Government engineers, babus and inspection officers in India are even bigger terrorists than Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. These people kill more innocent people every year than they do.
Dear friends, as promised, the citizens funded generics vs. branded drugs project is now published after 4 months in peer review. It was hardwork, but worth the effort because all of you helped us realize this important work.
You can read the full detaild paper here: https://t.co/jZhm8ZcPCq
Here is a simplified summary:
Do cheaper generic medicines work as well as expensive branded ones? It's a question that worries patients and even many doctors, who often quietly assume that a low price must mean lower quality. This doubt has real consequences in India, where medicines make up nearly two-thirds of what families spend out of their own pockets on healthcare — a burden that pushes millions into poverty and forces people to split doses or stop treatment altogether.
To put the question to a fair, independent test, our team at the Mission for Ethics and Science in Healthcare (MESH) carried out a fully citizen-funded study, paid for entirely by donations from ordinary members of the public, with no money or influence from any drug company.
We bought 131 samples of 22 commonly used medicines — covering heart disease, diabetes, infections, pain, acidity, and more — from seven different kinds of outlets across Kerala, including government stores like Jan Aushadhi, private generic chains, and premium branded pharmacies. Every sample was then coded, blinded, and sent to a top accredited laboratory for rigorous testing against the Indian Pharmacopoeia 2022 standards. What makes this study unusual is that very few before it have tested branded and generic versions from the same market side by side, included government-supplied medicines, and combined strict quality testing with a hard look at price — all at the same time.
The result was striking in its simplicity: every single one of the 131 medicines passed every quality test. 100%. It made no difference whether a pill was generic or branded, cheap or expensive — they were all equally good in their active ingredient content, their purity, and how they dissolve in the body.
Yet the prices told a completely different story. Generic medicines were, on average, 48.6% cheaper than their branded twins, and the most expensive brand cost up to 13.9 times more than the cheapest generic of the very same drug. Government Jan Aushadhi stores were the cheapest source for 18 of the 22 medicines tested, with potential savings running into thousands of rupees a year per medicine — for instance, over ₹16,000 a year on a single liver drug.
For doctors, this is reassuring, hard evidence that prescribing a quality-assured generic is not a compromise on care; it is the same medicine at a fraction of the cost. For patients, it means you can stay on your treatment without it draining your savings, which is exactly what keeps people healthier over the long run.
And this is precisely why independent, publicly funded projects like this matter so much for the future of healthcare in India: they answer the questions ordinary people actually have, free from commercial pressure, and they build the trust that programmes like Jan Aushadhi need to truly succeed. Affordable and high-quality are not opposites — in a well-regulated market, they go hand in hand.
More here: https://t.co/jZhm8ZcPCq
“You call rivers ‘Mother’ and then turn them into dumping grounds. Faith without responsibility is hypocrisy. If a river is sacred, prove it through your actions, not by polluting the very water you worship. Our rivers need protection, not plastic, waste, and empty rituals.” 🌊🚯🔥
Location Gangotri Dham
बिना बिजली और ईंधन के चलने वाला यह जुगाड़ू वाटर पंप वाकई लाजवाब है।
विज्ञान और इंसानी दिमाग जब मिलते हैं, तो ऐसे ही आविष्कार होते हैं। ग्रामीण इलाकों के लिए यह तकनीक एक वरदान साबित हो सकती है। 💯
هذا الرجل تسببت تمارينه في التخلص من انسداد قلوب آلاف الأشخاص، الآن أصبح هذا الفيديو سريع الإنتشار، كما اختفت شكوى بعض الأشخاص من آلام الظهر خلال 7 أيام. لا شيء يُمكن أن يكون أبسط من هذا التمرين، الذي ليس له أي آثار جانبية
Received a beautiful video on Arattai today. This brother tells us the biggest reason for waterlogging in cities when a rain happens.
Definitely the quality of the drains and roads should be improved. But we as citizens need to be more responsible.
Share Widely.
#FI
#NDTVExclusive | "It is easy to question the government" : Delhi minister Ashish Sood (@ashishsood_bjp) speaks to NDTV's @VedikaS on Delhi hotel horror which killed 21
Every year @DHBVNL promises better infra its almost a decade since they promised 24 hour electricity in #Gurugram#Gurgaon but here while millenium city faces heat wave and boils even at night half city is without power. Posh sectors like 15 part without power since hours. @cmohry Is this How you will make this city #Japan?
3 June 2026 Sector 37C, Gurugram
🔥
Morning hours today, residents of Corona Optus Society again witnessed large-scale open burning of accumulated plastic and mixed scrap waste near the residential area, producing thick plumes of toxic black smoke at ground level. Families are facing repeated exposure to hazardous air, strong plastic-burning odour, and ongoing health distress.
