Miseries of Migrant Workers

Author: Vrushali

 

The nationwide lockdown extension was announced on April 14th. It was declared that the lockdown will be extended till May 3. However, no declaration was made regarding the economic revival plan despite the urgency to curb the endless miseries of the migrant workers. Probably their miseries are as insignificant as their earnings and social status or their hassle is too feeble in the noise of mainstream politics and city-centric media.

Exodus of these migrant workers, walking across borders ‘barefoot’, trudging back to their native villages, is posing a huge issue of community spread of the virus as there are about 41.4 million (about 37% of the Indian population) who migrate for work.

They are stranded with no wages in hand and are supposed to suffer the marginalisation silently. These workers, who are mostly the sole breadwinners in their families, living thousands of kilometers away, barely make 200-300 rupees a day. Dignity of these labourers, howsoever sporadic the work and meagre the wage is, has been scraped out. They are slashed to stretching their hands for two meals a day.

It is poverty that strangles and stifles their very integrity and subsistence, and not the catastrophe of this virus. They cannot even buy a bar of soap to wash their hands as the world struck by the virus constantly demands. Their desperation is falling between the cracks and abysses in welfare measures. Their dwindling supplies, dearth of money and terrifying panic precipices their existence and an absence of agency in this microcosm.

In the eventuality of the lockdown being extended, many of the state governments have set up relief camps, community kitchens and announced cash transfers for such workers including hawkers, rickshaw pullers, construction site workers, labourers and other homeless citizens.

The Centre has approved Rs. 1.7 lakh crores to assuage the consequences of this pandemic on them too but majority of them are either unaware of the schemes or of the procedure to access them.

For instance, under the BOCW (Building and Other Construction Workers) Welfare fund, workers are to be provided income support. But most people are not eligible for these benefits as they do not have a BOCW card (about 94%).

The Centre has also increased the quantity of rice and wheat under the coronavirus relief package and have set it above what the EWS were entitled to. But the ground reality does not resonate with the announcements nor the entitlements are enough for their sustenance. Each discrepancy should be checked by the government in immediate effect.

In my opinion, the foremost step should be direct cash transfers to as many workers as possible. Intellectuals have also suggested measures regarding the inflow of cash, restoring food supply chain and direct procurement from farmers which the government must consider.

The most urgent of all measures should be to protect the migrant workers, understand their plight and ease up their lives to at least a considerable extent. They should be provided with transport facilities (while maintaining social distancing and screening them) to send them back to their hometowns or should be quarantined at well- equipped shelters.

As resourced citizens, we must reach out for their help or should at least donate for the relief funds and render support to these workers.

Let us watch out for the true essence of #weareallinthistogether and put efforts to make it happen.

 

Alone Together

Author: Shatakshi Singh

 

2020, what a time to be alive. Trapped between four concrete walls with nowhere to go. The pinnacle of modern society, a utopian world where no one is disturbing us, no unwanted opinions, overpriced dinners or nasty traffic. We are where we are, and we have all the time in the world.

Never have we valued going out as much as now, when we are stuck in. Ah, all the morning walks we never woke up for and the casual drives that seemed too tiresome.

Twenty four hours a day with a world of entertainment just a few clicks away, isn’t that something we have always wanted?

As is evident now, sometimes things that we wish for subconsciously are better off as mere figments of our imagination. It is often the norm to take what we have for granted and lust after what we can’t have. This is human tendency, which is the very cornerstone for all competition and our collective ‘growth’ as a society. Chasing financial compensation for all the money we have put into our education and then some, a never-ending spiral that we drift down, until everything comes to an abrupt stop, indefinitely.

It takes a global pandemic for us to realize that workers create wealth while leaders are merely orchestrators and oppressors. A capitalistic economy collapses without workers who are so dispensable in the normal run of things. Perhaps this shock to our system is a necessary one for us to realize, appreciate and cherish things which we casually ignore.

