Health

When the first positive case of Covid-19 was reported from Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, known for its narrow lanes and compact housing, a sense of panic gripped the nation. And the fear and panic were not unreasonable given the extraordinary characteristics of this slum.

As the Covid-19 pandemic was leaving deep scars around the globe, it forced governments to take measures to protect citizens and ensure food security for its people. In India, initially, it looked as if the remote rural areas would skirt the pandemic. But soon, cases emerged in tribal areas as well as in semi-rural pockets following the return of the migrant workers, leading to social panic.

Covid-19, reverse migration and rural lives

While the pandemic Covid-19 has completely taken over the health infrastructure in the country and all eyes were on it, the annual havoc created by Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), popularly known as Chamki Bukhar is already making news in districts of Bihar. There is a real fear that other infectious diseases such as Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and AES may come roaring back in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as the healthcare systems scramble to support outbreak response.

Bihar’s annual floods are right around the corner and there is a fear that the flood hazard will collide with the Covid-19 pandemic and amplify it in a manner that emergency responses to both will get disrupted. The state’s strategy to mitigate the effects of flooding needs to be updated in light of the deadly pandemic.

Radha Devi, the sarpanch of Bhadsiya, Nagaur tehsil, Rajasthan dissuaded the principal of the government school from forcing girl students to fetch water for mid-day meal preparation during school hours and sent these girls back to their classrooms. Radha is a 5th class drop-out, who now takes an active role in her panchayat to reduce dropout rates and increase the enrollment of girl students.

Fire breaks at an oil well in Assam damaging ecozones around the site

Jharkhand is a state dominated by tribal communities located in eastern part of India. Agriculture, NTFP (Non-timber forest produce) collection and daily wage laborers are the prime source of income for rural Jharkhand. The sudden spread of Covid-19 forced both state and union governments to impose a 2 month lockdown and tribal communities could not work and sell their agricultural produce as well as NTFPs during the lockdown period. The lockdown thus snatched away the rice bowl of the tribals and left them unprepared to deal with the situation.

While Covid-19 has left many countries including India in the line of fire, the situation in India is now getting particularly alarming with the number of people infected by Covid-19 rising at a rapid pace. While cases continue to rise in some of the major Indian cities, the situation in Northeast appears to be relatively better as compared to other states although cases appear to be rising. 

The nomenclature of cyclones and hurricanes is developed much in advance through multilateral processes in the region. The name Amphan (Sky in Thai and Akash in Bangla) was chosen from a long list of potential disasters long back. Originated in the warm waters of Bay of Bengal, Amphan hit the coastal eastern border of India and coastal southwest parts of Bangladesh in the third week of May.

In an effort to raise concerns around effective menstrual health, Menstrual Health Alliance India (MHAI), a network working on menstrual health and hygiene in India, Dasra, a philanthropic organisation and Change.org, a technology platform for social change hosted an online workshop recently to discuss the issue of access to menstrual products during Covid-19.