top of page

By:

Anil D. Salve

21 March 2026 at 8:11:09 pm

A Drought of Wisdom in an Ocean of Information

We live in an age where information is everywhere. With a single click, we can access news from across the world, thousands of opinions, countless videos and endless claims. Knowledge has never been so accessible. Yet, in this overwhelming flow of information, something increasingly scarce is discernment-the ability to distinguish what deserves our belief from what deserves our doubt. Information and knowledge are not the same. Reading, watching or hearing something does not automatically...

A Drought of Wisdom in an Ocean of Information

We live in an age where information is everywhere. With a single click, we can access news from across the world, thousands of opinions, countless videos and endless claims. Knowledge has never been so accessible. Yet, in this overwhelming flow of information, something increasingly scarce is discernment-the ability to distinguish what deserves our belief from what deserves our doubt. Information and knowledge are not the same. Reading, watching or hearing something does not automatically make it true. We need the ability to verify information, understand its context, recognise its purpose and only then form an opinion. In the digital age, this ability has become one of the most important forms of wisdom. Social media has transformed the way information travels. WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and other platforms have made communication faster, wider and more accessible. But the same speed that connects society can also overwhelm it. Information often reaches us before facts do. A headline is read before the full story. A short video is watched without knowing what happened before or after it. A photograph is circulated without its original context. A message arrives with the familiar words, “Forwarded as received,” and within minutes it may reach thousands of people. By the time the truth catches up, the rumour may already have done its work. The problem becomes even more serious when misinformation is deliberately created and circulated. Rumours may be planted not merely to mislead individuals but to divert public attention from an important issue, create suspicion, damage someone's reputation or push society towards a particular narrative. A distraction does not always need to be completely false. Sometimes a small piece of truth is mixed with exaggeration, selective facts or emotional language. The result can be more powerful than an outright lie because it appears believable. This is how narratives are manufactured. Social media platforms can become powerful tools in this process. A repeated claim begins to look familiar, and familiarity is often mistaken for truth. A provocative post attracts attention. Thousands of reactions create the impression that “everyone” believes it. One emotional video triggers another, comments intensify the mood, and before facts have an opportunity to speak, public sentiment may have already shifted. This is where mob psychology enters the picture. A society can move from calm to anger, suspicion to trust, or optimism to fear with surprising speed. People who would ordinarily think carefully may react differently when they see thousands of others expressing outrage, fear or hostility. The individual begins to follow the crowd, and the crowd begins to reinforce the individual. The danger is not limited to negative emotions. The same mechanism can also be used positively-to mobilise people for social causes, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, public awareness and community action. Technology itself is neither wise nor foolish. Its impact depends on how information is created, amplified and consumed. The greatest danger, therefore, is not that we have too much information. It is that we may lose the habit of thinking while consuming it. We are increasingly becoming consumers of information rather than creators of thought. Everyone has access to information today, but access does not necessarily mean understanding. The boundaries between a rumour and a report, an opinion and a fact, popularity and truth are becoming increasingly blurred. A post does not become true because thousands of people have liked it. A video does not become evidence merely because it has gone viral. An opinion does not become a fact because it is expressed confidently. An idea does not become correct simply because it confirms what we already believe. This last point deserves particular attention. We often accept information not because it is accurate, but because it is comfortable. We are naturally attracted to information that confirms our existing beliefs and suspicious of information that challenges them. In the digital world, this tendency can be amplified by algorithms that repeatedly expose us to content similar to what we have already watched, liked or shared. Gradually, we may find ourselves living inside an information bubble where we hear many voices-but mostly voices that agree with us. That is not diversity of information. It is an illusion of certainty. Discernment does not mean doubting everything. It means thinking before believing. It means asking simple but powerful questions: Who is saying this? What is the evidence? What is the context? What may be missing? Who benefits if I believe it? And have I heard the other side? These questions may take only a few seconds, but they can prevent hours, days or even years of misunderstanding. This responsibility is particularly important for the younger generation. Children today are growing up in an environment of unprecedented information exposure. They can encounter more information in a few hours than earlier generations might have encountered in weeks. Therefore, education cannot merely teach students how to collect, remember and reproduce information. It must teach them how to question, verify, analyse and interpret it. A student who can write the correct answer in an examination may be academically successful. But a student who knows how to ask the right question is better prepared for life. The classroom of the future must therefore produce not merely informed students, but thinking citizens. They must learn that forwarding a message is also a form of responsibility. Sharing a post is not an innocent act when it can affect someone's reputation, create public fear or influence social behaviour. The challenge becomes even greater in the age of Artificial Intelligence. AI can generate information, images, audio and video with extraordinary speed and sophistication. The distinction between what is real and what merely appears real may become increasingly difficult. In such a world, human judgment becomes more valuable, not less. Technology can produce an answer in seconds. It cannot automatically tell us whether that answer deserves our trust. Some answers require experience. Some require context. Many require the ability to think independently. We have more information, more technology and more connectivity than any previous generation. Yet our real challenge is to preserve something technology cannot manufacture for us: the capacity to think for ourselves. The ocean of information will only become larger. The question will no longer be, “How much information do we have?” The more important questions will be: What should we accept? What should we question? What should we verify? And what should we reject? No technology can completely answer these questions for us. No number of likes can substitute for evidence. No viral trend can replace judgment. No majority can turn misinformation into truth. That responsibility belongs to human beings. Information can tell us what happened. Discernment helps us understand what it means, why it happened, what may be missing from the story and how we should respond. Perhaps, therefore, the greatest educational challenge of our time is not to teach people how to find more information. They already know how to do that. The greater challenge is to teach them how to pause-to pause before believing, to pause before reacting, to pause before forwarding and to pause before joining the crowd. Because sometimes the most intelligent response to information is not an immediate reaction, but a moment of reflection. The ocean is already around us. It is growing deeper every day. What we need now is not more information to swim through it-but the wisdom to know which direction to take. (The writer is the Principal of Podar International School, Ausa, Latur. Views personal.)