I have come to understand that happiness comes intrinsically and if you find it within yourself to not be boring, you can surprise yourself every day with simple things you can create on a kitchen stove. You can listen to Coltrane’s saxophone clearer when someone isn’t in a hurry to get somewhere on the street. Soaps about mythological characters in crappy resolution can be fun when you are surrounded by people who share personal anecdotes about how they felt when they watched it for the first time. You see, we can hear much better once we take our headphones off. Being stuck in a house can lead you down the paths of rediscovery. Tales from your grandmother’s childhood, your brother’s embarrassing nudes from when he was three, your father’s vast collection of poetry in a language you too often consider pedestrian but is your mother tongue.

Frank Bretschneider composed a musical album called Isolation which simulates what German political prisoners must have felt in solitary confinement during World War II. It is sonically disturbing and deeply unsettling. But the beauty of it lies in the background obscured by the canvas of war. Their purpose in life was clear and they knew that they were liable to be imprisoned and isolated from any form of human contact. We are fortunate enough to have people around us to be isolated with. Let’s hear each other out before there is no one left to speak to.

 

Goodbye Notes, To My Teenage Years

Author: Atulya Subhash

Most of us are now twenty or going to be twenty soon. What’s the big deal, you might ask. It essentially marks the end of our teenage years. All those years, we lived by being reckless, impulsive and with no care in the world. We dealt with all our happiest moments and our darkest times with passion. We’ve all had our fair shares of thrills and woes. From your first conversation with that high school crush to your first heartbreak. From driving your first ride, breaking speed limits to your first ever road accident. (And probably not the last). From learning with zest and enthusiasm to hating the education system. Well, the list goes on.

One of the most exciting moments for most of us would have been when we first received our smartphones. We were thrilled to use it. We were on cloud nine while creating an account on every social media platform in trend. However, what we probably didn’t see then was how our childhood subtly bid us farewell forever.

Most of us never really went out to play again.

If only, I had known what was coming, I’d trade the world to have those simpler times again. The times where I could play with my friends even though it was way past my curfew time, when my friends and I would make random people the victims of our lame prank calls.

I feel people around us now expect us to be more and do more. Until two years ago, some mistakes were forgiven and forgotten. If we make the same mistakes now, they aren’t considered forgivable anymore. People consider us as grown adults and expect us to know everything. It’s not easy, especially when deep inside, you feel like a 10 year old stuck in a 20 year old body.

However people thinking that way is only fair because the truth is we all are stepping out into the real world pretty soon. We’re going to take on responsibilities that we thought were far into the future, but in reality it’s not that far at all.

What makes things more complex is that although we are given the responsibilities of an adult, we’re not given as much freedom. People expect us to be wise but also regard us as raging lunatics with temper issues. It’s like we’re caught between the devil and the deep sea. It’s only natural that in a situation like this, people like me have a midlife existential crisis, contemplating whether or not I have lived my life to its fullest.

On some days, I look back and ask myself, should I have enjoyed more? Should I have gone to that concert, or to that late night party I wasn’t allowed to go to?

On some other days, I look back and feel nothing but pure joy, thinking about all the fun I had in school plays, on those long walks with a dear friend or just reading my favourite novel and jamming to my favorite songs. It makes me realise that these simple things which give us moments of great happiness, are the things that when looked back upon, will always warm my heart and make me smile.

So I guess in the end, we all have great memories of our teenage years. It’s now time, to embrace the new life awaiting us and create new memories.

Ca-lazy-thenics

Author: Aaditya Natarajan

 

In these trying times, it is very important for us to keep ourselves fit and healthy, while staying at home, of course. So here’s a quick fitness routine, which is very easy to follow and produces great results. I have designed this in such a way that all parts of the body get equal attention. So give it a try if you like.

We’ll start with the arms and hands. First step is to get out of your bed and pick up your laptop. Then, gently place your laptop at a convenient location, preferably your bed or the sofa. Keep in mind that comfort is the most important factor here, although proximity to the fridge and kitchen also plays an important role. Now, open your laptop’s lid and log on to your favourite streaming service.

