GENRE: In Focus

“Ab to dus rupaye wala customer bhi chalega, kam se kam chai aur pav to khane ko milenge is lockdown mein (Now, even a customer who can pay ten rupees will do. It can get me some chai and bread at least during this lockdown),” says Beauty Biswas, a sex worker at Kamathipura, Mumbai’s notorious red light district, located virtually at the centre of the city.  The coronavirus pandemic has severely affected the sustenance of these women in Kamathipura. The area is home to about 4500 -5000 sex workers, who have been rendered jobless and penniless since the lockdown was clamped.…

Pre-Covid, Delhi's crematoriums used to be littered with heaps of withered marigold, broken bits of earthen pots, tetrapac containers containing ghee and mineral water bottles. Today, even as COVID has made cremation of bodies a challenge in itself and sharply restricted attendance at funerals, the garbage dumped at these sites is becoming dangerous -- consisting mainly of biomedical waste as people carelessly strew their PPE body suits, masks, gloves, shoe covers etc that they wore to the funeral. Such are the proportions of the problem that on June 22nd, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation slapped a Rs 50,000 penalty on the Arya Samaj…

When Mumbai’s lifeline, the suburban train services were abruptly halted on March 24th, as the country went into a lockdown that would stretch for weeks, the city’s public bus service, BEST, rose to the occassion to single-handedly keep the city running. At the height of the COVID lockdown, BEST buses were the only transport available in the city, transporting essential services workers to their work places and back. BEST ran special services to ferry COVID warriors to hospitals, banks and other essential locations. With most of Mumbai’s municipal, health and other essential service workers living in distant suburbs, and some…

The clampdown on all non-essential activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant decline in air pollution levels in major cities across India. Researchers from Respirer Living Sciences and Carbon Copy have analysed average air quality during all four lockdown phases in India as well as concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), and Benzene during individual phases for Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, as part of their on-going National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) Tracker project to monitor the implementation of the NCAP. Four cities witness clean air From March 25 to…

More than 830 police personnel have tested positive for COVID-19 in Chennai. An Inspector with Mambalam Police Station succumbed to the virus recently, the first cop to have died with COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu.  From protecting individuals to taking care of guest workers in shelters, ensuring compliance with mandated norms in hospitals and public places and inspecting checkpoints, the police has had to deal with a variety of tasks on a daily basis. Well aware of their vulnerability to the infection, a total of 18,000 cops belonging to Traffic, Law and Order and crime departments have been toiling on the…

Picture this. Your monthly income falls from Rs 15,000 to zero. How does the state government, which is expected to mitigate the crisis leading to this situation, help you? By announcing cash support of Rs 1000, 15 kg of rice, one kg of dal and one kg of edible oil. The help may not be really enough, but it's some relief. But no, wait, this feeling too proves to be fleeting, because the government wants you to be a part of a welfare board to avail the benefits. The board you didn't even know existed.  This is the story of…

As the number of COVID-19 cases are sharply rising in Bengaluru, there's much debate on whether the city should go into another lockdown. When the city entered the first phase of unlock earlier this month, SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) had been issued to commercial establishments and offices, on preventive measures they need to take. Have establishments in Bengaluru been complying with these norms? Is it safe for you to visit them? Restaurants are among the businesses most impacted by lockdown, with low footfall even weeks into the unlocking. Most restaurants have some preventive measures in place, but the extent varies.…

Students from across educational institutions in the country have sent a comprehensive letter to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) condemning the passing of the EIA Notification 2020, which, in its current form, they perceive as destructive for the ecology and the people of India. In an initiative spearheaded by an environmental group of Ashoka University (headed by Anjali Dalmia, 20, from Pune), these youth (aged 17-28) have requested that it be deferred, rewritten as per recommendations by experts, and released once health and survival are not a critical issue. Following is the complete draft of the…

We have almost come to the end of June; in the normal course of events, by mid-June all students would have been back in school, classmates hugging each other and the school curriculum operational in full swing. Not 'this' June, however. Not only do schools continue to be closed, there's no visibility either on what the future holds for students and teachers, given the COVID-19 curve in the country that shows little sign of flattening. Just as everywhere else, schools in the city are apprehensive. It is unlike any situation they've faced before. "I think the education system has never…

World Environment Day on June 5th this year held a different significance altogether for the city of Kolkata. For the city battered by Cyclone Amphan, one of the worst storms to hit Bengal in over three centuries, the usual observances that mark the day, such as planting of trees, were no longer mere token activities but a critical need, an attempt at reversing the incalculable ecological damage it had suffered just days back.  But will Environment Day pledges and other plantation drives that have since been undertaken in the city prove enough? Are they even advisable as they are being…