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‘Switch off lights, light candles at 9 pm on Sunday’: PM Modi's message to India
- Thread starter MenInG
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PM Modi's 9-minute blackout call goes well, no disruption electricity grid
NEW DELHI: A nine-minute lights-out event on Sunday evening went off well without any disruption in the electricity grid after the government and utilities put in place elaborate plans to deal with the sudden drop and then a quick spurt in demand.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged people to switch off the lights at their homes and light up lamps, candles or mobile phone torches for nine minutes at 9 pm on Sunday to display the country's "collective resolve" to defeat coronavirus.
https://m.timesofindia.com/india/pm...electricity-grid/amp_articleshow/74997621.cms
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="hi" dir="ltr">शुभं करोति कल्याणमारोग्यं धनसंपदा ।<br>शत्रुबुद्धिविनाशाय दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तुते ॥ <a href="https://t.co/4DeiMsCN11">pic.twitter.com/4DeiMsCN11</a></p>— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1246830985288642560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
NEW DELHI: A nine-minute lights-out event on Sunday evening went off well without any disruption in the electricity grid after the government and utilities put in place elaborate plans to deal with the sudden drop and then a quick spurt in demand.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged people to switch off the lights at their homes and light up lamps, candles or mobile phone torches for nine minutes at 9 pm on Sunday to display the country's "collective resolve" to defeat coronavirus.
https://m.timesofindia.com/india/pm...electricity-grid/amp_articleshow/74997621.cms
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="hi" dir="ltr">शुभं करोति कल्याणमारोग्यं धनसंपदा ।<br>शत्रुबुद्धिविनाशाय दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तुते ॥ <a href="https://t.co/4DeiMsCN11">pic.twitter.com/4DeiMsCN11</a></p>— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1246830985288642560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
If gulf countries cut down their expenditure whole country will be in big trouble.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.econ...orldwide-in-2018/amp_articleshow/70310386.cms
Many keralites will loss jobs and there will be significant reduction in the flow of expact money.Immediate affectees in kerala will be 3 million migrant workers from north/eastern states.
Slog
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lol did india win the world cup?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You can quarantine yourself for 21 days without stepping out for a minute<br><br>But this one disco dance is enough to infect the entire bunch if even one of them is infected<br><br>What form of Social distancing is this?<a href="https://t.co/lvJCMMjaPE">pic.twitter.com/lvJCMMjaPE</a></p>— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) <a href="https://twitter.com/srivatsayb/status/1246857443876855808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You can quarantine yourself for 21 days without stepping out for a minute<br><br>But this one disco dance is enough to infect the entire bunch if even one of them is infected<br><br>What form of Social distancing is this?<a href="https://t.co/lvJCMMjaPE">pic.twitter.com/lvJCMMjaPE</a></p>— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) <a href="https://twitter.com/srivatsayb/status/1246857443876855808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Sirris
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I have such a strong PTSD from Indian (social) media that I am not even sure whether the video clips about burning buildings are genuine or fake propaganda by anti-modi side. LOL.
Sad to see people getting homeless.
Sad to see people getting homeless.
Bhaag Viru Bhaag
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It seems they all needed an excuse to come out of their homes. Jaahil qaum will never learn.
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India has resolved to win battle against COVID-19: PM Modi
"India is one of the countries which understood the seriousness of this disease and waged a timely war against it. India took several decisions and tried its best to implement them on the ground. From Janata curfew to implementing the lockdown and lighting up the candles last night, Indians have co-operated in each step. India has resolved to win this fight," PM Modi said.
"India is one of the countries which understood the seriousness of this disease and waged a timely war against it. India took several decisions and tried its best to implement them on the ground. From Janata curfew to implementing the lockdown and lighting up the candles last night, Indians have co-operated in each step. India has resolved to win this fight," PM Modi said.
King-Misbah
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What a gimmick, I don't know whose Modis advisor who comes up with these ideas. Is the virus no more now? The gimmick could have resulted in accidents and loss of lifes.
The emperor doesn't care about loss of lives. 120-odd innocent Indians lost their lives during demonetization exercise. Did the emperor ever talk about those guys? Or about the 22 migrants dying during their migration to their homes?
A long war against coronavirus, must not get tired or rest, says PM Modi
The PM underlined how India understood seriousness of this disease and waged a timely war against it.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said it will be a long war against coronavirus and exhorted the citizens to not be tired or take rest as they have to emerge victorious.
“I state it with full responsibility that this is a long war against the coronavirus pandemic. But we do not have to get tired or take a rest in this war. We have to emerge victorious. Today, the country has only one goal and one resolve: to win this war,” said PM Modi in his address to BJP karyakartas on the party’s foundation day.
The PM underlined how India understood seriousness of this disease and waged a timely war against it. He said India’s efforts have set an example before the world. The PM also praised the maturity shown by 120 crore Indians during this nationwide lockdown.
“India’s efforts have set an example before the world in tackling coronavisus.India is one of the countries which understood the seriousness of this disease and waged a timely war against it.
India took several decisions and tried its best to implement them on ground,”said the PM via video call to BJP members.
The death toll due to novel coronavirus rose to 109 and the number of cases in the country climbed to 4,067 on Monday, according to the Union Health Ministry.
Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 45, followed by Gujarat at 11, Madhya Pradesh at nine, Telangana and Delhi at seven each, Tamil Nadu at five and Punjab at six.
The highest number of confirmed cases is from Maharashtra at 690, followed by Tamil Nadu at 571 and Delhi at 503. The number cases in Telengana has gone up to 321, in Kerala to 314 and in Rajasthan to 253.
In March, in a video conference with leaders and representatives from SAARC nations, PM Modi, chalking out a joint strategy to fight the coronavirus outbreak, said “prepare, but don’t panic” has been India’s guiding mantra in dealing with the pandemic.
“We started screening people entering India from mid-January itself, while gradually increasing restrictions on travel,” Modi told the Saarc leader.
In India, testing has now become more widespread and aggressive in clusters and containment zones, at least in a few states. And it will become even more widespread (and quicker) when some states start using the antibody test kits they have been allowed to procure.
A document put out by the government on Saturday, and the Prime Minister’s reference to a phased exit from the lockdown in a meeting with chief ministers last week seem to suggest that restrictions will continue in at least some parts of the country — clusters and containment zones, for instance.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...ays-pm-modi/story-kVVk8XTk6CcdY3VbA9VrNK.html
The PM underlined how India understood seriousness of this disease and waged a timely war against it.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said it will be a long war against coronavirus and exhorted the citizens to not be tired or take rest as they have to emerge victorious.
“I state it with full responsibility that this is a long war against the coronavirus pandemic. But we do not have to get tired or take a rest in this war. We have to emerge victorious. Today, the country has only one goal and one resolve: to win this war,” said PM Modi in his address to BJP karyakartas on the party’s foundation day.
The PM underlined how India understood seriousness of this disease and waged a timely war against it. He said India’s efforts have set an example before the world. The PM also praised the maturity shown by 120 crore Indians during this nationwide lockdown.
“India’s efforts have set an example before the world in tackling coronavisus.India is one of the countries which understood the seriousness of this disease and waged a timely war against it.
India took several decisions and tried its best to implement them on ground,”said the PM via video call to BJP members.
The death toll due to novel coronavirus rose to 109 and the number of cases in the country climbed to 4,067 on Monday, according to the Union Health Ministry.
Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 45, followed by Gujarat at 11, Madhya Pradesh at nine, Telangana and Delhi at seven each, Tamil Nadu at five and Punjab at six.
The highest number of confirmed cases is from Maharashtra at 690, followed by Tamil Nadu at 571 and Delhi at 503. The number cases in Telengana has gone up to 321, in Kerala to 314 and in Rajasthan to 253.
In March, in a video conference with leaders and representatives from SAARC nations, PM Modi, chalking out a joint strategy to fight the coronavirus outbreak, said “prepare, but don’t panic” has been India’s guiding mantra in dealing with the pandemic.
“We started screening people entering India from mid-January itself, while gradually increasing restrictions on travel,” Modi told the Saarc leader.
In India, testing has now become more widespread and aggressive in clusters and containment zones, at least in a few states. And it will become even more widespread (and quicker) when some states start using the antibody test kits they have been allowed to procure.
