate Pakistan a destination for hazardous biochemical research while evading use of its own territory for such activities, which stand the risk of drawing criticism and condemnation from the international community.

The China-Pakistan biological project had already undertaken experiments on the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV). CCHFV is a rapid-onset fever virus that causes death in about 25% of cases and is similar to the Ebola virus.CCHFV is categorized as a ‘class-4’ microorganism – the highest possible risk category.

Pakistan is allegedly carrying out tests on CCHFV in laboratories that are not equipped to handle Bio-Safety Level-4 diseases.
There were concerns the Kunming facility, which is controlled by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, was also handling class-4 diseases without proper protections.