Kangana has become Bollywood’s bete noire but the Y-plus security makes her a pawn in a larger political game
Several years ago, the fiery Kangana Ranaut appeared on the cult Bollywood talk show called Koffee with Karan hosted by producer Karan Johar. To paraphrase from that outing of hers, she said that if a film was ever to be made about her life, Johar would be the antagonist. Over the past few years, we have seen how that has played out. First, there was the story about nepotism and how Bollywood promotes its own, and while the Indian film industry epitomises nepotism, it really is not very unique in that regard. Anywhere in the world or in India, nepotism is a byword in politics and industry. So when popular Bihari actor Sushant Singh Rajput allegedly committed suicide, Kangana was one of the first to climb onto the bandwagon to accuse the nepotism of Bollywood of pushing a young actor over the edge before quickly jumping on to the murder conspiracy theory. And then from a crusader, she appeared more and more like a headline-grabber. She has written utterly shameful tweets against mental health, questioning the very concepts of psychology, and taken on the Shiv Sena, a partner in the Maharashtra alliance government, with several party spokespersons attacking her. There is no doubt that with little to no formal media training and reverting to type, Shiv Sena leaders come across as uncouth, sexist goons while attacking Kangana, who is playing her pro-BJP card well and using it to give ammunition to the Central party’s relentless attack on its one-time ally. So she has been given Y plus category security by the Central Government to make a point, never mind the costs this will involve or the purpose it will serve. That possibly will not save her office from being demolished by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) which is controlled by the Shiv Sena, an act that, if the Sena goes ahead with, will allow the once-plucky Kangana to play the victim yet again.
While the actor is entitled to her opinions, it would be prudent for her to remember that the past can come back to haunt you. Her actions today, that make her look like a pawn, will be judged by many in the future and while she has in the past raised some very valid points against the extreme nepotism in the film industry, where a talentless child of a superstar gets breaks that others would not, that model itself is being broken by new streaming platforms and more choices. Bollywood itself will not survive the Coronavirus pandemic in any recognisable shape or form. The actions of the television media in amplifying some of the wilder allegations raised by Kangana and others of her ilk have also been shameful and must be questioned. This entire affair will leave India, the Indian media and Bollywood scarred for years to come.
With cases spiralling in rural districts, the pandemic could just about be felt like never before. We have a long haul
There is no denying that we are racing to be the next epicentre of the pandemic. What the series of early lockdowns did was to slow the virus down and give us enough time to ramp up our medical infrastructure and get a grip on disease management protocols. But it could not contain the pathogen’s infectivity or trajectory as it has ultimately trickled down the trellis of megacities, their hinterland and has found its way in the countryside. And now that lockdowns have been eased to grease the economy and restore its operability, it is coursing through with an all-consuming rage. If the super-spreader dhabas at Haryana’s Murthal are any indication, which reportedly infected around 10,000 people, then it isn’t difficult to understand why we are taking lesser and lesser days of doubling time and why we may overtake Brazil soon and the US in a month in terms of caseload. And these nations are nowhere as populous as us. Unlike the US and Brazil, India’s caseload is still accelerating seven months after our first Coronavirus case was reported on January 30. New infections are plateauing out in these two severely-hit countries even without restrictive protocols while they are spiralling here. Given the poor public health infrastructure in rural India, and the fatigue and strain that the existing one has been put through over the last few months, we could be standing at a tipping point of either reining the virus in or keeling over. The next month is our real test and would show if we can really flatten the curve. Testing, though increased much, continues to be a challenge, given our huge population and we are far behind Brazil in terms of the sample ratio covered. This is evidenced by the latest antibody studies in New Delhi and other cities, which show that the number of people who have signs of being infected is multiple times bigger than the official caseload. If this is true, then the extent of community spread is far bigger than what the official case tracker shows us. Worse, it would be difficult to assess how much testing is enough to map the trajectory of the disease. In fact, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued a new advisory on testing strategy, allowing “testing on demand” for individuals rather than waiting for the doctor’s prescription. It also advised “testing on demand” for “all individuals undertaking travel to countries or Indian States mandating a negative Covid-19 test at the point of entry.” Worryingly, the current scenario could also put pressure on keeping mortality figures down as early detection and treatment may not be as efficacious in rural India and many fatalities could go unaccounted. We still have to rely on conventional testing, considering rapid antigen tests are throwing up too many false negatives and, therefore, cannot be relied upon at this critical juncture. But RT-PCR labs are currently located in big cities or district headquarters, so what does one do in smaller towns and villages?
Infrastructure and response protocols pose a big challenge in rural India and can no way be seen through the prism of urban preparedness. Even though the swamp has not happened yet, there are reports of dismal conditions at district hospitals. Compounding problems is the lack of trained medical personnel, response teams who can sense the signs and emergency equipment like pulse oximeters and chest X-Ray facilities. Then there is the issue of more at-risk patients, the indices not too encouraging among a population that doesn’t meet basic parameters of nutrition and physical well-being, particularly women and children. Of course, some of the rural areas are not as densely clotted as cities and business hubs are, which should make surveillance and tracking a key component in chasing the virus. In fact, the Dharavi model could well work here. Mumbai’s slum cluster showed how resource-deprived and under-served zones can fight the virus, too, provided there is community engagement and it is here that panchayats and self-help groups can be made aware and skilled to arrest the spread. In Dharavi, community volunteers fanned out among seven lakh people, tracking signs and symptoms and tracing contacts of the infected. They got in mobile testing vans, thus supplementing the work of overworked health centres and ran fever clinics to let people get themselves checked without fear. Volunteers checked people’s oxygen saturation levels and if they were below 95 per cent, rushed them to quarantine centres. Local clubs and schools were converted into quarantine facilities, leaving hospitals for the critically-ill. In short, they had a ground-up connected chain of warning and response system that saved lives. The bigger problem with the spread in rural India is that it could be a slow-burner and continue longer. And with people moving inter-State in the new normal, cities could look at a second wave from returnees. With the vaccine trials reporting a 50 per cent success rate till now, India could have to battle a winter of discontent.
