What is worrisome today is the whimsical curtailment of liberty and brazen partisanship.
In the early days of the lockdown, when COVID-19 cases began to rise, we witnessed a second virus spreading equally rapidly in the country — the virus of communalism. But there is a third virus around which is less spoken about; a virus eating into and severely corroding our democratic structure — the virus of arbitrary power. There is no better evidence of this than the denial of bail to a pregnant student-activist, arrested for creating disorder on an ‘unprecedented scale’ when all she appeared to have done was actively participate, like many others, in a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, proposed by the government.
Tyranny and slavery
This arbitrary use of power, implied by the absence or selective use of law, is deeply troublesome. More so, when exercised by a democratically elected government. Frequent arbitrariness in the political domain leads to tyranny, quite like when persistently present in the social sphere, it leads to slavery. Either way, it tramples upon basic freedoms. But what, one might ask, is the connection between arbitrariness and the loss of freedoms?
Individuals, communities or citizens cannot function freely without a stable set of expectations. By stabilising expectations, laws enable significant freedoms, even as they restrict some others. To take just one example, once it is widely known that I am legally restricted to driving only on the left, I drive with greater freedom, knowing that headlong collision is unlikely. I regulate the speed of travel and calculate the time to get from home to office. This helps me schedule my work for the day and coordinate with others who likewise make their own schedules. By jointly accomplishing our goals, we enhance our freedom. Laws enable our actions and interactions to become broadly predictable. Many of our freedoms require that the arbitrary, by which is meant ‘unpredictable, random or unexpected’ does not throw us off balance. The arbitrary blocks freedom.
However, an even more basic feature of arbitrariness, one that produces much greater harm, is to be at the mercy of the whim or fancy of someone else, especially the powerful. Return to the traffic example. Suppose that two vehicles stop at the traffic light but just beyond the zebra crossing. The policeman, embodying the entire might of the state, issues a ticket or a challan to one but not the other. Worse, instead of fining the violators, he seizes the driving licence of a careful driver, who has stopped a good metre behind the crossing, merely because he dislikes the make of his car. Surely, this arbitrary implementation of the law is grossly unjust. This shows that the minutest aspect of daily life — travelling to work — can be dependent upon the arbitrary opinion of someone else. When power is exercised arbitrarily by the state, a person is made to act not in accordance with a legitimate, general rule but at the pleasure of state officials. The most extreme example of this is political enslavement, when an entire people are colonised, subjected to the will of the colonisers, where laws, good or bad, flow from the like and dislike of colonial masters.
The Emergency and now
These examples strengthen my point about an inverse relation between arbitrary political power and freedom. In dictatorships, entire populations are subject to the whim of the supreme leader or a tiny elite. Who did not fear the midnight knock in the regimes of Hitler and Stalin? While the devastation they caused is well chronicled, smaller tyrannies abound in our world too. Even democracies contain authoritarian spaces within them where the law can be used to continuously harass opponents. Anyone who has lived through the Emergency knows that Opposition leaders were thrown in jail on the false charge of conspiring against the state and thereafter a small crack unit began to arbitrarily control the activity of anyone politically significant. Surely that experience should have sufficed to make all of us realise the supreme value of freedom from arbitrary rule. However, with the number of first information reports (FIRs) being filed at the behest of random persons, on unsubstantiated complaints and little explanation, largely uncontested by a tired, silent political Opposition, one begins to wonder if we are headed in that awful direction once again.
Upending rights
Consider the arrest of activists. Article 21 of the Constitution gives every citizen the right of basic liberty and security. No one can be deprived of liberty, held without properly following procedures prescribed by law. Article 22 requires that anyone arrested and detained must be informed of the ground for such an arrest and must be brought before a competent legal authority within a prescribed time frame. Legal scholars have rightly pointed out that the best interpretation of this Article requires that the grounds of arrest and detention must be reasonable. The grounds of preventive detention, to be used in very rare cases, must likewise assume that the suspicion of offence is well-grounded, based on available evidence, on relevant information that satisfies any objective observer, and not on mischievous allegations. But reality seems to confirm what every other Indian movie has shown about police acting on the caprice of a ruling leader, and the law being used to harass citizens. Is suspicion always supported by available facts? Is the ‘offender’ really a threat to internal security, or merely present at the scene of the ‘crime’? Whatever the facts of the case, was the offence committed by a pregnant student-activist so grave that bail could not be granted until yesterday, on her 4th attempt? If ordinary persons could smell arbitrariness here, why could not the sessions judge? Anyhow, why fill our coronavirus-infested jails with what are largely political prisoners, when other countries are releasing even non-political inmates? Minimum lock-up during lockdown should be the political slogan in our catastrophic times.
The Emergency, whose anniversary falls tomorrow, was meant to be a watershed in the life of Indian democracy, a brief, critical phase when the Indian political system could have gone either the way of authoritarian rule or mature as a democracy. By restoring faith in democracy, India appeared to have passed one of its crucial tests and firmly taken the second route. But are we on the verge of giving up the gains from that chastening experience? Has the struggle against the suspension of democracy been in vain? Have a small section of its victims now become perpetrators?
What is worrisome today is the whimsical curtailment of liberty and brazen partisanship.
