By Sandeep Pandey* Ram Shankar met with a fatal hit-and-run accident in rural area of Hardoi district of Uttar Pradesh on April 16, 2020 and was referred by the District Hospital to Trauma Centre of King George’s Medical University (KGMU) in Lucknow. He could not be admitted there and was referred to nearby Balrampur Hospital. From there he was referred to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.

By Gazala Paul* Around this time last year, large parts of Kutch reeled under extreme drought conditions: several water bodies, reservoirs and canals across the desert-like district were dry; different marginal communities survived on scarce water and some food grains; small slivers of cultivable land were parched; cattle, that precious means of livelihood, turned into living skeletons.

Now... By Gajanan Khergamker* As it peeped from between two parked cars, a couple of policemen, masked and armed, holding fort at South Mumbai’s Babulnath Zone turned abruptly in response. Anticipating a motorcyclist breaking the lockdown and zipping through the parked vehicles, a police constable bolted towards the spot, a hand holding onto his mask and another with a raised baton only to find a peacock emerging and fanning out its full plumage.

RK Misra in New Jersey By RK Misra* “Grief is a lonely and confusing experience, even in less troubled times. But in the current season, death has been turned inside out; the bodies are crowding together at makeshift morgues, and the bereaved are left isolated in a tomb of loss”, says Belinda Luscombe writing on ‘Grief During Caronavirus’ in the April 27, 2020 issue of "Time" magazine aptly titled, "Finding Hope".

By Our Representative Well-known right to information (RTI) activists Anjali Bhardwaj, Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra and Amrita Johri have alleged that the Government of India (GoI) is continuing to violate Supreme Court directions on appointment of information commissioners to the Central Information Commission (CIC), India’s RTI watchdog.

By Rohit Prajapati* Lockdown. Lockdown is a statement in it itself. It encompasses strategies, methods, time-period, plans, and tools for helping and managing people’s behaviour in such extreme situations in a country, state, or other units of governments. From locking a house to businesses, to industries to neighbourhoods, and even to the entire state or country, there is a different way to go about implementing lockdown in each of them.

By Uday Shankar, Simi Mehta, Shubham Pandey* The success of janata (public) curfew and the discipline demonstrated by the citizens of India during the nationwide lockdown has conveyed the message of citizen-government cooperation in the effort to contain the menace of coronavirus.

By Sandeep Pandey* The Bhartiya Janata Party-led government in India has a penchant for doing things in a 'surgical strike' manner, a much publicised military operation they carried out against Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried out demonetisation in November 2016 at a few hours’ notice leaving the common citizens stranded with Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes which had suddenly become illegal.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* Historically, the idea of Bengali renaissance and anti-colonial struggles dominated the folklores of Indian intellectual awakening, political consciousness, and social reforms led by upper caste and upper-class Hindus. “What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow” reflects Eurocentric propaganda based on narrow nationalist glory.

By Venkatesh Nayak*  While Governments at the Central and State levels have leaped back to the era of sharing information with the citizenry on a “need to know” basis, thanks to the threat posed by COVID-19 epidemic, all but one of the 29 Information Commissions established under The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) have shut down. During the first and the second phase of the lockdown imposed by governments, we, at CHRI, conducted a rapid telephonic survey of Information Commissions established across India. While the Central Information Commission (CIC) resumed hearings in appeal and complaint cases from 20th April, 2020, its counterparts in the States are not yet functional. Our findings from the rapid telephonic survey are given below, followed by a submission as to why transparency and accountability are indispensable during public health emergencies like the COVID-19 epidemic. Findings from our Rapid Survey of Information Commissions During the first and the second ph...

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* The massive online teaching has arrived in big way finally in India! Thanks to the covid-lockdown, online teaching at most schools, colleges and universities are upped pan India. The Zoom, Outlook Teams, WatsApp, Skype, Classroom are some of the crucial teaching and learning tools. As teachers, while we are learning to teach, we are also teaching to learn.

Mallika Sarabhai, Prakash Shah, Fr Cedric Prakash, Prof Navdeep Mathur By Our Representative About 100 concerned citizens , including top social activists and experts, have strongly protested against the Gujarat government’s alleged move to “dictate” the medical community to “reduce” Covid-19 tests in order to suggest that the state has fewer number of cononavirus positive patients, stating, this is nothing but “criminal negligence” which would “push people towards death without their knowledge.”

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal By Our Representative The Delhi High Court bench comprising Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh, hearing a petition filed by the Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyaan (DRRAA), has directed the Delhi government file a status report on whether all ration shops disbursing foodgrains are open during working hours from 9 am -1 pm and 3 pm-7 pm on all seven days and providing these to the needy.