Next up, is a brain exercise. This exercise can take anywhere between ten minutes to an hour, but it has to be done right (not really, no pressure). While on the streaming service, decide what you’re going to watch.

That’s it. That’s the entire brain exercise.

Now, its time to exercise the eyes. This one is really simple. It has just one easy step. Stare blankly at whatever you’re watching, while contemplating every life decision.

Most gym experts acknowledge that cardio is one of the most important parts of every workout. This one is no different. Hit pause on your laptop, but make sure you don’t leave it high and dry. Assure your laptop that you’ll be coming back. Now get out of your bed, stretch your back and shake your legs to wake them up. Then, walk up to the refrigerator, open its door and look for food. Or you can simply gawk at the chilling tray. The best part of this particular routine is that you can do it as many times as you want. I personally walk up to the fridge around ten times an hour. It’s great fun too!

If you’ve followed this schedule religiously, you must be pretty tired by now. It is very important to cool down after exercising, or you might experience cramps or a sprain (fair warning: you might experience cramps and sprains even after cooling down). To cool down, take your phone, switch off all lights and slide into your blanket. Now, you can either continue whatever you were watching or scroll onto the Insta-treadmill, until one of these things happen:

1. You fall asleep, which is very rare

2. You get Instagram’s “you’re all caught up” message

3. Someone from your family tells you to sleep while they are going to the washroom or to get their morning coffee

But, jokes apart, the most important part of your body that you absolutely must keep in shape is your mind. With all the negativity around, mental health has honestly gone to the dumps. Make sure you take proper care of your own mental health. There is no one way to do this, but the simplest way is to do something that makes you happy. Remember, every smile makes you younger by a day.

Cycle of Dreams

Author: Pragya

 

Everyone was delighted at the sight of the newborn.

All stood mesmerized and smiled dreamily upon.

 

The baby giggled and enjoyed the attention,

Never knowing what was their intention.

 

The father saw through his face a famous actor,

And behind him gleaming with pride his great benefactor.

 

His passion to become an actor he chose to bury,

And now he wanted his child to achieve the glory.

 

Though himself an engineer, living his father’s dream,

Who in pursuit of a secure future moulded his son, and he in esteem

 

Of his father, but now he had gained enough peace and finance,

So he wished his grandson to become a cricketer with skills and stance.

 

Which was his hobby to pursue,

but the great grandfather had his view.

 

To keep his words he became a physicist,

the fault was neither his nor his.

 

It’s an endless and beautiful cycle of dreams and aspirations,

Shared by father and son for countless generations.

Oxymorons

Author: Shreya Volety

 

All my life, I have lived as an oxymoron. Interestingly so has the rest of my generation. We are the Gen Z, the ones who don’t like labels. We are the so called irresponsible generation that will bear the responsibility of taking the planet forward. We are the ‘snowflakes’, too easily offended, who are seeing the advent of humanitarian crises every day around the world. Essentially speaking, we are the generation that is required to not only bear the onus of making the world more progressive but to also personify obedience and discipline that the previous generation expects of us.

Now this is not a piece meant to vilify the people who lived before us. That would be fundamentally unfair. They bore the consequences of living in a world their ancestors handed down to them. However, their worlds didn’t constantly morph into something different every day. There was some sense of stability – a certain level of homogeneity. We do not have the privilege of that.

As members of this generation, we are constantly looking for validation and acceptance. Every morning, when we stand in front of the mirror to dress for the day, we are all thinking of fitting in. Either to appeal to our peer group or to appeal to the out-group. We are trying to balance the ‘I care about my life and am a responsible adult’ and the ‘I’m too cool for this life’ attitudes every waking moment of our lives. I am constantly choosing which battles are worth fighting for and if I have the energy to fight them or not.

I have lived as an oxymoron. In a shockingly competitive world, where I am expected to thrive, any more ambition than the prescribed level becomes selfish. The lack of ambition is labeled lethargy. It is expected of my generation – to be different and stand out in the crowd, but an expression of self-identity is wrong.

