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The Hindu
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
My biggest challenge is to draft policies for an unplanned city, says Delhi CM Rekha Gupta
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta was the inaugural guest at the new series of thoughtful conversations, The Hindu 'Mind', launched and curated by The Hindu. She speaks to Nistula Hebbar on a host of issues facing the national capital and her plans to address them. Edited excerpts: You completed 100 days as CM on May 30. What has been the biggest challenge you faced in this period? Actually, I could not even imagine that the arrangements for the whole of Delhi were so challenging. Staying outside the system, I saw that Delhi was running. But when I stood inside the system, I saw that Delhi was running like a vehicle without wheels, at the mercy of fate with no holistic planning for Delhi and its infrastructure, its needs. I soon realised that the expectations of the people of Delhi, which is the capital of the country, had shrunk to such an extent that a Delhiite today does not want to ask anything big from you. His wishes have been limited to such an extent that all he is asking you is to just get the drain in front of his house fixed. It is as if Delhiites have lost all scope of thinking bigger than that in the last 20-25 years. So that is the challenge that I see – a condition where you have to start from almost zero, that you don't have any count of the population of an unplanned city which is the capital of the country. There is no draft of what you want to do and how will you do it. There is no vision for this. That continues to be the biggest challenge. Nowadays we have seen a lot that there is a lot of bitterness and acrimony in the political culture. Since you took over, have you had any interaction with the two former CMs, Arvind Kejriwal and Atishi? I have not had any interaction with Arvind Kejriwal because I think that the day the results came, he immediately picked up his bag and left for Punjab. Punjab is also where you went for campaigning for the Ludhiana bypoll. I had gone to look for him. I thought I should find him. Did you meet him there? I did not meet him but I did convey via my meetings there that the people of Delhi are calling you [Kejriwal]. Till yesterday you were the son of Delhi and now suddenly you have become the son of Punjab. I conveyed to the people of Punjab the wounds that he has given to Delhi. But I get to meet Atishiji during the Assembly session. I remember that in the first session, those people [Aam Aadmi Party MLAs] made big noise and came with placards that you people [the government] have removed the photographs Bhagat Singhji and Babasaheb Ambedkar from office of the CM. I asked my security to let Atishiji and other AAP MLAs enter my office. I made them sit and gave them tea and said, look bhai, you have the photographs here, I am also there, the room is also the same. Why are you making this noise? I understand that one should continue efforts to talk to the Opposition. The two big campaign issues for the BJP in the Delhi poll were the alleged excise scam and the 'Sheesh Mahal' issue. What is happening there? The Arvind Kejriwal government's excise policy, in which he gave free liquor with one purchase, was unprecedented. And similarly, he built a Sheesh Mahal for himself. The negative reaction in terms of poll results to the Sheesh Mahal was also because it was done by someone who used to sit in Ramlila Maidan and say that I don't want anything, no car, no bungalow, not even any post, and later went on to acquire everything. Both these subjects touch the public and we want to take decisions after a lot of thought. We want to bring a very transparent and people-friendly excise policy and for this we have done a lot of homework to find out comparative policies in other States, a policy in which the standards of society, revenue parameters should be met with complete transparency. We have engaged a team of our officers to go into it, and we will be able to bring a good, transparent and economically viable excise policy for Delhi very soon. As for the Sheesh Mahal, it has become like a white elephant for the government. But I definitely assure the people of Delhi that every penny of taxpayers' money will be fully utilised. Some people feel that it should be made a State guest house, others feel that it should be sold, still others feel it should be a museum. Some people have also suggested that I should stay in it. Will you? No, I had made it clear on the first day itself that I don't want to be in it. We will bring a proposal that it should be useful for the public and the government should generate revenue from it. We speak about developed Delhi but recently we have seen incidents like the fire in a residential complex in Dwarka where to save their lives, some people jumped from the ninth floor because the Fire Department people took a lot of time in arriving. We are in the process of addressing this. We have made a provision in our budget for upgrading of facilities