In the early days of the lockdown, when COVID-19 cases began to rise, we witnessed a second virus spreading equally rapidly in the country — the virus of communalism. But there is a third virus around which is less spoken about; a virus eating into and severely corroding our democratic structure — the virus of arbitrary power. There is no better evidence of this than the denial of bail to a pregnant student-activist, arrested for creating disorder on an ‘unprecedented scale’ when all she appeared to have done was actively participate, like many others, in a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, proposed by the government.
Tyranny and slavery
This arbitrary use of power, implied by the absence or selective use of law, is deeply troublesome. More so, when exercised by a democratically elected government. Frequent arbitrariness in the political domain leads to tyranny, quite like when persistently present in the social sphere, it leads to slavery. Either way, it tramples upon basic freedoms. But what, one might ask, is the connection between arbitrariness and the loss of freedoms?
Individuals, communities or citizens cannot function freely without a stable set of expectations. By stabilising expectations, laws enable significant freedoms, even as they restrict some others. To take just one example, once it is widely known that I am legally restricted to driving only on the left, I drive with greater freedom, knowing that headlong collision is unlikely. I regulate the speed of travel and calculate the time to get from home to office. This helps me schedule my work for the day and coordinate with others who likewise make their own schedules. By jointly accomplishing our goals, we enhance our freedom. Laws enable our actions and interactions to become broadly predictable. Many of our freedoms require that the arbitrary, by which is meant ‘unpredictable, random or unexpected’ does not throw us off balance. The arbitrary blocks freedom.
However, an even more basic feature of arbitrariness, one that produces much greater harm, is to be at the mercy of the whim or fancy of someone else, especially the powerful. Return to the traffic example. Suppose that two vehicles stop at the traffic light but just beyond the zebra crossing. The policeman, embodying the entire might of the state, issues a ticket or a challan to one but not the other. Worse, instead of fining the violators, he seizes the driving licence of a careful driver, who has stopped a good metre behind the crossing, merely because he dislikes the make of his car. Surely, this arbitrary implementation of the law is grossly unjust. This shows that the minutest aspect of daily life — travelling to work — can be dependent upon the arbitrary opinion of someone else. When power is exercised arbitrarily by the state, a person is made to act not in accordance with a legitimate, general rule but at the pleasure of state officials. The most extreme example of this is political enslavement, when an entire people are colonised, subjected to the will of the colonisers, where laws, good or bad, flow from the like and dislike of colonial masters.
The Emergency and now
These examples strengthen my point about an inverse relation between arbitrary political power and freedom. In dictatorships, entire populations are subject to the whim of the supreme leader or a tiny elite. Who did not fear the midnight knock in the regimes of Hitler and Stalin? While the devastation they caused is well chronicled, smaller tyrannies abound in our world too. Even democracies contain authoritarian spaces within them where the law can be used to continuously harass opponents. Anyone who has lived through the Emergency knows that Opposition leaders were thrown in jail on the false charge of conspiring against the state and thereafter a small crack unit began to arbitrarily control the activity of anyone politically significant. Surely that experience should have sufficed to make all of us realise the supreme value of freedom from arbitrary rule. However, with the number of first information reports (FIRs) being filed at the behest of random persons, on unsubstantiated complaints and little explanation, largely uncontested by a tired, silent political Opposition, one begins to wonder if we are headed in that awful direction once again.
Upending rights
Consider the arrest of activists. Article 21 of the Constitution gives every citizen the right of basic liberty and security. No one can be deprived of liberty, held without properly following procedures prescribed by law. Article 22 requires that anyone arrested and detained must be informed of the ground for such an arrest and must be brought before a competent legal authority within a prescribed time frame. Legal scholars have rightly pointed out that the best interpretation of this Article requires that the grounds of arrest and detention must be reasonable. The grounds of preventive detention, to be used in very rare cases, must likewise assume that the suspicion of offence is well-grounded, based on available evidence, on relevant information that satisfies any objective observer, and not on mischievous allegations. But reality seems to confirm what every other Indian movie has shown about police acting on the caprice of a ruling leader, and the law being used to harass citizens. Is suspicion always supported by available facts? Is the ‘offender’ really a threat to internal security, or merely present at the scene of the ‘crime’? Whatever the facts of the case, was the offence committed by a pregnant student-activist so grave that bail could not be granted until yesterday, on her 4th attempt? If ordinary persons could smell arbitrariness here, why could not the sessions judge? Anyhow, why fill our coronavirus-infested jails with what are largely political prisoners, when other countries are releasing even non-political inmates? Minimum lock-up during lockdown should be the political slogan in our catastrophic times.
The Emergency, whose anniversary falls tomorrow, was meant to be a watershed in the life of Indian democracy, a brief, critical phase when the Indian political system could have gone either the way of authoritarian rule or mature as a democracy. By restoring faith in democracy, India appeared to have passed one of its crucial tests and firmly taken the second route. But are we on the verge of giving up the gains from that chastening experience? Has the struggle against the suspension of democracy been in vain? Have a small section of its victims now become perpetrators?
Tag: corona
Day to Day Sings & Symptons…DAY 1 to 22
Day to Day Signs and Symptoms of Coronavirus DAY TO DAY SYMPTOMS OF COVID-19 Before proceeding, please note that this general overview is compiled for initial self-assessment only and should vary for each individual. If you are not feeling well, you ought to immediately consult a medical man to possess an accurate diagnosis and proper treatment of COVID-19. The typical daily symptoms are concluded from the study of 138 patients at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University and another study involving 135 patients from Jinyintan Hospital and 56 patients from Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital.
