The first wave of Covid in India revealed that those running the government were clueless. The second was exposed their sheer incompetence. And now, during the ongoing third wave of the pandemic, it is becoming very clear that those at the top of the governance pyramid have become supremely indifferent to the plight of the public. This is at least[Read More...]
In the midst of the stressful Covid pandemic autorickshaw workers in Coimbatore have come up with an innovative model for improving incomes of gig workers by forming their own cooperative. They have developed their own app and are executing gig work on their own without having to pay any commission to any corporate-backed, third-party coordinating platform. The Federation of Indian[Read More...]
As Covid raged across India over the last two years hundreds of thousands of Indian prisoners suffered the most. Under ‘permanent lockdown’ their voices remained unheard behind the walls of the prison. According to reports, almost 70 per cent prisoners in Indian prisons are undertrials. The overwhelming majority comprise Muslims, minority communities, adivasis and dalits. However, there are few reports[Read More...]
Soon after the Covid-19 pandemic hit India in March 2020, the imposition of a nationwide lockdown forced millions of desperate migrant workers, deprived of income or security, to return their home across the country. However, their problems did not end even after they returned from the city to the village. After coming to the village, many of them remained unemployed.[Read More...]
In the thick of the cold winter mist, with a woolen scarf around her face, 25 year old Anju Naik starts her day by knocking on the doors of residents of Rohina Village, situated in Phalodi Block of Jodhpur district in Rajasthan. Every day she manages to reach out to at least 10-12 households as part of a door-to-door campaign[Read More...]
Sitting inside a 4×6 feet room of her house, situated in Jaipur’s walled city, Afrooza Bano is busy carving the notches on bamboo sticks used to make kites. It’s mid-day and she has almost finished making 500 kites and is still to make 500 more. While she is strings the bamboo sticks together, her husband arranges them in a pile. Despite[Read More...]
Painting of Afghan woman by Sarmistha Sarker On a sunny Covid winter day, even while people waited for the third wave to fasten its grip, the Birla Academy of Art and Culture in Kolkata hosted a brilliant show of paintings, sound, images and light show, photographs and multi-layered aesthetic installations, created during the pandemic and lockdown by a group of[Read More...]
When the Maharashtra home ministry decided last year to reduce the number of prisoners in the state’s crowded prisons to reduce impact of the third wave of Covid, they were in for a surprise. Some inmates, it seems, did not want to be released at all. According to jail officials, several prisoners who have been granted emergency parole have not[Read More...]
As 2021 ended the Government of Rajasthan made a concerted push to increase Covid vaccination rates in the state by announcing a series of disincentives. The unvaccinated it said will not be eligible for benefits under government schemes and may also have to pay fines. While this new policy was prompted by the arrival of the Omicron variant and fears[Read More...]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the working class suffered the most. And, among the working class, the worst off were those who are not even recognized as the organized working class – domestic helps. When the lockdown began in March 2020 these helps – mostly women – faced a tremendous problem. First of all, they had trouble commuting daily to the[Read More...]