for disaster management, on how to deal with floods, earthquakes, the possibilities of these disasters happening. We started dealing with all these things in just 100 days and have started planning for it. In 2023, the then government in Delhi was totally unprepared for the kind of floods that happened. The barricades of the [Yamuna] barrage could not be opened since they had remained closed for years, and the water could not flow out. Today we know that the rains are about to start, so before that we have completed the meetings on disaster management, flood management and everything else, completed the preparations, de-silting of drains in which in just four months we have removed 20 lakh metric tons of silt. The monsoon is almost upon us. Last year, the city saw massive urban waterlogging. What is your plan to deal with it? Every year, in June, the same photo of a bus stuck under a waterlogged Minto Bridge is published. The Congress government got 15 years, AAP got 11 years… they could not solve the problem created every year at one place. But today I can assure you that Minto Bridge will not be flooded. Not only Minto Bridge, we have identified all the waterlogging points in Delhi. For each of these points we have appointed a nodal officer to suggest solutions and who will be held responsible for any waterlogging there, on the premise that only through accountability and resources can you solve an intractable issue. Today I invite Kejriwalji to come… you ruled for 11 years, I am standing on the record of 100 days. Debate with me. What should have happened in Delhi and what did you do? Looking at your campaign for the Ludhiana bypoll, will you be going to Punjab during the Assembly election in 2027? Yes, 100%. Delhi has been pushed back 50 years by the AAP government in 11 years. It is my social responsibility that no other State of the country falls into the trap of such deceptive people. Lately, the issue of fee hikes by private schools has hit the headlines. You have brought the Delhi school education ordinance. Why not debate it in the Assembly first? Private schools are increasing their fees abnormally every year, but even today, private schools in Delhi are governed by the Delhi School Education Act, 1973 and nowhere in that Act is anything written about what schools should do to increase fees. There is just a line that says that you should increase your fees and intimate the Directorate of Education. The government used to go to court and used to fail because there was no law. For the first time after coming to power, we made a framework for it so that the schools can be governed. As for the ordinance route, the problem was that as soon as our government was formed, school admissions had started with some schools increasing fees. We had to react to the fact that children and parents were being harassed. We presented our complete report in court. Even the honourable court scolded the schools that you cannot do this and in the meantime, because no Assembly [session] was not on and we wanted to give immediate relief, we have brought it as an ordinance. An ordinance can survive for six months and in between you will have a session where the House will clear it. What ways beyond legislation are there to address these issues? People have made education a business. Some good people should come who accept it as a social service and deal with it in that manner. There is, however, another way which I understand. We have to make our government schools so good that people prefer sending their children there rather than face hassles in a private school. Leave aside other things. Tell me which leader's children study in a government school? They do not study because they know that we have not given the structure to the schools where their own children can study. So it is the responsibility of the government to make government schools better so that private schools will automatically come down. Interestingly, when we talk education at the university level and even at the postgraduation level, where do people want to go? They want to go to a government institution. We want that same preference for school education. The state of the Yamuna river has become a chronic issue for the city. What are your plans with regard to this forever problem? Look, this is the misfortune of the city. What we are now calling a problem was once the lifeline of Delhi, its claim to beauty. Slowly, when people started coming to Delhi in a non-planned manner, and governments never worried about what kind of infrastructure should be there. People kept settling down and sewers, drains, gutters kept falling directly into Yamunaji. And as this pile-up continued for years, the condition of Yamunaji became like that of a drain. There was much talk by previous governments that we will clean the Yamuna, but without addressing the things that have made the river dirty. Today, about 200 drains of Delhi fall into the Yamuna. Every drain in the entire city has its own shape and at some places, the drain is bigger than the river. The one which is called Sahibi river is Najafgarh