Although the Govt has taken a positive step to introduce a standard policy for battling Coronavirus, hospitalisation and other medical costs, it should also make it easier for the claims to be settled
T he outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus in the city of Wuhan in China towards the end of last year became a major health emergency and a global pandemic. Over the last 10 months or so, different parts of the world have been the epicentres of this contagion. Governments around the world have reacted to this unprecedented situation by taking extreme measures like closing international borders and air space, imposing restrictions on domestic travel, prohibiting huge gatherings like sporting or religious events, shutting down entertainment hubs and educational institutes. The toll of the virus on both personal and economic aspects has been tremendous with the huge loss of human lives and slowdown of economies around the world impacting several industries and the financial markets. Governments have responded by providing a slew of measures to aid the ailing industry by providing liquidity and slashing interest rates, among others.
The insurance industry is one such industry that had to react quickly to this situation to develop new products in the face of the growing spread of the Coronavirus and the socio-economic uncertainties it brought in its wake. Lack of education and awareness have been the main reasons for India being largely under-insured, particularly in the area of health insurance, with only 18 per cent of the urban and 14 per cent of the rural population availing protective schemes. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) recently made the availability of the standard health policy, Corona Kavach, mandatory. Though it can’t replace the normal mediclaim policy, and all standard indemnity policies are covering Coronavirus in India, if people don’t have a health insurance, or if they are not adequately covered by their health insurance, it would make a lot of sense to buy this special policy. Especially given the fact that India now has nearly 37,69,523 confirmed cases of Covid-19, the third-highest in the world after the US and Brazil. There are no drugs as yet to fully cure patients and work on the vaccines for the virus is still in the trial stages.
While most people with mild symptoms recover with the medicines prescribed by doctors, in extreme cases, infected people require hospitalisation and ventilator support. That is where the bills go up exponentially and this is where a person who does not have health insurance or whose cover is not adequate will be most vulnerable as the out of pocket expense will be huge. The features of Corona Kavach are very standard and cover both individuals and families, and it is available in one basic mandatory cover offered on indemnity basis and one optional cover available on benefit basis. Corona Kavach is a single premium plan where the sum insured is in the multiples of Rs 50,000 where the maximum sum insured is Rs 5 lakh, minimum being Rs 50,000. Not only is the Corona Kavach a standardised policy, which is uniform across all the insurers, it is also very comprehensive, covering homecare and Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathic treatment, PPE and treatment of co-morbidities when hospitalised, including any ventilator and ICU charges, ambulance cost upto Rs 2,000, pre and post-hospitalisation care upto a certain number of days and daily cash allowance of 0.5 per cent of the sum insured for a certain number of days. Some insurers do not have a cap on the room rent as long as the room availed is a single private one.
Then there is the Corona Rakshak which is an optional benefit-based cover that can be issued by life insurance companies also in addition to health and general insurance firms. The maximum sum insured is Rs 2.5 lakh, which is offered as lumpsum and can be used at will, especially during home quarantine, on treatment, medicines and for nursing charges. The tenure of the policy and waiting period remains the same as that of Corona Kavach. The requirement for claim in the Corona Kavach policy is a positive diagnosis of Coronavirus from a Government-authorised centre and hospitalisation for 24 hours. For Corona Rakshak, other things being same, the hospitalisation requirement is for 72 hours. One is also unsure of the amount of additional cover required if an health insurance policy is a part of the portfolio. An individual should have a health insurance cover of Rs 8-10 lakh, so depending on this, an additional coverage of Corona Kavach can be taken, to top up your existing health policy. But remember to choose a top-up Corona Kavach policy from the same company as your basic health policy to claim cashless benefits for both. In most of the cases, co-morbidities will also be covered during the claims. The premium may vary from as low as Rs 127 per month to as high as Rs 14,927, based on the sum insured, availing family cover, age of the insured and so on. The IRDA has given a go-ahead to 29 general and health insurance companies, both State-owned and private, to market the Corona Kavach policy. Some of the prominent State-owned insurers marketing this policy are SBI General Insurance, National Insurance, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance. Other renowned private players include Acko General Insurance, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, HDFC ERGO General Insurance and Star Health and Allied Insurance among others. So how do you choose the insurance company? There are some factors, among others, that can help you make a wise decision.
Affordability: Choose an insurance company that can provide these policies at an affordable premium.
Choose family coverage: It is also important to cover your entire family and, therefore, choose an insurance company that offers coverage to family.
Network: A health emergency can strike you, anytime and anywhere. Therefore, choose an insurance company that has a wide network of hospitals around the world.
Healthy claim settlement ratio: Choose an insurer who has a high claim settlement ratio, which means it settles more claims than others when compared to the total claims received.
