CATEGORIES

How Not To Handle An Epidemic
FRONTLINE

How Not To Handle An Epidemic

The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.

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9 mins  |
June 5, 2020
Tragedy on foot
FRONTLINE

Tragedy on foot

As the COVID-19-induced lockdown cuts the ground beneath their feet in Tamil Nadu, thousands of migrant workers are trudging along the highway to the relative safety of their upcountry homes.

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10+ mins  |
June 5, 2020
Sarpanchs as game changers
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Sarpanchs as game changers

Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

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7 mins  |
June 5, 2020
Scapegoating China
FRONTLINE

Scapegoating China

As the COVID-19 death rate spikes and the economy tanks in the United States, Donald Trump and his advisers target China and the World Health Organisation with an eye to winning the forthcoming presidential election.

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10 mins  |
June 5, 2020
New worries
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New worries

Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.

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9 mins  |
June 5, 2020
FRONTLINE

No love lost for labour

Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.

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8 mins  |
June 5, 2020
Capital's Malthusian moment
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Capital's Malthusian moment

In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .

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10+ mins  |
June 5, 2020
Understanding migration
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Understanding migration

When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.

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10 mins  |
June 5, 2020
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
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Waiting for Jabalpur moment

The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.

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10+ mins  |
June 5, 2020
An empty package
FRONTLINE

An empty package

The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.

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10+ mins  |
June 5, 2020
How A Virus Evolves
FRONTLINE

How A Virus Evolves

The mutations of SARS-CoV-2, according to a new study, have led to the emergence of a dominant virus type, Type A2a, distinctly different from the original virus, Type O, that emerged from Wuhan, and spreading with much higher frequencies than the original version.

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10+ mins  |
May 22, 2020
Job Offers Withdrawn, Internships Now Unpaid
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Job Offers Withdrawn, Internships Now Unpaid

Engineering and business school graduates stare at a bleak future as job offers are withdrawn or revised, while delays in joining dates add to the climate of uncertainty.

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5 mins  |
May 22, 2020
‘Disdainful neglect of public sector must end'
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‘Disdainful neglect of public sector must end'

Interview with Professor K. Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India, and member of the ICMR’s high-level technical committee on COVID-19.

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8 mins  |
May 22, 2020
In search of a road map
FRONTLINE

In search of a road map

It is now increasingly clear that the government did not think through and provide for the consequences of the lockdown.

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10 mins  |
May 22, 2020
The way forward on migrant issues
FRONTLINE

The way forward on migrant issues

Even as Kerala and Odisha have taken proactive measures for migrant welfare in the wake of the lockdown, a permanent solution to migrants’ problems may lie in the implementation of the report of the first-ever task force on migration that was submitted to the Centre in 2017.

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10+ mins  |
May 22, 2020
The iron hand is out
FRONTLINE

The iron hand is out

The coronavirus pandemic has come in handy for governments to tighten their hold by curbing civil liberties and cracking down on political opponents, critics and vulnerable sections of people, including migrant labour.

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10 mins  |
May 22, 2020
Clueless captain
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Clueless captain

As the nation longs for relief from the pandemic and the economic misery caused by an ill-planned lockdown, the government prefers symbolism over substance, exposing its lack of meaningful leadership.

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10+ mins  |
May 22, 2020
RISING TREND
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RISING TREND

There are no signs of any let-up in the COVID case numbers well into the third phase of the lockdown even as issues of violation of physical distancing norms, mistreatment of front-line health workers, inadequate public health infrastructure and increasing distress among the poor come to the fore in most States, besides of course the low testing numbers and haphazard screening and isolation of suspect cases.

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10+ mins  |
May 22, 2020
Dystopian pipe dream
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Dystopian pipe dream

The reluctance of the Narendra Modi regime to extend fiscal support to those in real need of help during a prolonged lockdown suggests that it is promoting further concentration of capital. Dire consequences await the economy and the polity.

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10+ mins  |
May 22, 2020
BLAME GAME
FRONTLINE

BLAME GAME

Faced with the failure of its lockdown-centric strategy, the Centre blames the States and the people for the rising graph of COVID-19 infection in the country. Grossly inadequate Union health budgets and the long-term failure to build a robust public health infrastructure have compounded the crisis.

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7 mins  |
May 22, 2020
Court In Covid Times
FRONTLINE

Court In Covid Times

The judiciary’s handling of cases relating to mitigation of the common man’s suffering leaves much to be desired.

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10+ mins  |
May 08, 2020
Lockdown And After
FRONTLINE

Lockdown And After

In India, decisions on strategies to contain COVID-19 are being made on the basis of unreliable data, but two things are clear: the number of infections is still on the rise and once the lockdown is lifted there will be a resurgence of cases. The government needs to come up with a calibrated approach to manage both in the post-lockdown period.

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9 mins  |
May 08, 2020
In search of a strategy
FRONTLINE

In search of a strategy

There is a lack of clarity on the epidemiological basis for the extension of the lockdown and an information gap at various levels on containment procedures.

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9 mins  |
May 08, 2020
Surprise surge
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Surprise surge

In Maharashtra, Mumbai is emerging a hotspot, but the people are generally happy with the government’s efforts to contain the virus and ensure that people’s needs are met during the lockdown.

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5 mins  |
May 08, 2020
Raw deal to States
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Raw deal to States

When cooperation and trust are the keywords for governments in the fight against COVID, the ruling dispensation at the Centre has, against the principles of federalism, undermined even the State governments’ spaces for negotiation.

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8 mins  |
May 08, 2020
Bumpy road
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Bumpy road

Despite posting impressive recovery from a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases, Tamil Nadu is worried about losing a battle as lack of adequate testing kits has hampered aggressive testing during the lockdown.

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10 mins  |
May 08, 2020
Rural distress
FRONTLINE

Rural distress

A countrywide survey of rural households during the lockdown confirms widespread distress and reaffirms the importance of public provisioning of food and other essentials, and of the urgent need for cash payments to stricken households.

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10+ mins  |
May 08, 2020
Data discrepancy
FRONTLINE

Data discrepancy

A couple of studies use naturally occurring control groups—passengers in the Diamond Princess and those who returned to Wuhan after foreign travel—and COVID-19 mortality data to calculate the Infection Fatality Ratio and with that work backwards to arrive at the true caseload in a country, which is far higher than the official numbers put out by countries.

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8 mins  |
May 08, 2020
Community efforts
FRONTLINE

Community efforts

While non-governmental organisations step up to meet the food needs of migrant workers, the lack of adequate testing and the inordinate focus on Bengaluru remain worrisome.

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8 mins  |
May 08, 2020
Angling for a swap line
FRONTLINE

Angling for a swap line

India’s central bank is in talks with the U.S. Federal Reserve for a swap line that will give it access to dollars at a time when it is experiencing large foreign capital outflows owing to the COVID-19-induced global economic crisis.

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8 mins  |
May 08, 2020

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