Month: March 2020

As Assam Gets First COVID-19 Patient, ‘Nizamuddin List’ Violates Privacy of Many

Widely circulated, the list of nearly 400 people from Assam who were near Nizamuddin contains the phone numbers and other details of suspected COVID-19 affected.

Guwahati: A 52-year-old from Karimganj district of southern Assam’s Barak Valley tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming Assam’s first patient on March 28.

On the same day, media (both national and local) been amok with reports on the religious function in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin. Local media focused on the alleged fact that 400 people from Assam had attended the Markaz of the Tablighi Jamaat, which started on March 13. Nizamuddin has now been labelled a COVID-19 hotspot.

This led to speculation as to whether the Karimganj patient had also attended the meet. Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, speaking to local reporters, said this has not been ascertained yet.

“The person’s travel history will only be disclosed on April 1 (Wednesday),” he said.

Also read: Karnataka’s Approach in Dealing With COVID-19 Patient Data Triggers Privacy Debate

“We had taken swab samples from the person and the samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune. He is undergoing treatment at Silchar Medical Hospital…Meanwhile, contact tracing protocol has already been put into place. We have known that there is a patient since yesterday (March 30). People who have been in contact with the patient have been put into quarantine. Based on the patient’s condition we had a suspicion and his samples were sent to NIV. He is stable as of now,” said Sarma, adding that he got ill on March 18.

On the same day, the state government came out with a ‘list’ of around 400 plus people from Assam thought to have attended the religious event.

In a tweet Sarma initially said 299 people had been found to have been there.


Hours later he once again tweeted, “We have received another list of 157 persons from Assam…”

An Assam MP is among those named in the list. “One of my cell phones numbers has been put in the list. I had visited Nizamuddin on March 14 to meet someone. I didn’t go for any religious event but nonetheless my number appeared. Just because someone visited Nizamuddin during that time that doesn’t mean someone attended the religious congregation,” he said.

The Wire reached out to some people from the ‘list’. One said, “I was there at the event and now I am going for testing. But several others here are not.” The person said that they arrived in Delhi on February 9 and that their family “is not worried.”

Some of the names in the ‘list’ said they had nothing to do with the religious congregation. “I have a perfume business and I didn’t attend the religious programme. I arrived in Delhi on March 13. And I am stuck in Delhi,” said a person, who added that he was in isolation.

Also read: Questions Remain About How Delhi’s Nizamuddin Became a Coronavirus Hotspot

Many in the list are justifiably annoyed at having been called. “I am getting hundreds of calls. My mother is crying fearing I am carrying the virus. Nizamuddin is a big locality and how can just anyone from Assam visiting Nizamuddin appear on the list? This is not acceptable,” the person said, noting that it was harassment.

Sources said that the patient from Karimganj had arrived from Delhi on March 6 and he returned to Karimganj on March 16. But during his period in Guwahati, as per reports on local media, he stayed at the houses of his relatives in Hatigaon and Athgaon localities of the city.

Meanwhile according to the ‘list’ which has been titled as ‘Assam Persons Present in the Area,’ the people who had been in the area hail from districts like Nagaon, Barpeta, Morigaon, Hailakandi, Nalbari, Dhubri, Goalpara and others.

Of them, 28 are from Nagaon district. The Wire spoke to Jadav Saikia the deputy commissioner (DC) of Nagaon district who said, “As of now we have confirmed there are 28 persons from Nagaon who are isolated in Delhi. We are also searching whether there are others from the district who had returned unreported.”

Coronavirus Lockdown: Govt Cuts Interest Rates on Small Savings Schemes

Interest rates were also cut for a senior citizens saving scheme and National Savings Certificate.

New Delhi: The government has cut interest rates on small savings schemes by 70 to 140 basis points (bps) for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2020-21, announcing another measure to shore up resources as it manages the implication of a three-week national lockdown against the coronavirus pandemic.

Interest rates on public provident fund the quarter were cut by 80 bps to 7.1% as those for Kisan Vikas Patra were slashed by 70 bps to 6.9%.

Also read: COVID-19 Bazooka: RBI Allows Banks to Put Retail Loan EMIs on Hold for 3 Months

Interest rates were also cut for a senior citizens saving scheme and National Savings Certificate.

Interest rates for small savings schemes are notified on a quarterly basis.

With the reduction, term deposits of 1-3 years will now fetch an interest rate of 5.5% from the existing 6.9%, down 1.4%, according to a notification by the finance ministry.

Interest rates are paid quarterly, while the five-year term deposit will earn 6.7% from the current rate of 7.7 %.