Although the Corona Kavach is very comprehensive, there are still circumstances which are not covered. First, if the diagnosis is negative or not from a Government-approved centre. Second, if hospitalisation is not required and the patient undergoes only day care procedures. Third, if medicines are bought without proper prescription; fourth, if the treatment is availed outside India and fifth any vaccination, inoculation expenses used for prevention of the condition are not covered in the policy. So we have to be careful about different situations under which our claims may not be processed. One of the reasons a claim may not be approved is the choice of the line of treatment. It is a grey area as only treatments, which are approved by the Indian Government, are recognised by the health insurers. For example, the recently-tried plasma therapy is not officially recognised by the Government. The insurance companies are claiming that they have eased their norms to make it easier for their customers to settle claims, like accepting email submissions and in some cases, on meeting certain conditions, without policy documents. The LIC settled more than 561 Covid-19 death claims amounting to nearly Rs 27 crore till the last week of July. Although this data looks impressive, there are a number of cases where the kin of Corona warriors like doctors and nurses, who died of Coronavirus, are battling to claim the insurance money. Red tapism is making their lives hell and the families of the deceased health workers are struggling to prove that they contracted the deadly infection in the line of duty to claim the Rs 50 lakh insurance provided by the Government.
In some cases, insurance claims were not approved of doctors and nurses who laid down their lives in taking care of patients as they were not Central Government employees. Although the Government has provided an insurance scheme for frontline workers like sanitation workers, ASHA workers, ward boys, paramedics, doctors, nurses and specialists, it fails to cover their treatment and is limited to their death. Even after months into this pandemic, several claims are rejected due to the confusion about the eligibility and other requirements buried within the fine print of policy guidelines of the insurance companies.
Although, the Government has taken a positive step to introduce a standard policy for battling Coronavirus, hospitalisation and other medical costs associated with it, it should also make it easier for the claims to be settled. Though the insurance money can never replace our loved ones, the bereaved family members can at least hope to pick up the remaining threads of their lives with it.
(The writer is Associate Professor, Amity University, Noida)
Actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has exposed the deep fault- lines in the Hindi film industry with issues such as bullying, nepotism and discrimination emerging from tinsel town rarely discussed dark corners into the spotlight of introspection and debate. The split in the glamour industry is down the middle between insiders’ and outsiders entities’. That Rajput, who came from a middle class home in Patna and made his mark in main- stream Hindi cinema in what could be the classic fairytale, ended his life led to soul searching about power structures in Bollywood and also angry accusations at the biggies who call the shots.
Rajput was considered that rare actor, after Shah Rukh Khan perhaps, to have transitioned from television to Bollywood stardom and his death opened the proverbial can of worms. The untimely death of the young actor had clearly not just touched a chord but triggered a rallying cry for change. An online petition on Change.org asking fans to boycott Johar, YRF and Salman Khan has gathered almost 38 lakh signatures so far.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy has termed the death of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput murder. Taking a dig at Bollywood, Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra government, he called SSR’s death “Waterloo and Watergate for Bollywood.” Fasten your seat belts as we are about to take off and bombard and won’t give up till either guilty are brought to justice or justice is brought to the guilty,” Swamy tweeted.
SSR loss can dent moral of several young deserving talented artists seeking to establish name and fame in the entertainment industry, and nepotism off course will continue to flourish unabated. The CBI must investigate the case keeping the Mumbai Police away from the case because important high profile people and organized bollywood mafia is involved in the crime and the cover up. It is a shame for the country that wild speculations are flying everywhere yet the authorities have been complacent to secure the truth.
Report filed by Diwakar Shetty from Mumbai
Boseman was not just another Black actor pushing diversity, he showed any man could be superman
Legends die young. And 2020 has not been a kind year, particularly to those in the entertainment industry, both in India and abroad. But the death of Hollywood actor Chadwick Boseman at a young age of 43 hurts that much more. Because he was the Black Panther, the avenger of wrongs, the challenger of a White world and a transitional perfection from man to superman. Because he was the king of Wakanda, upholding the spirit of tradition and embracing modernity with that rare combination of warmth and intelligence. He may have played Black icons like Jackie Robinson and James Brown but as Black Panther, that lithe, smart and fearless warrior, he transcended barriers and made a place in everybody’s hearts. Black Panther was the first superhero film to be nominated for a best picture Oscar and one of the highest-grossing films of all time, bringing in over $1.3 billion. This despite the many icons emerging from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In life, Boseman was no less a fighter. In between his fight with cancer, numerous surgeries and chemotherapy sessions, he gave us films like Marshall, Da 5 Bloods, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and many more. A private man, he had kept the news of his fight with the disease to himself and married his long-time partner and singer Taylor Simon Ledward earlier this year, maybe because he knew the end was near. And he never forgot to wish his friend and Democrat Vice-Presidential candidate Kamala Harris a few days ago.
Black Panther will always represent a watershed moment in popular culture, particularly for African-Americans. A legacy that Boseman was clearly very proud of and for which he had travelled to Africa. The film was considered to be a positive force for social change in the US and at that time, activist Frederick T Joseph raised money through a GoFundMe campaign called “Help Children See Black Panther.” He was quoted as saying that he was promoting “stories and content that’s combatting the rhetoric and racism of the Trump Administration.” In fact, the film made Marvel consider more inclusions. Black Widow and Captain Marvel are more than just about women empowerment, they are the carriers of the future. However, a realist, Boseman himself did not think that Black Panther had in any way solved Hollywood’s much-touted diversity issues. He said that it came about as a result of a moment that had been building over years with works like the Martin Luther King drama Selma, the Disney fantasy-adventure A Wrinkle in Time and TV shows such as Insecure. He believed that quality film-making was needed for Hollywood to embrace diversity as the new normal rather than just doing movies with a Black cast and director. His own work he considered as “just another doorway into something else.” Hopefully a perennial kingdom called Wakanda.