A document put out by the government on Saturday, and the Prime Minister’s reference to a phased exit from the lockdown in a meeting with chief ministers last week seem to suggest that restrictions will continue in at least some parts of the country — clusters and containment zones, for instance.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...ays-pm-modi/story-kVVk8XTk6CcdY3VbA9VrNK.html
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We Will find a cure for corona but how r we gonna find a cure for stupidity ���� <a href="https://t.co/sZRQC3gY3Z">https://t.co/sZRQC3gY3Z</a></p>— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) <a href="https://twitter.com/harbhajan_singh/status/1247041101023739904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Many liberals/congressis are sharing this same picture saying "Fire in my neighbour"
This picture is from a fire in Solapur airport. I didnt knew everyone's neighbourhood is Solapur airport.
Liberals and fake agenda - better love story than twilight.
DeadlyVenom
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The UK and Italian clapping was spontaneously arranged by members of the public and went viral.
You can't compare a PM mandating the whole country does something to an organic activity.
Syed1
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This guy has a PhD in riling up Indian keyboard warriors
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Because of your angry messages I would like to announce that I am now pro-India and anti-Pakistan. Apparently India has more people/money and is ruled by my wise and powerful step-dad Modi. They also invented space ships 7,000 years ago. Excited for my upcoming comedy tour! ���� <a href="https://t.co/Eim4FMRG73">pic.twitter.com/Eim4FMRG73</a></p>— Jeremy McLellan (@JeremyMcLellan) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeremyMcLellan/status/1246989327340535808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Because of your angry messages I would like to announce that I am now pro-India and anti-Pakistan. Apparently India has more people/money and is ruled by my wise and powerful step-dad Modi. They also invented space ships 7,000 years ago. Excited for my upcoming comedy tour! ���� <a href="https://t.co/Eim4FMRG73">pic.twitter.com/Eim4FMRG73</a></p>— Jeremy McLellan (@JeremyMcLellan) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeremyMcLellan/status/1246989327340535808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
https://thewire.in/energy/india-power-grid-diya-jalai-narendra-modi-revenue-loss
For illiterate bhakts, this piece is from someone who knows it all. How the power engineers were hard pressed to ensure 'success' of this umpteenth tamasha... How so many households had to go without power for no fault of theirs!
But then fetish of someone needed to be fulfilled and it did!
For illiterate bhakts, this piece is from someone who knows it all. How the power engineers were hard pressed to ensure 'success' of this umpteenth tamasha... How so many households had to go without power for no fault of theirs!
But then fetish of someone needed to be fulfilled and it did!
Bhaag Viru Bhaag
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What's next on his list?
Romali_rotti
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I can understand the message which PM Modi was trying to convey about unity, positive energy etc. However it was not realistic, you will have the Congress pseudo secular Indians looking at this as an opportunity to light fire crackers etc as they are nearly dead and need some kind of avenue to mock the BJP government to try and stay relevant.
Saurav
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Many liberals/congressis are sharing this same picture saying "Fire in my neighbour"
This picture is from a fire in Solapur airport. I didnt knew everyone's neighbourhood is Solapur airport.
Liberals and fake agenda - better love story than twilight.
That's a video (not a picture) and clearly a residential area
Kriketer
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This guy has a PhD in riling up Indian keyboard warriors
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Because of your angry messages I would like to announce that I am now pro-India and anti-Pakistan. Apparently India has more people/money and is ruled by my wise and powerful step-dad Modi. They also invented space ships 7,000 years ago. Excited for my upcoming comedy tour! ���� <a href="https://t.co/Eim4FMRG73">pic.twitter.com/Eim4FMRG73</a></p>— Jeremy McLellan (@JeremyMcLellan) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeremyMcLellan/status/1246989327340535808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The keyboard padosi warriors are always all out on him lol.
His latest fb picture with edited Abhinandan and cup of tea is hilarious and padosis are not taking his comment lightly..... "Why are Indians messaging me saying he’s a hero. I know he’s a hero that’s why I gave him tea and took a picture with him"
Invincible Gujjar
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after I think next it's gonna be holi. it has to be holi.Happy Holi to all bhakts in advance.LOL Modi and his stupid country.
Navdeep Srivastava
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I don't understand why liberal like Tharor ask us to switch off light on earth hour every year with such a risk, what if everybody start following them for the earth hour event. Why in all these years that liberals never told us about grid failure risk when they were asking us to switch off lights.
If grid failure theory is correct then Modi was wrong , extremely wrong.
But it also goes to show that even liberals have their own agenda, they will never tell you complete truth, and why on earth so many cities and countries citizen are following this event with such a great risk for random earth hour, to be fair most thing don't add up
Bhaag Viru Bhaag
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At the weekend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the next three to four weeks would be "critical" to prevent the spread of coronavirus in India.
Ever since its first case was confirmed on 30 January, India has taken a number of measures to try and combat the coronavirus. It has eased testing eligibility and invoked a draconian 122-year-old colonial-era epidemic diseases law to restrict public gatherings, among other things. Now it is set to extend a strict three-week lockdown - scheduled to end on 15 April - until the end of the month. More than a billion people continue to stay at home and land, rail and air transport remain suspended.
There have been some 180,000 tests for the infection so far. Some 4.3% of the samples have tested positive. The contagion has killed 273 people. It has reportedly spread to nearly half of the country's 700-odd districts. Several hotspots have been identified.
Global health experts are keenly looking at how India battles the virus. Its dense population, vast geography and weak public health system can easily overwhelm the best efforts to contain the spread of infection. "It is something which is worrying a lot of people, " a leading virologist told me, insisting on anonymity. "It is early days yet in the trajectory of the virus here. In three to four weeks, the picture will be clearer."
Economist Shamika Ravi, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who is closely tracking the infection, believes India is not doing badly. She says the number of active cases is doubling every seven days, a slower rate than before. The death rate is still low but rising.
"Our [infection] growth rate is highly contained despite the fact that we are actively chasing the fire," she told me. "Almost all of our testing has been driven by protocol, starting with people with travel history, contact tracing of people in touch with them and so on. The probability of getting more positive cases [from this cohort] would have been much higher."
Many are also pointing to the lack of reports about any surge in hospital admissions with influenza like illness and Covid-19 patients, which would hint at a rapid community transmission.
But this may well be because of lack of information or weak reporting. A private hospital in the central city of Indore, as I reported, is already seeing a surge of cases and treating more than 140 Covid-19 patients, with nearly a third in critical care. At the weekend the hospital was reporting around 40 fresh cases a day. "We thought the transmission was going down, but our case load went up suddenly over two days," Dr Ravi Dosi, a chest specialist, at the hospital, told me.
Others like T Jacob John, a retired professor of virology at Christian Medical College, Vellore, believe India must prepare for the worst.
"I don't think we have yet understood the enormity of the problem that is likely to befall us in the next two months," he told me. "For much too long the virus dictated our responses rather than the other way round".
Dr John says India's response has been largely "evidence-based and reactive when it should have been projection-based and pro-active".
Inside India's busiest Covid-19 hospital
India's health ministry has strenuously denied there has been community transmission even as doctors from all over the country say they have been seeing patients with Covid-19 like symptoms from early March. "The entire focus seems to on finding evidence of community transmission, It's a tactical error," says Dr John. "We all know community transmission is there."
Dr Ravi believes that going forward, "every week is critical now".
Easing the lockdown to prevent an economic meltdown and flattening the curve of the virus will now require more surveillance testing to find out who's infected and who's not.
India would then need millions of testing kits and trained manpower to handle the process. Testing is also a highly involved process, which includes ensuring a cold chain for and smooth transport of tens of thousands of samples to the labs. India's resources are finite and capacity is limited. One way to get around this, says Dr Ravi, is "pool testing".
This involves collecting a number of samples in a tube and testing them with a single real time coronavirus test based on swabbing of the nose and throat, as recommended by the WHO.
If the test is negative, all the people tested are negative. If it's positive, every person has to be tested individually for the virus. "Pool testing" reduces the time needed to test large swathes of the population. "If there's no trace of the infection in some districts, then we can open them up for economic activity," says Dr Ravi.
Virologists believe that India should also do mass anti-body testing - a finger ***** blood test to look for the presence of protective antibodies.
Why India cannot afford to lift its lockdown
The blood test is easier and quicker to scale up than, say administering polio drops for immunisation, which India has successfully done. "We need antibody testing as a public health tool rather than a diagnostic tool," says one virologist. "We need to identify people who have recovered from the infection and send them back to work because they are no longer at risk."
Along with this, India needs to look at plasma therapy, virologists I spoke to said. This involves using blood with consent from patients who have successfully fought the infection. This antibody-rich blood plasma can be infused into sick patients. Many doctors say it is a "hopeful milestone' in treating the disease.