Image courtesy: Christopher Alexander (Nature of Order) By Juzar Shabbir A body, like consciousness, is at the same time personal and social. If someone is hurt, I feel an odd sensation in my body. This is a proof of a body that is more social than personal. I don’t know where my body ends and yours begins. The more dear someone or something is to me the more intense that undesirable sensation will be. We are glued to one another by a feeling of sympathy. The relation between a flower and a bee is a sympathetic one and not a symbiotic one. Life, like the body, is as much social as it is personal. Because it’s not only me who suffers death, but also the lives that surround me. The death of a squirrel is as much a cause of pain as it is of a human. Symbiotic relation is a relation of exchange, more precisely an equal exchange; I give you a thing and you give me another in return. This sort of relation presupposes possession of objects. And a self-defined in this way will be a self-made u...

By Our Representative A young labour rights activist and student from Uttarakhand, who happens to be secretary of the Lalkuan Unit of Parivartankami Chhatra Sangathan (PACHHAS), has been charged by the Uttarakhand police for participating in a day-long hunger strike from inside his home, demanding provisions for workers, students and other people bereft of food and supplies due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown.

By PC Mohanan, Arjun Kumar* Large scale exodus of migrant labourers from Delhi following the announcement of the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis stirred up the nation’s conscience. Haunting scenes of people defying the law enforcing agencies’ instructions to keep safe distances from each other and not crowding at bus and railway stations and attempting to walk hundreds of kilometers in the absence of any transport were due to administrative inadequacies.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani created the foundation for Hindutva forces to access power by forming BJP-led coalition governments in New Delhi. This duo experimented with the troika of liberal, moderate and hard-line Hindutva slogans during the Babri Mosque-Ram Janmabhoomi movement to mobilise and expand their electoral base among the masses.

By Mohan Guruswamy* It is time now to sit back and objectively reconsider the draconian policy measures unleashed in India. The four hours to midnight order for a nationwide “curfew” to enforce social distancing had caught our public and public administration woefully unprepared. In one fell stroke we have managed to render wage less at least 100 million people.

By Anand K Sahay* The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the uncertainties of major world economies, but in India it has laid bare our pretensions. The reality is sinking in slowly as hundreds of thousands of Indians have been forced, in the absence of governmental support, to make do with short-term charity from private individuals and voluntary agencies to stave off hunger in the past forty-odd days, the duration of the lockdown so far.

By Our Representative A well-known Muslim public figure, known to be close to the Modi establishment, has strongly protested against the government decision to open shops in a calibrated manner, stating this would “annihilate the excellent work” done by the Prime Minister and his team for over a month of lockdown.

By Our Representative  Construction workers’ civil rights organization, Bandhkam Majur Sangathan (BMS), has strongly objected to the Gujarat government move to transfer Rs 250 crore from the welfare fund meant for construction workers to the chief minister's welfare package meant for the poor. As of today, an amount of Rs 2,900 crore welfare fund, collected as cess from the construction industry, is lying unutilized.

By Shamsul Islam* According to a press report, in a shocking incident, a 50-year-old diabetic patient died on April 22, 2020 at the COVID-19 quarantine centre set up by the Delhi government in Sultanpuri, West Delhi. Despite several request to staff and doctors he was not given food and medicine on time.

Counterview Desk The civil society network, Right to Food Campaign (RTFc), in a statement* titled ‘No More Lockdown Beyond May 3’, has said that the current lockdown of 40 days has “hopefully” been used to prepare the health system to deal with a spread of the coronavirus in times to come”, and the government must now focus on putting in place “systems for vigorous identify, trace, test, isolate, treat strategies to be followed.”

Counterview Desk  In a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking his intervention in recent arrests of several student activists of Jamia Millia Islamia, 140 plus signatories from diverse groups, including academicians, students, alumni and activists from India and abroad, have said that this is being done “with the ill will of the police authorities and is clearly a violation of basic legal norms.”

By Basharat Rashid* As the COVID-19 cases have been growing very fast in Kashmir valley for last one month, with hundreds of positive cases reported so far, Awantipora police district in South Kashmir witness no positive case yet. The police along with administration here have created whatsapp groups and added large number of volunteers from around all the villages of the district, just to contain the spread of coronavirus in the area.

By Damini Patel* Ever since the lockdown began, there has been an increase in complaints pertaining to the violation of child rights across the country. As reported, the Childline India has crossed 92,000 calls requesting protection from violence.

Counterview Desk Campaign against State Repression (CASR), a platform with over 36 organisations, including democratic rights organisations, student's organisations, teacher's organisations, trade unions and women's organisations*, has asked the Government of India to stop the alleged witch-hunt of activists and journalists in Delhi and Kashmir, even as seeking repeal the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which is being used against them.

