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The cry of the peacock, birdsongs at dusk and dawn song— these are the sounds one now hears in the part of Noida where I live. Until a few weeks ago, the only noise that overwhelmed us was that of vehicles. But while the return of nature’s sounds should occasion joy, the circumstances we find ourselves in, with the relentless march of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) fill us with fear and trepidation. The number of positive cases is still rising every day, and so is the death toll.

The worst is yet to come. The situation that stands at almost the fag end of the 21-day complete lockdown of the country ending on April 14 indicates all about that. As it continues to spread, COVID-19 is triggering unprecedented levels of health and economic fallout. On the one hand there will be health emergencies under which a large number of people will have to struggle for medical facilities, and on the other hundreds of millions of informal workers without job and others without livelihood will be at risk of starving. The response, therefore, should shift from ‘panic and superstition’ to ‘carefully planned strategies’.

Alarmed over the rise in the number of coronavirus affected cases in Madhya Pradesh, particularly in Bhopal and Indore, state government has taken several measures to control the situation. The measures include enforcement of ESMA, or the Essential Services Maintenance Act, sealing of Indore and Bhopal borders and decision to recommend the continuation of total closure of Schools, Collages, religious places and malls. According to reports reaching here, six deaths took place in Indore on a single day. Forty new cases were detected including 11 in Bhopal.

The Dharavi father knows his children’s Lakshman Rekha. A rope strung across the entrance to his canvas and tin shanty in Asia’s largest slum. His children stand behind the rope. The father, on the outside, wears a facemask. The FM is an attraction in Dharavi. Especially with children. There aren’t nearly enough to go around and the ones left out are children.

Amidst the Coronavirus pandemic which has hit the entire globe, the Supreme Court of India is hearing petitions through videoconference in furtherance to its commitment to the justice delivery system. While the objective is laudable, there are several issues that need to be highlighted in order to make the process and purpose equitable and ethical.

We are seeing one by one the private banks are taking people's money and mismanaging it.In the last 30 years, 30 private banks have collapsed. Hence the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) is demanding to nationalise all private banks so that people's money is safe. The government banks are like Nilkant Mahadev and have to swallow the poison that is private sector banks. The public sector banks (PSBs) cannot swallow it, but will keep it in their throats.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced lockdown in India, videos went viral showing millions of migrant workers were trying to leave their place of work in urban centers. For India’s 120 million migrant workers, earning a daily subsistence allowance of less than $5 dollars per day, it is quite natural to return back to their native places when faced with an economic shutdown.

At a time when the international media has been unfailingly scrutinising the role of their respective governments in fighting the dreaded coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been contemplating to completely gag the “fourth pillar of democracy” and to accomplish this task, approached the Supreme Court, in a manner of speaking.

A video clip was viral on social media showing how Indians met the request of the American government to deliver 28000 food packets twice a day or destitute stranded and starving in New York due to complete lockdown. The request was to the managing committee of the Gurudwara of New York. The Indian community responded positively to cook simple meal of two tanduri rotis and enough aloo sabiji packed in most hygienic method. Several Indians including women joined the mission to pack 28000 packets and hand over to reach the destitute.

The success achieved by India in containing the deadly coronavirus attack, the global toll of which is fast approaching the next milestone of 100,000 deaths, has the world wondering as to how such an overpopulated country with all its failings and poor healthcare infrastructure has managed to do what even the most advanced nations with all their medical advances have failed to deliver.