INDIA’S DEMOGRAPHICS have always been a mindboggling number soup. Almost everything to do with people here is on an unimaginable scale. Whether it is the general election, the mid-day meal scheme, or even the ongoing lockdown, the exercises end up being the largest in the world.
India is now beginning to bring its citizens back from across the world, and the sheer scale of the operation is jaw-dropping. There are 1.4 crore Indian nationals abroad, in every continent and almost every country, and many of them now want to return home. Over five lakh NRIs have registered for evacuation from the Gulf region alone.
The global spread of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdowns resulted in lakhs of Indians getting stranded abroad. Among them were those who lost their jobs, and tourists and students whose money was fast running out.
But India, having sealed itself from the outside world, was just coming to grips with the situation within its borders. The displacement of migrant labourers itself was an overwhelming problem. All that the country could tell its nationals abroad was to hold on a little longer, and approach the local missions for help. The advice, however, only agitated the stranded, as they read reports of foreigners being evacuated from India. “Why couldn’t we have been put onto the flights which were going to India to evacuate foreigners?” asked a group of stranded Indians in Malaysia. “If it had to be a paid return, we would have returned weeks ago.”
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Pressure Points
Author and MP Shashi Tharoor and motivational speaker Gaur Gopal Das on how to find healing and meaning in today's world
War Over Wounded Earth
For the BJP andthe Congress, the ravaged farmlands of Vidarbha represent a cxitieal battleground in their larger struggle to win Maharashtra
Say no to continual elections
Following the recommendations of a high-level committee led by former president Ram Nath Kovind to streamline the widely scattered schedule of national, state and local elections, the Union cabinet has reportedly approved two constitutional amendment bills for likely introduction in Parliament. Predictably, the return of the ‘one nation, one election’ issue to news has set off a flurry of objections by several opposition leaders.
Fabulously, fashionably funny
The third season of the Karan Johar-produced Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives dropped on Netflix, but articles criticising the show appear in some news site or the other almost daily. If it is so bad, why keep writing about it? And if it is so bad, why would the superpowers at Netflix, who are harder to meet than the prime minister, commission the show season after season?
All in the family
The Chitaras have been passing down the secret art of Mata Ni Pachedi through generations for more than 400 years now
Raise a toast to Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan is a New Year baby. At 45, she is aglow in the most beautiful way, having won the hearts and admiration of countless fans across the world, who watched the supremely talented actor take a public tumble on stage at a high-profile promotional event recently, sharing the platform with no less a dancer than the eternally graceful Madhuri Dixit.
Death no bar
Being alive is not a legal requirement to be elected president of the United States
The Lotus POTUS
You should visit us one of these days— there is so much excitement in our USA! No, I don’t mean the famous USA—the Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association of Mumbai.
RAY OF HOPE
Actor and cancer survivor Lisa Ray talks to oncologist Dr Jame Abraham about inner strength and her surrogacy journey
LEVERAGE AI TO ENHANCE WORK
AT THE WEEK Health Summit, Siddharth Bagga, head (retail, CPG and health care), Google Cloud, elaborated on the significant work that Google has been doing in health care through artificial intelligence (AI).