Lamb : Icelandic movie

Tomris Laffly on RogerEbert.com

In the Icelandic pastoral thriller “Lamb,” director Valdimar Jóhannsson’s grippingly assured directorial debut that ruminates on parenthood, family and nature, Maria (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) are noticeably unhappy. Living on a remote, mountainous landscape that looks to be frozen in time, the rural farmers barely exchange words or crack a smile. Stern faced and muscularly poised, the hardworking couple just go about their day, plowing their land, harvesting their crop and tending to their livestock of lambs, ewes and horses with the same serious yet joyless dedication. You can sniff a sense of loss in the atmosphere that penetrates this otherwise tranquil scenery of quietly sharp colors, icy skies, and intimidating soundscapes. There is Christmas music on the radio, but none of the customary holiday cheer in the air. And somewhere out there in the wild, an insidious brute is making its rounds around the couple’s barn.

It’s on the heels of this silent misery that the duo’s happiness finally arrives in the most what-the-f**k-is-this form imaginable, the WTF-ness of which a late-entering character also reacts to in one of the film’s various moments of subtle deadpan comedy. A shocking sight for the viewer to receive and accept, it’s a reveal that also presents an immense writing challenge for any critic attempting to do justice to the film’s pacing through its secrets. While the adorably unnerving creature that blesses the household of Maria and Ingvar is very much the premise of “Lamb,” co-writers Jóhannsson and Sjón (also a poet and an author) conceal her identity and expose her visage in such a studiously slow fashion that one thinks twice before describing her and possibly ruining the experience for the readers. In that regard, it’s best to go completely cold into “Lamb,” which increasingly becomes a mongrel of a folkloric psychodrama and chamber horror, with preoccupations and a mood that fall somewhere between Robert Eggers’ “The Witch” and Ari Aster’s “Midsommar” even when the film can’t sustain its raw appeal all the way through unlike these aforesaid titles. That said, continue reading on only if you aren’t all too concerned about spoilers.

Those who are still with me: meet Ada, a half lamb-half human sweetie-pie believably created with the help of some CGI puppetry as well as real animals and young actors. Maria and Ingvar welcome her into their modest home so warmly and casually that you wonder whether they are able to see what the rest of us do. They feed her, bathe her, and tuck her in like everything is extremely normal with this cuddly creature, supposedly a gift that nature has bestowed upon them. What throws their newfound contentment off is the arrival of Ingvar’s brother Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson), a sibling evidently close with Ingvar, and perhaps closer than he needs to be with his sister-in-law.

The rivalrous dynamic Jóhannsson establishes within the household is both fiendishly fun to follow, and one that wears thin fast with not much to expand on. The same could be said about the film’s overarching concerns about parenthood, grief and mankind’s greedy domination of nature to protect their immediate and selfish interests by any means necessary. (Those who are extremely sensitive towards animal suffering and casualty should especially beware the company of these people who want to have their lamb and eat it too.) It’s not so much that co-writers Jóhannsson and Sjón lack deep ideas around these themes. But “Lamb” puts them all on an obscure backburner for far too long, prioritizing its skillful aesthetics and tone over a meaningful exploration of the anxieties at its heart.

Still, a fierce sense of originality you won’t be able to shake and look away from nearly makes up for the film’s relative lack of depth. Seen through the spooky, foggy lens of cinematographer Eli Erenson that recalls the enigmatic style of Béla Tarr (it can’t be a coincidence that Tarr is an executive producer here), the visual world of “Lamb” is immersive and soulful, qualities matched by Rapace’s expressive presence at every turn. While it’s not a thoroughly satisfying stew of style and substance—plus, it could’ve used some sharper scares—“Lamb” nonetheless leaves a unique enough aftertaste for one to crave more of the same distinctive weirdness from Jóhannsson in the future.

RBI MPC Minutes

Resolution passed on the meeting

keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 4.0 per cent.

The reverse repo rate under the LAF remains unchanged at 3.35 per cent and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 4.25 per cent.

The MPC also decided to continue with the accommodative stance as long as necessary to revive and sustain growth on a durable basis and continue to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, while ensuring that inflation remains within the target going forward. These decisions are in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4 per cent within a band of +/- 2 per cent, while supporting growth.

