GENRE: In Focus

The ever-bustling Velachery Main Road in Chennai is deserted now, thanks to the impending imposition of Section 144 by the Tamil Nadu government. The coronavirus scare has led people to stay indoors and maintain social distance fearing contact transmission. In many parts of the city, shops are open only for a few hours and there is panic buying to stock up on essentials. There is an informal instruction issued by the cops to shut down supermarkets to limit crowding. In this scenario, have the small businesses in Chennai seen an increase in business yet? Sadly not. With lockdown in force,…

There has been a strange silence, both before and after the Janata curfew. Even as the rest of the world announces massive economic relief packages to tackle the Corona spread and help those whose livelihoods have been badly hit by the virus, the Narendra Modi government has said and done little on this so far. Trade unions and other groups have sent numerous recommendations to the Centre on steps that can be taken in the short term But even the economic task force, which the PM had announced during his address to the nation, has so far not yet been…

Kerala has received kudos for its proactive measures in this time of COVID19 crisis. First in tracking corona patients and their contacts and creating adequate testing, treatment and isolation of potential victims and the other steps like setting up screening in railway stations to contain the spread of the virus. And the second, for being first state to announce a Rs 20,000 crore economic package providing relief to the poor and other vulnerable sections of society who have been hard hit by the virus spread. Critics have described the measures as a sop to woo voters for the local body…

The number of Coronavirus cases in Punjab shot up to 14 on March 21st. More than half of these individuals were infected after coming in contact with a single international traveler, 70-year-old Baldev Singh, who refused to remain in self-isolation upon his return to the state. Singh died from heart failure on March 18th and was found to be Coronavirus positive only after his death. Baldev was a priest in a Gurudwara at Pathlawa village in Nawanshahr (renamed Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar) district and had gone to Germany and Italy in February. He returned to Delhi on March 6th. Along…

These are difficult times, and the world around us seems headed towards a dystopia of sorts. As discussed in our earlier interview with Dr Kalyanasundaram, Bengaluru-based Consultant Psychiatrist and an Honorary Adviser to the Bengaluru Branch of Richmond Fellowship Society, the risk of mental health issues has increased sharply. Indeed, we are already beginning to see signs among people caught in the situations created by the outbreak of coronavirus – corporate professionals struggling to get all work done from home, parents trying to keep their kids occupied and entertained all day, caregivers trying to explain the situation to the most…

It may have surprised many, when Bengaluru set the record for the most protests in a month with 82 protests between December and January. The ‘garden city’ is rarely associated with political activism and is often overshadowed by the likes of Delhi and Mumbai. However, like in the rest of the country, the CAA protests have served as a locus for different groups, ideologies and movements to coalesce. Inspired by Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, Bengaluru’s Bilal Bagh started on February 8 and is ongoing. Organisers have imposed precautions to keep the coronavirus at bay. On February 29, the City Corporation banned…

As lunch hour breaks, there's palpable energy among the students of Chennai Primary School run by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) in Tondiarpet, as they gather to eat their protein-rich midday meal -- eggs and sambar rice. However, just a few kilometres away, the students in the Government Primary School at Ennore, are not as fortunate. Forget mid-day meals, the 32 children belonging to various classes of the government school do not even have enough room to sit according to class - they  are all accommodated in a single congested asbestos-sheeted classroom. The school in Tondiarpet has roped in NGOs…

Given the global pandemic of the coronavirus/COVID-19, Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) has called upon the central and state governments to implement special measures to prevent and check against the spread of this virus among homeless and inadequately-housed people, who face increased vulnerability, on account of their poor living conditions and already high morbidity. India has at least 4 million people living in homelessness in urban areas and over 70 million people living in ‘informal settlements’ without access to essential services. The homeless population and those who live in settlements without adequate housing are particularly vulnerable to contracting and…