Once upon a plague….

With entire countries under lockdown, Albert Camus’ ‘The Plague’ provides an insight into human emotions and reactions to turmoil  In January 1941, 28-year old Albert Camus, an Algerian French philosopher and Nobel laureate, started writing about a deadly epidemic transmitted to humans through rats resulting in the death of almost half of the population of […]

Good cop bites the bullet

Ajai Raj Sharma has dealt with some high profile cases in his illustrious career. He writes about it with flair in his recently published memoir  Ajai Raj Sharma, 76, will go down in history as one of the better commissioners to have led Delhi Police. No surprise that he was actively considered for the post […]

How India nixed smallpox

Patriot looks into the National Archives to check how India dealt with a similar pandemic, the smallpox, in the 1970s and successfully managed to eradicate it  The active number of coronavirus affected cases in India currently stands at 693, with 12 people succumbing to it in the process (as of March 26). If we talk […]

Gasping for breath

Patriot takes a tally of the availability of ventilators in ICUs in the Capital as the threat of Covid-19 pandemic moving to community transmission looms over the country  The total number of ICU beds with ventilators in Central government-run hospitals of Delhi are just 227, including paediatric beds. This number comes from tallying the figure […]

Life in isolation

In the wake of the global outbreak of Coronavirus, parts of Italy have been under lockdown for weeks. Indians can take some lessons from how they are coping with it Just to get an idea of what may be in store during the lockdown, it’s good to interact with and learn from people locked up […]

No rides, no income

Ola and Uber drivers started suffering even before the lockdown. Now they have to sit at home with no social security except that Uber will look after any driver who tests positive for 14 days It was a couple of days before March 22, the day the first lockdown in Delhi was announced until the […]

No meat on their tables

Exports of buffalo meat, a huge earner of foreign exchange for India, have been hit as demand for the product in other countries has fallen MEAT, ESPECIALLY buffalo meat, is one of the most wanted exports out of India but Covid-19 seems to be inching closer to destroying its prospects. Along with several other items […]

Stuck in India

Many foreign nationals are stranded in India. Either travel to their countries is banned by the government or airlines are cancelling flights NYUGEN THI HUE, a Vietnamese citizen, had made her way to India on March 10 to attend a wedding, with her return flight booked for the 16th. She was informed on the 14th […]