Global Economy

Since the MPC’s meeting during August 4-6, 2021, the momentum of the global recovery has ebbed across geographies with the rapid spread of the delta variant of COVID-19, including in some countries with relatively high vaccination rates. After sliding to a seven-month low in August, the global purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose marginally in September. World merchandise trade volumes remained resilient in Q2:2021, but more recently there has been a loss of momentum with the persistence of supply and logistics bottlenecks.

Commodity prices remain elevated, and consequently, inflationary pressures have accentuated in most advanced economies (AEs) and emerging market economies (EMEs), prompting monetary tightening by a few central banks in the former group and several in the latter. Change in monetary policy stances, in conjunction with a likely tapering of bond purchases in major advanced economies later this year, is beginning to strain the international financial markets with a sharp rise in bond yields in major AEs and EMEs after remaining range-bound in August. The US dollar has strengthened sharply, while the EME currencies have weakened since early-September with capital outflows in recent weeks.

Domestic Economy

On the domestic front, real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 20.1 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) during Q1:2021-22 on a large favourable base; however, its momentum was dragged down by the second wave of the pandemic. The level of real GDP in Q1:2021-22 was 9.2 per cent below its pre-pandemic level two years ago. On the demand side, almost all the constituents of GDP posted robust y-o-y growth. On the supply side, real gross value added (GVA) increased by 18.8 per cent y-o-y during Q1:2021-22.

The rebound in economic activity gained traction in August-September, facilitated by the ebbing of infections, easing of restrictions and a sharp pick-up in the pace of vaccination. The south-west monsoon, after a lull in August, picked up in September, narrowing the deficit in the cumulative seasonal rainfall to 0.7 per cent below the long period average and kharif sowing exceeded the previous year’s level. Record kharif foodgrains production of 150.5 million tonnes as per the first advance estimates augurs well for the overall agricultural sector. By end-September, reservoir levels at 80 per cent of the full reservoir level were above the decadal average, which is expected to boost rabi production prospects.

After a prolonged slowdown, industrial production posted a high y-o-y growth for the fifth consecutive month in July. The manufacturing PMI at 53.7 in September remained in positive territory. Services activity gained ground with support from the pent-up demand for contact-intensive activities. The services PMI continued in expansion zone in September at 55.2, although some sub-components moderated. High-frequency indicators for August-September – railway freight traffic; cement production; electricity demand; port cargo; e-way bills; GST and toll collections – suggest progress in the normalisation of economic activity relative to pre-pandemic levels; however, indicators such as domestic air traffic, two-wheeler sales and steel consumption continue to lag. Non-oil export growth remained strong on buoyant external demand.

Headline CPI inflation at 5.3 per cent in August softened for the second consecutive month, declining by one percentage point from the recent peak in May-June 2021. This was primarily driven by an easing in food inflation. Fuel inflation edged up to a new high in August. Core inflation, i.e. inflation excluding food and fuel, remained elevated and sticky at 5.8 per cent in July-August 2021.

System liquidity remained in large surplus in August-September, with daily absorptions rising from an average of ₹7.7 lakh crore in July-August to ₹9.0 lakh crore during September and ₹9.5 lakh crore during October (up to October 6) through the fixed rate reverse repo, the 14-day variable rate reverse repo (VRRR) and fine-tuning operations under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF). Auctions of ₹1.2 lakh crore under the secondary market government securities acquisition programme (G-SAP 2.0) during Q2:2021-22 provided liquidity across the term structure. As on October 1, 2021, reserve money (adjusted for the first-round impact of the change in the cash reserve ratio) expanded by 8.3 per cent (y-o-y); money supply (M3) and bank credit grew by 9.3 per cent and 6.7 per cent, respectively, as on September 24, 2021. India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by US$ 60.5 billion in 2021-22 (up to October 1) to US$ 637.5 billion, partly reflecting the allocation of special drawing rights (SDRs), and were close to 14 months of projected imports for 2021-22.

