Society

Senior citizens are more vulnerable and face specific challenges during the COVID-19 lockdown. In this series, some seniors discuss how they’ve been dealing with the situation. In the first part of the series, a senior citizen describes the new challenges that have descended on her. While the media has focused on the woes of migrant workers trekking hundreds of kilometres to return to their native villages after their earnings dried up in the wake of the virus pandemic, not much has been written or said about the hassles that middle-class families have had to face, especially the elderly. Take me.…

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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…

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In this series, individuals, citizen groups and RWAs explain how they have dealt with the COVID-19 crisis in a constructive manner. In the fifth part of the series, the Bicycle Mayor of Bengaluru describes the measures he took. I was selected as the first Bicycle Mayor of Bengaluru in May 2018 by BYCS, an Amsterdam-based NGO. I'm one of more than 100 Bicycle Mayors across the globe who are trying to shift transportation in cities to the bicycle. The #CycleToWork campaign I launched in September 2018, has catalysed work commute by cycle; and its online platform has attracted more than…

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As we cover the COVID-19 outbreak and the effect it has had on various sectors and communities, we also asked our readers -- individuals, citizen groups and RWAs -- to explain how they have dealt with the COVID-19 crisis in a constructive manner. In this article, a resident of CR park in Delhi narrates how her community has adapted to challenges of the times, how members of the community are helping each other, how they are reaching out to senior citizens and making sure that everyone comes out of it, together, as a family.  It all started with a WhatsApp…

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Dhananjay, a grape farmer from Chikkaballapur, had 50 tonnes of grapes when the Indian government announced the unprecedented nationwide lockdown on March 24, to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Another farmer Nagesh, had harvested bananas in February. When the lockdown started, he was stuck with 5 tonnes of raw bananas that were beginning to ripen. The mandi where he would sell it in normal circumstances was closed. Dhananjay and Nagesh are among the lucky ones, as this story will reveal. A majority of farmers around Bengaluru and even those who are further away and depend on this city’s markets –…

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Translated by Sandhya Raju தேசிய ஊரடங்கின் போது, நீங்கள் வசிக்கும் நகரத்திலேயே ஒரு அந்நியனாக தனிமைப்படுத்தப்படுவதை என்ணிப் பாருங்கள்: இருக்க இடமில்லை, உங்களின் சொந்த ஊருக்கும் போக முடியாத நிலை. முன் அறிவிப்பின்றி வீட்டு உரிமையாளர்கள் காலி செய்யச் சொல்வதால், இந்த கொடுரமான நிலைமையை தங்கும் விடுதியில் உள்ளவர்களும், PGயாக வசிக்கும் சிலரும் சப்தமில்லாமல் அனுபவித்து வருகிறார்கள். வைஷாலி* (25) சென்னையில் ஒரு பெண்கள் விடுதியில் தங்கியுள்ளார். அங்கு வசிக்கும் பெரும்பாலான மாணவிகள் கல்வி நிறுவனங்கள் மூடியவுடன் தங்கள் சொந்த ஊர் விரைந்தனர், ஆனால் இவர் தனியார் அலுவலகத்தில் வேலையில் உள்ளதால், விடுதியிலேயே தங்கினார். "வேலை காரணமாக இங்கு வெகு சிலரே உள்ளோம். இப்பொழுது விடுதியிலிருந்து வெளியேறச்சொல்கின்றனர், என்ன செய்வது என்று தெரியவில்லை" என்கிறார் வைஷாலி. வைஷாலியை போன்று பலர் இக்கட்டான சூழலுக்கு தள்ளப்பட்டுள்ளனர். போக்குவரத்து இல்லாததால் சொந்த ஊருக்கும் செல்ல முடியாது. ஆனால், விடுதியில் தங்கியுள்ளவர்களை தங்களின் விருப்பத்திற்கேற்ப…

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It's almost a month since Bengaluru has been under complete lockdown so as to contain COVID-19 spread. Besides, two wards have been sealed off, and 19 localities designated as Containment Zones; movement for even essential services have been restricted in these areas. With the majority of us spending time at home, have you wondered what the city looks like now? What about hyper-crowded areas like Silk Board junction, the traffic signal near St John's Medical College, and so on? Naveen Thomas Prasad, an IT employee in the city, decided to shoot what his area looked like. Here's his video, which…

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“How would you feel if someone took a picture of your misery? I can’t even refuse the food though, because I am very hungry,” Manjunath, a 38-year old former sugarcane vendor said. Manjunath used to do quite well, earning Rs 700-1000 a day. But he was evicted during a BBMP drive last month, after cholera cases were reported in the city.  “The same corporator and police officials who made us jobless, now come with mobile cameras, give us some packet of food worth Rs 20 and take pictures. They barely talk to us, or even come close to us. They…

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“I am having to do things today I have never done earlier.Waking up  at 6 am in winters and 5 in summers has long been my habit. First thing I would do is offer morning prayers, earlier in masjid, but now at home. A 20-minute physicial workout has been a part of my morning schedule but I have never had to rush to the market in the wee hours. But since the COVID-19 enforced lockdown in Srinagar, I rush to the market soon after my morning exercise to buy vegetables, bread, milk and grocery items as the market remains open…

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In this series, individuals, citizen groups and RWAs explain how they have dealt with the COVID-19 crisis in a constructive manner. In the fourth part of the series, the president of an apartment association describes the measures they took. COVID-19 pandemic has tragically brought home the truth of the age-old Sanskrit saying Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, meaning 'the world is one family’. With this thought in mind, the management committee of Century Saras, an apartment complex in Yelahanka New Town, formed a task force for dealing with the COVID-19 threat immediately after the national lockdown was announced. The task force took the…

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