I VIVIDLY remember the scene at the railway station on the morning after the nationwide lockdown was announced to curb the spread of COVID-19 on March 24,” says lawyer-activist Priyanka Shukla from Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. The lockdown, which took effect at midnight, was announced with just four hours' notice. During that short period, more than 300 people had managed to reach the station and were waiting for connecting trains to go to their villages or home towns. But they were stranded after the railways too cancelled all passenger trains.
What came as a rude shock is that the railway authorities had even shut down the public utilities and were chasing the people away, recalls Shukla. The widespread apathy prompted her to take to the social media to garner support. One of her tweets, that highlighted that 126 of the stranded labourers were from Jharkhand, prompted the state’s chief minister Hemant Soren to reply. Immediately, the local administration provided vehicles for their safe return. Soon, similar arrangements were made for labourers who hailed from Bihar. Meanwhile, following the public pressure, the labourers who hailed from West Bengal and Assam were temporarily shifted to schools. Towards the end of April, the government announced that it will charge ₹3,000 from each labourer for ensuring their safe return home. “By now, I was volunteering with 14 of my friends and we all mounted pressure on the government through social media,” she recalls, adding that she received calls from officials who accused her of defaming the government.
Bu hikaye Down To Earth dergisinin November 16, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Down To Earth dergisinin November 16, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
INVISIBLE THREAT
Significant presence of microplastics in Puducherry’s agricultural soil raises concerns for soil and crop health
Feeding off each other
VEGETARIAN MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH ASIA AND THE WEST GREW WITH MUTUAL SUPPORT AND VALIDATION
India's unhealthy patent amendments
Despite strong pleas, the Modi regime has changed the rules to impose a cost on those who challenge faulty patents
URBAN DISCOMFORT
Poorly planned, heat-trapping infrastructure, along with dwindling natural spaces, turn up the temperatures in major Indian cities
BLAZING SUN IS ON
Rising temperatures are testing the limits of human tolerance to heat. With their predominantly built-up landscape, urban areas offer no respite. A study by the Centre for Science and Environment on the morphology and heat patterns of nine Indian cities over the past decade shows how these urban centres are turning into heat islands with a potentially serious impact on human health. An analysis by Rajneesh Sareen, Mitashi Singh and Nimish Gupta, with Shagun in Haryana and Kiran Pandey
"H5N1 may be more severe than COVID-19"
In early April, the US confirmed the first case of avian influenza in livestock, along with cow-to-human transmission of the virus disease.
A PSYCHEDELIC HIGH
Driven by surge in global trials and low success rate of current medications in treating mental health problems, researchers call for home-grown clinical trials of psychedelic drugs
Locked out
Two years after becoming the only state to be excluded from the Centre's ruralemployment guarantee scheme, villages in West Bengal grapple with distress migration and debt traps
'Protection from climate change part of right to life'
The Supreme Court of India, on April 5, recognised that citizens have a right to be free from the adverse effects of climate change, saying it is intertwined with the fundamental rights to life and equality. Here are the key arguments articulated by the three-judge bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra in their judgement
Weaving dreams
Tribal communities in West Bengal slowly embrace traditional weaving to ensure sustainable livelihood