Outlook

Going forward, the inflation trajectory is set to edge down during Q3:2021-22, drawing comfort from the recent catch-up in kharif sowing and likely record production. Along with adequate buffer stock of foodgrains, these factors should help to keep cereal prices range bound. Vegetable prices, a major source of inflation volatility, have remained contained in the year so far and are likely to remain soft, assuming no disruption due to unseasonal rains. Supply side interventions by the Government in the case of pulses and edible oils are helping to bridge the demand supply gap; the situation is expected to improve with kharif harvest arrivals. The resurgence of edible oils prices in the recent period, however, is a cause of concern. On the other hand, pressures persist from crude oil prices which remain volatile over uncertainties on the global supply and demand conditions. Domestic pump prices remain at very high levels. Rising metals and energy prices, acute shortage of key industrial components and high logistics costs are adding to input cost pressures. Weak demand conditions, however, are tempering the pass-through to output prices. The CPI headline momentum is moderating with the easing of food prices which, combined with favourable base effects, could bring about a substantial softening in inflation in the near-term. Taking into consideration all these factors, CPI inflation is projected at 5.3 per cent for 2021-22; 5.1 per cent in Q2, 4.5 per cent in Q3; 5.8 per cent in Q4 of 2021-22, with risks broadly balanced. CPI inflation for Q1:2022-23 is projected at 5.2 per cent (Chart 1).

Domestic economic activity is gaining traction with the ebbing of the second wave. Going forward, rural demand is likely to maintain its buoyancy, given the above normal kharif sowing while rabi prospects are bright. The substantial acceleration in the pace of vaccination, the sustained lowering of new infections and the coming festival season should support a rebound in the pent-up demand for contact intensive services, strengthen the demand for non-contact intensive services, and bolster urban demand. Monetary and financial conditions remain easy and supportive of growth. Capacity utilisation is improving, while the business outlook and consumer confidence are reviving. The broad-based reforms by the government focusing on infrastructure development, asset monetisation, taxation, telecom sector and banking sector should boost investor confidence, enhance capacity expansion and facilitate crowding in of private investment. The production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme augurs well for domestic manufacturing and exports. Global semiconductor shortages, elevated commodity prices and input costs, and potential global financial market volatility are key downside risks to domestic growth prospects, along with uncertainty around the future COVID-19 trajectory. Taking all these factors into consideration, projection for real GDP growth is retained at 9.5 per cent in 2021-22 consisting of 7.9 per cent in Q2; 6.8 per cent in Q3; and 6.1 per cent in Q4 of 2021-22. Real GDP growth for Q1:2022-23 is projected at 17.2 per cent

Chestnut Man : Danish Series

The Chestnut Man review – Nordic Noir at its gripping best sticks and stones September 29, 2021

Jonathon Wilson

Summary

The Chestnut Man has an engaging plot, beautiful landscapes, and complex characters — it’s Nordic Noir through and through, and a can’t-miss binge-watch proposition.

Summary

The Chestnut Man has an engaging plot, beautiful landscapes, and complex characters — it’s Nordic Noir through and through, and a can’t-miss binge-watch proposition.

This review of The Chestnut Man is spoiler-free.

The bleak beauty and macabre appeal of Nordic Noir is nothing new for long-time crime drama fans, so the arrival of another new thriller is always something of a big deal among the right crowd. The Chestnut Man, a six-episode Danish offering adapted from the novel by Søren Sveistrup by the author himself alongside Dorte W. Høgh, seems finely calibrated for just that crowd. It’s a grim affair, a story of missing arms and dead bodies and ominous children’s figurines, but it’s rich with character, beauty, and depth; an entry into the subgenre that is as well-paced and engaging as any other you can think of.

It’s also somewhat brighter, though only on an aesthetic level. Fall in Denmark makes for a less chilly color palate than usual, giving the show a visual style of its own. The splashes of blood, though, of which there are plenty, are no less pronounced. The bodies that adorn the pretty landscape are no less horrifying. And the wounded characters who shuffle their way through the pacey serial killer plot make for excellent guides.