By Moin Qazi* The self-help group movement has been one of the most powerful incubators of female entrepreneurship in rural India. While there were several young semi-literate women who had homegrown skillsets, absence of capital and regressive social norms prevented them from taking a full plunge and setting up their own independent business. A membership of a self-help group, however, enabled these women to access finance, build confidence and get social support to set up their own enterprises. Most of these women had no formal business training and it was purely within the SHG milieu that they honed their raw skills. This meant that they could not think of any unique businesses that could leapfrog them to more profitable avenues. Tailoring was the most common skill that most women learnt from their mothers. But here also those who could use their creativity to distinguish themselves from the regular clutter and develop some niche market could succeed. One woman who fitted this mould...

By Sushant Kumar Singh*  Today the whole world is grappling with the contagion effect of the disease named Covid-19 and is engaged with full force to fight the crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic has clearly distorted the world economic system. Heterodox economists have been asserting that this pandemic has broken the basic assumption of neo-liberal economics of laissez fair and invisible hand.

Basharat Rashid* As the whole country reels under COVID-19 threat, for last one month, with strict restriction orders coming from government day by day, asking people to stay indoors completely, the artists on youtube continue to entertain people, even at the time, when there is no option to smile.

By Varsha Sharma, Sandeep Pandey* The coronavirus crisis lockdown has made one thing very clear that food is the single most important thing that human beings need. Life can go on without internet connections or mobile phones but not without food. While the economy was totally shutdown the only people who were allowed to freely move about, were people dealing in food items.

Senior activists and experts* write letter to the Municipal Commissioner, Vadodara, with copies to the Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India (GoI); Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, GoI; Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat (GoG); Additional Chief Secretary, Forests & Environment Department, GoG; Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Urban Housing Department (GoG); and other concerned officials, seeking immediate steps to prevent anticipated disasters, flooding, and water logging : The recent ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 has brought all our anthropocentric activities to a screeching halt forcing us to introspect on our actions and life on this planet. Yet, amidst the chaos and uncertainty, the governmental powers and the related administrative mechanisms have again chosen to assert their top down development decisions, which are not thought through or rely on the latest sciences or techniques, and are imposed on the citizens wi...

By Ajit Jha, Anmol Sehgal, Surya Tewari* A country like India that accounts for the largest population in the world after China has not been left behind in witnessing the atrocities of the contagious spread of COVID-19. In the wake of the grim pandemic, it is crucial to take prompt measures strategically by central in alignment with state government to reduce the spread of infection.

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* It was a routine morning walk around 8.00 am nearby my apartment complex, when I met with Prabhatji (Singh). A short bearded middle-aged man, Prabhatji was cladded in a clean black security guard uniform with a handkerchief covering his mouth and a black backpack by his side. He was sitting under a Peltophorum Tree outside the compound wall when I approached him.

Gowhar Geelani, Masrat Zahra, Peerzada Ashiq By Zahoor Hussain* Notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic, the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police in the trouble-torn valley have started filing cases against journalists for “glorifying terrorism and anti-national activities”, “provoking the public to disturb the law and order” and “causing disaffection against the country” through social media posts.

Vilas Shende, director, Mure Memorial Hospital By Moin Qazi* Central India has been one of the most fertile belts for several unique experiments undertaken by missionaries in the field of education and healthcare. The result is a network of several well-known schools, colleges and hospitals that have woven themselves into the social landscape of the region. They have also become a byword for quality and affordable services delivered to all sections of the society. These institutions are characterised by committed and compassionate staff driven by the selfless pursuit of improving the well-being of society. This is the reason why the region has nursed and nurtured so many eminent people who occupy high positions in varied fields across the country as well as beyond. One of the fruits of this legacy is a more than century old iconic hospital that nestles in the heart of Nagpur city. Named as Mure Memorial Hospital after a British warrior who lost his life in a war while defending his cou...

By Rajeev Khanna* Amid the COVID19 outbreak in India, it is the exceptionally large community of high blood pressure or hypertension patients that stands out among the most vulnerable. Medical experts say that the number of hypertension patients in the country is more than 30 per cent of the total population.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* The world is heading towards worst economic recession in its history. The governments are worried about their citizenry and future of their country. But Narendra Modi cares little as long as his popularity and electoral victory remains intact. Modi fiddles with the future of India and Indians by manipulating the public mind with the help of mass media.

By Our Representative The civil rights organization, Right to Food Campaign, Jharkhand, in a letter to chief minister Hemant Soren has warned the state would see the danger of hunger and starvation in the absence of “any effective provision for the delivery of food rations to households without ration card.”

By Praveen Srivastava, Anand Mathew, Joseph Nitilal, Sandeep Pandey* With lockdown extended and little relaxation in some essential services, the plights of poor are not going to reduce for sure. Lakhs of migrant labourers are struck in metro cities, far away from their homes.