Forensic Pathology: A Critical Link Between Death and the Legal System

Dr. Keshav Kumar and Shiwani Phukan
May 22, 2025
3 min read

From ancient Ayurvedic texts to AI-powered autopsies, forensic pathology has evolved into a cornerstone of criminal investigation, decoding the silent testimony of the dead to uphold justice.

Forensic pathology is a specialist medical discipline that investigates the cause and manner of death via the examination of deceased individuals. It is essential to criminal investigations, particularly regarding suspicious or inexplicable deaths. By analysing the body and associated evidence precisely, forensic pathologists provide crucial insights that help law enforcement agencies solve crimes and deliver justice.


Forensic pathology in India has deep historical roots, tracing back to ancient Ayurvedic writings that touched upon post-mortem examinations and bodily injuries. The discipline was formalised during the British colonial era, when structured medicolegal autopsies and documentation practices were introduced. These developments also contributed to modern dactylography (fingerprint analysis), laying the foundation for contemporary forensic science in India. Globally, forensic pathology emerged as a formal discipline in the 19th century. Jean Lobstein, considered one of the pioneers, became the first professor of pathology at the University of Strassburg. Its roots, however, lie farther back in Renaissance Europe, when Antonio Benivieni invented systematic autopsies as a means of comprehending illness and death. The Constitutio Criminalis Carolina, which required autopsy for suspicious deaths, strengthened the legal recognition of forensic pathology.


In India, forensic pathology has played a pivotal role in several high-profile criminal cases. The Jessica Lal murder case of 1999, the Sheena Bora murder in 2012, and the Aarushi Talwar-Hemraj Banjade double murder in 2008 are notable examples where forensic pathology was crucial. Despite post-mortem reports indicating fatal blunt-force trauma and throat slitting, some of these cases remain unresolved due to investigative shortcomings. More recently, in the 2023 Shraddha Walkar case, forensic experts used DNA profiling and tool-mark analysis to identify dismembered remains and confirm it was a case of homicide. Similarly, in the Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case of 1996, forensic evidence such as striation marks on a helmet became conclusive after being investigated by the Delhi High Court.


In recent years, technological advancements have revolutionised forensic pathology. Postmortem Imaging, also known as Virtopsy, uses 3D virtual autopsies to examine bodies in a noninvasive way. Advanced histopathology and immunohistochemistry techniques allow detailed cellular and molecular analysis of tissues to detect subtle pathological changes. Digital autopsy platforms integrated with artificial intelligence (AI) streamline workflows, reduce human error, and accelerate report generation. Recent advancements in forensic pathology include the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of autopsy analyses. AI models are being developed to assist in age estimation, gender determination, and identification of injury patterns, thereby augmenting the capabilities of forensic pathologists.


Artificial intelligence, like ForensixTM and other tools, uses biochemical and environmental factors to estimate time-of-death intervals. Automation of workflow in digital autopsy platforms reduces human error by streamlining the creation of reports.


Several prominent Indian forensic pathologists have contributed significantly to the field. Dr. Sudhir Gupta of AIIMS led the forensic investigation in the Sheena Bora case, while Dr. R.K. Sharma (Retired, AIIMS) played a major role in the Jessica Lal case. Experts like Dr. V.V. Pillay from the Toxicology Research Centre, Mumbai, and Dr. R. Badhe from the Chennai Forensic Lab are renowned for their expert testimony in narcotics and sexual assault cases, respectively.


Forensic pathology remains an indispensable pillar of criminal investigation in India and worldwide. Its evolution from ancient Ayurvedic texts to cutting-edge AI-powered digital autopsies highlights the dynamic nature of this field. By combining scientific rigour with technological innovation, forensic pathology continues to advance the cause of justice, ensuring that truth prevails even in the most complex cases. "When applied with integrity, science is the ally of justice," the Supreme Court noted.


(Dr. Kumar is a retired IPS officer and forensic advisor to the Assam government. Phukan is a student of National University of Forensic Science, Guwahati.)

Comments

bottom of page