Those characters, or at least the actors who play them, will be familiar to anyone who consumed previous Danish Netflix productions like The Rain and Equinox. Naia Thulin (Danica Curcic) is a frazzled homicide cop and single mother who is teamed up with an enigmatic new partner, Mark Hess (Mikkel Boe Følgaard), who has been reluctantly reassigned from Interpol, to investigate the murder of a woman whose body was discovered in a children’s playground with a missing hand and a chestnut man – children’s figurines built from chestnuts and matchsticks or twigs to resemble people – nearby. It becomes quickly apparent that his case may have a connection to one from a year prior when the daughter of parliamentary minister Rosa Hartung (Iben Dorner) was brutally murdered. That case has ostensibly been solved, but you know how these things go.

Sveistrup is no stranger to television, being credited with The Killing – as well as co-credited for the script of The Snowman, which is probably best not to think too much about – and directors Kasper Barfoed and Mikkel Serup are old hands. The confidence of experience is felt in both the writing and the direction. You know you’re in good hands from a taut opening scene in the first episode and you remain so all the way through. At just six episodes, The Chestnut Man is an irresistible binge-watch proposition.

Alice in Borderland : Japanese series

Let the games begin — Review: Alice in Borderland takes us down a deliciously bonkers rabbit hole Alice in Wonderland and Ready Player One meet Lord of the Flies and Cube. Jennifer Ouellette - Dec 20, 2020 7:51 pm UTC

In the carefree, pre-pandemic Before Times, escape rooms were all the rage as fun group activities, where people had to solve a puzzle or mystery, or complete a series of tasks, in order to escape. Alice in Borderland, a hugely entertaining new Netflix series from Japan, takes that concept to a whole new level, transforming Tokyo into an alternate dimension called "Borderland." Those trapped therein must compete in deadly games to survive, and escape is by no means guaranteed. This is an emotionally intense, addictive series you'll definitely want to binge.

(Some spoilers below, but no major reveals.)

As previously reported, the series is based on the Japanese manga by Haro Aso. It has elements of Alice in Wonderland and Ready Player One, with a dash of Lord of the Flies and the 1997 sci-fi horror film, Cube, thrown in for good measure, but it's very much an original vision. The TV adaptation is directed by Shinsuke Sato, best known for 2001's The Princess Blade and last year's Kingdom, and co-written by Haro Aso and Yasuko Kuramitsu. The manga tells the story of Ryōhei Arisu (Arisu can be translated as "Alice"), a bored high schooler who longs for a more exciting life. Arisu's wish is granted during a fireworks celebration: he and his two best friends find themselves in a post-apocalyptic parallel world known as Borderland.

The Netflix adaptation follows the same basic premise, with a few minor tweaks—most notably, the central characters are young adults rather than high schoolers. Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) is "a listless, jobless and video-game-obsessed young man." Karube (Keita Machida) is a bartender who has just been fired for sleeping with the boss's girlfriend, and Chota (Yûki Morinaga) is a bored, mild-mannered office worker. After a mysterious power outage, they suddenly find themselves in an eerie, emptied-out version of Tokyo.

As night falls, neon signs direct them to what turns out to be a gaming "arena." Once they enter the arena, they are issued smartphones that deliver instructions for the game at hand—in this case, a locked-room puzzle in which they must repeatedly guess the correct door to pass from room to room in a building. Guess wrong, and the room will engulf them in flames. They must win the game (i.e., survive) in order to exit, and they do so, thanks to Arisu's quick thinking. But they are still trapped in this strange world, along with many others, and must keep playing games to survive. They do find other allies along the way, most notably a young woman named Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya), a mountain climber with excellent survival skills.

Games are held every night after sundown. Each game comes with a particular playing card. Win the game, and the player is issued a "visa"—a pass wherein they don't have to compete for a certain number of days, corresponding to the number of the card. The four suits are specific categories of games.

Spades are games that require physical strength (Usagi and Karube excel at them), diamonds are games of wit and intelligence (Asiru's specialty), clubs are games where teamwork is required (Chota's forte), and hearts—well, hearts are the cruelest games of all, since they are psychological games that involve emotional manipulation and betrayal. You can win a game of hearts, but that victory will come at a tremendous cost, and it might just break you entirely.