Courtesy: The Pioneer
As cops bicker, politicians jump in and the CBI takes up the probe into his death, point-scoring dims the talent he was
Over a month into Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, conspiracy theories surrounding it have refused to die down. Did the gifted talent wither away, traumatised and depressed? Was he pushed a bit too hard over the edge by Bollywood’s incestuous cliques? Was he blackmailed and threatened about his finances by girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty or was he exploited by some money-laundering gang? Such has been the unending volley of questions that he continues to dominate news cycles despite the pandemic. Now the Supreme Court, where Rhea had petitioned against her victimisation by the actor’s family, has taken note, seeking an impartial and comprehensive probe, following which the CBI has taken it up. Sadly and inappropriately, Sushant has been iconised by his death than his life’s work and for his sake, it is imperative the truth comes out and there is closure. So that he is not defined by the haze of the underbelly but by his achievements. For his sake, we must know if it was suicide or murder, so that we can restore his dignity and peace. For his sake, we must know how serious was he a victim of mental depression as that becomes a malaise of a generation under extreme pressure of performance and expectation. Most importantly, the blame games and needless politicking in his name must stop right now.
Hardly anybody caught in the nepotism slugfest in the film industry had been around to help him or know him better when he needed them. The turf war between the Mumbai and Bihar police, both of which are conducting parallel investigations, has turned the probe into a game of one-upmanship than about assessing the facts of the case. The Bihar police seems to be acting at the behest of Sushant’s politically-connected family and raising questions which the Mumbai police should have taken note of rather than dismissing them as a coercive tactic. Both should be exchanging notes and information to clear the haze of speculation. Otherwise, the bickering is only emaciating them and eroding public trust. But reprehensibly, it’s the politicians across the divide in Bihar who are hellbent on making justice for the “son of the soil” an electoral issue when they have had no active association with him. Such was the pressure from the Opposition, with its leader Tejaswi Yadav leading an all-party demand to treat it as a national issue, that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had to recommend a CBI probe into his death. Question is whether they would stop at that or keep the ball rolling if the findings are not to their liking. Therefore, given the political and regional sensitivities involved, there is this lingering fear that Sushant’s case, like that of the Arushi murder case and Jessica Lal’s before it, could drag on for years. And if indeed we lost him to depression, then that is the biggest casualty of this debate.
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Bilateral relations are now deepening, impacting human lives at the basic level. After agriculture, it is shared COVID-19 management protocols
A special flight equipped with medical equipment and advanced technological treatments for Coronavirus flew to India from Tel Aviv last week. Also on board were defence and security experts as well as Israeli diplomats returning to their embassies and consulates in the region. The Israeli team will join hands with researchers in India to develop a rapid testing solution for COVID-19. Dozens of sophisticated ventilators, which were loaded onto the special flight before take-off, made the name of the mission that much more meaningful: Breathing Space.
Israel went out of its way to approve the export and transfer of these ventilators to India, while both countries continue to fight against the spread of the virus. Israel’s exceptional gesture was a welcome “thank you” to India, which just a few months ago sent medicine and other essential diagnostic equipment, in severe global shortage at the time, to Israel. In this way, Israel and India successfully transformed this unprecedented global pandemic into an opportunity to assist one another and enhance their relations.
The Israel-India relationship has improved dramatically over the past several years. It’s hard to believe that just three decades ago, Indian passports were valid “for every country except Israel.” Today, India has become one of our most significant friendships in the Asian region. The scope of mutual trade between the two countries has grown from approximately $200 million in 1992 to some $4 billion in 2018.
Since former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s first historic visit to India in 2003, Israeli and Indian Presidents, Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers have enjoyed a host of bilateral visits and discussions. One of the first discussions Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi held upon entering his new role was with his Indian counterpart, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar.
Israel’s Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Benny Gantz, too, had a word with Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, expressing hope that the strong bilateral ties between the two countries would contribute significantly to the global efforts in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. These are just some of the indicators of the surge that has occurred in relations between the two countries since diplomatic ties were fully established in 1992.
This upward trend has yielded success in other fields as well. Although it’s difficult to imagine direct flights while living under the cloud of COVID-19, Air India’s direct flight between New Delhi and Tel Aviv, inaugurated two years ago, minimises flight duration by flying over Saudi Arabia. This contributes towards the normalisation of Israel’s ties with the Arab world and as such, assists Israel in achieving its strategic goal of improving its relations with the region.
Other flights — El Al to Mumbai, Arkia flights to Goa and Cochin — are an important bridge between Israel and India. This bridge is further strengthened by a visa relief policy for Indian citizens, which saw the number of Indian tourists visiting Israel grow from 16,000 in 2000 to over 70,000 in 2018.
One of India’s most critical national security challenges is the provision of food security to its immense population. Israel’s Foreign Ministry has consistently invested a tenth of the Agency for International Development’s (MASHAV) budget into India for several years now. This has financed the establishment of more than 28 “Excellency Centres” across the many States that make up India. These centres serve as agricultural “demonstration” farms, introducing Israeli experts and innovative Israeli technologies to Indian farmers.
