City: Bengaluru

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting everyone, but more so the vulnerable citizens – the homeless, migrants, destitute, those with disabilities, among others. As responsible citizens of our neighbourhood, we can support the government to avert a humanitarian crisis. Citizen Matters and Wipro Foundation are partnering to collate updates from the local community. This data will go into a dashboard that can be used by the civil society as well as the government to fill gaps in responses to the needs of all citizens. Do help by sharing this information - this form will be open for the period of the…

COVID-19 has put the spotlight back on Bengaluru's government hospitals. When COVID-19 cases started to be reported in the city, authorities rushed to ensure that these hospitals were cleaned up and prepared to deal with the situation. But on an average day, how well-maintained is an average government hospital in the city? These hospitals are all spruced up now, but how do we ensure this becomes the norm? First, let's see how hospitals are supposed to be maintained. The Centre's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has issued several guidelines on this. Most recently, this January, the National Centre…

In a recent interview with Citizen Matters, S T Ramesh, former Karnataka DG&IGP (Director General and Inspector General of Police), had pointed out the challenges as well as the shortcomings of the police in enforcing the COVID-19 lockdown. Ramesh had opined that the police was able to reduce social contact but failed to keep essential services unhindered. We caught up with the current DG&IGP Praveen Sood for his take. Over a phone interview, Sood said that the situation with respect to COVID-19 escalated so quickly that the police were caught off-guard. There was no specific protocol to follow, and no…

As Karnataka continues its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic with a two week extension of the lockdown, its leaders would do well to draw lessons from what came to be called the Bangalore Plague in 1898, which killed 10 percent of Bengaluru's population and 2.6 per cent in the rest of Mysore Kingdom. The then-colonial government had initially responded to the calamity with force, before realising its ineffectiveness and changing its response to successfully contain the outbreak. Today, it would be worth a look at how the then-Mysore state emerged victorious in its fight against the plague. What changed? In…

In this series, individuals, citizen groups and RWAs explain how they have dealt with the COVID-19 crisis in a constructive manner. In this third part of the series, a resident of Vasanth Nagar describes the measures he took. In these times of crisis, we are all stepping forward to take care of our fellow citizens, and animals too. But what about our plants? Who will take care of them? Will the thousands of small, weak and vulnerable plants lining Bengaluru’s streets survive these five weeks of nationwide lockdown without water, especially during the peak Bengaluru summer? We, Citizens for Citizens…

In this series, individuals, citizen groups and RWAs explain how they have dealt with the COVID-19 crisis in a constructive manner. In this second part of the series, a resident of Sadashivanagar, Bengaluru, describes the measures he took. Here’s something that just three people – my friend Sumir Hinduja, my daughter Amala, and I – managed to do in our locality Sadashivanagar. There are many construction sites in this area as old homes are brought down to build new apartment complexes. As a result, several migrant workers reside in this area. Most of them have not received their pay for…

With the dairy sector falling under essential service, dairy farmers, milk collectors, manufacturers and distributors are functioning irrespective of the 21-day nation-wide lockdown that is being observed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. In fact, the chief suppliers are putting in more hours to ensure that the supply of milk during the period is not disrupted. The producers, however, are noticing erratic demand owing, perhaps, to reverse migration and shutting down of restaurants. The Bengaluru Urban, Rural and Ramanagara district Cooperative Milk Producers Societies Union Ltd (BAMUL), the city’s main supplier, is working overtime. Coming under the umbrella of the…

State govt prepares contingency plan for COVID-19 Health infrastructure for COVID-19 was being prepared by projecting that the state would have 10,000 positive cases by April end, the state government told High Court on Thursday. Government said that a contingency plan was prepared after analysing infection rates in four countries - Italy, China, Iran and Spain. The court was hearing PIL petitions related to issues arising from the lockdown. Government claimed it had sufficient masks, PPE kits and sanitisers to handle the current caseload, but that it was trying to ascertain the number of isolation beds, ventilators, etc., necessary as…

Media reports indicate that the Centre and state governments are looking at options for a graded exit from the lockdown. This note lists certain factors to be kept in mind before deciding that strategy. The consequences of the lockdown have been felt most sharply by urban daily wage earners like street vendors, auto drivers, migrant workers, and marginalised and stigmatised communities like sex workers and transgender communities, nomadic communities who earn as they move, frontline workers engaged in cleaning and health, farmers and landless farm workers. There has been a severe impact on food security, livelihood, security and health. Besides,…

COVID-19 has caught us all unawares, but in the last few weeks Bengaluru has sprung on its feet to tackle the crisis. BBMP has set up a war room to centrally oversee the situation, police are working overtime, and so are hospitals and medical staff. Besides, innumerable citizens are doing their bit to distribute money, medicines, food and other essentials to those in need. It’s heartwarming to see how the city has come together yet again. But what we have now is an adrenaline-filled system - both formal and informal - that’s working overtime, doing whatever it takes to cope…