The locked-room game, for instance, corresponds to the 3 of Clubs, so when they win, Asiru and his pals have three days' respite before they have to compete in another deadly game. The penalty for not playing is being zapped into oblivion by a deadly laser beam shooting down from the sky, so let's just say the unwilling participants are highly motivated to comply. There are also "dealers" charged with infiltrating the games for the express purpose of sabotaging them, in exchange for visas.

Much of the pleasure and dramatic tension of Alice in Borderland arises from the sheer sadistic ingenuity of the games. For instance, a twisted game of tag (5 of Spades) gives all the players 20 minutes to find a safe base somewhere within an abandoned apartment building, while avoiding the person designated "It"—whose job is to gun down any player he or she encounters. After 20 minutes, the entire building is rigged to explode. As for Hide and Seek (7 of Hearts), all the players don a special electronic collar; one person is the "wolf," the others are "sheep." Lock eyes with the wolf and you trade designations. The person who is the wolf after 15 minutes wins the game; the sheep's heads explode. (Yes, the body count for this series is substantial.)

Advertisement Another strength: the many different colorful characters, each with their own compelling back stories—the better to break the viewers' hearts should one of them eventually lose a game. There is a version of the Mad Hatter, known simply as the Hatter (Nobuaki Kaneko), who sets up a collective of survivors dubbed "the Beach," with the aim of cooperating to play enough games to collect all the cards in the deck. (There is an unconfirmed rumor that this is the only way to escape Borderland.) A mysterious figure known as Chishiya (Nijirô Murakami), aka "Cheshire," forms an alliance with Kuina (Aya Asahina), a former clerk in a clothing store with martial arts training, who in turn has a bikini-clad showdown with a katana-wielding tattooed psycho known as the Last Boss (Shuntaro Yanagi). And so forth.

The pacing is relentless, chock-full of unexpected twists and WTF scenes, plus a few well-placed moments of downtime to give viewers a chance to catch their breath now and then. The stakes rise fast, and thanks to the expert plotting, the stakes keep rising all the way through to the finale, which—in time-honored Netflix fashion—wraps up a bunch of narrative threads while setting up a possible second season. The remaining players "level up" to the next stage, but we still have no idea of the identity of the master(s) behind the games.

There's no official word yet on the show's renewal. S1 roughly covered events in the first 31 chapters of the manga; a second season could easily encompass the remaining 33 chapters. Here's hoping Alice in Borderland escapes the streaming giant's brutal, pandemic-driven budget axe, and we get the chance to lose ourselves down this deliciously bonkers rabbit hole once again.

Alice in Borderland is now streaming on Netflix. In Japanese with English subtitles.

What a Fight !!!!

Tyson Fury Vs Deontay Wilder III (Trilogy comes to a conclusion)

Woke up early to watch this fight which was available on Voot Select

Tyson still showed technical superiority . He is remarkable agile for his size and somehow always seems to take the strongest punch from Deontay who has beaten everyone else

The fouth round has to be one for the ages when Tyson got knocked down twice which might have been in retrospect to his benefit as it enabled him the time to recover whereas Deontay simply withstood a ton of damage without going down. My opinion is that Deontay should have taken the knee in multiple instances as it would have helped to recover from his fatigue and probably a better chance of winning a knockout as he was never going to win on points.

This was a back and forth thriller which I enjoyed and could have gone either way. now this trilogy comes to a close it would be interesting to see where Deontay goes from here

Midnight Mass : Mike Flanagan does it gain

By Jennifer Bisset on CNET

Midnight Mass review: Very different than The Haunting of Hill House

Mike Flanagan's latest Netflix series is existential horror at its most searing and complex. Just don't expect another entrancing ghost story.

If you're looking for another beautiful, melancholy horror like Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor, you might find creator Mike Flanagan's latest series a little disappointing.

Granted, Midnight Mass is separate from The Haunting anthology. Ghosts, in the traditional sense, aren't loitering around houses here. Still, it has plenty of echoes of The Haunting tales, exploring guilt, grief and suffering via the medium of horror.