Most virologists I spoke to are unanimous that India should be testing "much, much more". Ideally, one of them told me, any person with "any upper respiratory tract infection" should be eligible for a test.
India doesn't have a culture of testing for infectious diseases because most citizens cannot afford them. Risk mitigation is not ingrained in the culture.
"We tend to treat instead of testing. We rely on medical signs and symptoms [of a disease] rather than the cause or set of causes of a disease or condition," a virologist observed. "We do tests only when we are sick."
It is all right, says Dr John, that the government is "fighting the war on the virus with the might of its administrative muscle". But that might be not enough.
The race to stop the virus in Asia's 'biggest slum'
Many complain that beyond motivational appeals by the prime minister and routine briefings by bureaucrats, information around the transmission of the virus and scale of testing has been often opaque and evasive. Wearing masks was made mandatory only last week.
With its excellent public health system and response, only the southern state of Kerala appears to have flattened the curve so far. "This is going to be a long haul. We can't be treating India as one episode of flattening the curve and be done with it. The virus doesn't lose virulence," says a virologist. "And all the states are not going to see a rise and fall in the curve at the same time."
The weeks ahead will possibly tell us whether India will face an exponential rise in infections or begin to flatten the curve. "This is a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. There are not going to be any easy answers," says Dr John.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52265061
Ever since its first case was confirmed on 30 January, India has taken a number of measures to try and combat the coronavirus. It has eased testing eligibility and invoked a draconian 122-year-old colonial-era epidemic diseases law to restrict public gatherings, among other things. Now it is set to extend a strict three-week lockdown - scheduled to end on 15 April - until the end of the month. More than a billion people continue to stay at home and land, rail and air transport remain suspended.
There have been some 180,000 tests for the infection so far. Some 4.3% of the samples have tested positive. The contagion has killed 273 people. It has reportedly spread to nearly half of the country's 700-odd districts. Several hotspots have been identified.
Global health experts are keenly looking at how India battles the virus. Its dense population, vast geography and weak public health system can easily overwhelm the best efforts to contain the spread of infection. "It is something which is worrying a lot of people, " a leading virologist told me, insisting on anonymity. "It is early days yet in the trajectory of the virus here. In three to four weeks, the picture will be clearer."
Economist Shamika Ravi, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who is closely tracking the infection, believes India is not doing badly. She says the number of active cases is doubling every seven days, a slower rate than before. The death rate is still low but rising.
"Our [infection] growth rate is highly contained despite the fact that we are actively chasing the fire," she told me. "Almost all of our testing has been driven by protocol, starting with people with travel history, contact tracing of people in touch with them and so on. The probability of getting more positive cases [from this cohort] would have been much higher."
Many are also pointing to the lack of reports about any surge in hospital admissions with influenza like illness and Covid-19 patients, which would hint at a rapid community transmission.
But this may well be because of lack of information or weak reporting. A private hospital in the central city of Indore, as I reported, is already seeing a surge of cases and treating more than 140 Covid-19 patients, with nearly a third in critical care. At the weekend the hospital was reporting around 40 fresh cases a day. "We thought the transmission was going down, but our case load went up suddenly over two days," Dr Ravi Dosi, a chest specialist, at the hospital, told me.
Others like T Jacob John, a retired professor of virology at Christian Medical College, Vellore, believe India must prepare for the worst.
"I don't think we have yet understood the enormity of the problem that is likely to befall us in the next two months," he told me. "For much too long the virus dictated our responses rather than the other way round".
Dr John says India's response has been largely "evidence-based and reactive when it should have been projection-based and pro-active".
Inside India's busiest Covid-19 hospital
India's health ministry has strenuously denied there has been community transmission even as doctors from all over the country say they have been seeing patients with Covid-19 like symptoms from early March. "The entire focus seems to on finding evidence of community transmission, It's a tactical error," says Dr John. "We all know community transmission is there."
Dr Ravi believes that going forward, "every week is critical now".
Easing the lockdown to prevent an economic meltdown and flattening the curve of the virus will now require more surveillance testing to find out who's infected and who's not.
India would then need millions of testing kits and trained manpower to handle the process. Testing is also a highly involved process, which includes ensuring a cold chain for and smooth transport of tens of thousands of samples to the labs. India's resources are finite and capacity is limited. One way to get around this, says Dr Ravi, is "pool testing".
This involves collecting a number of samples in a tube and testing them with a single real time coronavirus test based on swabbing of the nose and throat, as recommended by the WHO.
If the test is negative, all the people tested are negative. If it's positive, every person has to be tested individually for the virus. "Pool testing" reduces the time needed to test large swathes of the population. "If there's no trace of the infection in some districts, then we can open them up for economic activity," says Dr Ravi.
Virologists believe that India should also do mass anti-body testing - a finger ***** blood test to look for the presence of protective antibodies.
Why India cannot afford to lift its lockdown
The blood test is easier and quicker to scale up than, say administering polio drops for immunisation, which India has successfully done. "We need antibody testing as a public health tool rather than a diagnostic tool," says one virologist. "We need to identify people who have recovered from the infection and send them back to work because they are no longer at risk."
Along with this, India needs to look at plasma therapy, virologists I spoke to said. This involves using blood with consent from patients who have successfully fought the infection. This antibody-rich blood plasma can be infused into sick patients. Many doctors say it is a "hopeful milestone' in treating the disease.
Most virologists I spoke to are unanimous that India should be testing "much, much more". Ideally, one of them told me, any person with "any upper respiratory tract infection" should be eligible for a test.
India doesn't have a culture of testing for infectious diseases because most citizens cannot afford them. Risk mitigation is not ingrained in the culture.
"We tend to treat instead of testing. We rely on medical signs and symptoms [of a disease] rather than the cause or set of causes of a disease or condition," a virologist observed. "We do tests only when we are sick."
It is all right, says Dr John, that the government is "fighting the war on the virus with the might of its administrative muscle". But that might be not enough.
The race to stop the virus in Asia's 'biggest slum'
Many complain that beyond motivational appeals by the prime minister and routine briefings by bureaucrats, information around the transmission of the virus and scale of testing has been often opaque and evasive. Wearing masks was made mandatory only last week.
With its excellent public health system and response, only the southern state of Kerala appears to have flattened the curve so far. "This is going to be a long haul. We can't be treating India as one episode of flattening the curve and be done with it. The virus doesn't lose virulence," says a virologist. "And all the states are not going to see a rise and fall in the curve at the same time."
The weeks ahead will possibly tell us whether India will face an exponential rise in infections or begin to flatten the curve. "This is a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. There are not going to be any easy answers," says Dr John.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52265061
https://youtu.be/RrdGcdHgmeY
Difference in quality of journalism couldn't be more stark. However, it's an insult to the profession of journalism to call someone like Arnab a journalist.
Difference in quality of journalism couldn't be more stark. However, it's an insult to the profession of journalism to call someone like Arnab a journalist.
We are simply wasting this lockdown period while so many poor people are
facing the brunt of dictatorship of ruling dispensation and are dying on roads for want of food.
We the lucky ones, sitting comfortably in our Air-conditioned homes, can't ever understand the plight of these hapless people who have no one, absolutely no one to go to.
No. of tests we are doing per day is shockingly low especially considering the size of our population. It's laughable some are lauding Bisht for managing UP well. Just like his master, all he is doing is to under representing the truth.
facing the brunt of dictatorship of ruling dispensation and are dying on roads for want of food.
We the lucky ones, sitting comfortably in our Air-conditioned homes, can't ever understand the plight of these hapless people who have no one, absolutely no one to go to.
No. of tests we are doing per day is shockingly low especially considering the size of our population. It's laughable some are lauding Bisht for managing UP well. Just like his master, all he is doing is to under representing the truth.
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 217,944
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N-CH5Fyljzw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The human cost.
==
On Thursday morning, 35-year-old Chhabu Mandal, a migrant from Bihar who worked as a painter in Gurgaon, sold his phone for Rs 2,500 and used the money to purchase a portable fan and some ration to feed his family — his wife, her parents, and his four children, the youngest five months old.
His wife Poonam was delighted when he returned home — the family had not had anything to eat all through Wednesday, and even before that, had been relying on meals being distributed for free in their area, or the generosity of neighbours.
Before she started cooking, Poonam went to the washroom, while her mother took the children and went to sit under a tree near their home — two shanties standing side by side in Gurgaon’s Saraswati Kunj, with tin sheets for the walls and roofs. Mandal’s father-in-law slept in the adjacent shanty.