Either directly or indirectly, my generation will be shouldering the responsibility of a world and a planet that is collapsing. The world collapsing is accepted to be real, but mental health deterioration which can be a direct consequence of that isn’t.

And the absolutely worst part is none of this is inherent to human nature. They are social constructs that have evolved into rigidity. They are the fabrication of our ancestors, who may have offered them some form of social control in the past, but they simply have no benefit in the 21st Century.

One of the common platitudes offered to console the likes of me ranting away in a blog post is ‘Change is difficult to accept. Have some empathy.’ I know change is difficult to accept because my generation is battling it more than any other. We are still trying to find our place in this world amidst climate change and global pandemics. We share memes to help each other swallow a commonly shared anxiety and joke about existentialism.

We definitely aren’t perfect. I am sure any of the readers can offer me hundreds of examples of my generation’s stupidity. But this isn’t a battle to prove who is better. The idea is to stop competing, not revel in it. Cooperation cannot exist when social constructs are inherently judgemental and divisive. There is no way we can move forward if we’re constantly running around in circles and tangents.

I have lived all my life as an oxymoron. I’d like to stop now.

COVID-19

Author: Sanjay B

 

Coronavirus. Yeah, quite a surprise isn’t it? While we were caught up between, say, the America-Iran feud or the Philippines volcanic eruption and wondering how grotesque the start of 2020 is, COVID-19 is what took the world by storm in a jiffy. What gave the virus its name is that when observed under an electron microscope, they appear spherical and have a crown or “corona” of club-shaped spikes on their surface.

Coronaviruses, being a large family of viruses, are of two specific kinds, each exhibiting severe symptoms. They are categorised into Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV).

Talking about the origin of the virus, SARS-CoV first emerged in 2002-2003 in Guangdong province of China as an unusual pneumonia, which later went on to become a life-threatening respiratory failure. The virus rapidly spread across 29 countries, grasping more than 8,000 people in its hold and crushed about 800 of them. The MERS-CoV popped in Saudi Arabia in 2012. People experienced symptoms similar to SARS-CoV but the death rate was higher this time. Unlike SARS-CoV, which spread quickly and widely, MERS-CoV continued to affect the regions of the Middle East. Well, the antagonist of this story did not stop there. In December 2019, cases of an illness similar to this virus were reported in Wuhan, China. The origin of this disease pointed towards the large seafood and animal meat market in Wuhan. The virus soon earned its local name as the new coronavirus and the illness it caused was called Covid-19.

Covid-19 did not take long to break across China into other countries around the world, infecting many more people than the previous two outbreaks. By the end of January, the new coronavirus was declared as a public health emergency of international concern by the WHO.

China, not so known for their synergy with other countries, surprisingly, released the genome of the new coronavirus and shared the information so that authorities in other countries can also test people for the virus.

The most gruesome thing about this virus is that there are currently no vaccines or specific drug treatments for it. People, for the time being are being treated with the already available HIV and Ebola drugs. However, serious efforts and quite a lot of funds are being put into developing a vaccine for Covid-19.

Until then, be informed be safe.

Histories

Author: Shreya Volety

 

