Governance

COVID-19 has caught us all unawares, but in the last few weeks Bengaluru has sprung on its feet to tackle the crisis. BBMP has set up a war room to centrally oversee the situation, police are working overtime, and so are hospitals and medical staff. Besides, innumerable citizens are doing their bit to distribute money, medicines, food and other essentials to those in need. It’s heartwarming to see how the city has come together yet again. But what we have now is an adrenaline-filled system - both formal and informal - that’s working overtime, doing whatever it takes to cope…

All hopes are pinned on the over 1000-plus fair price shops of the public distribution system (PDS) in the city to deliver on the central and state government’s promise of extra ration during the lockdown. There are over 16 lakh active ration cards in Bengaluru, according to the Food and Civil Supplies Department website. The state government announced the doubling of rations for the next three months for existing card holders while the central government announced extra 5 kg of wheat or rice per person per month and an extra 1 kg of pulses under the PDS. “Under PDS, 10…

As coronavirus positive cases near the 6000 mark countrywide, with certain cities and districts reporting high numbers, an immediate end to the nationwide lockdown on April 15 is very unlikely. Instead, states are looking at containment strategies to keep under total lockdown areas which are seeing a big spurt in positive cases, while relaxing some curbs in districts which have reported very few or no positive cases.  The basic guidelines for such a containment strategy were listed in an official “Containment Plan for Large Outbreak” formulated and released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on March 6th…

To lockdown or not to lockdown, that is the question. There are other questions too. To lift the lockdown totally in one go, to lift it partially, or to prepare a calibrated lifting of the lockdown, starting April 15. The pressure cooker comparison may not be far off the mark. As the lockdown continues, the slow build of pressure among people cooped up in their homes can be seen. As also the hope and anticipation of freedom. The social fallout if those hopes are dashed, are in no way predictable. The question is how to enable the gradual release of…

Amidst this coronavirus crisis, a lot of fake news, misinformation and hate speech messages are being circulated on instant messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp. Below are some points the members and admins of such groups on messaging platforms should take note of. What should you do as a member of groups in messaging platforms Do not post fake news, hate speech or misinformation in groups Do not further forward or circulate any such news you get from other members of the group Immediately delete any post, if you find it objectionable or the admin notified you Check the source and…

Trained and accustomed to catching criminals, maintaining law and order and regulating traffic, there is nothing in its experience or training that qualifies the police force to deal with a contagion like COVID-19. “Curfew” is perhaps the only term in the police vocabulary that comes close to defining what the doctors have prescribed: social distancing. Little wonder then, that the police went about addressing this social/humanitarian challenge with law-and-order tools. The results were there for all to see. Citizen Matters spoke to a former head of the Karnataka State Police, S T Ramesh, about the newest challenge before the police…

Co-authored by Milind Mhaske and Meghna Bandelwar India has witnessed, dealt with and survived an outbreak of several epidemics such as swine flu, small pox, plague, dengue, hepatitis amongst many others, the most recent being the Nipah virus outbreak. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, seems to have created an unprecedented global emergency and the entire world is grappling with the challenge of curbing its spread and providing medical care to the huge numbers of people infected. India has taken measures at the Central and state level to prevent and curtail the spread of the pandemic. The city governments too are trying…

The cancellation of the traditional Ashokastami Rath Yatra (car Festival) of the 11th century Sri Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneswar on April 1ST, which also happens to be Odisha’s foundation day, reflects the state government’s approach to contain the spread of the virus. Like Puri’s car festival, the Ashokastami Yatra, held a day before Ram Navami, has been one of the city’s traditional festivals since the 12th century. Even at the height of the Orissa famine in 1866, (Naanka Durvikhya in Oriya) this was not cancelled. But the injunction against large gatherings to prevent the coronavirus spread forced the temple authorities to cancel…

Left with few options to prevent the spread of the virus, the Telangana police have intensified lockdown procedures by imposing a 7 pm to 6 am curfew in Hyderabad. The government is working to ensure that the city’s 5.4 lakh people below poverty line (BPL) (as per 2017 govt data) -- of which 4.3 lakh are in the core city area while the rest live in surrounding municipalities -- get adequate relief. Immediately following the Prime Minister’s speech on March 22nd, Hyderabad saw a sudden exodus of people desperate to reach their villages in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and other states.…

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the governments of Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab and Tamil Nadu, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) have released various mobile apps. Most of them are meant for one or more of these purposes:  Ensure compliance with quarantine rules Provide information about symptoms and healthcare, and updates about the outbreak Tracing of confirmed and at-risk cases Tracing contact history with confirmed and at-risk cases A slew of mobile apps and other Internet-based interventions have been released by governments and private entities around the world. Google’s Android application store…