Maverick Citizen Op-Ed: Covid-19 in Modi’s India: Virulent politics and mass desperation

Unlike presidents Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, President Narendra Modi did not dismiss the dangers of Covid-19. He imposed the first national lockdown, for 21 days, on 24 March 2020, when India had 600 cases and 10 deaths, declaring that the virus would be vanquished in that period.

Migrant workers and their families walk along a road during a lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus in New Delhi, India, on Saturday 28 March 2020. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the unprecedented move this week in a bid to replicate China’s relative success containing the coronavirus outbreak.

India’s estimated 120 million migrant workers are part of a footloose proletariat whose ranks have been swelled over decades by the combined effect ofand the loss of rights over land and commons as a result of mining, dam building and industrial expansion. These precarious workers eke out a marginal living in India’s vast informal sector, their cheap and disposable labour used to build and run the cities that they can’t afford to live in.

South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

COVID-19 LIVE UPDATES | 173 Covid-19 related fatalities in the past 24 hoursHealth minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced on Monday night that there were just 5,378 new Covid-19 cases recorded in the past 24 hours.
Source: TimesLIVE - 🏆 28. / 59 Read more »

COVID-19: Proportion of youth with COVID-19 triples in five months – WHOAug 4 (Reuters) - Young people who are hitting nightclubs and beaches are leading a rise in fresh coronavirus cases across the world, with the proportion of those aged 15 to 24 who are infected rising three-fold in about five months, the World Health Organization said.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Maverick Citizen Op-ed: Covid-19 shows us yet again: Don’t mess with Mother NatureRushed research in the time of pandemic panic has led to questionable research and conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus – but genetic analysis of the virus has shown that it is highly unlikely that it originated in a lab.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Maverick Citizen Op-Ed: Bolsonaro’s handling of Covid-19 has unleashed a layered crisis in BrazilThis is the third in a six-part series that will look at how the Covid-19 pandemic is playing out in the BRICS countries.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

BUSINESS MAVERICK: Shining a spotlight on Covid-19 price gougingSouth Africa’s competition authorities have been seized with energy when it comes to investigating allegations of price gouging. This has both positive and negative implications.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

COVID-19: SA reports 173 new coronavirus related deathsSix provinces reported COVID-19 related deaths in the last 24 hours.
Source: eNCA - 🏆 49. / 51 Read more »