21 st century is marred by the outbreak of various zoonotic diseases. Be it the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Ebola haemorrhagic fever, Nipah virus encephalitis, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Swine Flu (H1N1) or Bird Flu (H5N1). They have resulted in millions of fatalities around the globe. The new addition in this line is the new strain of coronavirus i.e. SARS-CoV2 which has resulted into COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 pandemic is notified as 'biological' disaster by the government of India. Hence it is important to understand the meaning of “biological disaster” and assess India’s preparedness with respect to handling of a “biological disaster”. Means to Counter Biological disaster As per the constitutional norm, health is a state subject. The primary responsibility of dealing with the state government. There are a number of legislations that control and govern the nation's health. Government can enforce these legislations to contain the sp...

The truth about inequality The great promise of communism in the 20 th century was the removal of inequalities. However if failed comprehensively by 1991. The worldwide spread of capitalism and LPG wad the next big promise. But sadly data show that the world income inequality has grown and diminished. The seven key truths about income inequalities are: Income inequalities is lowest in Europe and highest in Middle East. The top 10% income share is 37% in Europe, 41% in China and 56% in India. In the Middle East top 10% cornered 61% of National Income. Since 1980s inequality has sharply risen in India, China, Russia, and North America. Regions like Brazil, Middle East and Sub-Sharan Africa are the inequality frontiers, as they never experienced post World War-II egalitarian. In 1980 the top 1% income share was roughly 10% in US and Western Europe, but today it is roughly 20% in US and 16% in Western Europe. The bottom 50% of share in America steeply dropped from 20% in ...

Who came first - Viruses or Humans? Do humans really mark the pinnacle of evolution of viruses? While we’ve evolved along a pathway of ever-increasing complexity, viruses have streamlined, successfully jettisoning all but a handful of essential genes. Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on Earth. They are present everywhere, in our surrounding, the oceans, the soil and in every living being. Retroviruses contributed to about half of our genomic sequences and to the evolution of the mammalian placenta. Contemporary viruses reflect evolution ranging from the RNA world to the DNA-protein world. Viruses and Bacteria both descended from an ancient cellular life form. But while - like humans - bacteria evolved to become more complex, viruses became simpler. Today, viruses are so small and simple, thet can't even replicate on their own. Viruses carry only the essential genetic information they need to be able to slip inside a host cell and coax it into making new ...