While his family was out, Mandal closed the door of his shanty and, using a rope, hanged himself from the ceiling.
“He had been very troubled ever since the lockdown started; we had been struggling to get food. There was no work and no money. We were completely dependent on free meals to feed ourselves, but these also did not come every day,” said his wife.
Gurgaon Police officers, when contacted, said Mandal was “mentally troubled”.
“We received information about the incident yesterday afternoon. The man was a migrant worker and was mentally troubled. His body has been handed over to his family, but they have not sought any further action in the matter. No FIR has been registered,” said Deepak Kumar, SHO of Sector 53 police station.
Officials from the district administration also insisted the 35-year-old was “mentally disturbed”. “In this unfortunate incident, the person was a bit disturbed and aggravated because of the disease outbreak. Food availability was not an issue since the family still has some food, and there is a food disbursal point nearby,” said a district official.
The closest food disbursal point for residents of Saraswati Kunj, as per a list released by the district administration, is the Community Centre in Sector 56.
“There is one in Sector 56 and there is one in Wazirabad also, from what we have heard, but those are very far for us to walk to. I am disabled, my wife is also aged, and the children are young. Walking that far for food is not possible, that too on a hungry stomach,” said Mandal’s father-in-law Umesh.
Firoz, another resident of Saraswati Kunj, who also hails from Bihar, said residents were also scared to venture out since “some policemen are aggressive”.
Official from the district administration said the gaps, if any, would be plugged. “Efforts towards food distribution will be increased,” an official said.
It was 15 years ago that Mandal, who hailed from Bihar’s Madhepura district, moved to Gurgaon and took up work as a painter. Ten years ago, he got married and moved his family to the city. For the last several months, they had been living in Saraswati Kunj, paying Rs 1,500 as rent for each of the two shanties. Work had dried up beginning “October or November” last year, said Umesh.
“First work stopped coming because of the ban on construction due to pollution. Even after that, work remained thin and we were struggling to make ends meet. For the last month or so before the lockdown, he had got work only on a couple of days,” said Umesh, who has not been able to work since an accident six months ago. It was Mandal who managed to run the two households with whatever little work he got.
Soon after the lockdown was announced in Gurgaon on the evening of March 22, the family ran out of money. Poonam also claimed the landlord contacted them “once or twice” asking for rent, which created additional pressure.
All of them started keeping an eye out for where food was being distributed every day. Whenever they would get a tip off, they would rush, “because if we did not manage to grab that meal, we would have nothing”, Poonam said.
“On Thursday morning, my husband decided to sell the phone he had purchased for around Rs 10,000 so he could buy some food. He bought rice and pulses and a portable fan,” said Poonam, adding that the rising temperature and tin roof had made staying indoors unbearable.
Apart from the fan, some of the ration Mandal had purchased lay in the family’s shanty on Friday morning. “We were all stressed, but him more so because he felt he had the responsibility to provide for us. We knew that, but none of us expected he would take such a step,” said Poonam.
Mandal’s family carried out his last rites in Gurgaon on Friday morning. “We needed money for the tempo, the ambulance and other rituals, but we had nothing. We asked our neighbours, and people from our village who live near our home in Gurgaon to donate funds, and managed to collect Rs 5,000. Our situation is so bad that even my son-in-law’s last rites were done on borrowed money,” said Umesh.
“Apart from the sorrow of losing him, we have to cope with the fact that we now have nobody to earn for us. After the lockdown, I will look for some work as a domestic help, but there are still 15 days to go,” Poonam said.
https://indianexpress.com/article/i...i-lockown-india-coronavirus-covid-19-6367511/
The human cost.
==
On Thursday morning, 35-year-old Chhabu Mandal, a migrant from Bihar who worked as a painter in Gurgaon, sold his phone for Rs 2,500 and used the money to purchase a portable fan and some ration to feed his family — his wife, her parents, and his four children, the youngest five months old.
His wife Poonam was delighted when he returned home — the family had not had anything to eat all through Wednesday, and even before that, had been relying on meals being distributed for free in their area, or the generosity of neighbours.
Before she started cooking, Poonam went to the washroom, while her mother took the children and went to sit under a tree near their home — two shanties standing side by side in Gurgaon’s Saraswati Kunj, with tin sheets for the walls and roofs. Mandal’s father-in-law slept in the adjacent shanty.
While his family was out, Mandal closed the door of his shanty and, using a rope, hanged himself from the ceiling.
“He had been very troubled ever since the lockdown started; we had been struggling to get food. There was no work and no money. We were completely dependent on free meals to feed ourselves, but these also did not come every day,” said his wife.
Gurgaon Police officers, when contacted, said Mandal was “mentally troubled”.
“We received information about the incident yesterday afternoon. The man was a migrant worker and was mentally troubled. His body has been handed over to his family, but they have not sought any further action in the matter. No FIR has been registered,” said Deepak Kumar, SHO of Sector 53 police station.
Officials from the district administration also insisted the 35-year-old was “mentally disturbed”. “In this unfortunate incident, the person was a bit disturbed and aggravated because of the disease outbreak. Food availability was not an issue since the family still has some food, and there is a food disbursal point nearby,” said a district official.
The closest food disbursal point for residents of Saraswati Kunj, as per a list released by the district administration, is the Community Centre in Sector 56.
“There is one in Sector 56 and there is one in Wazirabad also, from what we have heard, but those are very far for us to walk to. I am disabled, my wife is also aged, and the children are young. Walking that far for food is not possible, that too on a hungry stomach,” said Mandal’s father-in-law Umesh.
Firoz, another resident of Saraswati Kunj, who also hails from Bihar, said residents were also scared to venture out since “some policemen are aggressive”.
Official from the district administration said the gaps, if any, would be plugged. “Efforts towards food distribution will be increased,” an official said.
It was 15 years ago that Mandal, who hailed from Bihar’s Madhepura district, moved to Gurgaon and took up work as a painter. Ten years ago, he got married and moved his family to the city. For the last several months, they had been living in Saraswati Kunj, paying Rs 1,500 as rent for each of the two shanties. Work had dried up beginning “October or November” last year, said Umesh.
“First work stopped coming because of the ban on construction due to pollution. Even after that, work remained thin and we were struggling to make ends meet. For the last month or so before the lockdown, he had got work only on a couple of days,” said Umesh, who has not been able to work since an accident six months ago. It was Mandal who managed to run the two households with whatever little work he got.
Soon after the lockdown was announced in Gurgaon on the evening of March 22, the family ran out of money. Poonam also claimed the landlord contacted them “once or twice” asking for rent, which created additional pressure.
All of them started keeping an eye out for where food was being distributed every day. Whenever they would get a tip off, they would rush, “because if we did not manage to grab that meal, we would have nothing”, Poonam said.
“On Thursday morning, my husband decided to sell the phone he had purchased for around Rs 10,000 so he could buy some food. He bought rice and pulses and a portable fan,” said Poonam, adding that the rising temperature and tin roof had made staying indoors unbearable.
Apart from the fan, some of the ration Mandal had purchased lay in the family’s shanty on Friday morning. “We were all stressed, but him more so because he felt he had the responsibility to provide for us. We knew that, but none of us expected he would take such a step,” said Poonam.
Mandal’s family carried out his last rites in Gurgaon on Friday morning. “We needed money for the tempo, the ambulance and other rituals, but we had nothing. We asked our neighbours, and people from our village who live near our home in Gurgaon to donate funds, and managed to collect Rs 5,000. Our situation is so bad that even my son-in-law’s last rites were done on borrowed money,” said Umesh.
“Apart from the sorrow of losing him, we have to cope with the fact that we now have nobody to earn for us. After the lockdown, I will look for some work as a domestic help, but there are still 15 days to go,” Poonam said.
https://indianexpress.com/article/i...i-lockown-india-coronavirus-covid-19-6367511/
Last edited:
https://theprint.in/india/at-least-...down-is-tough-but-give-pm-a-thumbs-up/404892/
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘lockdown’ measure to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus might have inconvenienced millions of people across India, especially the migrants and the poor, but it has only added to his personality cult.
ThePrint’s interactions with people, especially those on the margins of this crisis across geographical locations, suggest that the measures, termed as “harsh” by the opposition parties, have all-round support.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘lockdown’ measure to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus might have inconvenienced millions of people across India, especially the migrants and the poor, but it has only added to his personality cult.
ThePrint’s interactions with people, especially those on the margins of this crisis across geographical locations, suggest that the measures, termed as “harsh” by the opposition parties, have all-round support.
