City: Bengaluru

The Covid-19 crisis has forced many institutions to up their game and work round the clock. Their resilience and efficiency in crisis management has been thoroughly tested over the past few months. The police is one such institution that has been in the forefront. Pushed as it was, into the frontlines of an unfamiliar task – policing a contagion – the institution received as much flak as praise, in varying degree. Relief volunteers who plunged into food and ration distribution, fund-raising and working with migrant labourers, were possibly at a vantage point to assess the role of the police at the…

When Bengaluru schools started online classes in June, many opposed it citing the lack of laptop access for large sections of students, health concerns etc. Soon after, the state government banned online classes for primary school children altogether. Shukla Bose, Founder and CEO of the non-profit Parikrma Humanity Foundation, however opposed the government ban on classes, even though her own students come from deprived backgrounds. Parikrma Foundation's schools cater to over 1800 students from slums across Bengaluru, with the aim of providing quality education and helping the children break out of poverty. At the time the government banned online classes,…

Manjunath Prasad has been appointed as BBMP Commissioner. Pic Credit: KPLCL Manjunath Prasad back as BBMP Commissioner On Saturday, state government removed B H Anil Kumar from the post of BBMP Commissioner, and appointed N Manjunath Prasad instead. Manjunath Prasad has served as BBMP Commissioner previously. He has proposed divisional management of COVID-19 instead of the current practice of zonal management. As per the plan, a KAS official would be in charge of each of the 27 divisions in the city, with control rooms and adequate resources. They would also be tasked with ramping up ambulances and manpower. Source: The…

Commodification of labour largely ignores the social and domestic life of labourers, treating them as mere cogs in the machine. This oft-repeated saying never came across as starkly as during the country-wide lockdown that was imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. While economic activity and its prime drivers – workers – are yet to recover from its effects, several States and cities across the nation, owing to the resurgence of the virus, are continuing to reimpose lockdowns for varying periods. Needless to add that for daily wage workers, the nightmare is unending. The lockdown ordeal left Kotresh Hargondnali, a…

On March 9, Bengaluru reported its first COVID case, that of a software engineer with travel history to the US. Since then, the state government and BBMP have taken aggressive measures to contain virus spread. The Centre even recognised Bengaluru as a model city in COVID management. But since mid-June, the number of cases have rocketed, and now we are back to having another lockdown. What transpired between one case on March 9 to over 22,000 cases now? Here's a timeline of COVID cases in Bengaluru, and how the government has tried to tackle it. *Data is of Bengaluru Urban…

Translated by Madhusudhan Rao ಜೂನ್ 28 ರಿಂದ ಜುಲೈ 5 ರ ನಡುವಿನ ವಾರದಲ್ಲಿ, ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಕೋವಿಡ್-19 ಎಣಿಕೆ 7240 ಹೊಸ ಪ್ರಕರಣಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ಮೂರು ಪಟ್ಟು ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗಿದೆ. ಪ್ರಕರಣಗಳ ಪ್ರವಾಹ ನಗರದ ಆರೋಗ್ಯ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಹೊರೆಯಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಅಸ್ವಸ್ಥರು ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆಯ ಹಾಸಿಗೆಗಳನ್ನು ಅಥವಾ ಚಿಕಿತ್ಸೆಯನ್ನು ಸಮಯಕ್ಕೆ ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಪಡೆಯದಿರುವ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಅನೇಕ ವರದಿಗಳು ಬಂದಿವೆ. ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ಕೋವಿಡ್-ಪಾಸಿಟಿವ್ ಆದರೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿಗರು ಏನು ಮಾಡಬೇಕು ಎಂಬ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಭಯ ಮತ್ತು ಗೊಂದಲ ಉಂಟಾಗಿದೆ. “ಕೋವಿಡ್ ಗಿಂತ ಅದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಭಯ-ಭೀತಿಯೇ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಅಪಾಯಕಾರಿ. ಎಲ್ಲಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಮುಂಚೆ ನಾವು ಇದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಗಮನ ಕೊಡಬೇಕು” ಎಂದು ಭಾರತೀಯ ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ಆರೋಗ್ಯ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ (ಇಂಡಿಯನ್ ಇನ್ಸ್ಟಿಟ್ಯೂಟ್ ಆಫ್ ಪಬ್ಲಿಕ್ ಹೆಲ್ತ್) ಸಾಂಕ್ರಾಮಿಕ ರೋಗಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ ವಿಭಾಗದ ಮುಖ್ಯಸ್ಥರೂ, ಪ್ರಾಧ್ಯಾಪಕರೂ ಆದ ಡಾ.ಗಿರಿಧರ ಆರ್ ಬಾಬು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಡಾ.ಗಿರಿಧರ್ ಅವರು ರಾಜ್ಯ ಸರ್ಕಾರದ ಕೋವಿಡ್ ತಜ್ಞರ ಸಮಿತಿ ಮತ್ತು ಐಸಿಎಂಆರ್ ನ ಕೋವಿಡ್ ಕಾರ್ಯಪಡೆಗಳ ಸದಸ್ಯರಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ.…

Rahul K was waiting for a friend to pick him up from home that morning. He was heading for a job interview but did not seem to have the proverbial butterflies in his stomach. “I will attend, for whatever it is worth,” he said. The cynicism in his tone was unmissable….and way too much for a 21-year-old, I thought. Dressing up in formals and attending job interviews had become his daily routine ever since BBMP relaxed the nearly three-month-long lockdown, he said, speaking over a mobile phone that he shares with his mother. He has applied for dozens of jobs…

Since the recent surge in COVID-positive cases, Bengaluru's health infrastructure has been overburdened. There are several reports of government agencies' delayed response and of patients not finding hospital beds in time. Vikram Rai, a member of the governing council of Bangalore Apartments' Federation (BAF), says, "The response from the BBMP is more and more delayed as the number of cases rises. Sometimes, it can take up to 2-3 days." BAF is an association of over 750 RWAs and AOAs (Apartment Owners Associations) in the city. So, when an apartment resident tests positive now, the onus of first response often falls…

Bengaluru has seen many citizen-driven campaigns around sustainable mobility. Notable among them was the 'Bus Day' campaign spearheaded by the non-profit Praja RAAG. Subsequently, several volunteer groups have campaigned for effective, efficient and reliable public transport. The BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) has also launched several initiatives - Pink Buses, Vayu Vajra Volvo, G8 buses and so on - to promote the use of public transport. On July 9, Citizen Matters and Radio Active hosted a Twitter chat where experts and citizens discussed the past, present and future of public transport in the city. As the COVID crisis worsens and…

Complete lockdown from July 14 to 22 Bengaluru will go into complete lockdown from July 14 to 22 in the wake of surging COVID cases, state government announced on Saturday. The lockdown will be in effect in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts from 8 pm on July 14 to 5 am on July 22. Essential services like hospitals and grocery shops will be allowed, along with scheduled exams. Detailed guidelines would be released on July 13, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa tweeted. On Saturday, Bengaluru reported a record 1,533 new cases, taking its overall COVID tally to 16,862. The city…