The Inequality Pandemic
Excerpts from a briefing paper published in May 2022 by Oxfam International: More billionaires, more extreme poverty. Global inequality has skyrocketed since Covid began.
China | COVID19 | Online Blog
Life on Lockdown in China
Peter Hessler penned this article after having spent 45 days in lockdown in the province of Chengdu in China in February-March 2020. It was published in the ‘New Yorker’ on March 30, 2020.
A Mess Called India’s Health Sector
India’s health sector is beset with too many problems most of which can be traced to inadequate funding. Poor funding has led to poor capacity and poor quality of healthcare.
Shanghai Reopens After Suppressing COVID: A Triumph for Science and Public Health
China’s largest city, Shanghai, largely reopened Wednesday morning after a two-month lockdown that successfully beat back an outbreak of the virulent Omicron BA.2 subvariant of COVID-19. The event was a triumph of public health mobilization.
A Fact-Check of Every Claim Made by India to Dispute WHO’s Estimate of its Covid-19 Deaths
Most arguments put forth by the government and its functionaries don’t hold water.
The Kala Pani Migration: An Indian Story That’s Hardly Discussed in India
When used in the diaspora, ‘Kala Pani’ refers to the large-scale migration out of India in the 1830s when hundreds of thousands of Indians left the subcontinent to work in the sugar colonies as indentured labourers, or ‘bound coolies’.
Capitalism | COVID19 | India | Online Blog | Privatization | Science
Gutting India’s Public Sector Vaccine Makers
India’s once-thriving public vaccine manufacturers were absent during the pandemic. This was not due to a lack of capability. The problem has been active neglect by the government.
After Covid-19, What Can India Learn from the Universal Healthcare Systems of its Neighbours?
There are lessons to be had from Nepal, Bangladesh and the Maldives about providing free access to medical treatment.
COVID19 | India | Online Blog
Rising Food Prices: Not Because of Ukraine War, But Due to Market Speculation; and Control Over Supplies by Global Food Giants – 2 Articles
A report has found that rising prices of foodgrains are not because of demand and supply imbalance, but because of excessive speculation by investment firms and funds in the commodities markets. Another article says: Global food giants like Cargill have made a killing due to the rising food prices.
The Poor at the Crossroads
More than half a century after Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death, his message remains tragically relevant in our seemingly never-ending pandemic-ridden moment, still rife with racism, economic exploitation, and militarism.