During his last visit to India in January 2018, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu escorted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his home State of Gujarat. In an exceptionally moving moment, hundreds of farmers rushed to meet them and share their personal stories. One after another, they recounted how their fields’ crop yields had improved by a hundred per cent following their training at Israel’s Excellence Centres.
Relations between Israel and India clearly don’t just exist between Governments but also between societies. The Israel-India relationship has permeated all elements of Indian society, including that of the 650 million Indian citizens who make a living from agriculture and who represent half of the workforce in India.
Israel’s contributions have also risen to prominence in fields ranging from health, security, industry and more. Most critical on our shared agenda, however, is water and Israel is uniquely placed to provide solutions to the critical water shortage issue that India faces. Both countries share a deep and mutual appreciation for the benefits that their joint collaboration brings them at the community level.
Under the leadership of Narendra Modi, India is assuming its role as a regional and world power and our diplomacy has succeeded in showing India the many advantages that can come from strengthening its ties with Israel. The Foreign Ministry is determined to cultivating its ties with India to ensure that our relations continue to thrive in the future.
(The writer is Deputy Director General for Asia and the Pacific at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Healthcare interventions that are scaled up can only be sustainable when women are put at the centre of development and caring for their community
When the Karuna Trust, the Karnataka-based not-for-profit organisation, undertook the responsibility of managing the primary health centre (PHC) at Wakka, a village in Tirap district, Arunachal Pradesh, many were surprised. The location was remote and access was difficult. There was also an additional fear of insurgency. But Dr H Sudarshan, the founder and secretary of the trust, was undeterred as he wanted to reach the under-served at all costs.
His confidence stemmed from the fact that the trust had successfully managed 26 poorly-run and derelict PHCs in its home State of Karnataka. Many of the PHCs were in remote and difficult locations. If the public-private partnership (PPP) with the Government to provide healthcare to the marginalised population in rural areas could work in difficult conditions in the southern Indian State, there was no doubt in his mind that this successful health intervention could be scaled up in the northeastern State as well. Such was his determination that Dr Sudarshan remained unfazed even after he was accosted by a group of insurgents in Wakka, which is predominantly a tribal village, and asked to pay a sizeable sum as “protection money” if he wanted to keep the PHC open. Despite being threatened that he would not be able to work without their support, Dr Sudarshan refused to succumb to their demand. He was convinced that the trust, which believed in a community-based and people-oriented approach, would be able to make the PHC function without paying any “protection money.”
And he was proved right. A couple of weeks later, when the same insurgents who had demanded money realised that Dr Sudarshan and his team were not giving up, they came to him seeking healthcare advice for their wives. People in the village needed healthcare badly but the lack of a PHC had made it difficult for them to access proper services. Once they realised that the trust had come to provide quality healthcare, the community, including the insurgents, readily supported the team.
In fact, so overwhelming was the support that local women healthcare workers were motivated to report for duty on time daily. Under ordinary circumstances, this may not have been considered a big achievement, but when the trust team saw that the women health workers crossed narrow, swaying bridges across deep rivers and gorges, and also resorted to swinging on a rope to reach the PHC, they were impressed by their commitment. It was this dedication of the health workers that helped the trust to bring eight more PHCs in nine districts under its management.
But can all successful health interventions be scaled up? What are the processes that need to be followed so that these interventions are sustainable? Should a health intervention be scaled up just because it has achieved success as a pilot?
If the trust’s journey from managing one PHC in Karnataka to managing 71 PHCs in seven States, including Arunachal Pradesh, is any indication, clearly the answer is “yes.” Economic growth can be meaningful only if it brings greater benefits to a greater number of people over a wider geographical area. This should happen quickly, equitably and be lasting.
However, it has been seen that women are often excluded from this growth process and their role and contribution is overlooked by policymakers. Health interventions that are scaled up can only be sustainable when women are put at the centre of development. An excellent example of this is the Home-Based Newborn and Child Care (HBNCC) model developed by the Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health (SEARCH), a not-for-profit body headed by Dr Abhay Bang and Dr Rani Bang. Based in Gadchiroli, a predominantly tribal and Naxal-affected district in Maharashtra, the NGO has proven that tribal women are capable of saving lives of newborns. It would be wrong to judge their capabilities just because of their lack of formal education, their traditional attire and customs. The bejewelled Gonda tribal women in Gadchiroli have shown that although they follow traditional customs by wearing customary silver jewellery from head to toe, this does not come in the way of saving lives.
The HBNCC intervention, which sensitised and trained these women, has demonstrated that they are equally competent in recognising and identifying life-threatening symptoms in newborns and administering life-saving injections. So, it is not what is being done which is significant but how it is done. Here, too, the crucial factor is the respect given to the women during the intervention.
The biggest factor in their success in reducing neonatal mortality is the women empowering model followed by them. Just training the village’s women health workers to provide home-based newborn and childcare helped to reduce infant mortality from 121 for 1,000 live births to 30 within six years of its implementation. The key to the success of this intervention was to ensure women became partners and not merely passive recipients. This underlines the need for partnerships as innovators do not have the capacity for upscaling. The SEARCH experience has shown that women are the right partners for scaling up healthcare at the grassroots through Self-Help Groups and community-based organisations. SEARCH is at present working with 13,000 tribal people in 48 villages in Gadchiroli. Its HBNCC model, adopted by the Government for its National Health Mission, is also being used by 12 countries.
