EDITORS' PICK

Ghulam Mohammed Meer, a 61-year old Kashmiri Muslim, is a worried man. His brow furrowed with worry lines, he sits brooding over a cup of tea in a corner of his rented accommodation, which he shares with 11 other fellow Kashmiris, in Mori Gate Mohalla of Chandigarh. “I am stuck here for the past 22 days,” said Meer, his voice choked with emotion. “I badly need to go home bad. My 105-year-old father is on his death bed. He just wants to meet me one last time before saying his final good bye”. Meer, a resident of Karalpura village of…

India’s COVID-19 lockdown, one of the strictest in human history, was recently extended by the Prime Minister of India until the 3rd of May. Many stranded migrants waiting for public transport to take them back home or for production activities and markets to resume functioning were disappointed one more time, after the PM’s announcement on April 14th.  Along with poor migrants, other economically weaker sections in the city have been struggling for survival in the slums of cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Surat and Bangalore. This extension would seem like a terrible fait accompli and a final nail in the coffin…

India’s COVID-19 lockdown, one of the strictest in human history, was recently extended by the Prime Minister of India until the 3rd of May. Many stranded migrants waiting for public transport to take them back home or for production activities and markets to resume functioning were disappointed one more time, after the PM’s announcement on April 14th.  Along with poor migrants, other economically weaker sections in the city have been struggling for survival in the slums of cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Surat and Bangalore. This extension would seem like a terrible fait accompli and a final nail in the coffin…

Harshvardhan Chauhan, a-five-time MLA from Shillai, a poverty-ridden belt in the interiors of Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district, has been stuck in Shimla these last few weeks due to the lockdown. “But in a way, this has been a blessing in disguise, me being here than in my constituency,” said Chauhan. “I have been able to help 250 to 260 daily-wage earners from my constituency held-up in Shimla due to the 21-day lockdown. These poor workers have run out of money, food and other daily needs. But their problem is just not of today. The crisis is much deeper for all…

Tamil Nadu announced a statewide lockdown as part of a larger national effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 beginning March 24th at 5 pm. The announcement for the nationwide restrictions came into place at midnight on that date. This allowed very little time for migrants in the city to make their way back home. A large section among them was comprised of those who could not afford to stay back in the city without work, such as migrant labourers, who were stranded. The lockdown has since been extended until May 3rd.  Civil society organisations, nonprofits and philanthropic organisations have…

As Mumbai battles the Coronavirus pandemic, the first casualty seems to be the health care sector, both public and private, even before the battle has reached its half way mark. "The COVID-19 pandemic has struck a three-pronged attack on our health care sector,” said Dr Amar Jesani, editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics and a teacher of bioethics and public health. “Firstly, it has infected health care professionals through patients; secondly, it has drastically reduced the health care work force and thirdly, these health care professionals are in turn infecting non-COVID patients under them.” The health care system’s…

As Mumbai battles the Coronavirus pandemic, the first casualty seems to be the health care sector, both public and private, even before the battle has reached its half way mark. "The COVID-19 pandemic has struck a three-pronged attack on our health care sector,” said Dr Amar Jesani, editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics and a teacher of bioethics and public health. “Firstly, it has infected health care professionals through patients; secondly, it has drastically reduced the health care work force and thirdly, these health care professionals are in turn infecting non-COVID patients under them.” The health care system’s…

Imagine being alienated in the city where you live, when there is a nation-wide lockdown: You have no place to stay nor can you return to your hometown. There is a silent group of people in our city now, living in hostels and as PGs, who are going through this harrowing experience as landlords are asking them to vacate without prior notice. Vaishali* (25) stays in a women’s hostel in Chennai. While a majority of students staying in the hostel returned to their hometown when the educational institutions closed, she stayed back, as she works in a private firm. “Only…

It’s become the model for containment zones now being declared in many cities across the country. The Bhilwara model. A positive story of how a much-maligned district and state administration successfully contained the country’s first corona hotspot. Today, there is reason to cheer the news from Bhilwara. All the 25 COVID-19 positive cases have recovered as on April 9th. (The first positive case emerged on March 19th. Out of the total 28 infected since, two had died earlier). Though the news of a fresh positive case on April 10th came as a dampener, it is only the second case since…

The coronavirus pandemic that has swept the globe is perhaps going to be recorded in history as the most impactful and consequential event of this century. It has stretched the capacities of governance, public health infrastructure and social administration of affected nations to their limits. At the same time, the lockdown enforced to prevent the spread has brought economies to the ground and jeopardised the job prospects of many. With unemployment soaring during these tough times, recent graduates waiting in the wings and looking for their first job feel marooned. According to the All India Survey of Higher Education by…