Published in: Times of India

"Man up!’ ‘Boys don’t cry’, ‘Don’t be a sissy’; these are just some statements that we grow up hearing. We are supposed to always be tough, stoic and never express what we feel, because hey, that would make us look weak!” says Nikhil Taneja, mental health advocate and co-founder of Yuvaa, while bringing attention towards stifled discussions around mental health when it comes to men. And this isn’t a random claim.Since its inception in September 2020, India’s Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry-run helpline Kiran reported that about 70 per cent of the callers who sought help were men. The numbers clearly point towards the fact that men, dictated by age-old conventions telling them to ‘man up’, have suppressed their mental health issues.

Published in: ET Health World

A pandemic is not just a medical phenomenon; it affects individuals and society and causes disruption, anxiety, stress and stigma. The effect of Covid pandemic has been multifaceted vis-a-vis mental health. Not just the fear of acquiring infection but suffering from varied severity of Covid infection and its complications considering dearth of medications, hospital beds, oxygen was all very dreadful. To add to this, the death of a family member and the performance of last rites added to the gigantic plight. There have been doctors who were crying when their children got infected and had to fight death. There were doctors who could not reach for the last rites of their families and yet there were those who struggled to manage and balance all these.

Published in: News 18

The Supreme Court Monday reiterated that persons with disabilities (PwD) cannot be denied reservation in promotions in government jobs as it upheld a Kerala High Court order granting the benefit to a woman last year. The top court said that identification of posts for the purpose of reservation had to take place immediately after the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 but resistance to this is obvious from the “delaying tactics" adopted by most of the government authorities in truly implementing the intent.