New Delhi: Hair loss despite “normal” blood tests is a common frustration for many women. Doctors say the answer lies not in routine reports, but in what’s happening inside the skull.For female pattern alopecia, patients are usually advised a series of tests – testosterone, free androgen index, thyroid function and nutritional functions such as vitamin levels. Yet, these are often generalized, leaving both patients and physicians without clear answers.A study published in an international journal of dermatology now provides an explanation. Researchers at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital found that women with female pattern hair loss had significantly higher levels of a hormone marker called 3α-diol G – even when standard hormones such as testosterone remained within normal limits.Female pattern hair loss, which causes gradual thinning at the front and top of the scalp, affects a large number of women and often impacts self-confidence. But routine testing often fails to identify the cause.The study compared 44 women with hair loss with 30 women without hair loss. It found that levels of 3α-diol G – a marker of hormone activity within hair follicles – were almost double in affected women, and higher levels were associated with more severe thinning.Explaining the difference, Dr Kabir Sardana, Professor in the Department of Dermatology, RML Hospital, said that female pattern hair loss (FPHL) is a genetic, gradual thinning that often appears as a wide patch, while telogen effluvium (TE) is a temporary, rapid shedding usually caused by stress or illness. While FPHL leads to permanent miniaturization of hair follicles, TE is usually self-limiting.He said, “We have always believed that female pattern hair loss is not caused by androgens, but this is not true. It’s just that we’re not looking in the right place for the right test. We are already offering off-label anti-androgen medications that block these hormones, but they should be used with caution, especially in women who are planning pregnancy because they may affect conception.Unlike traditional tests, 3α-Diol G reflects hormone action at the skin level – where hair loss actually begins. This helps explain why many women continue to lose hair even after blood reports come back normal.The researchers also found that only a small number of patients showed abnormalities in routine hormone tests, pointing to limitations in current diagnostic approaches that rely on systemic measurements.Experts say the findings could shift attention away from hormone levels in the blood to hormone activity in the scalp, potentially improving diagnosis and treatment. However, larger studies are needed before this approach can become part of routine care.In simple terms, the study underscores a key message, the researchers said, that it is not just the amount of the hormone in the blood, but what it is doing to the hair follicle that causes hair loss.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of using central agencies for political purposes and alleged that the repeated ED actions in Punjab were aimed at intimidating the state leadership. Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar accused the Mann government of protecting corruption.The ED has been active in Punjab for over a month, during which seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs joined the BJP, two of whom were wanted by the agency.Sources said the ED searched the premises of Hampton Sky Realty Ltd, promoted by Arora’s family, along with other addresses in Delhi, Gurgaon and Chandigarh. The company issued a statement saying it “has full confidence in its established facts, the legal and constitutional framework of the country and the wisdom of the honorable judiciary”. Its statement said that when the “supplier-side” fraud was discovered, “the company itself approached the police as a complainant” and lodged an FIR (dated May 17, 2025) at the Ludhiana police station, adding that the company itself was a “victim”. It said its transactions have not caused “any current loss to the exchequer”.Arora’s arrest came after the ED searched his official residence in Sector 2, Chandigarh.This is the third time this year that Arora has faced ED action. It first raided Arora’s premises in connection with a money laundering probe linked to alleged misuse of industrial land for residential projects in Ludhiana. At that time he was a Rajya Sabha MP. AAP has fielded him in the Ludhiana West by-election in June 2025 to retain the seat after the death of MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi.A few weeks ago the agency had conducted searches under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, resulting in temporary attachment of assets worth over Rs 157 crore linked to Arora and Hampton Sky. Sources said the latest probe involves a case of “bogus” GST purchase of mobile phones worth Rs 100 crore and alleged “round-trip” export of illegitimate funds from Dubai to India.Reacting to Arora’s arrest, CM Mann said, “BJP has deep hatred towards Punjab…BJP’s polarization strategy will not work here. ED and CBI are being used as weapons to intimidate leaders of rival parties into joining BJP…” Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Pratap Singh Bajwa said Arora’s arrest has exposed serious corruption allegations against the ruling party in Punjab. He also questioned the BJP-led central government and central agencies regarding the timing of these actions.

