Myths, Rumours and Spectacles in India’s Fight Against COVID-19
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Myths, Rumours and Spectacles in India’s Fight Against COVID-19

    Brahma Prakash The act could have been named divine comedy, but it was not poetic. In fact, it was anti-poetic. Let’s call it India’s divine formula to defeat COVID-19. The play can be named Burning Corona Down. It was April 5, 2020. As soon as the clock struck 9 pm, the nation that…

Don’t Pity Anand Teltumbde, Pity the System that Incarcerates Him
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Don’t Pity Anand Teltumbde, Pity the System that Incarcerates Him

Anirban Goswami, Anupam Banerjee When he surrenders on April 6, 2020, as per the Supreme Court’s directions, professor Anand Teltumbde will be the first alumnus of the hallowed IIM, Ahmedabad, the first IIT professor and the first CEO of a company to be charged under the dreaded Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which renders a person…

India’s Power Grid Survived ‘Diya Jalao’, Only Thanks to Drastic Action Behind the Scenes
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India’s Power Grid Survived ‘Diya Jalao’, Only Thanks to Drastic Action Behind the Scenes

  K. Ashok Rao As on August 31, 2019, India had one of the largest operational synchronous grids in the world, with 360.78 GW of installed power generation capacity. The famous blackout of July 30 and 31, 2012, was the largest power outage in India. It affected more than 620 million people – half the…

While the World Fights COVID-19, Indians are Busy Communalising It
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While the World Fights COVID-19, Indians are Busy Communalising It

Sanjiv Krishan Sood One foolhardy action by the Tablighi Jamaat has given a boost to the Hindutva brigade. They have seized the opportunity with both hands to blame the entire Muslim community for the spread of COVID-19. This has also helped draw public attention away from the official mismanagement of the pandemic and the monumental…

A Communal Virus and Our Collective Irrationality
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A Communal Virus and Our Collective Irrationality

  Nissim Mannathukkaren The whole world is battling the novel coronavirus. But it seems India is fighting Muslims in the time of coronavirus, if we were to go by the loudest and most popular television channels and social media discourse. “Corona Jihad” was trending on April 1; on April 2, “Muslim means terrorist” was a…

When Economists Try to Solve Health Crises, the Results Can Often Be Disastrous
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When Economists Try to Solve Health Crises, the Results Can Often Be Disastrous

  Justin Podur I’m writing this at 585,000 worldwide active cases, 26,000 deaths, and with only China and Korea seemingly under some sort of control (using a social metric tool, Worldometer). The stimulus package announced by the U.S. government is at $2 trillion, but without job protections, rent freezes, or meaningful income support for most…

‘Too Soon to Say Lockdown Was Needed,’ Says Modi Economic Adviser
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‘Too Soon to Say Lockdown Was Needed,’ Says Modi Economic Adviser

  Karan Thapar This is an excerpted transcript from the interview given by V. Anantha Nageswaran, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, to Karan Thapar. It is a glaring reflection of how economists and elites think in this time of unprecedented crisis. For them, rather than ramp up government spending to alleviate…

India’s Unemployment Rate May Have Shot Up to 23% After COVID-19 Lockdown: CMIE
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India’s Unemployment Rate May Have Shot Up to 23% After COVID-19 Lockdown: CMIE

  Courtesy: The Wire Staff The national lockdown may have led to significant job losses across the country, with the overall unemployment rate hitting over 23% in the last week of March 2020, according to estimates put out by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). India currently does not have official high-frequency employment data….

Coronavirus Pandemic: The Policies We Need to Be Ready for the Long Haul
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Coronavirus Pandemic: The Policies We Need to Be Ready for the Long Haul

  Abhinash Borah, Sabyasachi Das, Aparajita Dasgupta, Ashwini Deshpande, Kanika Mahajan, Bharat Ramaswami, Anuradha Saha, Anisha Sharma There is a lot that is unknown about SARS-COV-2, but the world’s leading epidemiologists believe that its spread will be a long-drawn process. It will take at least 18 months for a vaccine to become available, and even…

Concerned Citizens’ Response to FM’s COVID 19 Relief Package
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Concerned Citizens’ Response to FM’s COVID 19 Relief Package

Courtesy: The Caravan, 27 March 2020 Emergency measures proposed and endorsed by 635 people only half-met Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a 1.7 lakh crore package to deal with the economic fallout of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. While we welcome that the Union Government is finally addressing this issue, it would have been…