These symptoms are broken down into:
DAY 1 to DAY 2 the start symptoms are almost like the cold with a light pharyngitis and neither having a fever nor feeling tired. Patients can still consume food and drink as was common .
DAY 3 The patient’s throats start to feel a touch painful. Body temperature reads at around 36.5° celsius. Although it’s uncommon, other symptoms like mild nausea, vomiting or mild diarrhea are possible to set in.
DAY 4 Throat pain becomes more serious. Other symptoms like feeling weak and joint pain start to manifest. The patient may show a temperature reading between 36.5° to 37° celsius.
DAY 5 to DAY 6 Mild fever starts. The patients show a temperature reading above 37.2° celsius. The second most common symptom, dry cough, also appears. Dyspnea or breathing difficulty may occur occasionally. Most patients during this stage are easily feeling tired. Other symptoms remain about the same. These four symptoms are among the top five key indications of COVID-19 according to the final report of the initial outbreak conducted by the joint mission of China and WHO.
DAY 7 get more serious coughs and breathing difficulty. Fever can get higher up to 38° celsius. Patients may develop further headache and body pain or worsening diarrhea if there’s any. Many patients are admitted to the hospital at this stage.
DAY 8 to DAY 9 On the 8th day, the symptoms are likely to be worsened for the patient who has coexisting medical conditions. Severe shortness of breath becomes more frequent. Temperature reading goes well above 38°.
DAY 9 is that the average time when Sepsis starts to affect 40% of the patients.
DAY 10 to DAY 11 Doctors are ordering imaging tests like chest x-ray to capture the severity of respiratory distress in patients. Patients are having loss of appetite and should be facing abdominal pain. The condition also needs immediate treatment in ICU.
DAY 12 to DAY 14 For the survivors, the symptoms can be well-managed at this point. Fever tends to urge better and breathing difficulties may start to cease on day 13. But Some patients should be suffering from mild cough even after hospital discharge.
DAY 15 to DAY 16 Day 15 is the opposite condition for the rest of the minority patients. The fragile group must prepare for the possibility of acute cardiac injury or kidney injury.
DAY 17 to DAY 19 COVID-19 fatality cases happen at around day 18. Before the time, vulnerable patients may develop a secondary infection caused by a new pathogen in the lower respiratory tract. The severe condition may then lead to blood coagulation and ischemia.
DAY 20 to DAY 22 The surviving patients are recovered completely from the disease and are discharged from the hospital.
STAY HOME & STAY SAFE
Impact of COVID-19 on Film Industry across the World
The impact of COVID-19 has been massive in the film industry around the whole world. All the film industries across the globe are facing the consequences of COVID-19 hugely. The film industry has faced billions and billions of financial losses. All the multiplexes and cinema halls have been locked down, and there has been no profit in the market sector. The film festivals had to be canceled. Many of the dates of the film festivals have been delayed. All the films which were supposed to release in this timeframe have extended the time of release. The complete lockdown of the entertainment industry, due to COVID-19 has majorly affected the box office profit. The places to face severe financial losses at the box office are North America, China, India, South Korea, Italy, Japan, Middle East, U.K., and many others.
Present Scenario at the Box Office
Most parts of the world that have been severely affected have entirely shut off the entertainment industry. They have closed down the shopping malls and movie complexes. Hence, it has changed the box office tremendously. China, America, Italy have been facing significant drawbacks in their box office estimations. Though the box office had already calculated substantial financial loss as soon as COVID-19 started spreading in China, it hardly estimated the significant loss it would suffer across the world.
Italy, China, the USA, Qatar, Thailand, Australia, U.K., Malaysia, and New Zealand have closed down all the movie theatres, and there have been no film releases since then. Afterward, France and Ireland decided on reducing the seating capacity at every movie theatre to half of its original percentage. Japan has closed down over 200 movie theatres after the spread of COVID-19.
Box Office has faced significant financial loss from the beginning of the year. As they have estimated, they have suffered around 30% loss in Taiwan, 35% loss in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, 60% loss in South Korea, and about 72% loss in Italy. In March, the box office faced higher financial losses. Though China had reopened their cinema halls and movie theatres at that time, the government had to close them down again, to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The Chinese film industry has suffered a significant loss due to the outbreak of COVID-19. They had strictly closed down all the movie theatres and cinema halls. The primary reason behind their massive decline in the Chinese film industry is the Lunar New Year. Every year, at the time of Lunar New Year, the Chinese box office made a huge success. But, this year, they suffered a significant loss, which was unprecedented for them. They have closed down film studios like Xiangshan Global Studios and Hengdian World Studios. Hence no production work is going on at the moment. The film releases have been postponed, and there has been no work progress since.
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, Japan has entirely locked down all the movie theatres and cinema halls. Many film festivals have been canceled like the Osaka Asian Film Festival. They have canceled the festival and have arranged to give refunds to the tickets which were bought by the people, in advance. Other small festivals like Kitakan Film Festival, the AnimeJapan Festival, and many others were canceled. The only film to have released during this pandemic is Fukushima 50, and it has not able to cross the 1 billion mark at the box office yet though Japan has been planning out various strategies to release films for the people and arrange a way for them to get some peace amidst this crazy pandemonium.
Things have gone pretty rough for the Hollywood film industry as well. After the impact of COVID-19, multiple blockbuster projects got delayed, and all the movie theatres have been closed. Many films that were about to get released like No Time To Die, Mulan and others have been postponed to November. Disney has entirely locked down all the production works of films such as The Little Mermaid, Jurassic World: Dominion, and others. This had hugely affected the pillars of the Hollywood Industry in that many are afraid that Hollywood might not go back to the stage where it stood before COVID-19 took place.
