GENRE: In Focus

The reports are everywhere, confirmed by various sources across the country. The coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdown have led to a massive spike in instances of domestic abuse. In a shocking report by the Press Trust of India published in early April, it was revealed that the Childline helpline in India received more than 92000 SOS calls over a period of 11 days during the lockdown, seeking protection from abuse and violence. The National Commission for Women has also confirmed a steady increase in the registration of domestic violence complaints from women since the lockdown was announced. But why…

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…

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…

It is the best of times and the worst of times for police around the country who have been ordered to enforce the Prime Minister’s nationwide lockdown, with images and videos of police behaviour, swinging from humane to violent playing out on TV screens and smart phones in every home.   Take the case of Bhairon Lal Lohar, for instance. A furniture dealer in Thane near Mumbai, Lohar received the news of his mother passing away in their village in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district and as the only son, wanted to go to his village to cremate her. A Shiv Sena leader arranged an…

Baisakhi, the harvest festival, falls on April 13th. Fields across the country have turned a glossy gold with the Rabi crop—largely wheat, mustard, chana and barley, to be harvested in Punjab, Haryana and UP where it will begin during April 15-20. Only this time, machines, not men, the traditional backbone of Indian agriculture, will handle the harvest. As their vegetables lie unpicked and abandoned, farmers are worried how they will harvest the wheat, who will fill the jute bags with grains and load them on to the tractor trolleys, and who will unload them at the mandis, and above all, who will…

"It feels like we are in a warlike situation. Soldiers fight on the border, we are fighting COVID here," says 35-year-old Sajidha. She is an ASHA worker stationed at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Bengaluru's Peenya Industrial Area. Having been on COVID-duty for the past week, she surveys 20-25 houses every day and has to reach over 2800 people in the city's northwestern neighbourhoods. While on surveillance duty, Sajidha goes door-to-door checking for symptoms of coronavirus. She maintains data on contacts, age and medical history of the people she surveys. She also distributes awareness pamphlets on how to stay…

We have lived through a lockdown for over 15 days now. While a lot of us are concerned about not being able to order food online, R Nambiyar* (57) is worried about the fast emptying containers on his shelf of supplies. Another week, and the shelf is likely to be wiped clean and he has no money even to buy rice and dal. Nambiyar is one of the economic victims of COVID-19, as the pandemic has left him jobless. Uncertainty over food and income in the city led him to quit and go back to his hometown Edamelaiyur, a village…

The coronavirus outbreak has hit Himachal Pradesh with a triple whammy. With the state having closed its borders before the national lockdown, the tourism industry, on which lakhs of livelihoods depend, was completely shut down. While initially just three positive cases were reported, with one death, and a manageable number of foreign returnees requiring surveillance and tracing, the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi has caused a sudden increase in the number of positive cases even as health authorities scramble to trace primary and secondary contacts of those who had visited Delhi. The third whammy is the potential catastrophic disruption of…