THE PHONES KEEP ringing at 5, Raisina Road in Delhi, where the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) has set up its Covid-19 war room. It has been a month since the SOS team members (#SOSIYC) have had a full night’s rest. Amid the acute shortage of oxygen, ICU and ventilator beds, ambulances, remdesivir injections and plasma, the SOS team has become a beacon of hope for the common man.
And one man has been at the centre of it. From celebrities to foreign embassies and fellow politicians, everyone has been tagging IYC president B.V. Srinivas in distress posts on social media.
The 40-year-old called the “SOS Man” and “Oxygen Man”, has been the go-to guy for thousands grappling with an overburdened health care system. The IYC war room is like a nerve centre and his network of 1,000 volunteers has been coordinating with Covid-19 centres across the states. “The state teams are constantly scrolling our social media accounts for appeals pouring in from their regions and following up,” Srinivas told THE WEEK. “We have formed three teams—one to track social media requests on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; a rural team that made WhatsApp groups to connect with village-level volunteers; and the third team to attend calls.”
He said he built his team in March 2020, after Rahul Gandhi asked him to create a volunteer base to reach out to people during the lockdown. A year later, on March 5 this year, the IYC passed three resolutions at its national executive meet—reach out to people during the second wave, work on tackling unemployment and support the farmers’ protest. “During the meet, Rahul ji warned us of the impending second wave and asked us to channel all our energy to help people across the country,” said Srinivas.
Bu hikaye THE WEEK dergisinin June 06, 2021 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 THE WEEK dergisinin June 06, 2021 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
Angry, Young America
Campus protests against the Gaza war continue to linger as students demand a realignment of US ties with Israel
We need to engage more with communities
Designer Aratrik Dev Varman of the label Tilla has long been a lover of history. One could comfortably call him part-aesthete, part-archeologist, for his clothes dip into vintage styles of the Kutch, Sindh, Balochistan and Afghanistan, bringing alive antique styles and crafts. Tilla, the store and atelier, are situated on a tree-lined avenue in Ahmedabad.
The great luxury slowdown
A year or so ago, if anyone had told me that Tommy Hilfiger would have stolen the show at New York’s Met Gala, I would have laughed. But it seems the end of giant luxury labels is upon us even before we expected it. The American ready-to-wear designer Tommy Hilfiger seems to have created the maximum media buzz at the 2024 Met Gala, according to several data analytics firms.
RAP BRINGS RAPTURE
How indie artistes, especially hip-hoppers, are driving the phenomenal rise of Malayalam music
Employability issues are a narrative created by the corporate world
Prof Yogesh Singh is the 23rd vice chancellor of the century-old University of Delhi (DU). An engineer with a PhD in computer engineering, Singh has an impressive track record of teaching, innovation and research in the area of software engineering. He has more than 250 publications and his book, Software Testing, published by the Cambridge University Press, is well-received internationally. In an interview with THE WEEK, Singh talks about trends in higher education in India, the challenges faced by big universities, and how to make higher education more interesting. Asked about the perception that Indian graduates are “not employable”, he reacts strongly, and emphasises the difference between training and higher education. Edited excerpts:
SERVING WITH DISTINCTION
Conceived as a university like no other, Jawaharlal Nehru University became India's best. Here is how
Mandela Effect and Liar's Dividend
The complex tapestry of AI's impact on society
The other Sabyasachi
I am Sabyasachi Mukherjee, not to be confused with my namesake, the celebrated fashion couturier, declared the venerated director-general of Mumbai’s pride, George Wittet’s Indo-Saracenic jewel, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum.
THE MANGO HUNTERS
'Naadan Maavukal' started out as a Facebook group, but what it does offline has helped conserve many indigenous varieties of mangoes
BJP LEADERS, TOO, HAVE HAD ENOUGH
Farmers’ protest has taken the centre stage in Haryana, which goes to the polls on May 25. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is confident that the Congress, which has been out of power for 10 years, will regain its hold on the state. “People who voted for the BJP are disappointed today. It is clear that they want change,” he told THE WEEK.