Many film releases have been postponed, and all the movie theatres around India have been locked down. Most of the technicians working in the film industry have no income source. COVID-19 has surely broken down the pillars of the Indian Film Industry. Several Bollywood film releases got postponed like Sooryavanshi, which was expected to make hundreds of crores. Rohit Shetty has to postpone the dates of his film release. Many production houses such as Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions closed down all the ongoing activities and also, any work which was going on in their films. Even the most delayed film of 2020, Brahmastra, got even more delayed due to the pandemic. Some film releases took place at the beginning months of the year. But, things have come to a halt since March. The major film releases as 83, Radhe, and others got postponed. Even Salman Khan had to postpone his film Radhe, which was supposed to release on Eid. Every Indian wait for Salman Khan’s Eid release, but this year, no movies got released. The Indian Film Industry has faced huge losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The major film industries around the world have faced similar consequences of the pandemic. The scenario has been identified across the globe. Every part of the world, may it be in the United States or Canada or France or South Korea or Germany or Australia or Mexico, all have faced the impacts of COVID-19 thoroughly. The productions of significant films have halted, and the technicians have lost work across the world. The box office is facing financial losses in billions. Massive projects have been postponed. Many celebrities have lost their lives, which have inevitably affected the film industry. Like Terrence McNally, Lucia Bose, Mark Blum, Patricia Bosworth, Allen Garfield, and Hilary Heath, many others have lost their lives fighting with coronavirus, which has hugely affected the film industry. The entertainment industry is one of the most popular sectors across the world. People everywhere wait eagerly for the film releases, and the film industry is the one single business sector that never goes without work. Though many films might face failures at the box office, the blockbuster successes always compensate for those. Apart from the film industry, even the television industries across the world have been going through the same loss of money and work.
The Film Industries as One
Most of the award show and the film festivals got canceled due to the impact of COVID-19. To cope with the present scenario, twenty film industries worldwide have come together to project movies on YouTube for free. This is a worldwide film festival that has united the film industries together. The “We Are One: A Global Film Festival” has been arranged for ten days by film festivals worldwide. The online global film festival is streaming documentaries, comedy shows, music, and films. This is the best step that has been taken by the film industries across the world so that they keep entertaining the people around the globe. The complete lockdown of the entertainment industry has also left a reduced effect on the people. Hence, this is a way to help all of us from the traumatic news we’ve been hearing for months now.
All the film industries are trying to work together to bring smiles on the faces of people. Though they have faced significant losses for the last few months, they are still trying to arrange online festivals and shows for the viewers to stay engaged.
Dexamethasone- Corona Vaccine Update!!!
Finally some good news today dexamethasone is now being called a major breakthrough based on a recent randomized controlled trial in the UK. Dexamethasone also known as Decadron is an example of a glucocorticoid are sometimes referred to as corticosteroids other examples of glucocorticoids include hydrocortisone methyl prednisolone prednisolone, prednisone beta methazone and triamcinolone so glucocorticoids are a class of steroid hormones that bind to the glucocorticoid receptor in the body cortisol aka hydrocortisone is the glucocorticoid.
We naturally make in our body it’s essential for life it regulates or supports various cardiovascular metabolic and homeostatic functions it also plays a big role in our immune system especially when it comes to reducing certain aspects of inflammation this is why we use them all the time in medicine we sometimes give these steroids for asthma copd rheumatologic type diseases and countless more diseases. Sometimes it is also given for steroids for meningitis and also for some forms of cancer we also give them in the early course of severe ards acute respiratory distress syndrome whether that ards is due to infection such as pneumonia or vaping lung injury or whatever the cause for severe ards we typically give methylprednisolone or solumedral at a dose of one milligram per kilogram per day. So, for most people that ends up being around 80 milligrams per day so this is the equivalent of 15 milligrams of dexamethasone the idea here is to suppress the cytokine storm that has taken place meaning that the massive amount of inflammation that causes lung damage and can indirectly cause damage to other organs as well our body naturally makes cortisol in our adrenal glands specifically in the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex the adrenal gland then secretes cortisol into the bloodstream and the cortisol travels to different tissues of the body and then binds to the glucocorticoid receptor inside cells it then stimulates the cell to make more anti-inflammatory proteins and causes the cell to make less pro-inflammatory proteins but giving someone glucocorticoids meaning steroids to someone who has an infection is somewhat of a tricky thing because the fear is that if you suppress the body’s immune system it has the potential to make the infection worse. Sometimes the body’s immune system does more damage than the actual infection for example in cases of meningitis that is due to either streptococcus or tuberculosis we give steroids because the medical evidence shows that they have better outcomes when we do so and giving someone steroids for viral pneumonias like influenza is more controversial because doing so generally leads to worse infection with that said if the viral pneumonia is so bad to the point of causing severe ards most doctors will give steroids in that situation. So this is why, the general medical guidelines so far recommend against giving steroids for covert pneumonia unless the patient has severe ards and we’ve been waiting for randomized controlled trials to come out for steroids in covid and here we are now with this study so in march of 2020 the recovery trial which stands for randomized evaluation of covid-19 therapy was one of the randomized control trials that actually looked at several different potential treatments for covid which included low-dose dexamethasone this trial was done in the UK.