See the kind of gullibility prevailing in India. Kind of explains why the event manager gets away with anything and everything.
No wonder, he won UP assembly elections immediately after announcing demonetization. With this kind of gullible electorate, it's surprising he didn't win all 403 seats in assembly elections.
No wonder, he won UP assembly elections immediately after announcing demonetization. With this kind of gullible electorate, it's surprising he didn't win all 403 seats in assembly elections.
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 217,944
New Delhi, India - Two weeks into India's initial 21 day-lockdown - which has since been extended to six weeks - to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Sunita Devi, a domestic worker in Nilothi area of Delhi is worried how to feed her four daughters through the rest of the shutdown.
Devi is one of the thousands of casual workers in Delhi who have run out of cash and are now surviving on food distributed by the government at public schools. "We get small portions which I divide among four children. There is barely enough for all of us," Devi, a single parent, said.
Devi is from Fatehpur in northern Uttar Pradesh state about 560km (350 miles) from New Delhi. Her husband, a driver, died of tuberculosis two years ago. Before the lockdown, she earned Rs 5,500 monthly ($73) cleaning and cooking for three middle-class families in Paschim Vihar.
Paying Rs 2000 ($26) in rent, she and the girls survived on less than $2 a day for food and school expenses. Devi had barely any savings, and the lockdown had come as a blow. Her employers, who run businesses, had asked her to stop coming to work during this period without providing any pay to tide her over these six weeks.
"I worked inside their houses, and now they have closed their doors on me. They claim I may infect them. I have a few rupees left. Do I use it to pay rent or do I buy milk, vegetables for my children?" Devi told Al Jazeera.
She stood outside a school building in Nilothi at 4pm local time, an hour before long queues started forming - a common sight these days in big cities across India - for a meal of rice and legumes that evening.
In Kapasheda, 14 miles from Nilothi, Seema Sardar and Kanika Vishvas, both domestic workers, said their employers had turned them away without any pay to live on during the lockdown.
Sardar's employers, who live in an upscale urban "farmhouse", had left for the United States in early March without paying her for April. Vishvas, whose husband works as a waste-picker, said she swept and cooked for three men who shared an apartment in Surya Vihar a mile from the slum she lived in.
Delhi under lockdown story
Seema Sardar, right, and Kanika Vishvas who work as domestic workers in Kapasheda in southwest Delhi said their employers had turned them out without any money to survive on in the lockdown [Anumeha Yadav/Al Jazeera]
They had not paid her for March or April. She cannot try to to walk to speak to them, because policemen had blocked the highway.
Nearly half of India's workforce of 467 million is self-employed, 36 percent are casual wage workers, while only 17 percent are regular wage workers. Two-thirds of them work without contracts and more than 90 percent lack any social security or health benefits in the workplace. The coronavirus lockdown has made survival difficult for them.
On March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced one of strictest lockdowns in the world, shutting down public transport, but he did not say how the state would support the poor through it.
Tens of thousands of migrant workers fled the city, many of them walking hundreds of kilometres, to reach their homes as factories and businesses were shut as part of government's measures to fight the virus, which has killed more than 150,000 people worldwide.
The government later announced relief measures, providing each individual with 5 kilogrammes (11 pounds) of rice/wheat for the next three months, in addition to one kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of pulses per family.
In New Delhi, the state government announced it would also provide grains to 7.2 million people, or 40 percent of its population of some 20 million.
But academics and activists say that is not enough as millions of vulnerable families who are not on the Public Distribution System - a food ration scheme - registries will be left out.
India lockdown story
Food queues as a community organisation food truck serves cooked meals in Kapasheda in Delhi [Anumeha Yadav/Al Jazeera]
The city-state government said it has distributed meals at 1,635 centres, including public schools and shelters for the homeless, to feed 1.2 million residents. But experts pointed out the number of those who need support is much higher during the ongoing crisis.
Dipa Sinha, a development economist at Ambedkar University, pointed out that the central government provision applies to the existing beneficiaries of the PDS under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
"Delhi's ration registry, like in most other states, is based on the 2011 census. The population has grown since then, it already leaves a large number of urban poor and migrants out," said Sinha.
Over 3 million workers survive on temporary and daily wage work in India's capital. For many, the ration cards, if they have any, remain in villages with their families.
"Nearly 70 percent of Delhi's population, 13 million, live in slums. Only 7.2 million are registered as beneficiaries under the food security law, but an additional 6.5 million may need food support now as they lack social security and social networks in the city," said Amrita Johri, an activist with the Right to Food Campaign, a public campaign for policies against endemic undernutrition.
In slums adjoining rich and upper-middle-class areas of Delhi, people, particularly women and the elderly, said they are battling hunger and uncertainties as they cannot find work.
At a construction site at Anand Niketan in Chanakyapuri, where several government offices and international embassies are located, Rajkumar Oraon a worker from a central Indian Indigenous community, said 30 migrants, including women and children, had been stranded without food for three days following the lockdown.
Pockets of deep distress
"We mixed rice with water and lived on it for three days. On March 28, after a local teacher found out, he organised a meal of rice and chickpeas for us, but the food van does not visit every day," said Oraon.
None of the families at the site have ration cards, which would give them access to food grain entitlements in Delhi.
Munni Chauhan, a widow in her 60s, who worked as a thread cutter for a daily wage in garment export firms, walked over a kilometre (about one mile) to the southwest Delhi district commissioner's office, defying the lockdown.
She says she has run out of food and money. "I said to myself, if the police wish to thrash me today, let them. I came here to ask the government, what should I eat? How should I pay rent?" said an angry Chauhan.
She added that though she had enrolled in the Aadhaar, India's biometric ID database which is mandatory to receive any social security benefits, she was not able to get a ration card to access subsidised grains.
Experts on social security schemes said there was no shortage of food stocks and the government must unlock the state food stores to give grains to the poor.
Delhi under lockdown story
Rajkumar Oraon, a construction worker stranded at a worksite, said 30 people at the site had no food for three days [Anumeha Yadav/Al Jazeera]
"The grain stocks of the [state-run] Food Corporation of India are now at over 77 million tonnes - three times more than the buffer stocks requirements, and adequate to meet the immediate food needs of millions of poor right now," explained Reetika Khera, an economist at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
"The union government must commit to make these stocks available - free of cost - to state governments, set up a dense network of community kitchens, and provide grains to those without ration cards."
Jasmine Shah from the non-profit Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission said those without ration cards - issued by local authorities - would have to register for an "electronic coupon".
"Over 1.5 million have registered for an e-coupon in the past week, and 0.3 million have received rations under the new system," said Shah who works with the city-state's governing Aam Aadmi Party.
But many workers Al Jazeera spoke to struggled to apply for the "electronic-coupon" as it requires a smartphone, which most do not have.
In Nilothi, Saira Khatun, a construction worker in her forties, said she could not apply as she did not know how to use a smartphone.
Jameesa Khatun, a domestic worker, who earned Rs 2000 ($27) a month cleaning houses before the lockdown, said agents who provide digital services ask for Rs 250-300($4) to help workers do this. "How will we afford this when we can barely afford milk for infants at a time like this?" she asked.
Mohammed Gulzar, a car mechanic, said he had a smartphone but was still not able to apply. He pointed to his mobile screen, which showed the website had crashed because of excessive traffic last week.
Shah of AAP told Al Jazeera the glitch had been resolved this week.
Johri, the food rights activist, called for a simpler system to register the needy in times of crisis like this.
"Economists, including Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Bannerjee, are advising urgent measures at this time, and states should avoid trying being 'clever', setting up complex systems of targeting," said Johri.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...lhi-coronavirus-lockdown-200418095253032.html
Devi is one of the thousands of casual workers in Delhi who have run out of cash and are now surviving on food distributed by the government at public schools. "We get small portions which I divide among four children. There is barely enough for all of us," Devi, a single parent, said.
Devi is from Fatehpur in northern Uttar Pradesh state about 560km (350 miles) from New Delhi. Her husband, a driver, died of tuberculosis two years ago. Before the lockdown, she earned Rs 5,500 monthly ($73) cleaning and cooking for three middle-class families in Paschim Vihar.
Paying Rs 2000 ($26) in rent, she and the girls survived on less than $2 a day for food and school expenses. Devi had barely any savings, and the lockdown had come as a blow. Her employers, who run businesses, had asked her to stop coming to work during this period without providing any pay to tide her over these six weeks.