Watch | Coronavirus Updates, March 31: How Did Delhi’s Nizamuddin Become A Coronavirus ‘Hotspot’?

Daily updates from the world of medicine, healthcare, administration and people, as the world grapples with a pandemic.

The national capital’s Nizamuddin area, where a religious congregation was held from March 13 onwards has become one of the COVID-19 ‘hotspots’ in India.

On March 30, 15 days after the congregation ended, a large number of people from the area reported sick and the Delhi police cordoned off the area. But how did this congregation become one of India’s coronavirus hotspots?

The event at the headquarters, or Markaz, of the Tablighi Jamaat, a Muslim religious organisation, started on March 13 – the day the health ministry told Indians that COVID-19 is ‘not a health emergency yet’ and there is no need to panic.

On March 16, the Delhi government ordered a ban on all public events, including religious ones, with more than 50 people attending. However, the Tablighi event continued and was only cut short, by their own admission, after Prime Modi Minister issued his call on March 19 for a Janata curfew to be held on Sunday, March 22.

Lockdown in Punjab: Panchayats Tasked with Feeding Poor, Landless Survive on Villagers’ Kindness

The state’s rural development and panchayats department has issued a notification through which it has asked village panchayats to withdraw panchayat funds for the purpose of feeding the needy. However, money is yet to flow.

Muktsar, Punjab: A Sikh priest has begun providing 25 litres of milk every day for children of landless farm labourers at Khunde Halal, in Punjab’s Muktsar district, days after he lost his wife in a fire accident in.

The village’s gurdwara is under the care of Sukhdev Singh, whose wife had struggled for life at a medical college hospital in Faridkot for a month before she succumbed to 80% burns that she had sustained after a leaked gas cylinder led to a fire in her house. She died on March 17.

But the death, said Sukhdev, made him stronger in his commitment to society. “It is our duty to help the needy when children are hungry in this severe crisis. There are 25-30 families with not a single penny in this village,” Sukhdev told The Wire.

On March 31, Sukhdev quietly performed the ‘bhog’ ritual by reciting ‘ardaas’ as a tribute to his wife at the Gurdwara with 6-7 village men attending the prayer.

Also read: Ground Report: Borders Sealed, Migrant Workers Evade Police for Long Walk Home

Sukhdev said he had already asked his relatives not to throng the village for his wife’s ritual, with the COVID-19 lockdown in mind. “It (the gathering) hardly matters in such circumstances when people are dying all over, and it is our duty to abide by the lockdown norms,” he said.

At faraway Barnala, a dairy owner Sandeep Singh has been supplying 70 litres of milk, half a litre each, to 140 poor families in the labour colony of Barnala city. “City dwellers are not as connected with daily wage labourers. Villagers are,” he said.

In Chandigarh, Indra Kaur of a working middle class family, cooks 100 chapatis every day and delivers the same to an NGO, the Guru Nanak Chartable Trust, to be distributed to the daily wage labourers with no work and money.

In the face of many such stories, the Punjab government has seemingly shifted the onus of feeding the rural poor on the village panchayats in this agrarian state.

The state’s rural development and panchayats department has issued a notification through which it has asked village panchayats all over the state to withdraw the panchayat funds for the purpose of feeding the needy.

The notification specifically cited Clause 30 (1) (3) of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, that empowers panchayats for “mobilising relief in natural calamities including relief to the poor”.

The notification sent to over 13,000 village panchayats across the state stated:

“The panchayats can withdraw a maximum of Rs 50,000 during the entire period of the lockdown, with a limit of Rs 5,000 on daily basis from the accounts of their own (panachayat’s) income.”

“No help has so far come from the district administration, and whatever little we could do is through our own resources, with the help of big ‘zamindars’,” said Khunde Halal village sarpanch Hansa Singh.

“I have already submitted a list of 200 poor families in need of ration, to the local block and development panchayat officer,” he added.

Also read: As Migrants Trudge Out of India’s Cities, the Stark Realities of Migration Stand Exposed

There are more than 50 families from the landless peasant community who are now entirely dependent on others’ kindness, a village volunteer Tarsem Singh, of the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, told The Wire.

Punjab’s rural development and panchayats director D.P.S. Kharbanda confirmed the notification issued on March 28. He however brushed aside a direct query on how much funds his department had so far received from the state exchequer for the village panchayats to help out the needy rural populace.

“The deputy commissioners are the nodal officers and the funds are being routed through the deputy commissioners,” he replied.

Tarsem and his team in Khunde Halal set out every morning to list the needy, collect money and ration from the well-off farmers and other sources, and give it to them.

No helping hand has been extended by the district administration headquartered at Muktsar, some 22 kms away from the village.

