Civil Society - May 2020

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The coronavirus pandemic is a great story. As journalists we have our work cut out for us. But how do you hold your nerve and produce a financially fragile magazine when oil futures dip below zero, people die in tens of thousands and the world around you seems to be generally collapsing?
We stayed calm and kept going and we are very proud to be able to bring you the May issue of Civil Society right on time. The April issue was brought out ahead of time to beat the virus, but then came the lockdown and distribution of the print version was hit. So we put out a PDF version — as we will also do with the May issue.
The pandemic is a good reason for India to reassess its healthcare system. Our cover story therefore is on shining examples of what the country’s healthcare system should aspire to be so that it is inclusive and affordable.
Even as the government’s hospitals fail to deliver and the private sector ones get too commercial to serve the people who need them the most, many non-profit rural hospitals provide the kind of healthcare services that are not just affordable and accessible but in terms of quality put urban facilities to shame. The virus comes to us with the message that we have to reform ourselves and rethink our priorities. The tens of thousands of migrant workers who filled TV screens and in a sense walked right into our comfortable homes should always remind us of what remains to be done for fellow Indians. Growth can’t just be a GDP number.
Migration from rural to urban should be better understood. To take us deeper into the migration question we spoke to Chinmay Tumbe who teaches at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. Tumbe’s advice for the short term is to provide migrant workers with social security with the ‘one ration card, one nation’ idea being implemented.