"I worked inside their houses, and now they have closed their doors on me. They claim I may infect them. I have a few rupees left. Do I use it to pay rent or do I buy milk, vegetables for my children?" Devi told Al Jazeera.
She stood outside a school building in Nilothi at 4pm local time, an hour before long queues started forming - a common sight these days in big cities across India - for a meal of rice and legumes that evening.
In Kapasheda, 14 miles from Nilothi, Seema Sardar and Kanika Vishvas, both domestic workers, said their employers had turned them away without any pay to live on during the lockdown.
Sardar's employers, who live in an upscale urban "farmhouse", had left for the United States in early March without paying her for April. Vishvas, whose husband works as a waste-picker, said she swept and cooked for three men who shared an apartment in Surya Vihar a mile from the slum she lived in.
Delhi under lockdown story
Seema Sardar, right, and Kanika Vishvas who work as domestic workers in Kapasheda in southwest Delhi said their employers had turned them out without any money to survive on in the lockdown [Anumeha Yadav/Al Jazeera]
They had not paid her for March or April. She cannot try to to walk to speak to them, because policemen had blocked the highway.
Nearly half of India's workforce of 467 million is self-employed, 36 percent are casual wage workers, while only 17 percent are regular wage workers. Two-thirds of them work without contracts and more than 90 percent lack any social security or health benefits in the workplace. The coronavirus lockdown has made survival difficult for them.
On March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced one of strictest lockdowns in the world, shutting down public transport, but he did not say how the state would support the poor through it.
Tens of thousands of migrant workers fled the city, many of them walking hundreds of kilometres, to reach their homes as factories and businesses were shut as part of government's measures to fight the virus, which has killed more than 150,000 people worldwide.
The government later announced relief measures, providing each individual with 5 kilogrammes (11 pounds) of rice/wheat for the next three months, in addition to one kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of pulses per family.
In New Delhi, the state government announced it would also provide grains to 7.2 million people, or 40 percent of its population of some 20 million.
But academics and activists say that is not enough as millions of vulnerable families who are not on the Public Distribution System - a food ration scheme - registries will be left out.
India lockdown story
Food queues as a community organisation food truck serves cooked meals in Kapasheda in Delhi [Anumeha Yadav/Al Jazeera]
The city-state government said it has distributed meals at 1,635 centres, including public schools and shelters for the homeless, to feed 1.2 million residents. But experts pointed out the number of those who need support is much higher during the ongoing crisis.
Dipa Sinha, a development economist at Ambedkar University, pointed out that the central government provision applies to the existing beneficiaries of the PDS under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
"Delhi's ration registry, like in most other states, is based on the 2011 census. The population has grown since then, it already leaves a large number of urban poor and migrants out," said Sinha.
Over 3 million workers survive on temporary and daily wage work in India's capital. For many, the ration cards, if they have any, remain in villages with their families.
"Nearly 70 percent of Delhi's population, 13 million, live in slums. Only 7.2 million are registered as beneficiaries under the food security law, but an additional 6.5 million may need food support now as they lack social security and social networks in the city," said Amrita Johri, an activist with the Right to Food Campaign, a public campaign for policies against endemic undernutrition.
In slums adjoining rich and upper-middle-class areas of Delhi, people, particularly women and the elderly, said they are battling hunger and uncertainties as they cannot find work.
At a construction site at Anand Niketan in Chanakyapuri, where several government offices and international embassies are located, Rajkumar Oraon a worker from a central Indian Indigenous community, said 30 migrants, including women and children, had been stranded without food for three days following the lockdown.
Pockets of deep distress
"We mixed rice with water and lived on it for three days. On March 28, after a local teacher found out, he organised a meal of rice and chickpeas for us, but the food van does not visit every day," said Oraon.
None of the families at the site have ration cards, which would give them access to food grain entitlements in Delhi.
Munni Chauhan, a widow in her 60s, who worked as a thread cutter for a daily wage in garment export firms, walked over a kilometre (about one mile) to the southwest Delhi district commissioner's office, defying the lockdown.
She says she has run out of food and money. "I said to myself, if the police wish to thrash me today, let them. I came here to ask the government, what should I eat? How should I pay rent?" said an angry Chauhan.
She added that though she had enrolled in the Aadhaar, India's biometric ID database which is mandatory to receive any social security benefits, she was not able to get a ration card to access subsidised grains.
Experts on social security schemes said there was no shortage of food stocks and the government must unlock the state food stores to give grains to the poor.
Delhi under lockdown story
Rajkumar Oraon, a construction worker stranded at a worksite, said 30 people at the site had no food for three days [Anumeha Yadav/Al Jazeera]
"The grain stocks of the [state-run] Food Corporation of India are now at over 77 million tonnes - three times more than the buffer stocks requirements, and adequate to meet the immediate food needs of millions of poor right now," explained Reetika Khera, an economist at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
"The union government must commit to make these stocks available - free of cost - to state governments, set up a dense network of community kitchens, and provide grains to those without ration cards."
Jasmine Shah from the non-profit Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission said those without ration cards - issued by local authorities - would have to register for an "electronic coupon".
"Over 1.5 million have registered for an e-coupon in the past week, and 0.3 million have received rations under the new system," said Shah who works with the city-state's governing Aam Aadmi Party.
But many workers Al Jazeera spoke to struggled to apply for the "electronic-coupon" as it requires a smartphone, which most do not have.
In Nilothi, Saira Khatun, a construction worker in her forties, said she could not apply as she did not know how to use a smartphone.
Jameesa Khatun, a domestic worker, who earned Rs 2000 ($27) a month cleaning houses before the lockdown, said agents who provide digital services ask for Rs 250-300($4) to help workers do this. "How will we afford this when we can barely afford milk for infants at a time like this?" she asked.
Mohammed Gulzar, a car mechanic, said he had a smartphone but was still not able to apply. He pointed to his mobile screen, which showed the website had crashed because of excessive traffic last week.
Shah of AAP told Al Jazeera the glitch had been resolved this week.
Johri, the food rights activist, called for a simpler system to register the needy in times of crisis like this.
"Economists, including Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Bannerjee, are advising urgent measures at this time, and states should avoid trying being 'clever', setting up complex systems of targeting," said Johri.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...lhi-coronavirus-lockdown-200418095253032.html
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 217,944
Millions of Indians who have been without work for weeks are facing hunger as the country battles the coronavirus outbreak.
The most vulnerable are daily wage earners, contract workers and migrant labourers who have been without work and earnings since the country was shut down on 25 March.
It comes as World Food Programme analysis suggests an additional 130 million people around the world "could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020" as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Programme, has warned the UN Security Council that the world is "on the brink of a hunger pandemic" that could lead to "multiple famines of biblical proportions".
Hundreds of men, women and their children have been waiting in the blazing sun for a precious meal in Gurgaon on the outskirts of the Indian national capital Delhi.
Mujibur, a labourer, is there to pick up a hot meal for his wife Mariam who gave birth to a baby boy during the shutdown.
It is past midday and this is the first meal she will eat until dinner time.
She said: "It's a big problem for me, there is no food, no money and I have a baby, I am very worried about him. Whatever is given to us that's all I eat the whole day."
The biggest problem they all face is the availability of food and rations.
For weeks they have been without any work and most have exhausted their savings.
The shutdown has stripped them of everything including their dignity.
Hundreds here live in clusters of one-room homes, some even in tin sheds and huts made of plastic sheets and bamboo.
They are labourers, masons, drivers, maids, cleaners, guards and vegetable sellers that cater to thousands of homes and high-rise apartments that dot this cyber city.
Lalla Bai, a daily wage labourer, left her two children in the village to come here to earn a living.
Desperate to go back home, she said: "We are angry with the government, they are starving us. Neither are they killing us nor are they allowing us to live. We are stuck in the middle. I cannot go back to my children."
She insists we come inside her bamboo and plastic sheeting hut.
It's stifling as the temperature is already touching 40C (104F) and this is just the beginning of the long summer.
Social distancing is a privilege these people cannot afford.
Jamshed lives with his wife and four children in a room with its roof and three sides made of tin sheeting.
A daily wage earner, he came to the city three months ago and regrets his decision.
"Food is the biggest problem and since there is no work I have no money to buy anything," he said.
Tanuja, a 36-year-old cleaner, broke down as she said: "This disease has crushed us. I have no work, no food, no money to pay rent. My children are in the village and I have to send them money. What will I do."
The common washing areas coupled with unhygienic living conditions and a lack of personal protection means the pandemic would ravage this cluster.