This underscores not just the importance of engaging people and community-based organisations in health interventions but also shows how ensuring gender equality is paramount to its sustainability.
Equally important is the creation of social values by ending discrimination against girls. Besides, the infrastructure, the content and the process, too, have to be empowering for women. Clearly, the Gadchiroli model seems to have worked out how to adapt to local situations. It has been replicated in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and seven African countries.
The Karuna Trust model, too, is being used to address gaps in remote centres through innovations in telemedicine, health insurance, integration of mental health and has reached 1.3 million people.
The Ekjut health model developed by Dr Prasanta Tripathy and Dr Nirmala Nair is another success story of how interventions centred on empowering women can bring sustainable change. Ekjut began its participatory and learning action (PLA)-based intervention with just 20 women in three tribal and remote villages around Chakradharpur in West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand.
The high maternal and newborn mortality in these areas led to their being chosen for the pilot programme. During these monthly PLA meetings, women are trained to identify problems like the two main causes of maternal and child death: Women delaying their need for professional care and their inability to find an appropriate healthcare facility. They then discussed how to implement practical solutions and evaluate their effectiveness.
The impact of the programme began to be seen as the women overcame their fear, shyness and patriarchal barriers to step out of their homes. Over the next five years, it was scaled to eight districts and involved over 20,000 women. By translating their newly-found knowledge into action, women were able to bring about a 20 per cent reduction in maternal deaths and a 30 per cent reduction in the neonatal deaths in 600 villages.
Ekjut now provides support to the NHM in scaling up its model in all 24 districts in Jharkhand. Its PLA model has also been scaled in 17 districts in Madhya Pradesh. In 2016, the Central Government began using the Ekjut model to bring down maternal and neonatal deaths in eight Indian States. Government frontline workers trained by Ekjut are using the PLA method in 40,000 villages all over the country to empower women to take charge.
However, challenges in scaling up successful interventions still exist. The lack of community participation is a big hurdle in scaling up interventions as was seen in the resistance to a nationwide roll-out of the weekly iron-folic acid supplementation programme for adolescents. Another impediment is the unavailability of requisite financial resources and trained personnel. Funds for research and monitoring and evaluating data are often negligible. Greater dissemination of successful scaled-up interventions, strategic partnerships with other stakeholders and integration with Government programmes will be useful in overcoming some of these challenges.
(The writer is a senior journalist)
Just look at the way party tickets are distributed during a parliamentary election and you realise that ‘being connected’ matters a lot. It’s no different from Bollywood
The sudden and tragic demise of Sushant Singh Rajput in rather mysterious circumstances has triggered a huge debate on all that is wrong with Bollywood, especially the incestuous relationship that exists within the film fraternity and the discouragement, if not hostility, with which it greets “outsiders.” While the Mumbai police is still probing the cause of his death, Sushant’s colleague, Kangana Ranaut, another “outsider” who has had to struggle to find her place in the industry, has stirred the hornet’s nest by talking about a “movie mafia” that exists in Mumbai and the nepotistic tendencies that it promotes. Her detailed interview to a private television channel recently has dredged up a lot of muck and brought the issue of nepotism to the centrestage.
One of the allegations against the “Bollywood mafia” after Sushant’s tragic death is that it drives talented “outsiders” out of the business while promoting mediocrity among “nepo-kids” (children of film stars). This is not to say that star kids are not talented. Many of them have blossomed as excellent actors. But there is no denying the fact that they have a safety net. Interestingly, what is true of the cinema world in Mumbai is also true of the world of politics in Lutyens’ Delhi and elsewhere in the country. Nepotism is so well entrenched that it is now central to our way of life. However, even if it is a bit late in the day, one must identify this trend and call it out because it militates against the democratic dharma, which demands a level-playing field for everyone.
Producer-director Karan Johar, who has been at the receiving end of Kangana’s accusations, has not, in fact, denied the part played by nepotism in the film industry. He has stated publicly that when a producer launches the son of a movie star, he is actually wanting to be in a “comfort zone” because eventually, it’s also a commercial decision. “A big movie star’s son is going to get the eye balls…you don’t want to take a chance…it’s money.” In other words, he says, producers feel “protected” when they are in that (nepotism) zone.
Is this not true of politics as well? Just look at the way party tickets are distributed during a parliamentary election and you realise that “being connected” matters a lot — or so it did for much of the seven decades that have gone by after independence. In fact, nepotism is so well entrenched that the children and grandchildren of individuals, who held public offices at the national level in India many decades ago, almost deem it their right to represent the constituencies which their grandfathers or grandmothers represented and live in the very houses which their forefathers occupied in Lutyens’ Delhi. They get so attached to these houses that after a while they even forget that these dwellings are public properties. And in case they are not living in those houses, the second and third generation politicians demand that they be converted into memorials or mausoleums.
The Nehru-Gandhis are the real initiators of this trend in our national politics and in Lutyens’ Delhi. It began in the days of our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, when he ensured the appointment of his daughter, Indira Gandhi, as the president of the Indian National Congress in 1959. What happened thereafter is fairly well-known to the people of the country. As one member of this family succeeded another as the country’s Prime Minister, the family’s familiarity with our republican Constitution grew weaker and weaker and it began to imagine that India was indeed a monarchy.