Julian Barnes says something very interesting in his book, ‘The Sense of an Ending” when he comments upon the idea of how history is taught and to an extent, on how it is written. During the course of a debate in a classroom over the cause of World War 1, where one side was blaming Gavrilo Princep, the gallivanting radical who decided to shoot Sir Archduke Francis Ferdinand in the head after which all hell broke loose, while the others blamed the political unrest in Europe, the story’s central character comments – “my desire to ascribe responsibility might be a reflection of my own cast of mind than a fair analysis of what happened. That’s one of the central problems of history, isn’t it sir? The question of objective interpretation versus subjective, the fact that we need to know the history of the historian in order to understand the version that is being put in front of us”. Of course this wasn’t the first time I heard something of this nature – we have all been told that at one time or the other that history could be the lies of those who won or the ego-protective words of those who lost. But just the way this author had phrased it – felt like a slap to the face.
Everything is relative – even stories of tyranny, war, revolution and freedom. None of us bat at least an eyelid when we speak of the death tolls in the American Civil War but our eyes are filled to the brim when we speak of our own struggle for independence. We read English Literature on War with an air of indifference, but when it comes to our own autobiographies, our hearts and minds are cauldrons of brewing emotions. This is not wrong – not entirely, but something we must ponder upon. Our histories are the foundation of our opinions, behaviour, actions and not to forget, our biases and prejudices. We offer precedents of the past to prevent errors of the future. Isn’t it dangerous that our telling of these very histories is so seriously tainted by the emotions and passions? How is it right to dissect the truth behind World War 1 with the sharp knife of truth logical, but to do the same with our own histories unpatriotic?
Our ideas and perceptions of whole cultures are based upon what history we know. We build and act upon stereotypes that history warrants are true. We carry resentment, sometimes even unknowingly because these histories seep into our minds and hearts.
Now to arrive at the reason why I have bored you with these 430 odd words – what we document today will become someone’s history tomorrow. In an age where fake news is circulating faster than the blades of a broken fan, who decides what deserves to be documented and what does not? Who knows if something from a false WhatsApp forward might actually make it to our children’s history books? And this is a particularly frightening thought. We are being fed information every minute that almost incapacitates our agency of thought and leaves a deep impression in path of our unconscious; information that appeals to our beliefs- that we would be willing to accept even if it were horrendously untrue.
I believe the saying “History repeats itself” is very true but incomplete. Rather, it should be “History repeats itself, when it is changed, when it is falsified, when it is forgotten”. If wrong histories have led to years of conflict and wars that continue to this day, what is to say it won’t happen in the future? It’s time we realize that we are somebody else’s history and what we print and read and write every day of our lives – be it news, literature, poetry or propaganda – could, if we are not careful very well become a war anthem of our children’s future. And what’s to say it’ll stop there?

Because as they all say – history does repeat itself.

Why did the USA assassinate Qassem Soleimani?

Author: Abhinav Gorantla

 

The US and Iran have long been foes. This traces back to the Iranian Revolution in 1979 when the US-backed monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah, was overthrown by the Iranian public who wanted Iran to be an Islamic Republic. The protest turned out to be taxing on the US diplomatic officials working at the U.S. Embassy in Iran. The embassy staff had been cut out from more than 1,400 men and women before the revolution to 70. On February 14th 1979, a 3,000 strong crowd held demonstrations in front of the US Embassy and occupied the Embassy taking all the American citizens in the building as their hostages. The Americans were held hostage for 444 days after which they were rescued. Eight American servicemen were killed in the rescue efforts.

Tensions between Iran and the US further escalated during the Lebanese Civil War. Israel laid siege to the southern parts of Lebanon when the internal conflicts in Lebanon started affecting Israel adversely. The US sent some “peace-keeping forces” to Iran to stop the violence in Lebanon in the year 1982. The war saw its first American fatality when a US Marine was killed while defusing a bomb. Later that year, the US embassy in Beirut was devastated by a car bomb leaving 63 people dead out of which 17 were Americans. These bombings were reportedly orchestrated by a group of local militia forces which were supported financially by Iran’s “Quds Forces” otherwise known as The Islamic Revolutionary Group Corps. This was formed by the supreme leader of Iran soon after the Iranian Civil War to spread the nation’s Islamic ideology to the neighbouring countries. The local militia forces joined forces with the Iranian Quds to form a powerful cohort which was called the ‘Hezbollah’. This left the US and Israel with only one choice: to back out of Lebanon.

There was hope of restoring diplomatic ties between Iran and the US in 2015 when Iran agreed with America’s proposal to limit their nuclear programme, the US too responded to this friendly gesture of Iran by lifting economic sanctions on Iran that had been imposed since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. But in 2018, this deal took an unexpected turn when the newly elected president of the US, Donald Trump abandoned the deal and reinstituted the US economic sanctions on Iran. This time around, Iran was already going through an economic crisis. Iran retaliated by threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz which could have had a really bad impact on international trade. This threat was followed by an attack on May 12th 2019 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran making 4 merchant ships which included two oil tankers from Saudi Arabia and one each from UAE and Norway the targets. Following this event, the US deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group in order to send “a clear and unmistakable message” to Iran.