Image source: Sky News
Over 11 500 patients in it so this trial has not been peer reviewed as of has not been published in the journal yet so everything I know so far is based on what’s been released to the general public in this trial over 2100 patients were randomized to receive dexamethasone specifically six milligrams once per day for 10 days and this group was compared with over 4 300 patients that were randomized to the standard care alone so 6 milligrams of dexamethasone is the equivalent of 32 milligrams of methylprednisolone so this is about half the dose we would typically use for someone with severe ards so among the patients who received standard care alone 20-day mortality was highest in those who required mechanical ventilation this was 41 and then intermediate in those patients who required supplemental oxygen only this was mortality rate of 25 percent and the mortality rate was lowest among those who did not require supplemental oxygen in which that mortality rate was 13 for patients who were on mechanical ventilators dexamethasone reduced mortality from 41 percent to 28 percent for patients who needed supplemental oxygen it reduced mortality from 25 percent to 20 percent and there was no benefit among those patients who do not require supplement oxygen in other words if someone only had mild disease there was no point in giving dexamethasone so based on these results one death would be prevented by the treatment of around eight ventilated patients. So that’s the number needed to treat for ventilated patients and then the number needed to treat for the ones who required supplemental oxygen that number needed to treat would be 25 so these preliminary results are significant but it doesn’t mean that dexamethasone is a miracle drug it’s certainly not a cure but it does seem to help based on these numbers index and methazone could be of huge benefit and not just rich countries but poorer countries as well because this drug is very cheap and is widely available so this is great news and very exciting but there are still a lot of questions that need to be answered like what is the ideal dose should we use higher doses in patients who are mechanically ventilated with ards and when will it be approved for use in the united states and we’ll get these answers pretty soon now another.
Interesting question is should we give decadron dexamethasone to people who have mild disease now even though this study didn’t show any benefit the reason why i bring this up is because some people start out with mild disease and then go on to have moderate or severe disease and we have no way of predicting who goes on to do that and also it happens very quickly lots of times someone could be doing just fine and then all of a sudden within hours they all of a sudden are deteriorating and they have severe disease so should we give those patients decadron regardless is there any harm doing so that’s another question that remains to be seen.
Yoga for seniors
When you come to old age, all the fancy aspirations are over, and you experience yourself as childlike again. But at a biological level, aging also results in the accumulation of cellular damage over time which leads to a progressive decrease in physical and mental capacity of the body. Familiar conditions in older age include back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, depression, heart disease, etc. so, if you are a senior and looking for some therapeutic practices to avoid these conditions, then you are at the right place! Yoga carries some low impact incredible poses that you can practice even in your nineties. In this article, I’m discussing yoga poses categorizing them on the basis of
•Standing yoga poses
•Laying yoga postures
•Sitting yoga postures
You can choose from the poses in terms of your present level of flexibility and medical conditions associated with your body. It is highly recommended to practice any yoga pose under the supervision of a verified yoga teacher. They can help you with the modification in the poses and customized it for your body.
Great years for fitness
Fitness is not only about looking good. If you wake up happy that’s enough to determine your health in many ways. Yoga cultivates a mind-body-emotion link, combines stretching with a deep breath, and develops relaxation. Practicing yoga in old age makes you touch some spiritual aspects along with its physical benefits. Yoga is one of the safest forms of exercise available for seniors with immense benefits.
Benefits of yoga for seniors
Although yoga has tremendous health benefits on the mind and body irrespective of the age of the practitioner, for seniors, the values of the benefits are more. Here I’m listing some benefits of yoga that seniors or old age people will easily relate to
Fitness and ability levels
Practicing yoga enhances one’s fitness level that results in an improved ability to do day to day work. There are numerous yoga postures available to strengthen the core and develop a strong foundation of the body. Yoga reduces the risk of falls in the case of seniors as it provides stability in the system.
Maintains equilibrium
Elderly people are often noticed with some unconscious movement of the body part, especially hand, yoga can help in improving this state of the body. Practicing yoga regularly creates equilibrium in the body and generates a certain level of awareness of the movements.
Improves flexibility
Yoga movements are so fantastic to generate an extra stretch in the body without causing any damage to the body. Flexibility in the muscles encourages the tissues to loosen and relax, which eventually helps to amplify their range of motion.
Encourage deep breathing
As yoga involves the coordination of breath and movements in the body, it results in expanding lung capacity to hold breaths for an extended period. Holding the breath for a longer period enhances the overall pulmonary health and respiratory function of the practitioner.
Bone strength
In elderly age, most people tend to have problems with brittle bones. Consistent practice of yoga can improve the weight-bearing power of the bones and reduces the risk of osteoporosis. Some promising researches claim to improve bone density in the body by Yoga practices.
Alleviate anxiety and stress
Anxiety at an elderly age is not new to this generation. Yoga encourages mindfulness and calmness in the system and prevents the day to day stress through conscious breathing and meditation. Researchers claim that meditation stimulates memory centers inside the brain and reduces the risk of depression among seniors. Yoga activates the “feel-good” prefrontal cortex and boosts the emotional health of the practitioner.
Improved sleep quality
Sleep disturbance is a common problem among people of old age. Sleep deficiency at this age is linked to the increased risks of high blood pressure, heart strokes, diabetes, etc. Potential sleep ensures the removal of toxins from the body and allows the brain to function properly. Performing yoga daily can help to treat sleep disorders like insomnia, relaxing the tissues in the body, and encourages a better quality of sleep.
