Rising mercury a mortal threat

As the Coronavirus creates a public health crisis, the heat wave is causing migrants headed home without adequate food or water to fall ill, even die Last week, 29 labourers were admitted to a temporary hospital in Raksa, Jhansi on the border of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. They were going to their respective villages […]

Glimmers of normalcy 

The world is embracing a new normal where social distancing will be the norm. The experience of some of the worst affected countries might be useful to India The outbreak of Coronavirus has led to unprecedented disruption in social and economic life across the world. People in the worst affected parts like China, Italy and […]

Let’s pretend

Fly on the wall dispatch from the bug that got stuck under the Hon’ble Finance Minister’s office desk Intellectuals, economists and government officials met the Hon’ble Finance Minister in her chamber to brainstorm on a Covid rescue package for the economy. The Hon’ble Finance Minister opened the discussion with her remarks. Agent Chewing Gum Bug1 reporting […]

The guests who stay on…and on

Some people decided to be with a friend, some ended up being with a romantic partner during the 60-day lockdown (so far) when social life came to a grinding halt. This is their unique experience of coexistence… There are people who live in big houses, mostly alone, and were forced to deal with solitude for […]

In tribal villages of Shivpuri, no means of succour

The only sign of a welfare state in villages occupied by Sahariya tribals is grains provided to ration cardholders. Without MGNREGA schemes or access to wage work, seasonal migration is their only hope This summer is an unusual one for Puran, a Sahariya Adivasi from Kunwarpur village in Shivpuri, MP. Every year during this time, […]

 Takes a backseat

For Kashmir’s students, lockdown adds to the misery. Save for a few weeks, schools and colleges have been shut since last August, and internet restrictions make online learning hard Kashmiris are living in a lockdown within a lockdown. They were put under curfew and a total communications blackout as the Indian government dismantled the region’s autonomy last […]

Videos by migrants go viral

The working class are using digital technology to document their despairing experiences during the lockdown, and creating a repository of journalistic narratives and historical archives In early May, as India’s lockdown 2 neared its end, a group of migrant workers stranded at SIPCOT Park in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, shot a video exhorting the authorities to […]

BJP brand building in burning heat at Badarpur

A BJP worker pays out of his pocket to organise private vehicles, even as constables hustle the labourers across the border at dead of night When there’s an event, even a Covid pandemic, can the Modi brand be far behind? There’s a bustle at the Modi Rasoi, a makeshift tent, fluttering on the edge of […]