ON January 1, braving the bitter winter cold, people gathered at India Gate in New Delhi, sang songs, held placards and shouted slogans against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA). In another part of the city, several women were huddled under a tent in Shaheen Bagh, some with their children, with the same objective: oppose the CAA. The outrage over the CAA was not confined to Delhi; it spilled over to almost every city in the country, the only discernible difference being the size of the protesting crowds. The protests have resonated abroad as well—in the United Kingdom, in the United States and even in Cape Town in South Africa.
The CAA has been perceived as highly discriminatory as it offers the naturalisation of citizenship to refugees and “illegal migrants” from six specific communities (Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and Parsi) from three neighbouring countries, namely, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. It ignores the citizenship claims of others who might be already residing in India either as refugees or as illegal migrants but do not belong to the Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist or Parsi communities. The implicit message is that all the six communities selected in the CAA for preferential citizenship are inherently “Indian” while other refugee groups or migrants are not.
The bias could not have been more apparent as the CAA singularly excludes Muslims (political refugees or economic migrants from any country whatsoever) or, for that matter, thousands of Tamil refugees residing in camps in India from such regularisation of citizenship. The law to arbitrarily decide who is a refugee and who is not in the absence of a refugee policy has also been an area of contestation, as has been the selection of only a few and not all neighbouring countries.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. .
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.
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.
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.
