'The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) has alleged that the administration and corporate social responsibility (CSR) section had redirected ₹50 lakh from Bharat Dynamics under the Ministry of Defence to PM-CARES fund rather than the originally assigned purpose of buying personal protection equipment (PPE). The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund, a public charitable trust, was set up in response to the emerging requirement for resources to defeat the novel coronavirus pandemic.
'India has had a Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) since 1948. In recent years, that fund has emerged as the primary focal point for the mobilisation of public donations in the wake of natural disasters like floods and earthquakes. On March 24, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a national lockdown, the Union home ministry issued a notification declaring the COVID-19 epidemic in India to be a ‘natural disaster’ and invoking the provisions of the National Disaster Management Act to give the government coercive powers.
'...But India has so far among the lowest ratios of testing in the world. Does India lack testing capacity? What is stopping the country from testing more? Scroll.in spoke to officials of nine state governments, three government labs, one private lab, several independent microbiologists and the Indian Council for Medical Research. A country’s testing capacity is contingent on a range of factors: the availability of testing kits, laboratory preparedness and human resources. Yet, some Indian states have managed to test more than others with comparable resources.
'Can normal life resume after the 21 day nationwide lockdown? Will three weeks be enough in the fight against the novel coronavirus? How many more people will be infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the pandemic? These are burning questions that everyone - public health officials to persons now confined to their homes - are asking.
'Truckloads of green vegetables are rotting in Delhi’s Azadpur wholesale market, alleged traders from the largest commercial hub for perishables in India, even as consumers in the national capital scrambled for essentials in the wake of the countrywide lockdown announced on Tuesday night to keep rising Covid-19 infections in check. “At least 70 trucks of green vegetables each weighing 15 tonnes are rotting since retailers and shopkeepers are unable to reach the market," said Anil Malhotra, member of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee, Azadpur.
'AHEAD of Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing a 21-day countrywide lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19, long queues had formed on highways of trucks carrying essential goods and commodities, including medicines, milk, fruits and vegetables, by Tuesday, hours into several states sealing borders. While goods trains fall in the exempted category, freight services too were hit as states did not mention ‘Railways’ as essential service in their respective orders...
'Did Prime Minister Narendra Modi see the pictures of the long lines of men, with bags and bundles, making their way along the edges of national highways out of New Delhi? Did he hear the young man, sobbing because there was no way home, and no way to escape police batons who asked, “How will we go, we can’t go by flight, can we?” If Modi did, there was no sign that he considered their circumstance to be of any consequence.
'Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has practically paralysed the planet. On Tuesday, India went into a 21-day country-wide lockdown, the world’s largest quarantine measure ever. Yet one activity seems remarkably unaffected: the political wheeling and dealing of the Bharatiya Janata Party...'
'Urban India is staring at a possible spike in food prices and scarcity of fruits and vegetables in the coming days, as transport curbs and pandemic fears open up a wide chasm between the farm and the fork. Major crop-growing states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh have imposed lockdowns or curfews in a desperate attempt to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Inter-state goods transport is at risk as well, as truck drivers are harassed at borders, and casual labourers who sort, grade and load harvests are in short supply.
'In his new book, Sebastian & Sons, TM Krishna tells of Parlandu, the “greatest mrdangam maker ever”. Parlandu was Dalit, as all makers of the mrdangam, a percussion instrument made with cow hide which is integral to Carnatic music, are. He was employed by Vaidyanatha Ayyar and, later, by his legendary pupil, the revered Carnatic musician Palghat Mani Iyer. Both teacher and disciple, as almost all mrdangam players, were Brahmin.