Akhil Gogoi Could Be Arrested Again, This Time in a New Case

Dibrugarh police is waiting in front of Sivasagar jail to arrest him, his lawyer told The Wire.

Guwahati: Akhil Gogoi, leader of Assam’s peasant organisation Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), is likely to be arrested once again. Gogoi was granted bail on a bond by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Dibrugarh district on March 31 (Tuesday).

Dibrugarh district’s Chabua police station cited a ‘shown arrest’ on March 28 in connection with a ‘case number 290’. The debated practice serves to seek custody of persons without physically producing them before courts.

The shown arrest was for his alleged involvement in anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests-related violence which occurred in December. But he can be arrested once again at any moment by Dibrugarh police in a ‘new’ undisclosed case, according to one of his lawyers who spoke to The Wire.

Gogoi, until now, has been kept at Sivasagar jail.

The shown arrest by Chabua police station on March 28 coincided with Gogoi being granted bail in a Sivasagar police station-related case, filed between December 11 and 12, also allegedly related to anti-CAA violence.

Case numbers 289 and 290 accused Gogoi of ‘attacking police vehicles’, ‘mishandling of police personnel’, ‘preventing police from doing its duty’ and other offences.

Dibrugarh police had, earlier in March, tried to seek custody of him. He was then under Sivasagar police custody.

Also read: Akhil Gogoi to Remain Jailed Even After NIA Court Grants Him Bail

“Gogoi has been granted bail bond in the shown arrest case related to Chabua. But Dibrugarh police is waiting in front of Sivasagar jail to arrest him in another new case. We do not know what it is. The two cases were filed in December but so far Dibrugarh police have not been able to arrest him. Regarding case number 289, the CJM court didn’t give permission for arrest and has scheduled a hearing for April 1. It was for case 290 that Chabua police has shown arrest,” said Gogoi’s lawyer.

Two cases by Gaurisagar police station in Sivasagar district and by Teok police station in Jorhat district could now result in his re-arrest.

Before he was granted bail on the Sivasagar police station-related case on March 28, Gogoi was sent to 14-day judicial custody by the Sivasagar CJM court last week (on Monday, March 23). He was arrested by Sivasagar police from Guwahati Central Jail on March 19 for anti-CAA related violence for ‘illegal assembly of people in Sivasagar district’.

Mukut Deka of KMSS told The Wire since there has been an order seeking the release of some convicts from jail on account of the COVID-19 pandemic and so Gogoi should also be released on the same grounds.

“Akhil Gogoi could have walked free but many were cases heaped upon him one after another,” said Deka.

Gogoi was granted bail by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on March 17 in a case which branded him as a ‘Maoist’ and for which he was arrested on December 16. The NIA was not able to file a charge sheet within the period of the 90 days of Gogoi’s stay in jail.

Also read: The Travails and Scuffles That Marked Akhil Gogoi’s Rise in Politics

But even after getting bail from the NIA special court Gogoi was stuck at Guwahati Central Jail. He was then taken by Sivasagar police on March 19 and kept under four-day police custody.

On March 26 Gogoi was granted bail in a case by the Panbazaar police station (crime branch). The case was registered in January and was, once again, related to anti-CAA protest violence.

Another Mohalla Clinic Doctor Tests Positive for COVID-19 in Delhi

Following this second case reported from North East Delhi, all those who visited the clinic in Babarpur have been asked to self-quarantine and report if they get any symptoms of the virus.

New Delhi: The health authorities and civil administration have urged a large number of citizens who visited a mohalla clinic doctor in Babarpur in North East Delhi to self-quarantine after he tested positive for COVID-19. This is the second such incident of a public clinic doctor contracting the virus within the past fortnight.

The development came even as 50 new cases of coronavirus were detected in the city, taking the number past 100. So far two people have also died of the virus in the city.

The mohalla clinic doctor who has tested positive had visited the clinic located at Janta Mazdoor Colony between March 12 and 20. After he tested positive, the civil administration directed everyone who visited him to self-quarantine at home for 15 days.

Health workers are personally reaching out people in the area and are also making public announcements. A notice issued by the Shahdara District Magistrate directing people to self-quarantine has also been put up at the clinic. All the residents who visited the doctor have been told to monitor their health and report immediately if they develop any of the symptoms related to COVID-19.

Earlier, around 800 people who had come in contact with a Mohalla clinic doctor in Maujpur who has tested positive for the coronavirus infection were asked to quarantine themselves on March 26. The doctor, Gopal Jha, had become critical after contracting the virus. Four people who came in contact with him, including his wife and daughter, also tested positive for COVID-19.