drain, which falls completely into the Yamuna. We have made a detailed plan. For the first time, the government is seriously surveying through drones drains that are falling into the Yamuna and the amount of silt in it. For the first time, we have removed 20 lakh metric tons of silt from big drains through machines. The procedure and plan for tapping each drain is being followed. Decentralised sewage treatment plants (STPs) should be built on all the drains. We have allocated funds for the revival of existing STPs. Cleaning the Yamuna is not a one-day job, it will take around four-five years till all these decentralised STP plants are started. All the 1,750 unauthorised colonies in Delhi will have to have sewers that will have to be tapped so that not even a single drop of dirty water goes into Yamunaji. The e-flow of Yamuna will have to be increased, natural water will have to be created in it. A major issue with regard to Delhi is air pollution, which becomes particularly bad in what was once the most beautiful season in the city – autumn – and winter because of stubble burning. What are your plans to tackle this? First we need to recall what Kejriwal sahab used to say about fixing air pollution. He used to speak of a medicine that would get rid of stubble and that would fix the air in Delhi. Where is that medicine? Next, he used to speak of odd-even [traffic rule], which only made people buy an extra car, one with an odd number, another with even. To say all this, they spent ₹8 crore on advertisement. Then we came to know that a smog tower was installed somewhere. Only one was installed in 11 years, cost ₹25 lakh and malfunctioned within 6 months. To fix pollution, we need both intentions and policies. So, you will need the support of other governments to solve pollution – both Punjab and Haryana and the multiple agencies within NCR. We have made a plan to convert the public transport in Delhi to only electric vehicles and till now we have put 700 electric buses on the roads. We are planning to take the public transport completely on non-emission mode. We are trying to motivate the public to gradually completely shift from CNG to electric. As far as dust pollution is concerned, not just for the winter months but all year round, we installed 1,000 water sprinklers all over the city, since even today, if your AQI (Air Quality Index) gets higher, GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan) is imposed by the court. So these sprinklers should run for 12 months and smog guns should be installed on all high-rise buildings. But how will you deal with this specific issue of stubble? Because that is outside the State, right? Haryana has just set up a plant where they buy stubble from farmers and after processing it, put it to some other use. We must attempt to set up more such plants in the same way, in Haryana, Punjab, U.P., which are on our NCR boundaries, and take their help. As far as I told you about vehicles in Delhi, we will have to certify even those vehicles which come from outside Delhi. The work we are doing is for the benefit of the public but it will take time. You can judge the performance in a time-bound manner. Why is it that Noida, Gurugram, the places around NCR are attracting business, housing, but not Delhi? We have had governments in Delhi which said that they we will turn Delhi into London, Paris. My point is to let Delhi remain Delhi only. Previous governments have created such a difficult situation in Delhi that no one can work here. Firstly, instead of maintaining talking terms with the multiple agencies running Delhi, you start abusing them, that the L-G did this, or the PM did that, etc. So which agency will stay here? Who will be able to work? Today the rate of electricity in Delhi is higher than in the whole country. Because you have made one segment completely free, while the industrial sector has to pay as much as ₹18 per unit of electricity. So you will have to do something to flatten it. If people want to come here and work, then we will have to bring a new industrial policy, a new warehousing policy. We have planned a traders' welfare board so that someone can also listen to the voice of the traders. Ease of doing business, single-window system, all this will have to be done to make Delhi trader-friendly, industry-friendly. One of the most important factors for this is a master plan, which will come very soon with proposals for land reforms. We are developing things related to infrastructure for our industrial areas. Currently, for different taxes, licences, people have to go to different agencies. All these issues are on the table. This is actually a very good time for Delhi for all this with the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi), Delhi government and Central government all being headed by the same party, a triple-engine government. Your term has just begun, but what do you wish to see as your legacy? My only goal is that when the public sees me, they should honestly feel that yes, our Chief Minister is here, working for us, doing everything she can for the welfare of the people.
CNBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Pain management startup Sword Health expands into mental health, raises $40 million
Sword Health, a startup focused on helping people deal with pain through digital services, is expanding into mental health and has raised additional capital to fuel its growth. The 10-year-old company is introducing Mind, which uses a combination of artificial intelligence, hardware and human mental health professionals to treat patients with mild depression and anxiety. Sword said Mind will help users access care whenever they need it, rather than during sporadic, hourlong appointments. "It's really a breakthrough in terms of how we address mental health, and this is only possible because we have AI," Sword CEO Virgílio Bento told CNBC in an interview. Also on Tuesday, Sword announced a $40 million funding round, led by General Catalyst, in a deal that values the company at $4 billion. The fresh cash will support Sword's efforts to grow through acquisitions, as well as its global expansion and AI model development, the company said. The round included participation from Khosla Ventures, Comcast Ventures and other firms. Sword had raised a total of more than $450 million as of September, according to PitchBook. The financing lands as the digital health market shows signs of recovery following a difficult post-Covid stretch, when rising inflation, higher interest rates and a return to in-person activities led to a dramatic retreat in the industry. Earlier this month, Omada Health, which offers virtual care programs to supports patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, held its Nasdaq debut, though the stock is trading below its initial public offering price. Weeks before that, digital physical therapy provider Hinge Health hit the New York Stock Exchange. The shares are trading a few dollars above their offer price. Sword, which was founded in Portugal and is now based in New York, offers tools for digital physical therapy, pelvic health and movement health to help patients manage pain from home and avoid other treatments such as opioids and surgery. Patients can sign up for Sword if it's supported by their employer or their health plan. Mind users will receive a wrist wearable called the "M-band" that can measure environmental and physiological signals such as heart rate, sleep and the lighting in a user's environment. Mind also includes access to an AI Care agent and human mental health professionals, who can deliver services such as traditional talk therapy. Bento said a human is always involved with a patient's care, and that AI is not making clinical decisions. For example, if a patient has an anxiety attack, Sword's AI will recognize that and could ask a clinician to approve some physical activity for later that day to help with recovery. The clinician would either approve the physical activity that the AI suggested, or override it and propose something else. "You have an anxiety issue today, and the way you're going to manage is to talk about it one week from now? That just doesn't work," Bento said. "Mental health should be always on, where you have a problem now, and you can have immediate help in the moment." Bento said Sword has some clients that have been on a waiting list for Mind, and the startup has been testing the offering with some of its design partners. He said early users have approved of Mind's personalized approach and convenience. "We believe that it is really the future of how mental health is going to be delivered in the future, by us and by other companies," Bento said. "AI plays a very important role, but the use of AI — and I think this is very important — needs to be used in a very smart way."
The National
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Dad battles NC500 trek to raise mental health awareness
Jordan Darby from Sheffield is just over halfway through his mammoth journey around the famous Scottish route and has so far raised more than £4500 for the mental health charity, Mind. Having battled with depression and anxiety for the best part of two decades, the dad-of-four found solace in walking a couple of years ago. After doing a charity walk for Mind last year in honour of a friend who had taken his own life, Darby set up his own TikTok account to raise awareness of mental health issues and it was there he chanced upon the beautiful scenery of the North Coast 500. READ MORE: Roald Dahl original sketches to go on auction in Scotland 'I told my partner I was going to walk it. She looked at me as if to say, 'you're crackers',' he told The National. 'Low and behold, I'm here and doing it. I'm struggling on through at times but I'm fighting fit. 'I've had days when it's been very tough, and I could have easily chucked it in and turned around. But it was the same with my mental health, I gave up on that in the past and ended up back at square one. 'So, I've pushed on through those bad times and I'm still here and I've got a big smile on my face. 'I know what this is doing for me and how much it's helping other people. It's become a lot more than just a walk for me and the charity itself.' When he spoke to The National on Monday, Darby, 38, was walking towards Ullapool where he planned to set up camp for the night, before continuing down the north west coast and back towards Inverness. Darby has been spending the last few weeks sleeping in a tent on his trek (Image: Jordan Darby) He plans to finish up the journey on Sunday, which will require him to walk just under 200 miles in less than a week. While Darby has had to battle with endless blisters, tiredness and a lack of phone signal, he said he had come across so much kindness on his trip which has kept him going. He said: 'I've met amazing people on my journey. I've had people making me cups of coffee, I've had people donating money along the way, I've had people pay for my food. It's overwhelming. 'I've gone from the most negative person to the happiest, smiling person you can find.' Darby explained how he was in denial about his mental health struggles for years which led him to a dark place. READ MORE: Why speaking Gaelic is the perfect skill to learn But he now wants to encourage people to seek out help if they need it and raise awareness of how much walking to help calm the mind. 'I've struggled with my mental health for the best part of 20 years,' he said. 'I never really got help. Other people told me to, but I didn't really see a problem with myself, and I just carried on lying to myself and other people. I was doing nothing to help myself.' He went on: 'I just want people to get that help if they need it because if I had got help years ago, things could have been different. I feel alive now and like I'm living, whereas before I felt like a waste of space.' To sponsor Darby on his walk, click here.