@CAQM_Official@CPCB_OFFICIAL@MunCorpGurugram@PradeepIAS_HR@cmohry@HspcbS@gurgaonpolice
This is not an isolated incident but a continuing pattern since 2024, where waste accumulation is repeatedly followed by illegal burning every few months, indicating absence of regulated disposal and weak enforcement at source. Each episode releases PM2.5, black carbon, and carcinogenic pollutants affecting 700+ families in Corona Optus and surrounding sectors and schools.
Despite repeated complaints and documented incidents (including the 2 March 2026 fire at the same site), https://t.co/yLKpPp5M4r there appears to be no visible enforcement outcome or preventive action on record.
We seek clarification on ATR status of the 2 March 2026 incident and details of action taken against responsible entities, as the same site has again witnessed a fresh fire 🔥 within 3 months, in apparent violation of environmental and waste management norms. Please fix accountability.
We request immediate investigation, closure of the open dump site and strict enforcement action for permanent cessation of this recurring hazard. #CAQM please take note of the pollution hotspot and failure to stop the air pollution episodes despite evidence and escalation of issue. This is serious -compromising health of residents.
In anticipation
#CitizensForCleanAir
@cleanAirBharat@ulbharyana@csharyana@DC_Gurugram@avneeshkhandsa@moefcc@RaoNarbir@Rao_InderjitS
#AirPollution #HealthHazard #Gurugram #GurgaonWasteFire #SummerPollution
The NEET paper leak would probably have stayed buried forever if a school teacher from Sikar had not refused to stay silent.
Shashikant Suthar, a chemistry teacher from Rajasthan, was shown a “guess paper” by one of his neighbors after the NEET exam. That PDF had reportedly been circulating in Telegram groups for weeks.
Out of curiosity, he matched it with the real exam paper.
The result was terrifying.
Around 140 questions were identical. Same sequence. Same wording. Even punctuation marks matched.
He rushed to the local police station expecting immediate action.
Nobody listened.
No FIR.
No urgency.
No investigation.
But instead of giving up, he kept escalating the matter emailing the NTA, PMO, President of India, and CBI while continuously raising the issue online.
Only then did the system move.
Rajasthan Police formed a Special Operations Group. What initially looked like a small leak soon exploded into a nationwide examination scam connected across multiple states.
The case eventually reached the CBI. NEET was cancelled. And investigators uncovered an organized network of professional paper leak operators.
This entire scandal was exposed because one ordinary teacher decided that remaining silent was not an option.
Sometimes one honest citizen is more powerful than an entire broken system.
Aravind Eye Care System is one of the world’s greatest examples of compassionate capitalism in healthcare.
They manufacture nearly 4 million intraocular lenses at a fraction of global costs, treat 5–6 million patients annually, perform over 700,000 surgeries… and nearly 80% of patients receive treatment free. Kudos to them!
This was recorded today around 9 PM in Delhi. The temperature is 32.5°C with 45.8% humidity and a dew point of 19.3°C.
This means that the city is no longer cooling down at night.
Both the humidity and dew point make the heat feel much more uncomfortable. The feels like temperature would be around 36-38°C.
Now, think about outdoor workers..construction workers, street vendors, delivery wrkers, sanitation workers, and people living in tin roof homes with poor ventilation.
Their bodies, which have already spent the entire day exposed to extremes heat without any cooling, never get to recover.
The heatwave has now become a public health and urban planning crisis.
Picture @vichitrvichar
मुंबई में हर साल सिर्फ बारिश नहीं आती,
हमारी बदहाल civic sense और सिस्टम की पोल भी खोल जाती है।
जब नालों से ऑटो रिक्शा निकल रहे हों,
तो समस्या बारिश नहीं, पूरा शहरी कचरा मॉडल है।
This Himalayan lake in Sikkim, Tsomgo (Changu), was drowning in garbage from tourists—plastic bottles, instant noodle cups, yak waste.
But the community refused to give up.
Shops were moved, cup noodles banned, waste managed, and clean-ups done daily.
Today, 19 years later, the lake is thriving, protected, and supports 270 households.
A true testament to community power and conservation in action.
#Conservation #CleanIndia #CommunityPower #SustainableTourism #EnvironmentMatters
[Tsomgo Lake, Sikkim Tourism, Lake Conservation, Plastic Waste Management, Himalayan Lakes]
“Who is going to cycle in 45°C in Delhi”
Well, stand on Mehrauli-Mahipalpur road the cyclist rate at this stretch is 18-26 cycles per minute depends on where you stand.
Even though the cycle out of necessity, they deserve dignified, protected, tree covered cycling lanes.
You may call it good optics but Chandigarh was a sight to behold today. Governor cycling , @dc_chd@nishantyadavIAS walking to office entire administration shunning cars for a day. It will be new norm every Wednesday . So when are Haryana especially #Gurgaon#Gurugram babus doing this?@cmohry make babus walk or cycle on city roads for a day so that they can feel the pain. Trust me roads will be repaired within a week.