As this family entrenched itself and started promoting its relatives and friends, the Nehruvian School became dominant and ambitious bureaucrats, academicians, thought leaders, artists, media professionals and businessmen became part of it. All of them realised that only those who were part of this caravan, could climb the ladder in bureaucracy, academia, media and so on.
Barring honourable exceptions, all the Governors, Vice Chancellors, newspaper editors, TV anchors and Padma Award winners were members of this school. There was no such thing as respect for diversity or other points of view. In politics, those who made it to the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha in the days of the Congress’s complete dominance, had to be part of this ideological “biraadri” of their fellow travellers. So the whims and fancies of this family became the law and its nepotistic attitude was dignified and universalised when it promoted the children and grandchildren of its loyalists and hangers-on.
All this went on unchallenged until Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in May 2014. He has emerged as the arch disruptor and has substantially worked towards creation of a level-playing field in Lutyens’ Delhi. Kangana is doing the same in Bollywood — fearlessly calling out those who shamelessly promote nepotism in the Hindi film industry and even launch vicious attacks on talented “outsiders” who dare to find a place for themselves in Bollywood.
For example, it appears to be common practice to crack jokes in television shows and public events at the expense of newcomers like what Shah Rukh Khan and Shahid Kapoor did to Sushant during an IIFA awards event. Kangana also talks about some extremely worrying situations, like when a noted Bollywood director told Sushant that he was not drifting but drowning.
Further, Sushant began life in Maldiha in Purnia district, Bihar. He was a National Olympiad winner in physics. A rank holder in an entrance exam for a top-of-the-line engineering college. He had eclectic interests, ranging from reading to mathematics and astronomy to dance, music and cinema. Was he too much of an intellectual for Bollywood because many “stars” have publicly gloated over their poor academic record? In fact, Karan Johar has confessed that he was told at a young age that if he wanted to make Hindi movies, “you don’t need to be qualified….and this doesn’t speak highly of the fraternity I come from.”
This writer is not a movie buff but he got to see some of Sushant’s work — his lead roles in Chichchore and in the biopic on MS Dhoni, for example. His sensitive portrayals in both these movies is there for all to see. So how come Bollywood, instead of embracing and promoting such talent, chose to drive him into a corner? If there is a “mafia” or to put it more accurately, a cosy club of nepotists, it must be identified and called out. The issues raised by Kangana call for some serious debate and cleaning up.
Further, if Sushant’s death is not to go in vain, the democratisation of Bollywood is essential and a level-playing field is absolutely essential. But this can happen only if the current national indignation at the treatment meted out to Sushant is turned into a national movement to encourage the work of talented “outsiders” and, more importantly, gets reflected at the box office.
(Writer: A Surya Prakash; Courtesy: The Pioneer)
Are ‘air bubbles’ between nations a way of getting international passenger travel going again?
With India having created “air bubbles” with some countries such as France, the UAE and the US and advanced negotiations on with Germany and other nations, it is heartening to see that international commercial air travel is restarting. An “air bubble” is a form of a bilateral air traffic agreement but one that follows the entry rules set by various nations related to registration and quarantine protocols. In India, for example, travellers from abroad are still mandated to undergo one week’s institutional and a week’s home quarantine. The “air bubbles” also prevent direct “sixth freedom” air traffic, a connecting one. International travellers will not, for example, be able to connect through Dubai or Paris airports while coming to India unless specifically allowed by the Indian Government. However, one wonders how an immigration-free zone such as Europe’s “Schengen” area will be managed. The increased flights will hopefully see better utilisation of air fleets and present airlines an opportunity to make some money. However, if experience from India’s domestic flights resuming operations is any indication, the volume of passengers might be minimal after an initial rush as few people have an urgent non-personal reason to travel this time.
So these “air bubbles” could be a start as it remains to be seen whether commercial air traffic can ever re-emerge from the pandemic. For example, many airlines made significant volumes of connecting air traffic but with restrictions as well as the risk-averse nature of most people to deal with another large airport, how will airlines like Emirates and Singapore Airlines cope? Emirates, for example, has already retired the earliest of its A380 superjumbo aircraft and laid off thousands of employees as the Indian air traffic that sustained that carrier has vanished overnight. Even storied airlines like British Airways have announced that they will retire their entire Boeing 747 fleet, joining Australia’s Qantas and Dutch airline KLM in retiring the “Queen of the Skies.” While airlines highlight how safe travel onboard is, drastic reductions in service, thanks to the pandemic, and the lack of passenger confidence have made certain that many of them will not re-emerge from the crisis. Bubbles or not, the aviation industry itself sits on a precarious bubble.
(Courtesy: The Pioneer)
Until a viable vaccine is found, finding new ways to cope with the unexpected seems to be our only recourse to brace against the unexpected challenges thrown by the virus
Life is not the way it’s supposed to be…. The way you cope is what makes the difference — Virginia Satir.
When the famous US family therapist Virginia Satir talked about coping with life’s adversities, she was unlikely to have had images of a pandemic like COVID-19 in mind. But her words have a grim relevance today as we learn to live with the unforeseen and unprecedented situation caused by the Coronavirus. A recent telephone survey conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), through its Data Innovation Centre, documents several insightful findings about public behaviour and the health and economic outcomes of both the virus and the lockdown imposed by the Government to curb its transmission.