Yoga poses for seniors
No yoga pose is specially designed for a person belonging to a particular age. You can practice yoga at any age depending on your body limitations. Old age can be a miraculous part of life if you establish yourself in yoga. Yoga is one of those exercises which you can continue throughout all stages of life, as yoga itself is said to be the study of life.
As I mentioned that there is no pose specially designed for seniors, but if you are a beginner then it is recommended to start with some slow and light poses and then take it to the moderate level. Here are some beginners yoga poses for seniors to start with;
STANDING YOGA POSES FOR SENIORS
•Trikonasana (triangle pose)
✓ Helps to create a stretch in the hip and lower back region of the body
✓ Improve the balance of the body
✓ Regulates blood pressure
•Katichakrasana (standing spinal twist)
✓ Helps to produce movements in lower spine and neck
✓ Provides stretch in the arms, knees and neck muscles
✓ Ensures firm movements of the feet
•Vrksasana (tree pose)
✓ Strongest pose in maintaining balance
✓ Enhance hip and leg strength
✓ Provide stretch in the arms, legs, and centers of the body
•Tadasana (mountain pose)
✓ Sets the foundation for alignment of the body
✓ Improves sensibility of the body
✓ Corrects unconscious postural patterns
SITTING YOGA POSTURE FOR SENIORS
•Badhakonasana (butterfly pose)
✓ Regulates digestion by clearing the bowel movements
✓ Gives a stretch to the thighs, knees, and lower back region
✓ Removes stiffness and pain in the legs
CHAIR YOGA FOR SENIORS
Chair yoga or desktop yoga is in trend as it allows anyone to conveniently perform these asanas while sitting on the chair. Seniors can be benefited from chair yoga postures such as neck roll, spinal twist, temple rub, bending of arms and legs, and seated forward and backward bend. Benefits of chair yoga poses are:
•Relaxes the neck and removes stiffness in the back and neck region
•Alleviate fatigue and tension in the muscles
•Increase flexibility
•Coordinate body and breath movement and generates a sense of balance within the system
•Increase focus
Try doing these yoga poses under the supervision of a yoga teacher or your family members to prevent any damage to the body. The yoga routine can help you in spending your old age time perfectly without facing any health issue.
How to open a Franchise without money- US…
let’s talk about to open a franchise with no money so the first thing you can do, if you want to open a franchise with no money down is go to your friends and family look. I understand that that’s something that you may not want to do sometimes that’s a toughest conversation asking friends and family for money but I would assume if you’re willing to open a franchise and you have some skill sets you have a certain level of intelligence and a certain level of ambition so assuming that you have a good reputation and a good rapport with your friends and family then that’s the first place that you can go to get money to fund your franchise.
Now when you’re approaching them for the money it’s important to be tactical and strategic about it and you don’t just say hey! can I borrow ten thousand dollars can I borrow twenty thousand dollars can I have fifty thousand dollars you have to go into it strategically so go into it with a business plan this is the franchise that I want to buy this is the amount of money that I need to get started this is a lot the amount of money that I think I will make with the franchise this is the time period which I can pay the money back to you and get on that loan repayment plan, another way to approach getting money from feds and friends and family to fund your franchise is to ask them to be a partner with you so although they may not want to work in the franchise themselves maybe they’re more willing to give you money or lend you money for the franchise if they are an owner or an investor with you so maybe you’re the one that runs the franchise and you handle the day-to-day operations the sales managing the staff managing the overall business and they get a percentage of the profits as a way of paying them back.
The next way that you can fund a franchise is to get a loan and before you read about that real quick with the franchise so now in getting a loan to open a franchise business it’s important to note that one you’re going to need to have good credit and two you’re going to need to have an income that can support paying back. The loan and three the likelihood is you are still going to need money for the down payment on that loan if you get us an SBA loan which is Small Business Administration they require a minimum of 10% down from you in order to fund that business so what does that mean if you need $100,000 for your franchise business then that means you need to come up with $10,000 in order to here that loan so the question is how will you come up with that $10,000 and there’s a number of options that we’ll go over in a second of how you can do that one way you can do that is what we already talked about which is getting money from friends or family it’s so even with the Small Business Administration having a ten percent minimum requirement that you have to put towards the loan in order to open a business.
Most lenders that issue SBA loans are going to require anywhere from 20% to 30% in order for you to secure that loan so again in that example if you’re looking to open up a business that’s a total of $100,000 you’re going to have to figure out a way to come up with twenty to thirty thousand dollars in order to secure that loan and so in a second I’m going to tell you about a strategy of exactly how you can do that without having to ask your friends or family for money another way that you can fund a franchise without having any money so to say is seeing if you have any 401k or retirement plans now as someone who has managed over a hundred million dollars over the course of career as a financial advisor typically. I would not recommend for someone to take money out of their 401k and that’s not what I’m recommending to you. So, I want to make sure that you get that clear because there are severe penalties and tax consequences that you should consult the tax advisor about but there are ways that you can leverage your 401k so if you’re still working with your employer you can take out a loan against your 401k in order to fund a business and when you take out a loan there’s one thing that you have to be very careful about the thing that you have to be careful about is that if you leave that employer and you have an outstanding loan they are going to make you repay that loan within a certain period of time usually it’s 60 days if that is the case if you don’t come up with the money and repay the loan for the 401k they count it as an early distribution you’re going to have to pay taxes on that money depending upon if it’s a pre-tax 401k and you may have to pay some penalties. 2 guys opened up first location they were going to need 300 just over $300,000 in order to get first location open so they had a significant equity in their home at that time and want to went ahead and apply for a home equity loan they secured a three hundred and ten thousand dollar home equity loan use that home equity loan to fund the business and to pay for the business about a year or so later they actually wind up moving they sold their house the home equity loan was paid for paid off and now they own the franchise in the business completely outright don’t have any loans on the business and then the last way that you can potentially buy or open a franchise with absolutely no money is to talk to the franchiser again it’s not about the resources it’s about your resourcefulness so it never hurts to ask them and to make a pitch if you’re truly excited and confident about the opportunity.
