GENRE: In Focus

“Why is there no vegetable, Amma?” asks the teenage daughter of K Senbagam. Searching in her mind for a plausible answer, Senbagam says that the grocery shops are closed and promises her children a good meal at the earliest. Senbagam is a 38-year-old junior artist in Chennai who has worked in Tamil soaps such as Maya and Nayaki.  Remember all those scenes on-screen which have crowds in the background or the incidental passer-by with a singular line of dialogue, perhaps?  Senbagam has acted in many such scenes of big-budget movies for a meagre Rs 300 a day.  But now, as…

Subrata Das, a 65-year old resident of Chittaranjan Park, suffered a cardiac arrest. The family called the police, all the emergency services they could think of, but no one turned up. Finally, they managed to get one private ambulance and went from hospital to hospital, but none would admit the motionless patient. “We weren’t sure if he was gone,” his daughter said in a post in which she described the way they were treated at one of the hospitals, “like animals.” It was a neighbourhood doctor who finally pronounced Das dead and issued a death certificate stating that he didn’t…

Anupama Provisions, Akbar Fruits and Vegetables, Kumar Mutton - let’s admit it,  not many of us can recount the names of the small retail shops right next to our homes. Standalone shops, vegetable and fruit stalls, some with carpet area of just 200 sq ft claiming to be mini-supermarkets. Never mind the obscure names of these shops or their enterprising abilities - when malls and supermarket chains in prime areas almost shuttered operations during COVID-19 lockdown, these corner shops became the go-to-outlets for the local residents to cater their daily needs. Unlike many other businesses, these shops which sell essentials…

“I don’t see the pandemic but the hunger and starvation that comes with it as the reason for large scale unrest,” says Manaswini Bhalla, Associate Professor, Economics at IIM Bangalore. The context was the sorry plight of migrant and daily wage labourers stuck in the bigger cities due to the coronavirus lockdown. Now the migrants can go home, says the government With most migrant workers confined to shelters and dependent on charity for survival, the union government’s belated realisation that they should be allowed to get home is no doubt welcome. But there is much that is inexplicable about the…

“I had come to Patna from Delhi for Holi and got stuck here after lockdown,” said Manish Kumar, a resident of Kankarbagh and a second stage cancer patient, “I used to visit a private hospital in Delhi for chemotherapy but here I am unable to find one. I contacted a few hospitals in Patna but they have refused chemotherapy treatment.” Cases such as these are heard across Patna; in the emphasis on tracking and treating COVID patients, the Patna authorities, like their counterparts in every other city in the country, have totally ignored the plight of patients suffering from other…

Labour colonies are spread across the city in the most obscure places - often in dilapidated buildings and makeshift rooms hidden from public view. There are usually 12-20 workers in a 10x10 ft room, sometimes smaller. These rooms are poorly ventilated and have no storage facilities. Workers are also expected to cook in these rooms. They share common bathrooms and toilets.  Labour colonies are of three kinds:  Old multi-storey dilapidated buildings, separated by tin sheets which can house 250-300 workers, with separate toilets and bathrooms located usually on the terrace. Tin Sheet colonies, with open tanks in common bathing areas,…

Translated by Vadivu Mahendran ஏப்ரல் 15 என்பது தமிழ்நாட்டில் ஆண்டுதோறும் மீன்பிடிப்புக்கு விதிக்கப்படும் 60 நாள் இழுவைத்தடையின் தொடக்கத்தைக் குறிக்கும் நாளாகும். இத்தடையானது இயந்திரவிசை கொண்ட படகுகளை வைத்துள்ள மீனவர்கள் கடலுக்குள் செல்வதைக் கட்டுப்படுத்துகிறது. இத்தடையானது சென்னைக் கடற்கரையோரம் குறைந்த பட்ச படகுகளே கடலுக்குள் செல்வதை அனுமதிக்கும். ஆனால் இவ்வருடம் அப்படியல்ல! 15 ஆம் தேதி வங்காள விரிகுடா செயல்பாடுகளால் பரபரப்பாக இருந்தது. நாடு தழுவிய ஊரடங்கின் முதல் கட்டமான 21 நாள் அடைப்பிற்குப் பிறகு ஏராளமான மீனவர்கள் (விசைப்படகுகள் இன்னும் தடைசெய்யப்பட்ட நிலையில்தான் உள்ளன) கடலுக்குள் பயணம் செய்தனர். ஊரடங்கு மேலும் 18 நாட்களுக்கு நீட்டிக்கப்பட்டிருந்தபோதிலும் மீன்பிடித்தல் மற்றும் பிறகடல்சார் நடவடிக்கைகளுக்கு விலக்கு அளிப்பதற்கான மத்திய அரசின் நடவடிக்கை இந்த மூன்று வார உள்ளிருப்பில் திவாலான ஆயிரக்கணக்கான மீனவர்களுக்கு ஒரு நம்பிக்கை கொண்டு வந்தது. "ஊரடங்கு சுனாமியை விட மோசமானது" எஸ். எத்திராஜ் என்கிற 32 வயதான மீனவர்,…

In Chandigarh, the buck stops with Municipal Commissioner K K Yadav, when it comes to implementation of any and all decisions on how to handle the Corona pandemic in the union territory. From steering the Municipal Corporation (MC) during one of its most critical periods, to ensuring that essential needs reach all sections of society, especially the poor and marginalised, the 50-year-old Punjab cadre IAS officer has plenty on his plate. Having taken over as Municipal Commissioner in May 2018, Yadav has had his share of bouquets and brickbats over the handling of the city’s municipal needs. He began his…

Distressing stories of the loss of both lives and livelihoods have been reported across the country during the month-long nationwide COVID lockdown. The other side of the story has been the efforts of NGOs, activists and ordinary citizens who had to plan and respond swiftly to help out as best as they could. Citizen Matters has launched the COVID Learning Series, surveying relief efforts as well as public services like medical care, waste management and transport in different cities to see what has worked where and why. We are collating this emerging knowledge in an effort to support civil society…

With orders from educational institutions and automobile industries, the month of April usually promises flourishing business for printing press owners. Like many others', their familiar flow of life has been rudely jolted this year, with the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic. To put it simply in a nutshell, it amounts to an everyday loss of revenue of Rs 5.1 crore for the printing press economy in the city!  Printing is a booming business with more than 10,000 units in the city -- 7000 small and 3000 established presses, according to business experts. The COVID-triggered slump…