The findings explain the surge as most respondents, while adhering to safety protocols, admit that they took advantage of the “unlock” phase to step out of the house when there was no pressing need. At the same time, the economic trough has been gloomy even after opening up with a high percentage of the workforce losing jobs or facing salary cuts. This despite a majority going back to work in the “unlock” phase.
The survey, titled, The Delhi Coronavirus Telephone Survey (DCVTS), was undertaken in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) in three rounds, between April 3 and 6; April 23 and 26; and June 15 and 23 respectively. The most notable finding during the first round of the survey was the successful communication by the Government of the dangers associated with the virus and the consequent need for a stringent lockdown — nearly 87 per cent of the respondents asserted their support for the lockdown to be extended for two more weeks beyond its original end date of April 14, notwithstanding the hardships caused by it.
The study also throws light on other aspects of dealing with COVID-19, including the level of awareness among the people about the risks and symptoms of the disease; their threat perceptions in terms of the chances of contracting the virus and their attitudes relating to mandated safety protocols such as hand hygiene, social distancing and the use of masks. In addition, it highlights the impact of the lockdown on the incomes and livelihoods of all sections of society.
Pandemic makes inroads: With the virus making nascent inroads into the country during late March and early April, it was important to explore awareness levels about the disease and the possible prevention measures among the general public. A strange paradox that emerged in the first round was the dissonance between people’s perceptions about the dangers posed by the virus and the possibility they envisaged of getting infected themselves.
While almost 95 per cent of them averred that the virus was highly dangerous, as many as 65 per cent of them did not expect themselves or any of their household members to get infected. This sense of confidence in the ability to sidestep the infection was obviously put to the test after the easing of the lockdown in June, which has been followed by a massive surge in positive cases in Delhi and the adjoining areas.
Immediate impact of the lockdown: With a complete shutdown of all activities and commercial establishments starting March 25, the first phase of the NCAER survey indicated that 25 per cent of the rural and 33 per cent of the urban residents suffered shortages of essential items, including food supplies, cooking fuel and even medicines. Subsequently, however, while shortages of essential supplies somewhat eased when the respondents were interviewed during the second round of the survey in the third week of April, people’s worries had now squarely shifted to the economic impact of the lockdown. The predominant concern during this period was the decline in incomes and loss of livelihoods due to the closure of offices and businesses.
During DCVTS-2, an overwhelming majority of the respondents — 82 per cent —reported loss of income or wages, especially daily wage workers and employees in small businesses. Further, among these, 72 per cent of casual workers complained that their incomes and wages had suffered “very much”, indicating that the brunt of the economic distress was borne by workers from the informal sector. Even among the salaried class, 38 per cent of the workers either received truncated salaries or were relieved of their jobs.
Interestingly, and perhaps as a saving grace, farmers did not seem to be overly affected. Only 34 per cent reported a drop in incomes during the lockdown. This because most of them were busy harvesting the Rabi crop and doing preparations for the Kharif crop during this period.
Focus on safety measures during “unlock” Phase I: The most conspicuous results of the NCAER’s DCVTS were observed in the third round, which virtually stood at the cusp between the lockdown and phased “unlocking.” Characterised by the opening up of a range of commercial activities and establishments, this period in early June was critical to determine how far people were adhering to safety measures against the disease. Some level of complacency was witnessed after the “unlocking” as 73 per cent of the respondents reported going out for some reason during the period of one week prior to the survey.
More worryingly, as high as 61 per cent of the respondents above the age of 60 years had ventured out of their homes despite the advisory to elderly people to remain indoors as they fall in the high-risk category. Overall, there was a general adherence to the precautionary measures specified by the Government and health authorities, with 95 per cent of the surveyed people affirming that they were wearing masks or face coverings while going out; 66 per cent reported frequent use of hand sanitisers; and only 0.8 per cent of the respondents claimed that they did not follow any precaution at all.
Economic repercussions of COVID-19: In what could signify a gradual economic revival post the lockdown, 78 per cent of the households reported that their members had resumed going to the workplace in the second and third weeks of June. But the trajectory of loss of livelihoods and incomes for daily wage workers and small businesses reported in the second round of the survey continued in the third round, too.
Thus, DCVTS-III showed that more than 70 per cent of the households relying on wage work and business as the main source of income suffered extensive loss of earnings. A large section of these households was also compelled to borrow money to counter financial distress. In fact, medium and small businesses have literally withered under the onslaught of the economic earthquake unleashed by the virus, with 52 per cent of them reporting suspension of activities during the lockdown in May and June and 12 per cent shutting down completely.
Have welfare measures mitigated financial suffering? Apart from documenting the adverse impact on incomes and wages, the third round of DCVTS also focussed on the role of Government programmes and measures to ameliorate the suffering of the marginalised sections. It was found that a large number of households — 58 per cent of the total surveyed and 61 per cent in Delhi alone — were given extra rations through the use of Aadhaar cards and e-coupons. About 35 per cent received cash transfers from the Government in May and June, taken together. While most of the fund transfers were achieved through Jan Dhan accounts, the Government also used other schemes like the Ujjwala Yojana and PM Kisan programme to offer financial relief to the affected households.
So what does the future portend? The results of three rounds of the NCAER survey could offer some insights to policy makers for negotiating the rough road ahead as we brace to meet the persistent challenges of a virus that refuses to go away. Until a viable vaccine is found, possibly by next year, turning to Virginia Satir’s practical advice to find new ways of coping with the unexpected seems to be our only recourse.
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