The informal sector of daily wage earners, contract workers and migrant labourers form almost 81% of the country's working population.
The government has set up thousands of relief camps where free food and shelter is provided to the poor and migrants who are stuck.
But with the overwhelming numbers, not everyone can be reached all the time.
Two days into the lockdown, Vishal Anand, a restaurant owner, was stopped in his car by people asking for food.
He said they were "not beggars, but skilled and unskilled workers and they just wanted food".
Mr Anand pooled his finances and with a group of his friends and volunteers started a kitchen making thousands of hot meals.
With limited resources the idea was to provide the most vulnerable with food for only for a few days until the administration stepped up.
But with the overwhelming numbers of hungry people they were unable to stop.
Mr Anand told Sky News: "As citizens the first thing I believe in is that we need to help other citizens. The most important thing we have to do is to secure them with basic food and rations for the next 90 days. We really don't know when the lockdown will be over and when they will get back to their respective jobs."
With the help of some charities, donations and the administration, he and his friends are making life a bit easier for the thousands of the forgotten poor.
It's an uncertain future for this vast, invisible majority, many desperate to get back home to their families.
Geeta, from Panna in Madhya Pradesh, said: "Our children are dying of hunger at home and we here, we have nothing here. We want to go back. Our children will die there and we will die here."
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavi...ockdown-measures-11978857?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter
The most vulnerable are daily wage earners, contract workers and migrant labourers who have been without work and earnings since the country was shut down on 25 March.
It comes as World Food Programme analysis suggests an additional 130 million people around the world "could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020" as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Programme, has warned the UN Security Council that the world is "on the brink of a hunger pandemic" that could lead to "multiple famines of biblical proportions".
Hundreds of men, women and their children have been waiting in the blazing sun for a precious meal in Gurgaon on the outskirts of the Indian national capital Delhi.
Mujibur, a labourer, is there to pick up a hot meal for his wife Mariam who gave birth to a baby boy during the shutdown.
It is past midday and this is the first meal she will eat until dinner time.
She said: "It's a big problem for me, there is no food, no money and I have a baby, I am very worried about him. Whatever is given to us that's all I eat the whole day."
The biggest problem they all face is the availability of food and rations.
For weeks they have been without any work and most have exhausted their savings.
The shutdown has stripped them of everything including their dignity.
Hundreds here live in clusters of one-room homes, some even in tin sheds and huts made of plastic sheets and bamboo.
They are labourers, masons, drivers, maids, cleaners, guards and vegetable sellers that cater to thousands of homes and high-rise apartments that dot this cyber city.
Lalla Bai, a daily wage labourer, left her two children in the village to come here to earn a living.
Desperate to go back home, she said: "We are angry with the government, they are starving us. Neither are they killing us nor are they allowing us to live. We are stuck in the middle. I cannot go back to my children."
She insists we come inside her bamboo and plastic sheeting hut.
It's stifling as the temperature is already touching 40C (104F) and this is just the beginning of the long summer.
Social distancing is a privilege these people cannot afford.
Jamshed lives with his wife and four children in a room with its roof and three sides made of tin sheeting.
A daily wage earner, he came to the city three months ago and regrets his decision.
"Food is the biggest problem and since there is no work I have no money to buy anything," he said.
Tanuja, a 36-year-old cleaner, broke down as she said: "This disease has crushed us. I have no work, no food, no money to pay rent. My children are in the village and I have to send them money. What will I do."
The common washing areas coupled with unhygienic living conditions and a lack of personal protection means the pandemic would ravage this cluster.
The informal sector of daily wage earners, contract workers and migrant labourers form almost 81% of the country's working population.
The government has set up thousands of relief camps where free food and shelter is provided to the poor and migrants who are stuck.
But with the overwhelming numbers, not everyone can be reached all the time.
Two days into the lockdown, Vishal Anand, a restaurant owner, was stopped in his car by people asking for food.
He said they were "not beggars, but skilled and unskilled workers and they just wanted food".
Mr Anand pooled his finances and with a group of his friends and volunteers started a kitchen making thousands of hot meals.
With limited resources the idea was to provide the most vulnerable with food for only for a few days until the administration stepped up.
But with the overwhelming numbers of hungry people they were unable to stop.
Mr Anand told Sky News: "As citizens the first thing I believe in is that we need to help other citizens. The most important thing we have to do is to secure them with basic food and rations for the next 90 days. We really don't know when the lockdown will be over and when they will get back to their respective jobs."
With the help of some charities, donations and the administration, he and his friends are making life a bit easier for the thousands of the forgotten poor.
It's an uncertain future for this vast, invisible majority, many desperate to get back home to their families.
Geeta, from Panna in Madhya Pradesh, said: "Our children are dying of hunger at home and we here, we have nothing here. We want to go back. Our children will die there and we will die here."
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavi...ockdown-measures-11978857?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 217,944
When Manit Parikh's mother tested positive for the new coronavirus, she was rushed by ambulance to Mumbai's private Lilavati Hospital, but officials told the family no critical-care beds were available.
Five hours and dozens of phone calls later, the family found a bed for her at the private Bombay Hospital. A day later, on May 18, Parikh's 92-year-old diabetic grandfather had breathing difficulties at home and was taken to the city's Breach Candy Hospital, another top private facility, but there were no beds.
"My dad was pleading with them," Parikh told Reuters. "They said they didn't have a bed, not even a normal bed." Later that day, they found a bed at Bombay Hospital, but his grandfather died hours later. His test results showed he was infected with the virus.
Parikh said he believes the delays contributed to his grandfather's death. Officials at Lilavati and Bombay Hospital declined to speak with Reuters. Representatives of Breach Candy hospital did not respond to requests for comment.
For years, India's booming private hospitals have taken some of the strain off the country's underfunded and dilapidated public health network, but the ordeal of Parikh's family suggests that as coronavirus cases explode in India, even private facilities are at risk of being overrun.
India on Sunday reported 6,767 new coronavirus infections, the country's biggest one-day increase.
Government data shows the number of coronavirus cases in the world's second-most populous country are doubling every 13 days or so, even as the government begins easing lockdown restrictions. India has reported more than 145,380 infections, including 4,167 deaths.
"The increasing trend has not gone down," said Bhramar Mukherjee, a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Michigan, referring to India's cases. "We've not seen a flattening of the curve."
Mukherjee's team estimates that between 630,000 and 2.1 million people in India - out of a population of 1.3 billion - will become infected by early July.
The increasing trend has not gone down. We've not seen a flattening of the curve.
More than a fifth of the country's coronavirus cases are in Mumbai, India's financial hub and its most populous city, where the Parikhs struggled to find hospital beds for their infected family members.
India's health ministry did not respond to a request for comment on how it will cope with the predicted rise in infections, given that most public hospitals are overcrowded at the best of times.
The federal government has said in media briefings that not all patients need hospitalisation, and it is making rapid efforts to increase the number of hospital beds and procure health gear.
The federal government's data from last year showed there were about 714,000 hospital beds in India, up from about 540,000 in 2009. However, given India's rising population, the number of beds per 1,000 people has grown only slightly in that time.
India has 0.5 beds per 1,000 people, according to the latest data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), up from 0.4 beds in 2009, but among lowest of countries surveyed by the OECD. In contrast, China has 4.3 hospital beds per 1,000 people, and the United States has 2.8, according to the latest OECD figures.
Mumbai hospitals
India has reported more than 145,380 infections, including 4,167 deaths [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]
While millions of India's poor rely on the public health system, especially in rural areas, private facilities account for 55 percent of hospital admissions, according to government data. The private health sector has been growing over the past two decades, especially in India's big cities, where an expanding class of affluent Indians can afford private care.
Mumbai's municipal authority said it had ordered public officials to take control of at least 100 private hospital beds in all 24 zones in the city of 18 million people to make more beds available for coronavirus patients.
Still, there is a waiting list. An official at a helpline run by Mumbai's civic authorities told Reuters that patients would be notified about availability.
Shortage of staff
It is not just beds that are in short supply. On May 16, Mumbai's municipal authority said it did not have enough staff to operate beds required for patients critically ill with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
As a result, resident doctors will receive less time off than prescribed by the federal government, the authority said. Some medical professionals told Reuters they are already overburdened and treating patients without adequate protective gear, exposing them to a higher risk of infection.
Several hospitals in Mumbai, western Gujarat state, the northern city of Agra and Kolkata in the east have in recent weeks shut partially or fully for days because some medical staff were infected with the virus. The federal government has not reported any deaths of medical staff from the virus.