Also read: 800 Quarantined After Coming in Contact With Doctor Who Has COVID-19 in Maujpur

Jha was posted in the clinic located in Mohanpuri area of Maujpur area of northeast Delhi. He came in contact with an infected woman, who had returned from Saudi Arabia on March 12. After his tests confirmed he had the virus, others who had come in contact with him were tested and four of them were found to be positive.

The government and health authorities thereafter decided to approach nearly all the 800 people who had visited the doctor in the clinic and urged them to self-quarantine themselves. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Shahdara had ordered ordered that all those who visited or were present at the Mohanpuri clinic between March 12 and March 18 to stay in home quarantine for 15 days.

Following that incident, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had stated that mohalla clinics would continue to function as they take healthcare closer to the people. However, he had added that regularly check-ups of doctors would be performed to detect the spread of virus to them at the earliest.

What Can Be Done to Ensure the Wheels Don’t Come off the Indian Economy?

The packages announced so far are welcome but cannot ramp up production, trade and employment after the lockdown is over.

In light of the lockdown imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus infection, the much-awaited economic package for the poor has not come a day too soon, as daily wage labourers and migrant workers face a far grimmer situation than was imagined by most.

Soon after this, a set of measures was  announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to help the banking system and businesses.

India’s economy is in the doldrums due to the national lockdown, as indicated by the decline in energy consumption. Reports suggest a decline of at least 30% in electricity and diesel consumption and this indicates a big reduction in production and transportation.

However, even before the complete lockdown was announced on March 25, economic activity has been limping since at least since the early part of March due to supply disruptions. Now, production is possibly only about 20-30% of the normal. Since production usually peaks in March, the loss of output for the year ending on March 31, 2020 will be significant. Next year will be impacted even more since the impact of COVID-19 may persist for months after the lockdown is lifted in April.

The package announced for the poorest and the farmers is highly welcome, but is it adequate? It is said to be worth Rs.1.7 lakh crore. This is for three months and perhaps more will be allotted if the situation does not normalise. 80 crore people are being promised grains and lentils. Workers under the MNREGA are to get increased wages and farmers under the PM Kisan scheme will get an immediate instalment of the Rs 6,000 promised to them annually. Senior citizens, women and workers in the organised sector are all to be given relief in different ways.

Not all of this is from the budget or fresh allocation, so the budgetary implication will be less than what the figure of Rs.1.7 lakh crore suggests. For instance, some money is to come from the EPFO, Provident fund, Central Welfare Fund and the District Mineral Fund. This is welcome but perhaps more needs to be done since the loss of income of the people being targeted is far greater than the sum being offered to them.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses a press conference on March 26, 2020. Photo: PTI

Loss of Incomes

If in a month, 75% of overall output is lost, assuming uniform production throughout the year, Rs 13 lakh crore of incomes will be lost. 45% of this (about Rs 6 lakh crore) will be the loss of the unorganised sector where the poor work.

Given that the lockdown is likely to persist and the economy would recover slowly after that, the loss of incomes in a year will be a multiple of that. The unorganised sector lives in a state of poverty and with this level of disbursement by the government they will not even be able to sustain themselves at the pre-crisis level of poverty. Thus, the government would have to allott much more resources. The only thing one can say is that the package will help them to survive, if implementation can be guaranteed. And, that is a big if.

Also Read: Would Narendra Modi Please Care to Answer Some Questions About PM-CARES?

The FM repeatedly clarified that the package is only for the marginalised and not for businesses.

This is important since Rs 1.7 lakh crore is 0.85% of the current year’s GDP of about Rs 200 lakh crore. This seems negligible in comparison to the US package of $2.2 trillion which would be about 11% of their GDP. But that package is for the full year and not just for the poor but for everyone, including businesses. So, it is not comparable to what has been announced in India. The important thing is that the US package was worked out with bipartisan support of both the ruling party and the opposition.

Cooperative federalism 

In India too, there is a need for the ruling party and the opposition to work together. Whatever is announced has to be implemented in states and many of them are ruled by the opposition parties, so they need to be on board. There is much confusion with different orders and strategies being adopted by the Centre and the states. For instance, on allowing migration, supply of essentials at home, transportation of goods, there are differences in approach. To ensure coordination, under the PM, there should be a committee of chief ministers and under the cabinet secretary, there should be a committee of chief secretaries and DGPs of the states.

Given the poor state of governance in the country, many government orders do not get implemented and currently, with the prevailing confusion, things will have a tendency to go haywire, as seems to be happening. Implementation of the most important steps depends on the state governments, so they should be on board – the time for cooperative federalism is now. That would enable a more complete package to be drawn up, keeping in mind State level specificities and the urgent need to prevent the situation from deteriorating.