Get the CNET Culture newsletter Explore movies, games, superheroes and more with CNET Culture. Delivered Tuesdays and Fridays. Yet, Midnight Mass also has a clear agenda. In searing fashion, it wants to dissect faith, from its ancient traditions to the darker aspects that terrify. Midnight Mass is a series that pools in conversation after deep conversation, debating just about every facet of devoting oneself to a higher power. It's a risky preoccupation. While handled intelligently, it might feel overdone for some.

And yet, Midnight Mass pulls you along. Its simmering pot of small-town tensions and clashing beliefs lights the fuse to an explosive resolution. Its mystery is satisfyingly unpredictable. More to the point, it delivers the monsters to keep us up at night, supernatural and otherwise.

Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) takes our focus for the most part. A man who, in the opening scene, commits the act that will haunt him for the rest of his life. He returns to his hometown on the isolated and decaying Crockett Island where, looking at the world through a scientific lens, he's now a far cry from the devout altar boy who once served in the local church.

He isn't the only recent returnee. Erin Greene (Kate Siegel), a childhood friend and potential love interest, also had a stint on the mainland. Now divorced and pregnant, she's more than willing to have her faith rekindled.

The island is crawling with residents stalked by their own personal demons. It's easy then for mysterious new priest Father Paul (a staggeringly good Hamish Linklater) to entrance everyone with his miraculous... well, miracles. His rhythmically-pleasing speeches are hypnotic. The townspeople eat whatever is served in the palm of his hand.

When they come, the moments of horror are exceptional. Whether you like your scares more tension-laden or action-packed, it doesn't matter. Midnight Mass delivers both. A wide brim hat has never been so chilling, defining another folklore creature into which Flanagan has injected fresh life.

Everything visual is finely tuned. Flanagan's signature camera tilts, long continuous shots, figures looming in darkened doorways and bloody manifestations are ready to unsettle. This time, unlike his lighter involvement with The Haunting of Bly Manor, Flanagan stamps just about every department of production, including co-writing and directing all the episodes.

The story of Crockett Island also brings a personal connection. Raised Catholic, Flanagan served as an altar boy on Governors Island in New York. That depth is felt. The detail to which he connects supernatural ideas with the Bible is on another level. Riley's arguments with Father Paul are extensive, passionate and reasoned on both sides.

Across seven hour-long episodes, terror escalates until the moment of no return arrives. Your heart sinks as you realize the people you've gradually begun to care for are all but doomed.

But it's here, when chaos descends, that any subtlety established in the first half cuts out. Don't expect another moving Newton Brothers' score either. Where The Haunting anthology enveloped you in cresting waves of piano, here it's eerie hymns that, while fitting, don't have the same core-filling effect.

A large cast shares screen time, leaving some relationships, including the main pairing, feeling a shade underdeveloped. Kate Seigel, Carla Gugino (in a tiny part at the beginning), Henry Thomas, Rahul Kohli and more familiar faces from The Haunting anthology have new roles (with less noticeable accents). Samantha Sloyan is a stand-out new addition as the priest's demanding assistant.

It might not be a focused family drama or a story about repressed love, but Midnight Mass is more than an indictment of religious extremism. It resonates because Flanagan ties everything to a meditation on life and death. The fears people struggle with, their differing interpretations of life's purpose, what they think happens when we die. They're discussed in the most dream-like and poetic moments, tucking us in for an existential night.

Maybe it won't emotionally devastate you in the same way as The Haunting shows, but Midnight Mass is exquisite. Its slow-burning mystery meticulously ensures we descend into the depths of hell. It feels like the series Flanagan has been waiting to make. The auteur, working at the best of his game, jolting us awake in more ways than one.

On a personal note I found Hamish Linklater to be the best thing about this very short anthology and all of his monologues were delivered with intent and clarity which is quite rare for a preaching performance......

Why are Indians getting shorter ?

Around the world, people are getting taller – so why are Indian heights on the decline? New data shows that Indian men are shorter now than they were a decade ago. So are large numbers of women. Umang Poddar

Sep 30, 2021 · 06:30 am

A new paper published on September 17 says that while the average height of people across the world is increasing, the average height of Indians is actually falling.

The paper examines the trends in the heights of Indian men and women between the age groups of 15-25 and 26-50 based on the National Family and Health Surveys – and concludes that India’s indicators are actually getting worse.

