When the second phase of lockdown was relaxed early this month the number of infections spiked and on the 10th of May the number of new infections exceeded 4000. Now that the 3rd phase of lockdown is over and 4th begins from the 18th of May the infection rates in India have now exceeded that of China. While our…
It is a good time to remember that Indians have lived for decades, if not centuries, with highly contagious and extremely lethal diseases like small-pox and cholera, and others less lethal, like tuberculosis or malaria. From the little that we know about this virus it is unpredictable, highly contagious but not extremely lethal. It can…
The two news items that caught the eye on the first day of colour-coded lockdown were about the long queues in front of liquor shops across the country and that of an Instagram group of young boys. In some places the line was long and orderly, in others all caution and distancing was thrown into…
Everyday there is disturbing news of things happening during the lockdown that have nothing to do with the virus Covid 19. First, we had news of millions of frightened migrants who started moving towards their homes. The cities that they worked in provided them income. But the moment they learnt that livelihoods options were closed,…
Over the last 50 years ‘gender inequality’ has become an important consideration in development. My own involvement in gender in development started thirty years ago when I was working as young doctor in the Himalayan districts of what was then Uttar Pradesh, India. I realised that women’s reproductive health was deeply influenced by social customs.…