"In our country, healthcare has never gotten priority," said Dr Adarsh Pratap Singh, head of the 2,500-strong resident doctors association at New Delhi's top public hospital, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). "The government is now realising the reality, but it's already too late."
The AIIMS group has in recent weeks protested about the lack of health gear and publicly rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for doctors to donate part of their salaries to his coronavirus fund.
Some health experts say India's struggle to treat coronavirus patients is the result of chronic underinvestment in healthcare. The Indian government estimates it spends only about 1.5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on public health. That figure is higher than it was - about 1 percent in the 1980s and 1.3 percent five years ago - but India still ranks among the world's lowest spenders in terms of percentage of GDP.
Mumbai hospitals
Some health experts say India's struggle to treat patients is the result of chronic underinvestment in healthcare [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]
This year, Modi's federal government raised its health budget by 6 percent, but that is still short of the government's own goal of increasing public health spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2025, according to New Delhi-based think-tank Observer Research Foundation.
'Too many patients'
Keshav Desiraju, a former Indian health secretary, said more investment in the health system before the virus outbreak might have made the health system more resilient. "At the times of a crisis, all the holes show up," he told Reuters.
Dr Chaitanya Patil, a senior resident doctor at King Edward Memorial government hospital, one of Mumbai's largest, said the facility had a shortage of medical staff, and the 12 coronavirus wards catering to about 500 patients were almost full.
"There are just too many patients coming in," said Patil, "It is lack of preparedness or a lack of insight of the people planning."
Last week Rajesh Tope, health minister of the state of Maharashtra, which contains Mumbai, said the lack of hospital beds for critically ill patients would not last long.
"In the next two months, more than 17,000 vacant posts of doctors, nurses, technicians and other health workers will be filled," he said in a public address.
India's United Nurses Association, which represents 380,000 medics, took a list of 12 issues they said they are facing - including lack of protective gear and accommodation - to the Supreme Court in April. The court told them they could lodge complaints on a government helpline.
Some nurses are leaving the big cities. Earlier this month, some 300 nurses working at hospitals in the eastern city of Kolkata left for their hometowns 1,500 km (930 miles) away in India's remote northeastern state of Manipur.
A group representing them said they had left because of irregular salaries and inadequate safety gear, among other issues.
"We love our profession," said 24-year-old Shyamkumar, who quit his nursing job in one of Kolkata's hospitals and is planning to head back to Manipur. "But when we are going to work, please give us proper equipment."
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/f...irus-cases-explode-india-200526044032685.html
Five hours and dozens of phone calls later, the family found a bed for her at the private Bombay Hospital. A day later, on May 18, Parikh's 92-year-old diabetic grandfather had breathing difficulties at home and was taken to the city's Breach Candy Hospital, another top private facility, but there were no beds.
"My dad was pleading with them," Parikh told Reuters. "They said they didn't have a bed, not even a normal bed." Later that day, they found a bed at Bombay Hospital, but his grandfather died hours later. His test results showed he was infected with the virus.
Parikh said he believes the delays contributed to his grandfather's death. Officials at Lilavati and Bombay Hospital declined to speak with Reuters. Representatives of Breach Candy hospital did not respond to requests for comment.
For years, India's booming private hospitals have taken some of the strain off the country's underfunded and dilapidated public health network, but the ordeal of Parikh's family suggests that as coronavirus cases explode in India, even private facilities are at risk of being overrun.
India on Sunday reported 6,767 new coronavirus infections, the country's biggest one-day increase.
Government data shows the number of coronavirus cases in the world's second-most populous country are doubling every 13 days or so, even as the government begins easing lockdown restrictions. India has reported more than 145,380 infections, including 4,167 deaths.
"The increasing trend has not gone down," said Bhramar Mukherjee, a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Michigan, referring to India's cases. "We've not seen a flattening of the curve."
Mukherjee's team estimates that between 630,000 and 2.1 million people in India - out of a population of 1.3 billion - will become infected by early July.
The increasing trend has not gone down. We've not seen a flattening of the curve.
More than a fifth of the country's coronavirus cases are in Mumbai, India's financial hub and its most populous city, where the Parikhs struggled to find hospital beds for their infected family members.
India's health ministry did not respond to a request for comment on how it will cope with the predicted rise in infections, given that most public hospitals are overcrowded at the best of times.
The federal government has said in media briefings that not all patients need hospitalisation, and it is making rapid efforts to increase the number of hospital beds and procure health gear.
The federal government's data from last year showed there were about 714,000 hospital beds in India, up from about 540,000 in 2009. However, given India's rising population, the number of beds per 1,000 people has grown only slightly in that time.
India has 0.5 beds per 1,000 people, according to the latest data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), up from 0.4 beds in 2009, but among lowest of countries surveyed by the OECD. In contrast, China has 4.3 hospital beds per 1,000 people, and the United States has 2.8, according to the latest OECD figures.
Mumbai hospitals
India has reported more than 145,380 infections, including 4,167 deaths [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]
While millions of India's poor rely on the public health system, especially in rural areas, private facilities account for 55 percent of hospital admissions, according to government data. The private health sector has been growing over the past two decades, especially in India's big cities, where an expanding class of affluent Indians can afford private care.
Mumbai's municipal authority said it had ordered public officials to take control of at least 100 private hospital beds in all 24 zones in the city of 18 million people to make more beds available for coronavirus patients.
Still, there is a waiting list. An official at a helpline run by Mumbai's civic authorities told Reuters that patients would be notified about availability.
Shortage of staff
It is not just beds that are in short supply. On May 16, Mumbai's municipal authority said it did not have enough staff to operate beds required for patients critically ill with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
As a result, resident doctors will receive less time off than prescribed by the federal government, the authority said. Some medical professionals told Reuters they are already overburdened and treating patients without adequate protective gear, exposing them to a higher risk of infection.
Several hospitals in Mumbai, western Gujarat state, the northern city of Agra and Kolkata in the east have in recent weeks shut partially or fully for days because some medical staff were infected with the virus. The federal government has not reported any deaths of medical staff from the virus.
"In our country, healthcare has never gotten priority," said Dr Adarsh Pratap Singh, head of the 2,500-strong resident doctors association at New Delhi's top public hospital, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). "The government is now realising the reality, but it's already too late."
The AIIMS group has in recent weeks protested about the lack of health gear and publicly rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for doctors to donate part of their salaries to his coronavirus fund.
Some health experts say India's struggle to treat coronavirus patients is the result of chronic underinvestment in healthcare. The Indian government estimates it spends only about 1.5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on public health. That figure is higher than it was - about 1 percent in the 1980s and 1.3 percent five years ago - but India still ranks among the world's lowest spenders in terms of percentage of GDP.
Mumbai hospitals
Some health experts say India's struggle to treat patients is the result of chronic underinvestment in healthcare [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]
This year, Modi's federal government raised its health budget by 6 percent, but that is still short of the government's own goal of increasing public health spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2025, according to New Delhi-based think-tank Observer Research Foundation.
'Too many patients'
Keshav Desiraju, a former Indian health secretary, said more investment in the health system before the virus outbreak might have made the health system more resilient. "At the times of a crisis, all the holes show up," he told Reuters.
Dr Chaitanya Patil, a senior resident doctor at King Edward Memorial government hospital, one of Mumbai's largest, said the facility had a shortage of medical staff, and the 12 coronavirus wards catering to about 500 patients were almost full.
"There are just too many patients coming in," said Patil, "It is lack of preparedness or a lack of insight of the people planning."
Last week Rajesh Tope, health minister of the state of Maharashtra, which contains Mumbai, said the lack of hospital beds for critically ill patients would not last long.
"In the next two months, more than 17,000 vacant posts of doctors, nurses, technicians and other health workers will be filled," he said in a public address.
India's United Nurses Association, which represents 380,000 medics, took a list of 12 issues they said they are facing - including lack of protective gear and accommodation - to the Supreme Court in April. The court told them they could lodge complaints on a government helpline.
Some nurses are leaving the big cities. Earlier this month, some 300 nurses working at hospitals in the eastern city of Kolkata left for their hometowns 1,500 km (930 miles) away in India's remote northeastern state of Manipur.
A group representing them said they had left because of irregular salaries and inadequate safety gear, among other issues.
"We love our profession," said 24-year-old Shyamkumar, who quit his nursing job in one of Kolkata's hospitals and is planning to head back to Manipur. "But when we are going to work, please give us proper equipment."
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/f...irus-cases-explode-india-200526044032685.html
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