This is a worrying situation. Height is one of the most basic indicators of nutrition as well as public health and is directly linked to a country’s standard of living. It also reflects social and economic factors such as income and caste. Thus a fall in average heights indicates India is regressing on public health as well as economic goals.

“We believe, in the context of an overall increase in average heights worldwide the decline in average height of adults in India is alarming and demands an urgent enquiry,” write the authors of the paper.

Losing stature

The study, titled “Trends of adult height in India from 1998 to 2015: Evidence from the National Family and Health Survey”, by Krishna Kumar Choudhary, Sayan Das, and Prachinkumar Ghodajkar from the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University compared data from three NFHS rounds – NFHS-II (1998–’99), III (2005–’06), IV (2015–’16) – to look at changes in height over the years.

NFHS is carried out by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and is one of the foremost Indian sources to study public health and evaluate existing policies. The survey is representative of households across India at both the state and the national level. The latest NFHS-V survey (2019-’20) was conducted across 6 lakh households.

The researchers found out that between NFHS-III (2005-’06) and NFHS-IV (2015-’16), Indians in the 15-50 age bracket – with the exception of women between the ages 26-50 – have experienced a decline in their average height.

Women between 15-25 saw a decline in their mean height by 0.12 cm, while women between 26-50 showed an improvement by 0.13 cm. During the same period, men between 15-25 saw a decline of 1.10 cm in their mean height and those between 26-50 years had a decline of 0.86 cm.

Distribution of mean height of men according to the age. Source: Trends of adult height in India from 1998 to 2015: Evidence from the National Family and Health Survey. The paper brings out a troubling mismatch between economic growth and public health. Between NFHS-II and NFHS-III, women between the ages of 15-25 saw their average height increase by 0.84 cm. However, the average age of this group saw a decline between NFHS-III and NFHS-IV. This is notable since in NFHS-IV, this group corresponds to a generation born right after India’s liberalisation, characterised by high economic growth.

Notably, disadvantaged groups have been especially impacted by this trend. For women in the ages 15-25, between NFHS-III and NFHS-IV, the average height of tribal women saw a decline of 0.42 cm while women from the poorest wealth fell by 0.63 cm. This is significantly worse than the average decline for the entire age group (0.12 cm).

Distribution of mean height of women according to the age. Source: Trends of adult height in India from 1998 to 2015: Evidence from the National Family and Health Survey. In the age group of 26-50, women from the poorest wealth category saw a significant decline in their average height – 0.57 cm – while women from the middle, richer and richest wealth categories saw their average heights improve. Women from urban areas saw their average heights improve by 0.20 cm while rural women only saw an increase of 0.06 cm.

Men between the age groups of 26-50 from urban areas saw the sharpest decline in average height, with the highest fall being 2.04 cm in Karnataka.

Why it matters

While height is influenced by genetics, non-genetic factors such as nutrition and environment play a significant role as well. Variables such as household characteristics (such as number of siblings and class) and caste have a bearing on an individual’s nutrition and growth. Height is also highly correlated with wealth. People from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes communities are, on average, shorter than those belonging to Other Backward Class and Upper Castes.

Thus, a person’s height is a marker of physical well-being and standard of living. Studying height could therefore lead to a better understanding of the impact of health policies.

Height, in turn, is also linked to productivity. According to World Bank estimates, a 1% loss in adult height due to childhood stunting can lead to a 1.4% loss in economic productivity. According to a study by industry body Assocham and consultancy firm EY, India loses around 4% of its gross domestic product every year due to its citizens being malnourished.

Malnutrition is one of the gravest problems India faces currently. Credit: Reinhard Krause/Reuters Studying average height will also help us know the results of our nutritional policies better. For instance, a study cited in the paper says that mid-day meals have lowered the rates of stunting in children.

Given the importance of height in measuring public health, the results of the study are worrying. This is especially so when the average height of humans worldwide is increasing.

India’s public health situation

India has had a history of faring poorly on health metrics. Currently, it is 94 out of 107 countries, as per the 2020 Global Hunger Index. It has one-third of the world’s stunted children. It also has the most number of children who are underweight according to their height.

