coronavirus lockdown

In this series, various individuals, citizen groups and RWAs explain how they have dealt with the COVID-19 crisis in a constructive manner. In this first part of the series, a volunteer of Whitefield Rising collective describes the measures they took. March 10, 2020, marked the seventh anniversary of the citizen movement Whitefield Rising (WR). But celebrations were muted – rather, non-existent. Anxiety and an eerie silence had gripped Whitefield as news trickled in about the arrival of COVID-19 in our neighbourhood. An MNC employee who returned from the United States via Dubai a week ago had tested positive for the…

Trained and accustomed to catching criminals, maintaining law and order and regulating traffic, there is nothing in its experience or training that qualifies the police force to deal with a contagion like COVID-19. “Curfew” is perhaps the only term in the police vocabulary that comes close to defining what the doctors have prescribed: social distancing. Little wonder then, that the police went about addressing this social/humanitarian challenge with law-and-order tools. The results were there for all to see. Citizen Matters spoke to a former head of the Karnataka State Police, S T Ramesh, about the newest challenge before the police…

Bengaluru City Police (BCP) had introduced a pass system to regulate the movement of people and vehicles during COVID-19 lockdown. But there has been much confusion on who is eligible for passes, how these can be availed, whether passes are needed during medical emergencies, and so on. BCP has released the following FAQ to respond to these questions. Q: Who does not need a pass? A: Here's the list of people who don't need a pass: Government officials on essential duty. They are permitted to travel to attend to their duties, but they must carry their department ID card. Medical…

Even after 10 days of the nationwide lockdown and 12 days of the statewide lockdown, the state machinery has completely failed in ensuring food security for all. Lakhs of migrant workers, self-employed persons like street vendors, auto-drivers, etc, have been pushed towards hunger and malnutrition by the completely opaque and inhuman manner in which decisions have been made. As food supplies, gas and money run out, food security is of grave concern. Stopping free food supply through Indira Canteens is condemnable. There's complete lack of clarity in government’s plan to supply rations and cooked food. Decision to stop free food…

Bengaluru Urban among top 25 COVID hotspots Bengaluru Urban and Mysuru are among the top 25 COVID-19 hotspots in the country, whereas Chickballapur is fast emerging as one over the last fortnight. Bengaluru was also among the top seven cities with a high case load as of March 30. These observations were made by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in its 'COVID-19 Status Health Report'. The report also mentioned that Victoria Hospital was being developed as a dedicated COVID-19 facility with 1,200 isolation beds, 15 ICU beds, and 20 ventilators. V Ravi, senior professor at NIMHANS said…

Chitra*, a senior worker at the garment manufacturing company ­­­­­­­­­­­­Shahi Exports, is uncertain about her future. Chitra’s line manager has told her that she would not get her wages until the lockdown ends. Ever since garment factories as well as leading fashion retailers downed their shutters, Chitra has become one among the over four lakh garment factory workers in Bengaluru who may lose their wages. Given the possibility that the lockdown may be extended, the workers are more vulnerable. For the month of March, Chitra did get her full wages of Rs 10,500 in her bank account; but many factory…

Siddhakka, a street food vendor aged around 70, has been working in the Peenya Industrial area for 14 years. She had come to Bengaluru due to drought and agricultural distress in her home village. Her daughter, who was deserted by her husband, had no means to earn as she lacked proper education. She has been entirely dependent on Siddakka, and lives and works with her. Food vending is the only livelihood for this mother-daughter household. The current 21-day nationwide lockdown has made people like Siddakka, who already live on the margins, more vulnerable. A telephonic survey of informal sector workers,…

It is being called the ‘long march of India’ - millions of migrant workers are fleeing our cities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Ex-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s 1967 political slogan “Roti Kapda aur Makaan” still resonates with approximately 139 million internal migrants in our country who form the unappreciated (but not anymore, as we are forced to clean up our homes) layer of our service industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen one of the most stringent lockdowns in the history of our country. And it was necessary too, to curb the spread of the virus. But the entire concept of lockdown…

By now, you must've seen the gut-wrenching pictures of migrant workers walking from cities to their homes. You can imagine what they must be going through. All of us know that Bengaluru has a large migrant population. Lakhs of people work in the construction industry as daily wage labourers. They build our city - day and night, rain or shine. They sweat it out to create everything from the Metro to your mega apartment. Large numbers of people are working in the informal sector too. Rag pickers, coolies, microenterprise owners who make a living selling anything from pani puri to…

On Friday, Day 3 of the nationwide lockdown to contain COVID-19, Bengalureans - who were on Day 14 of their own lockdown - received news of the state’s third reported fatality from the virus. A 65-year-old man, with recent travel history to only Delhi, had died at 10.45 am in the isolation ward of Tumakuru’s district hospital. The state’s tally of positive cases now stands at 81, with Bengaluru accounting for 41 of those cases. Three weeks into this crisis, all we know for certain is that the disease is spreading fast; we don’t exactly know where it’s spreading and…