Image source: AZ quotes
Life after corona…
In amidst this global pandemic,life has become very harsh for many poor and middle class people. This lockdown has also locked the earnings making them struggle everyday to meet their daily needs. The biggest question of the hour has turned out to be”when will this pandemic meet an end?”.But it is necessary that we must focus on life after corona.
This corona virus has taught us many things ,it has helped in integration of people not only in the country but also worldwide. This virus has taught us that discrimination of people on basis of caste,religion,region has no sense. It has also became agent of mother earth wherein it brought the pollution levels significantly down all over the world.
It is clear indication that we must start using non-conventional energy sources after this crisis. It is clear that we must understand that humanity is the only religion and serving needy is next to serving god.
We should maintain social distancing at least for following year and help needy. If we all stand United and act wisely we will surely be victorious in this situation and once again we can live that golden days enjoying railway rides, shouting for our favourite team in stadiums and the birds chirping in the forest without our intervention, but for now we must stay home stay safe.
EDUCATION IN TIMES OF CORONA
We all are well informed about the current unfortunate scenario created by the deadly Novel Corona Virus. A lot has been said and discussed how much it has impacted the environment, society and the economy of the countries. This pandemic has tremendously affected the education system, this is also needed to be discussed widely. Almost every day, the teachers and students are facing new challenges. Education is the backbone of a society and the students are the future. Life becomes valueless without education. The suffering of the entire education system is not at all desirable.
From the very beginning, the main mode of education was offline and the basic source was school. But it is obvious that due to this corona outbreak all the offline modes of education are closed for an uncertain period of time. On 14th March the nation’s Prime Minister announced the first nationwide lockdown, and the news dropped like a bombshell for the institutions and teachers, because at that point of time many board exams were going on in schools and colleges and some results were about to be declared.
The lockdown is getting extended in increments since March. Given this situation, it is not possible for the institutions to take a complete break from teaching the students neither it is possible for the students to stop studying since whenever their schools/colleges will reopen they will have to give their due exams. In this situation the only thing that is feasible, is to introduce e-learning in their curriculums. Internet learning was always an option for extra studies for the students, but now that option has become a necessity for almost all the educational institutions.
Education is a basic right for every citizen of a country. But this overnight change of the mode of study from offline to online has made education unreachable to some of the students. Numerous students do not have an internet connection and thus the study materials that are being given to them are becoming unattainable for them. Some of the institutions have even started marking their attendance in the online classes. Those schools/colleges use to allot marks on the attendance of the students, so, those students who aren’t being able to attend these online classes are getting affected severely. All the sources of learning have become unobtainable for these students since their tuitions are also off now. Even the teachers are facing copious issues due to this sudden change. Many teachers are not technologically equipped so along with the students they are also taking time for getting used to it. The teachers are also facing pressures of converting all the teaching materials to digital formats. Even if the majority of the students are getting the facility of attending their classes through online conferences, it can not be apprehended how the pending and future exams will be taken through online mode.
Amidst this situation where all the students and teachers were already struggling to get adjusted with this newly formed learning system, the government of several states announced that the junior classes of the schools and the intermediate semester students of the universities will be promoted to the next class or to the next semester. Regarding this a lot of hassles has been created since most of the universities are still not agreeing to promote their students without taking their tests. Some of the institutions are planning to take their exams very soon even in this crucial situation. The students were already distressed and this being added into their suffering, they are now completely perplexed.
The university students who had their terminal semesters just when the lockdown started, are suffering the most. Most of them had their career plans ready already. Since the entire exam procedure got delayed, they are living in an extremely uncertainty right now. The school kids are facing problems in paying the fees of the schools and tuitions since most of the parents do not have the facility of online banking. The government and the institutions are trying to make things a little less difficult for the students. The sense of insecurity in the students are making them depressed and it has affected their mental health badly. No one knows what the future holds for all of us, but what we can do is to try to keep the students engaged not only with studies but also with creative things so that they can stay healthy and productive in this pivotal situation.
Coronavirus or Covid-19
What is coronavirus? Coronavirus disease is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus, according to the world health organisation(WHO). The first case of coronavirus was discovered in November in the Wuhan city of China. Wuhan city is the central city of China. The first registered case of covid-19 in India was on 30th January 2020. As of 1st june 2020, the Ministry of Health and family welfare have confirmed a total of 190,535 cases, 91,819 recoveries(including 1 migration) and 5,394 deaths in India. India currently has the largest number of confirmed cases in Asia with number of confirmed cases breaching the 100,000 mark on 19th may,2020. According to the hindustan times, total number of covid-19 cases in the world are 6,200,204(confirmed cases), 3,066,570(active cases), 2,761,887(recovered), 371,747(deceased). 80% cases of covid-19 are from Europe and the United States. In terms of the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, the US, Brazil, Russia, Spain, and UK are the five most-affected countries.
