GENRE: In Focus

They have been among the frontline corona virus warriors since March 25th. And also among those badly hit by the virus. With Mumbai in particular showing record daily jumps in positive cases, its policemen have suffered too. Take just one day, March 26th. According to the state health department, Maharashtra had a total of 3,041 new coronavirus patients on that day, of which 1889 were police personnel (207 officers and 1682 other ranks). Also, 20 policemen have died so far from the infection. Yet, they remain on the frontlines, manning high risk spots like containment centres and railway stations. And…

The initial stringent lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 left many stranded far away from their hometowns and families. Those who had moved for work found themselves unable to return home as all forms of transport were suspended. Emergency travel was allowed only for those with pressing reasons and availability of a personal vehicle. With each extension of the lockdown, some relaxations were accorded. Inter-state trains for guest workers were operationalised after a large number of guest workers began travelling by foot to their homes which were hundreds of kilometres away. After more easing of lockdown norms, domestic air…

The once bustling pink city’s bazaars located in the walled city area lie forlorn and quiet today. Before the COVID lockdown, locals and tourists used to throng the famous Jauhari bazaar and Bapu bazaar, drawn to it by the glitter of gems and jewellery, sparkle of embellished lac bangles and colourful bandhej (traditional tie-dye) fabrics. But hopes are high that shops and workers will be able to return, albeit slowly and painfully. The tourists who kept the city’s economy buzzing will probably not return in the foreseeable future. And locals may not have the resources, or the inclination, to spend…

“The lockdown may end sooner or later but not our troubles”. Arijit Khan, 32, a wedding photographer by profession, is one of many such people in Kolkata who used to earn their livelihoods from social gatherings and events, which are now banned to contain the COVID pandemic. “Photographers could be eliminated from the curtailed guest lists during wedding and other occasions,” worries Arijit. ““Even payment for completed work is not being cleared, besides cancellation of around 10-12 bookings made prior to lockdown. It is becoming difficult to run the expenses of my family that includes two minor twin sons.” Alternative…

Kumari (name changed), a nurse at a reputed government hospital in Chennai has not been able to feed her child for over 10 days now. She had been exclusively breastfeeding her infant boy till weeks back, but these days she has to leave instructions with her husband on what to feed him and the lullabies to sing in her absence. She then leaves for the hospital, only to come home after 14 days.  A lactating mother, Kumari has a tough and choiceless job ahead: 12-hour long shifts for five days at a stretch, attending to COVID-19 positive patients and to…

Pratap Singh Tomer is a retired serviceman living in the Ravi Nagar locality of Visakhapatnam, a port city in the state of Andhra Pradesh. In the wee hours on May 7, he was awoken by desperate honking of vehicles and shouts of baffled citizens in his colony. There was a pungent smell of gas and some of the residents were experiencing dizziness. Tomer, who has years of experience working in LPG plants and is acquainted with gas leaks and rescue training, used his expertise and presence of mind to help others. “I thought that this could be a case of a…

“Despite best efforts to facilitate the state’s economic revival, the success rate is not beyond 50 per cent,” said Rajinder Guleria, advisor, Baddi-Brotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) Industries Association, “There are issues of logistics, mobility, manpower and enhancing liquidity.” For a hill state mainly dependent on its farm economy, tourism and export oriented pharmaceutical clusters, Himachal Pradesh currently stares at nearly 80 per cent loss of livelihoods, both rural and urban, especially as its mainstay, the tourism industry, is under total lockdown. The Baddi-Brotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt, Himachal’s largest industrial belt, has an annual turnover worth Rs 45,000 to 50,000 crore, and employs three…

“PSU banks do not provide any kind of credit facilities for people who own lands in the urban villages, they say we belong to the Lal Dora. When we go to the MCD, they say we don’t belong to the Lal Dora and are an urbanised village now,” rues Deepak Tyagi, a 39-year-old resident and RWA president of Budhela village in New Delhi. This intriguing in-between nature of urban villages is what led us to study these areas and the digitalization of land records here. Lal Dora is a red thread that was drawn around the habitation or abadi areas…

Between March 20th and 31st, the first week of the lockdown, around 3.07 lakh calls were received by the child helpline 1098, out of which 30% or 92,105 calls sought protection against abuse and violence on children. This impelled the Deputy Director of Childline India to suggest that the helpline be declared as an essential service during the coronavirus lockdown. Unfortunately, the lockdown has turned into inescapable prisons for children who were trapped with their abusers at home. The closure of schools as well as online classes also create scope for greater exposure of  children to online child sexual abuse. Another…

https://soundcloud.com/citizenmatters/ep3-lessons-from-bengaluru-cm Look at Lalbagh Botanical Garden and Cubbon Park, and it’s easy to see why Bengaluru once claimed the title of 'Garden City'. Rapid, unplanned urbanisation has drastically reduced the city's green cover. Raj Bhagat, who works at the World Research Institute office here in Bengaluru, explains the history of the city's loss of natural vegetation as seen through data. Though Bengaluru still has several thousands of trees, these are mostly alien species. Natural vegetation, which is critical in terms of transpiration cycles, weather patterns, etc is completely absent here except for some sections of protected forests, says Raj. Several…