Tech TattleNandish Singh Sandhu, actor and entrepreneurThere has been a huge change in terms of people being more aware about laws and their rights over the past few years. Sometimes my taxi drivers have better phones than I do! Also, thanks to mobiles we don’t have a caste system because everyone is technologically equal.Right to EducationNora Fatehi, actressOne of the most important developments in the last decade is, for me, the Right to Education bill being approved in 2009. Be a proud Indian, always.
there might have been some hitches in implementation but the passing of a landmark rule like this was a giant step forward for the nation’s development and economy in the long run. More Indians being recognised internationally has been wonderful.Global RecognitionAnuritta K Jha, actress India created history recently by becoming the first country to successfully get a spacecraft into the Martian orbit on its maiden attempt.. We proved that no matter which religion you follow, at the end of the day we are all Indians and will never forget that. I think this is a big feat and is definitely something that has made me feel proud to be an Indian. The Department of Space has had several path-breaking achievements to its credit recently,
that I’m very proud of. The focus has shifted towards eliminating open defecation, eradicating manual scavenging and educating clean living to urban and rural people alike.. Only if women are given greater opportunities will we become a greater nation. Mobile EqualitySahil Shah, stand-up comedian In the last one decade, India has witnessed a technological revolution and mobiles play an important role in this advancement. It has really played a huge role in this particular development too.Polio EliminatedRuslaan Mumtaz, actor In the last ten years, India has successfully overcome polio, one of the biggest threats to our future generations. As we stand today, especially in terms of the younger generation, Indians will no longer settle for what is told to them and what others feel is right. Clean IndiaAtul Khatri, stand-up comedianI am proud that finally, as a nation, we are talking about Swachh Bharat. Not just the people of Chennai,
but everyone who came forward to help rebuild the city again has set an example for everyone. It made education a fundamental right across classes, directed all private schools to reserve 25 percent seats for poor children. We, as a country, comprise one of the largest youth population, which directly means that we have the largest dynamic manpower. Another great achievement that I think is truly fascinating is from my own field of expertise — cinema. We still have a long, long way to go but gradually women are gaining economic independence which is absolutely crucial for a woman’s self-worth, security and respect.Young DynamismMahaakshay Chakraborty, actor Young DynamismMahaakshay Chakraborty, actorThe way the youth today has taken the initiative to form a better country by changing their mindsets, for me is a big achievement in itself. The law came into effect all across India a year later, describing the modalities of the importance of free and compulsory education for children between ages 6 and 14 in India. All thanks to television, radio and above all else to the Internet.. Unity and SupportVrushika Mehta, actress and dancer I wouldn’t call this a change but during the recent Chennai flood, Indians showed the world that we’ll stand by each other against all odds, putting aside all differences to fight a disaster. Technology has brought about a tremendous change in the way people see things. I’m very proud of India’s mobile connectivity and how it has acted as a tool for easy connectivity between people. It has gone from being a disease which was endemic to being one that has officially been eliminated. It is a huge achievement because India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right, and I am extremely proud of this in particular. India has also become architecturally more sound with great office buildings and malls.
I also want to use this opportunity to send out good wishes to our soldiers, risking their lives for our safety so many times. Infrastructure BoomMona Puniani, designerInfrastructural development is one key aspect that reflects the growth of the country and in the last decade, we have witnessed better roads, flyovers, sanitation and hospitals that have helped in making our country look more beautiful. Young India now wants its own identity, created and defined by its own culture and sensibilities. In light of the recent debate over intolerance, instances like these really make me feel happy and proud. And I feel proud to be a citizen of this always growing, always progressing India. This is exactly what India is all about. Self-DefinitionSalil Acharya, actor, anchor, RJ and VJ I feel India has discovered its voice all over again, over the past decade or so. I China screws Manufacturers think these are some of the coolest and strongest achievements for our nation. Besides this, we were successful in launching India’s first multi-wavelength Observatory in Space too. A very happy Republic Day to everyone. By expanding our horizons we are paving the way forward at lightning speed, towards becoming a superpower. Women EmpoweredSophie Choudry, actress, singer and former VJI moved here 12 years ago from London and I have seen several changes,
but to me there is nothing more important than education and equal opportunities for women! The fact that more women are working, chasing their dreams and getting better jobs is a visible change in the past 10 years

The relationship with Pakistan, therefore, would continue to be in a free-fall for the foreseeable future, at least through the next year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif (Photo: PTI) Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, thus spake George Santayana philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist.From a strategic perspective, has the government now taken a decision that a conventional tactical response would be the sine qua non to any major terrorist outrage emanating from Pakistan?
If that is the case then we may be looking at an escalatory spiral in 2017 for the Pakistani deep state is sure to test out this new threshold.That anyway seems to be a surreal fantasy given that Gen.As someone who was extremely critical of the Prime Minister’s Kabul-Lahore-New Delhi itinerary for a variety of reasons it must be said in retrospect that screws factory Narendra Modi made an audacious and a bold move, perhaps with the right intent but one that was destined to fail. This year will see this come to fruition with the flower of divisiveness in full bloom.