What are the symptoms of coronavirus? Fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headaches, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. How to avoid Covid-19? Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water, maintain at least 1 metre(3 feet) distance between yourself and others, avoid going to crowded places, avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth, make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene, stay home and self-isolated even with minor symptoms such as cough, headache, mild fever, until you recover, if you have a fever, cough, and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention, and lastly keep up to date on the latest information from trusted sources, such as WHO or your local and national health authorities.
To overcome this world pandemic, all the people in the world have to come together and fight with the virus together. All the people in the world should follow the instructions given by their respective government and should support the doctor’s, police, nurses, etc. for doing such a commendable job.
At last I only want to quote a famous saying by Mr. Shah Rukh Khan-“alone we fall, united we stand”
PM NARENDRA MODI MANN KI BAAT(31/5/2020)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on Sunday through his Mann Ki Baat where he said that it’s going to be a long way in the fight against the coronavirus. He began with saying that the means of transport were suspended the last time he addressed. This time many areas are in operation along with Shramik Special trains, airflights, miniature industries which has lead to the gradual rise in the economy. Still no leniency has to given while following the protective measures.
With mutual contribution, we are able to fight against corona. If we compare with other countries, we’ve accomplished a lot. Inspite of having more challenges, we are able to fight corona better than other countries. We feel sorrow over the losses caused but we are successful in saving a lot due to the united power of the countrymen. Every individual is contributing to its best. This whole cause is people driven. The most important feature of the people which lead to moving ahead is ‘Seva Shakti’ or the power to help. In reality, in this pandemic we have shown that ‘SERVICE’ and ‘SACRIFICE’ are not only our ideals but also our ways of life. It is said that, ‘Seva Parmo dharma’ which means that there is pleasure and satisfaction in service. We have witnessed that one who is involved in service activities is free from depression and stress. Servicing others leads to Confidence and Positivity.
Our doctors, nurses, cleaners, workers, and media body are contributing their limitless efforts towards the pandemic. He quoted example of Mr. C Mohan of Tamil Nadu who runs a saloon in Madurai. He donated his 5 lacs of money for service which he has saved for his daughter’s education. Similarly, in Agartala, Gautam Das, a cart-puller, gave his savings to the needy by providing food. In Punjab, a differently-abled person, donated his amount to make masks. Mr. Narendra Modi appreciates such people. In this pandemic, people are innovating in the labs and small startups. Nasik’s Rajendra Yadav, a farmer has created a sanitizing machine using his tractor. Innovations are also seen in the field of education. The strong will power of the people is leading such innovations. This pandemic is long, we are inexperienced facing new challenges and problems. Yet the most affected are poor sections of the society. We can share their pain. The whole India is making efforts. Railway employees are also corona warriors as they strive hard to send the people to their locations.
This situation is also an opportunity to learn. The countrymen are making efforts to develop the eastern India. The Central Government is taking steps to look after the job opportunities in the villages. If the villages and small districts would have been self-dependent, then these problems would have been minimised. He quoted, ‘It’s human behaviour to move from darkness to light’. He is happy to see that being self-dependent is taken as a challenge. ‘Vocal for local’ is also being adopted widely. ‘Make in India’ should grow by individual efforts. We must minimise the use of outside commodity. In this pandemic, he has also talked to various foreign ministers. He got to know that they are also giving priority to ‘Yoga and Ayurveda’. In India too, people are getting themselves involved in doing yoga at home and learning about ayurveda. Yoga community, immunity and unity are beneficial for all. Yoga is important as corona affects the respiratory system. Ministry of AYUSH has started ‘MyLifeMyYoga’ which is a video blog competition where people can participate by posting a 3 minutes video of performing yoga asanas and sharing their experiences.
The fear of falling sick is the nightmare of the poor people. ‘Ayushman Bharat Yojana’ which started 1.5 yrs ago, has treated more than 1 crore people for free. If poor people would have spent money in their treatment then they would have been in loss. Portability has bound the country together. Any person of Bihar can avail the treatment in Karnataka too. Among the 1 crore people, 80 percent of them are the villagers. Some even had critical diseases and 70 percent underwent surgeries. He said that we must talk to the people being treated by Ayushman. People after treatment have become optimistic and motivated to fight the challenges of life. He has also appreciated the honest tax payers of the country.
He kept on mentioning about the super cyclone which has hit West Bengal and Orissa. Homes are destroyed. He even visited the place. India stands with them. The current locust attack reminds us that small creatures are also capable enough to destroy. People are innovating to fight against such critical situations. On 5th June, World Environment Day will be celebrated and the theme is Biodiversity. This theme is especially important in the present scenario. Since the last weeks, we have slowed down, but this has given us an opportunity to understand the rich biodiversity around us. People are able to hear chirps of many birds who were once considered lost in noise and pollution. We are getting news of animals walking freely. People are sharing photos that they can see mountains and wonder that whether they would continue to see such beauties of nature or not.
He concluded by saying that we can draw inspiration to coexist with nature by creating balance. We must conserve water through simple processes. We can save water in this rainy season. At individual level, we can take initiatives to plant trees and hence save nature. After such hardwork, we must keep fighting and don’t become negligent. It’s our duty to save every ones life. Take all the necessary precautions. At last he said that he would be meeting next month through ‘MANN KI BAAT’.
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