Another incident occurred at the same place in June 2019, which damaged a Norwegian and a Japanese vessel carrying petroleum products from Saudi Arabia, this happened during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s diplomatic visit to Iran. In July, Tehran started suspending some of the commitments it made under the nuclear deal. Later, in December, the US administration blamed Iran-backed militia for a rocket attack that left an American contractor in northern Iraq dead.

Washington reciprocated by launching airstrikes on Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria, killing at least 25 fighters. This triggered protests outside the US embassy in Baghdad. On January 3rd  2020, President Trump ordered drone strikes on Baghdad Airport which killed Iranian Major General, Qassem Soleimani. Soleimani was at Baghdad to coordinate an intensifying campaign of rocket strikes to incapacitate and kill some of the 5,000 American troops stationed there.

President Trump’s impulsive and foolhardy decisions lead to a gory incident that left Iran’s second most important person dead and almost started another World War. He could’ve called for diplomatic talks and buried the hatchet instead of launching the drone strikes.

Save Our Seas

Author: Afreen Ahmed

Oceans clearly play an essential role in life on Earth, yet because of their vastness, humans tend to use their waters as dumping grounds for many waste materials. This practice has increased as land areas for such wastes diminish. Oceans also receive all of the pollutants that are fed to them by the rivers of the world. Even when ships are not actively engaged in dumping wastes, they are themselves sources of pollution, most notably, the giant tankers that have caused numerous massive oil spills. 

As a result, by the late 20th century, ocean studies indicate that what had once been thought impossible is now becoming a reality. The oceans as a whole are showing signs of environmental pollution. Even the surface waters of the oceans are increasingly plagued by obvious litter. Some of this litter washes ashore to render beaches unsightly, while other such debris entangles and kills many sea birds and mammals every year.

More insidious than these litter problems are the effects of toxic contaminants from wastes that are dumped in the ocean. These chemicals can upset delicate marine ecosystems as they are absorbed by organisms all along the food chain. Even the paints that are being used on many ships can be hazardous.

The need to address the matter of ocean pollution has been recognized at national and international levels. According to the UN, about 8 million tonnes of plastic waste is dumped in the seas annually. It has been discovered at the deepest point of ocean, in Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. Scientists now believe “plastic is literally everywhere.” The reason why it is so difficult to clean the existing plastic from the ocean is because of the sheer amount of trash that currently exists. 

So the idea of attempting to “clean up” the ocean is a quixotic one. Can these projects really make a difference?

The answer is yes, but not as expected.

Smaller technical solutions can make an impact in a localised area. Two rubbish-sucking Seabins were recently installed in Sydney’s Darling Harbour. The devices suck in water, trapping rubbish in a mesh bag, and recirculate the water back into the environment. There are 450 Seabins in 26 countries around the world, in 60 harbours throughout the US, Europe, and now the Asia-Pacific, collecting on average around 4kg of marine litter a day – or about 1.4 tonnes a year.

Another local installation, known as Mr Trash Wheel, is making a difference in Baltimore’s Inner Harbour, on the US’s north-east coast. As the wheel turns, it collects litter from the harbour and stores it in a barge for later removal. These are good examples of small-scale clean-ups that can have a local impact. What these clean-up projects are good at is increasing awareness of the plastic problem. The real goal is to stop plastics from entering the water in the first place.

However, that can’t be extrapolated to the open ocean or the global plastic crisis. What we really need is policy change, and behavioural change, and that’s just starting to happen. 

Things have changed rapidly in the last 12 to 18 months, the announcement of enormous bans on single use plastics and microplastics, with countries banning single-use plastic bags worldwide, and fast-food giants committing to phase out plastic straws in their stores.

No matter how insignificant it seems, the world could see very real impacts for the health of the ocean and the broader health of planet.