To make matters even more troubling, public health indicators seem to be getting worse. As per NHFS-V (2019-’20), which has released its phase-1 data from 22 states and Union Territories, child nutrition levels have further worsened since NHFS-IV (the dataset used by this paper). This could also mean an increase in child stunting, which would be the first time this has happened in twenty years. In the past four years, seven out of ten major states saw an increase in the number of underweight children.

In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 has impacted public health severely. A survey conducted by Jean Drèze and Anmol Somanchi showed that 53%-77% respondents were eating less during the pandemic than the period before. Further, data from the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy shows a sharp decline in the consumption of nutrient and protein rich food, across all income groups, during the pandemic.

Why Covid killed the 4 day work week

A four-day work week is better for workers, business and society. Yet, COVID-19 has made it more elusive than ever. The companies that can buck this trend may just come out ahead as countries emerge from the pandemic.

The push for a four-day work week has been gaining momentum in the western world. A think tank released a study in June 2021 of Icelandic experiences of a shorter work week. It showed that workers were happier and more productive with a four-day work week, and costs did not increase for their companies.

A shorter work week seems to be better for everyone, but it is being stalled by COVID-19. Remote workers have been working more, not less, during the pandemic.

Why Working Less is Better for You, Your Organization, and Your Community

When Reykjavik’s municipal government and a trade union confederation reduced work hours from 40 to 35-36 for more than 2,500 staff, a study found that their workers “enjoyed greater well-being, improved work-life balance and a better cooperative spirit in the workplace — all while maintaining existing standards of performance and productivity.”

The Japanese government has suggested that shorter working hours also have a positive impact on society. People can spend more time with their family and friends, which builds stronger, more cohesive communities.

Yoshihide Suga recommended in late June 2021 that Japanese companies give their workers the option of a four-day work week to help Japanese people achieve a better work-life balance. The government is hoping that this will make it easier for companies to retain better workers. They also assume that people will spend more money during their time off, which will stimulate the stagnant economy, and spend more time with their families, which will help revive a declining birth rate and ease the high health care costs of an aging population.

Evidence of Remote Workers Working Harder During the Pandemic

The reality these days is that people are working more – sometimes a lot more – than they were before the pandemic.

The Guardian reported that a study by Wildgoose found that 44% of U.K. employees (assuming most are professional remote workers) were expected to work more. The Guardian added that another study found that people were logged into their company’s VPN network for longer stretches of time, increasing from eight or nine hours to 11 hours in the U.S., U.K., and Canada.

Another study by the Pew Research Centre showed that of the people who can work from home, more than twice as many are working more hours after the onset of the pandemic than those who say they are working fewer hours.

In an analysis of the first and last email communications sent in a day by more than 3 million people in 21,000 firms in cities with government-mandated lockdowns, the National Bureau of Economic Research found the workday had extended by 48.5 minutes on average. There was also an increase of 8.3% in the number of emails sent after business hours.

Working Harder, But Not More Productively

The pandemic has made people seemingly more efficient, as they can spend more time actually working, rather than commuting. But this means days are packed with meetings with clients, stakeholders, and colleagues from around the world. Work days are not only longer, but more intense. And, because communications technologies do not turn off, people find themselves working at all hours.

What’s more, remote workers are trying to manage this more demanding work day while also managing a busier home life. Those with small children are having to not only manage their own days, but their children’s home schooling as well. The lines between home and work are blurred.

In Spite of the Trend, Some Companies are Pushing for a Shorter Work Week

Some companies are still looking to capitalize on the opportunity to recruit better employees, improve employee health, and contribute to a better society.

Kickstarter is piloting a four-day workweek starting in 2022. The company’s CEO, Aziz Hasan, said in an article that: “This decision stems from [their] belief that everyone who works for Kickstarter should have the ability to help propel the company forward while also pursuing their own creative projects, spending time with loved ones, and engaging with communities and causes that are important to them.” He even links to a website that is petitioning for a four-day workweek.

Hasan acknowledges that he is not sure how the business will run with people working fewer hours, but he is willing to experiment. We should all watch closely to see if Kickstarter will succeed where most companies have failed.