The World health organisation the health wing of United Nations has stipulated certain public health and social measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 virus. The measures were contemplated by WHO taking into account the levels of Covid-19 transmission. One of the major measures stipulated is to maintain social distancing and avoid congregations. There is an obligation on the State[Read More...]
Statement by the Vikalp Sangam Core Group India is in the midst of a COVID emergency. The pandemic’s 2nd wave has exposed the abysmal state of its public health system and the poor quality and pace of response of central and state governments. While we recognise the herculean task that the public health system personnel have been performing for over[Read More...]
While triumphantly launching the roll out of India-made vaccines on January 16, 2019, with a view to drive home his point of helping others selflessly, the Prime Minister quoted the following words of Gurajada Apparao, the eminent Telugu writer. “Sontha labham kontha manuko, porugu vadiki thodu padavoy. Desamante matti kadoyi, desamante manushuloy” The above verse, which was written more than[Read More...]
Now that we all have seen someone close in a friend or family succumbing to fatalities of COVID-19. The chilling sight of the mass pyres burning in the crematorium, relatives waiting for hours outside the crematorium to give the last rite to their loved ones, the unattended dead bodies dumped like a pile of garbage in a truck and hospitals,[Read More...]
As the death toll and positivity rate in the wake of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic stays alarmingly high, lockdowns and other restrictions have been instituted in many parts of the country. Even though an announcement of a nationwide lockdown has not been made, work has been severely disrupted with calls for further curtailment of non-essential economic activity.[Read More...]
On April 23, 2021 the Economic Times published a short interview with K Vijay Raghavan, the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India. It is my understanding that the Office of the PSA is tasked with advising the government on scientific matters. This interview, however, would lead one to think otherwise: when the PSA’s responses are not factually[Read More...]
In the past several weeks, the world has looked on in horror as the coronavirus rages across India. With hospitals running out of beds, oxygen, and medicines, the official daily death toll has averaged around 3,000. Many claim that number could be an undercount; crematoriums and cemeteries have run out of space. The majority of India’s population are Hindu, who[Read More...]
Ever Since the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine came to power in 2014 the deepest crisis it is facing is the Covid-19 dance of death. As of the end of April 2021 India has become the most Covid infected nation in the world and the prediction is that India will suffer the biggest human[Read More...]
First of all I want salute the front line health workers who have done a heroic job and have risked their life. No words or compensation can ever adequately express our gratitude. In the last analysis the reward of having done a good job is to have done it! Capitalism and Corona We are not the first one to say[Read More...]
Ever since the lockdown began, friends have time and again asked me the same question. How am I managing my life in the lockdown? Well, for a writer like me, mid-afternoon solitude is nothing new. Solitude has become my second nature. Moreover writing and reading are essentially solitary affairs. Even in the past, I used […]