Srinagar: For nearly two decades, adventure tourism turned the mountains of Kashmir into a magnet for high-end domestic tourists and foreign visitors. Trekkers traverse alpine meadows, glacier-fed valleys and climbers climb Kolahoi Peak, making the area one of the valley’s fastest growing tourism industries. Most of that activity has now subsided.Following last year’s Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, all trekking routes across Kashmir have been closed, bringing the valley’s once-thriving adventure tourism industry to a near standstill.Ruf Tramboo, president of the Winter Games Association and a well-known mountaineer of the valley, said, “Adventure tourism in Kashmir grew extensively in the last two decades and it became an essential part of Kashmir tourism. But in the last one year it has waned.”From his office overlooking Dal Lake, Tramboo said the government has promoted trekking on a large scale over the past six years, encouraging local entrepreneurs to invest heavily in camping equipment, trekking logistics and mountaineering infrastructure. A tourism department official said the government opened more trekking routes in the valley after the abrogation of Article 370, taking the number to 75. Even forest huts were made available for tourists.Over time, tourists began to arrive, particularly from Southeast Asian countries, which were less affected by safety travel advisories than Europe and the US. “Our trekking season is from June to October. Due to the prolonged closure (after the Pahalgam attack), we have effectively lost this year,” he said.Major routes include the Kashmir Great Lakes Trek – a 70 km route through alpine lakes, glacial streams, meadows and mountain passes – the Kolahoi Glacier Trek, the Tarsar Marser Trek, the Tosamaidan-Yusmarg Trek and the Dara-Pahalgam, an offbeat high altitude route that connects Srinagar to the lush valleys of Pahalgam. The Dara-Sonmarg route through Warwan valley in Kishtwar and the Kashmir-Ladakh route also attracted enthusiasts.The Great Lakes Trek, which climbs the Harmukh Pass to about 13,800 feet, was the most popular. Arif, better known as the mountaineer, who runs Cliffhangers India, an adventure tourism company in Kashmir, said the Great Lakes trek opened up other routes.Arif said that in 2024 his company will take at least two groups every week on the Great Lakes trek, creating jobs for guides, porters, cooks, ponymen and camping staff in villages along the route. Trumbu said his company will put about 2,000 to 2,500 horses to work each year.Arif said, “We will also arrange South Indian food. I had more than 45 employees and we employed hundreds of horsemen. Now we are only a five-member team. The Great Lakes trek was safer as it is surrounded by army camps. We want at least it to be reopened to keep the industry alive.”As the recession deepened, Aari shifted his base to Manali. Tramboo now takes trekkers to Ladakh. “I had the option to walk out but others are not so lucky. They may leave the business,” Arif said.There is little clarity on when the situation might improve. “The decision to open trekking routes is beyond our jurisdiction,” the tourism department official said. He said rafting is now allowed only in Sonamarg and Pahalgam.

In 2027, most Indian cities will see a decline in crime rates. This is a safe prediction. Historical precedent shows that crime rates in large Indian cities fall rapidly in the census year.This is not because of better policing, but because of a mathematical glitch – which the National Crime Records Bureau mentions in its fine print, but which is often missed in reports based on its own data.NCRB updates the number of crimes every year. But for cities, it uses the population from the last census as the denominator to calculate the crime rate. That population number remains unchanged until the next census. So, while recorded crimes may increase or decrease each year, the population used to calculate the rate remains stable – usually for a decade, and this time for more than 15 years.This is why comparisons like “Delhi’s crime rate has increased” or “Delhi’s crime rate is higher than Mumbai’s” can be misleading unless the population base is understood.

Take Delhi. In the latest NCRB report, based on 2011 census, the population of Delhi city is still 1.6 crore. But the estimated population of Delhi NCT is 2.2 crores. Since Delhi city covers almost the entire NCT, clearly there cannot still be only 1.6 crore people in the city if NCT has 2.2 crore people.This difference leads to rapid changes in crime rates. The number of IPC crimes for Delhi and Delhi city is the same – 2,75,402. But because the NCRB uses different population bases, Delhi’s crime rate is shown as 1,259 per lakh, while Delhi city’s rate is 1,688 per lakh – 34% higher.There is an example of what happens when the population denominator is updated. In the 2001 census, there were 35 cities in India with a population of more than one million.

When city populations were updated in 2011, crime rates declined in 27 of them. Kochi’s rate dropped from 1,898 per lakh to 1,636. Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru, Indore, Ahmedabad and Bhopal also saw a decline of more than 150 points. The sharpest ‘decline’ occurred in rapidly growing cities, where old population numbers became the most obsolete.That’s the census effect. NCRB uses the same city population till the next census as official city-wise estimates are not available.

Juvenile crime rate may be slightly underestimated in NCRB calculations

A constant divisor shows the rate increasing progressively. When the census finally updates the population, the rate may drop dramatically, even if the actual number of crimes does not decline.Similar issues emerge in other NCRB categories also. Crime rate against children, and crimes committed by juveniles, India’s population under 18 years of age – 44.4 crore as per 2011 census. But with fertility rates declining, UN estimates show that the population under 18 years of age is now around 433 million. This means that NCRB’s calculations may slightly underestimate juvenile crime rates and crimes against children.The opposite may be true for senior citizens. NCRB uses the senior citizen population of 2011 – 10.4 crore people aged 60 or above. But India is ageing, and the United Nations estimates the over-60 population will hit 157 million in 2024. If so, the NCRB may be significantly overstating the rate of crime against senior citizens.Lesson: Crime numbers and crime rates don’t always tell the same story. The number of crimes is an annual count. The rate depends heavily on the population used in the denominator. In census years, that denominator changes – and with it, crime rates may appear to improve overnight.

