OPEDS

There is evidently not much good news floating around in the economy. First, some numbers. In 2019, according to ILO estimates, youth unemployment rate in India was at 10.51%. This figure has hovered around 10% for the past decade. But unemployment rate among the urban youth is much higher. According to data released by the Centre in its Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2017-18, unemployment among urban youth in the age group of 15-29 years was at 23.7% in that December quarter, rising consistently over the three previous quarters of that year. If that trend continued, and all reports indicate…

The warning bell was rung by the Prime Minister when he announced Janta Curfew on March 22nd this year. I had returned to Mumbai on March 13th after a series of Board Meetings in Chennai. We were discussing annual operating plans but knew that we may be hit by a tidal wave soon. We did not expect it to be a Tsunami.  When I spoke with HR heads of companies in mid-May, many said that they knew a lockdown was coming. Many global companies had issued a diktat as early as March 15th to move employees out of offices. The challenge…

Today, 7.8 billion people celebrate the World Environment Day amidst circumstances that are far rare and different from anything we’ve been through − we have been massively hit by a pandemic, the economy faces a sharp slowdown, swarms of locusts have destroyed food crops in the Middle East, the horn of Africa and many states in India, fires have burnt down million hectares of forests worldwide, ocean temperatures are rising and cyclones have become frequent and fierce destroying cities in a matter of hours and impacting urban services and infrastructure. Our rivers and oceans have become a plastic soup, many…

The mobility sector will witness a dramatic change post-lockdown. With physical distancing and cleanliness being emphasised, the number of people opting for personal transport could well go up in Chennai as in other cities.  While we have to learn to live with the virus we also need to ensure safe social distancing; given the likely crowds and surge in use of private vehicles, I wonder if there will be enough space for practising social distancing. The biggest problem post-lockdown is going to be gridlock. Studies in the past have shown that that Indians, on average, spend 7% of their day…

At a time when the world is increasingly shifting online, there is growing potential for our relationship with the state to be mediated by technology, which can serve as a mechanism to distribute welfare, amplify citizen voices, facilitate social cohesion and support, and support direct citizen participation in state functions.  In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, civic technology startups are filling this role -- providing information about testing centers, launching digital support groups, and much more. As notions of citizenship are increasingly challenged, it is valuable to examine the changing nature of the citizen-state relationship, and the gaps technology…

The city of Chennai that was Madras has been in an unprecedented state of lockdown since the third week of March. It is of course not alone in this, for the rest of the country, and indeed much of the world is pretty much in the same situation. With the numbers in the city spiking of late, the Government has toed the line when it comes to the Central Government’s directive that the lockdown be extended by two more weeks – to May 17th. This is to the good, at least as far as keeping a check on the spread…

COVID is not a worry for Rajamma, a domestic worker living in the quarters given by her employer residing in a high-income neighbourhood of Bengaluru. Wearing a mask, she steps out every evening to buy essentials for the family that has employed her for 15 years now. Her daily shopping is mostly for vegetables and fruits while groceries are bought online and home delivered. Rajamma and her husband take care of the entire household work, which includes sweeping, mopping, folding clothes, drying and arranging washed dishes, cooking two meals and generally ensuring that her employer’s home is running smooth. Her…

Ever since the first national lockdown to fight the battle with Coronavirus was imposed, starting March 25, 2020, questions over labour and labouring have been discussed and deliberated upon with an intensity hardly ever witnessed before in modern India. The trigger for it has been the hapless situation of migrant labour, the working poor and daily wage earners, evident across the country. This is an especially unique historical moment, because culturally speaking, we have never really valued labour or given it the dignity it deserves, even if we pay lip service to the same. Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought…

Atithi Devo Bhava – the guest is God! While it is cited ad nauseam in both academic and popular conversations on Indian culture, never does the concept become as real and palpable as when important heads of state visit us. Cities are decked up like a bride on her wedding day; streets get cleaned, riverfronts along the route are beautified, walls and facades are decorated with paintings depicting the culture of the two countries…and so on. We have seen it in Varanasi ahead of the 2015 meet between Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and Narendra Modi, or when the French President…

This article is part of a special series: Safety of women in Indian cities “I walked on the side where the shops were, because they were well lit and there were people around” “I stood near the gate while waiting for my ride, just a bit inside, even though I did not belong to that college” “I never walk next to that tall compound wall” “I am always in a big group when I visit that park.  Too many bushes that make me feel as though someone is hiding there!” These are familiar statements, familiar sentiments that will resonate with every…