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
Seven surprising midlife habits to stave off dementia
When it comes to dementia, midlife is a key period of potential intervention, according to new paper 'The Middle Ageing Brain'. Researchers at University College Cork highlight how this 'previously understudied period of life' is crucial in predicting the future of our cognitive health. Exactly why this period is so pivotal is 'still a matter of speculation', says Sebastian Allard, one of the paper's co-lead authors. But Naji Tabet, director of the Centre for Dementia Studies at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, says: 'Research has shown that there are some modifiable risk factors, especially in midlife, that affect the later development of dementia', adding that, by making the requisite lifestyle changes, 'up to 40 per cent of cases can be prevented altogether'. Here are the seven best tactics to combat the onset of dementia. Keep your weight in check (and eat blueberries and Romaine lettuce) The most crucial factor here is preventing obesity. 'Obesity means you're more likely to have high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure,' Tabet says. Over a sustained period, he says, all three things 'will start to cause damage to the arteries and cause increased inflammation in the brain'. 'The contents of your blood have been found to go through some of the biggest changes in your 40s and 50s,' with some studies finding that some inflammatory proteins 'accelerate the ageing of the brain and predict future cognitive health, sometimes by decades'. Loading What we eat is essential, too, as diets can affect oxidative stress (the imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in the body, which can cause organ damage) and inflammation, which has been found to play a key role in the onset and progression of Alzheimer's (the most common form of dementia). Two regimes have shown potential cognitive health benefits: the Mediterranean diet, and Mind (a hybrid of the Mediterranean and the dietary approaches to stop hypertension, or Dash). The former prioritises at least three servings of fish a week, legumes, nuts, vegetables and fruits; the latter highlights leafy greens (such as Romaine lettuce and kale) and berries (over other fruits). No specific food, or time at which to eat it, has been conclusively proven to reduce cognitive decline, but blueberries, curcumin (found in turmeric) and leafy greens are thought to have anti-inflammatory properties.
The Age
5 days ago
- Health
- The Age
Seven surprising midlife habits to stave off dementia
When it comes to dementia, midlife is a key period of potential intervention, according to new paper 'The Middle Ageing Brain'. Researchers at University College Cork highlight how this 'previously understudied period of life' is crucial in predicting the future of our cognitive health. Exactly why this period is so pivotal is 'still a matter of speculation', says Sebastian Allard, one of the paper's co-lead authors. But Naji Tabet, director of the Centre for Dementia Studies at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, says: 'Research has shown that there are some modifiable risk factors, especially in midlife, that affect the later development of dementia', adding that, by making the requisite lifestyle changes, 'up to 40 per cent of cases can be prevented altogether'. Here are the seven best tactics to combat the onset of dementia. Keep your weight in check (and eat blueberries and Romaine lettuce) The most crucial factor here is preventing obesity. 'Obesity means you're more likely to have high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure,' Tabet says. Over a sustained period, he says, all three things 'will start to cause damage to the arteries and cause increased inflammation in the brain'. 'The contents of your blood have been found to go through some of the biggest changes in your 40s and 50s,' with some studies finding that some inflammatory proteins 'accelerate the ageing of the brain and predict future cognitive health, sometimes by decades'. Loading What we eat is essential, too, as diets can affect oxidative stress (the imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in the body, which can cause organ damage) and inflammation, which has been found to play a key role in the onset and progression of Alzheimer's (the most common form of dementia). Two regimes have shown potential cognitive health benefits: the Mediterranean diet, and Mind (a hybrid of the Mediterranean and the dietary approaches to stop hypertension, or Dash). The former prioritises at least three servings of fish a week, legumes, nuts, vegetables and fruits; the latter highlights leafy greens (such as Romaine lettuce and kale) and berries (over other fruits). No specific food, or time at which to eat it, has been conclusively proven to reduce cognitive decline, but blueberries, curcumin (found in turmeric) and leafy greens are thought to have anti-inflammatory properties.