If 2016 was depressing, 2017 could be schizophrenic. Why did the people of India not rise up like the populace of Venezuela, specially when the trench between the illusion that the Prime Minister has been trying to create and the reality is so wide?There are two apposite storylines that have run through human civilisation since times immemorial — the inclusive chronicle, which anchors the liberal, democratic construct, and the stentorian patriarch, who believes in the dictum spare the rod and spoil the child. Raheel Sharif in November 2014, no Indian PM can ever dream of calling on an Army Chief of any nation, much less Pakistan, even if the Pakistani civilian government would facilitate and encourage such an interaction.
Nine months later another attack by uniform-less state actors from Pakistan at an Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir invited retaliation from the Indian side in the form of “surgical strikes”.Therein lies the conundrum till the GHQ is not on board there can never be peace in the region.The failure of the political Opposition to organise any street protests of any significance, let alone the television spectacles that were witnessed in 2011, would ensure that the totalitarian, despotic and populist attempt to morph from a corporate clone to a babbling socialist tilting at the windmills a rib-tickling version of Che Guvera would only exacerbate.
This cross-border publicly owned-up action by the BJP-NDA government left a number of questions unanswered.Let’s turn to the domestic front, and Mr Modi’s demonetisation move on November 8, 2016. The deep state in Pakistan did not want to be on the same page as the civilian government.Extrapolated over the year ahead it means that Mr Modi would be emboldened to take more rash and whimsical decisions, to say the least. Both are symbiotically intertwined. How the three objectives put forth — unearthing black money, exorcising counterfeit currency and circumscribing terrorist financing — can be achieved by a currency swap defies imagination.
It is thus clear that India’s albatross around the neck and its Achilles heal are both hyper-engaged.2016 was just a baby step in trying to anchor the discourse 90 degrees to the right.Unlike President Ashraf Ghani who tried to stoop to conquer by going to the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi to call on Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Pervez Musharraf refused to receive Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee when he travelled to Lahore in March 1998 and, if reports are to be believed, the Pakistan military even refused to accord a guard of honour to Mr Modi when he landed in Lahore on Christmas day in 2015.
Mr Modi has been pushing the latter narrative for the past 30-odd months — the strict father who administers bitter medicine to his children and coerces them to believe it is for their own good. 2016 was just a baby step in trying to anchor the discourse 90 degrees to the right. As the pressure on the economy grows as a consequence of the implications of demonetisation playing out, one can surely expect more strikes of the Tughlaqi variety on bank lockers and even legitimately acquired property. It could just be another matter if the Pakistani Army Chief came calling on the Indian PM either in Islamabad or New Delhi..
Stripped of diplomatic gibberish, what it meant was that the Narendra Modi government had effected a paradigm shift in response to cross-border terror.After 10 years of a soft-touch UPA rule, where the government had a very benign presence and everybody had a virtual free run in terms of experimenting with innovative forms of creativity, grotesque varieties of criticism and unsubstantiated forms of calumny, it almost seems as if the nation is thrusting for the whiplashes that Mr Modi is administering.The fact that Mr Modi was able to carry off the greatest pain that has been caused to every single individual since the Partition of India should be a cause for reflection for the Opposition.
Though there have not been other attacks as lethal as the one in Uri in the past four months, there has been no let-up in the efforts by the proxies of Pakistan. As we gaze into the crystal ball, read the tea leaves, shuffle the tarot cards, dust the ancient astrological charts trying to find the polestar of 2017, perhaps the best template would be to look back at 2016 — given that India’s two fundamental challenges remain Pakistani terror and the perilous state of the Indian economy.
The previous year started badly with an attack on an Air Force base in Pathankot, coming as it did one week after the Prime Minister of India made an unscheduled stopover in Lahore to wish Nawaz Sharif on his birthday.This was not the first time border action teams had gone across and annihilated Pakistani border posts or ostensible terrorist launchpads but what was a first was the public ownership of such actions. An armed conflict with Pakistan, the nature and intensity of which may be hard to predict, in 2017 should not be treated as strictly off the table. If this was intended to bring about a behavioural change in the Pakistani establishment, clearly that does not seem to have happened

Young women with a family history of breast cancer may feel that they should be tested as early as possible. Nolan S. (Photo: Pixabay) Washington: Some women at a young age can be at a high lifetime risk of breast cancer.Patients undergoing risk-reducing mastectomy have the highest rate of immediate breast reconstruction.
It means that plastic surgeons play an important role in their care, together with other specialists including breast surgeons, oncologists, and genetic counselors.According to a research conducted by New York University, there has been a sharp increase in the number of women undergoing a risk-reducing mastectomy in recent years due to hereditary breast cancer risk. Although surgery may reduce distress and anxiety, mastectomy itself can have negative physical and psychological consequences..Because of the high public attention to risk-reducing mastectomy and breast reconstruction, plastic surgeons may sometimes be the first physicians to encounter young women at high genetic risk of breast cancer.
The findings were published in the Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery."Seamless communication between multidisciplinary teams is essential to offer evidence-based decision making for these patients," said Dr. Karp, a surgeon.
As BRCA and other genes confer a high lifelong cancer risk, young women with a family history of breast cancer may feel that they should be tested as early as possible.The research was performed by working with young women who seek BRCA (breast cancer-associated) gene testing due to a family history of breast cancer. Representational Image