New Delhi: PM Modi touched the feet of a nonagenarian BJP member and then knelt down in gratitude to the surging crowd at the Brigade Ground, with an image of Goddess Durga as the backdrop on the stage, and CM Suvendu Adhikari wearing a gerua (saffron) kurta – The swearing-in of the BJP’s first government in West Bengal was marked by a mix of symbolism.If the Bengal Assembly elections wrote history, the BJP made great efforts to acknowledge the elements involved in the making of this history during the swearing-in of its first government. The emotional importance of this moment was visible. After taking the oath, Suvendu bowed to Modi, who dislikes people touching his feet, and sat in a crouched posture for a while, while the PM folded his hands with one hand and patted his back with the other, smiling. He held her tightly as the crowd roared.Suvendu made a similar gesture, albeit briefly, amid the line-up of dignitaries, to Home Minister Amit Shah, who was central to the BJP’s victory strategy. Since he left TMC to join BJP in 2020 in Shah’s presence, the Home Minister has supported him to lead the BJP’s grassroots resistance against the Mamata Banerjee government despite occasional resentment from older leaders of the organisation. A belief that bore fruit.But the milestone event was also an opportunity to acknowledge the veterans’ long hard work. Former RSS pracharak and former state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, who sometimes felt hard-pressed after the emergence of a new generation of leaders, was the first minister to take oath after Suvendu, symbolizing his decades-long dedication to the saffron cause. Modi also met family members of some BJP members killed in alleged political violence over the decades. BJP’s choice of five ministers confirms the party’s diverse social and regional support in the elections. While Suvendu is a Brahmin, Ghosh is an OBC, Ashok Kirtaniya, Kshudiram Tudu and Nishit Pramanik come from Matua, Adivasi and Rajbanshi communities. The only female member is Agnimitra Paul Kayastha. With the BJP having no Muslim MLAs and no Legislative Council in the state, any Muslim representation in the government appears remote, which could be the first example of the community finding no place in the Bengal government. Criticized by the TMC as outsiders indifferent to the Bengali ethos, the BJP decided to organize the event on Tagore’s birth anniversary and the stage was decorated with the Bengali polymath’s photograph.

It’s Thursday morning, and three directors and several shareholders of a seafood company are gathered around a conference table, absorbed in a presentation on food packaging. An instructor at the Indian Institute of Packaging says in Marathi, “Good packaging adds value to a product; it can also fetch a higher price.”As the director nods, the screw-like gajra in his hair sparkles with silver and the gold nose ring in his nose shines. Koli women never participated in any workshop. Nor has he ever worked for a company – let alone run one. Yet he is also the director of Dariyavardi Producer Company Limited (DPCL), Mumbai’s first fish farmer producer organisation: a community-owned enterprise led entirely by Koli women, which aims to transform their fish-vending business from a cottage industry into a corporate enterprise. They already have 1,000 shareholders from the community. Apart from delivering fish, masala and snacks, they are also diversifying into running live food counters and online sales. A community kitchen is being prepared, work on a cloud kitchen is going on and export possibilities are being explored. In April, the company completed three years of establishment. “We didn’t realize that packaging affects the shelf life,” says Pratibha Patil, director, Juhu Koliwada; We always sold fish in polythene bags.” “Now we have discovered that packaging that is leakproof and attractive is not only more hygienic but can also help us sell more.”For 600 years, Koli women have plyed their trade the way they had learned it: moving in a straight line from landing centers and wholesale markets to independent sales counters. Even as markets evolved and competition reduced profits, his model remained largely unchanged. But now new currents are flowing in the community, which is changing the way women do business. And better packaging is just part of the change. The bigger picture includes streamlined operations, centralized logistics, product development, digital payments, soft-skills training, branding and marketing – all functions of modern business that are reshaping Koli commerce. “We decided to follow the Amul model, which brought together Koli women to collectively produce and market fish and fish-based products. And because we wanted complete autonomy, we decided to run the enterprise not as a cooperative, but as a company,” says community leader Ujjwala Patil, who in 2018 founded the fishermen’s rights organization Daryavardi Mahila Sangh — the company’s ideological precursor. “What Amul did for white revolution, DPCL will do for blue economy.“The company is a conglomerate of over 50 self-help groups in Koliwada across the city, each of which undertakes specialized work that supports big business.