Package for health delivery

In India, with very limited testing and large numbers moving from one area to another, we do not know how many people are already infected and where they are. Many are going from urban to rural areas due to loss of work and they have little to eat. If these people have already contracted the disease, they would spread it wherever they go. With rural areas having limited health facilities, the problem could turn acute.

What we are facing is above all a health emergency which has translated into an economic one. At present, we are ill-prepared for it since there is a shortage of everything: medical personnel, hospital beds, protective gear and testing kits. We need to anticipate and prepare ourselves for the likelihood of a rapid spread of the disease in the coming days, as it has happened in other countries, where testing was limited to begin with and few were tested. So, an immediate package on health is required. Testing has to be rapidly scaled up and should be done free of cost, so that the poor come forward. At Rs 4,500 per test, the poor who are not able to afford food will hardly come forward for testing.

Secondly, facilities should be planned for the isolation of the patients. Plans should be put into place to rapidly convert colleges, hostels, hotels, community centres into isolation wards and hospitals. Thirdly, there would be a need for equipment and protective gear. Its production should be ramped up now by asking specific factories to retool and produce these items. Fourthly, since the shortage of medical personnel will get aggravated, medical students and students of nursing should be drafted to act as paramedics and trained immediately. Retired medical professionals should be invited to make themselves available if the need arises.

The Charminar Unani Hospital and College which has been prepared for the level-1 COVID-19 patients, in old city of Hyderabad, Monday, March 30, 2020. Photo: PTI

Procurement and public distribution

Farmers also need greater support and that may have to be on top of the income support being promised, namely, the immediate release of Rs 2,000 under the PM Kisan Scheme. The Rabi crop is likely to be a bumper one and it is now going to come into the market but trade and transportation are severely disturbed. So, the farmers may either not be able to sell or could dump their produce at low prices. So, their income could fall sharply, like, during demonetisation. As such, the support they would need would be much larger. Additionally, the government should expand procurement so as to cover many more crops under it. This could be distributed to the consuming centres via an expanded public distribution system.

These two moves would neatly dovetail into each other. It is necessary to supply basics to the urban populations so that they do not come out in large numbers to buy essentials. If they do, the purpose of lockdown would be defeated. What is being proposed would be a herculean task but it is required. These are the times when difficult tasks have to be performed. Public transport has stopped, so a large number of buses are available to perform this task in each city. There are also a large number of buses at the airports which are idle. With the help of the police and army, equitable public distribution should be ensured. This would also curb malpractice in trade and profiteering by traders.

Package for businesses

The RBI’s sudden announcement on March 27 is a big package to help the financial sector cope with the developing crisis, which is likely to result in large scale business failures. When production and sales stop, inventories pile up and wages may still be paid for a while. This results in losses and exhaustion of working capital and production becomes difficult to carry on.

Also Read: Unpaid for 3 Months, No Safety Gear: 19,000 Ambulance Staff Stop Working in UP

Restarting businesses becomes difficult. As incomes decline or stop, repayment of loans and payment of interest becomes difficult. The financial sector is interlinked – so default by one can lead to a domino effect leading to many firms and financial businesses to collapse. The middle classes may find it difficult to pay EMIs. To ease these kinds of eventualities, the RBI has given a moratorium on repayment for the coming three months. To lower the costs of business, it is acting to lower interest rates. Further, it is trying to ensure availability of liquidity for investment. But that is not the problem since banks are flush with funds as the demand for credit from businesses has dried up – a consequence of stoppage of production and investment activity.

But this is not the usual business cycle in which these monetary and fiscal policies can have an impact. When production has largely halted and business and consumer sentiment is at rock bottom, consumer demand and investment are not going to revive anytime soon, even after the lockdown is over.

In brief, the packages announced are welcome but cannot ramp up production, trade and employment. What is required is to protect human life and for that the poor who are facing a challenge of survival need to be taken care of. A package on health, expanded procurement and wider public distribution is needed immediately. Production and distribution of essentials must continue. This is not just a financial challenge but also an organisational one, given the poor state of governance in the country.

Arun Kumar is Malcolm Adiseshiah Chair Professor, Institute of Social Sciences

Questions Remain About How Delhi’s Nizamuddin Became a Coronavirus Hotspot

The media is using the COVID-19 outbreak at the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters to polarise people on religious grounds instead of debating the weakness of India’s public health management system.

New Delhi: The national capital’s Nizamuddin area, home to the headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat (TJ), has emerged as one of the COVID-19 ‘hotspots’ in India. 

On March 30, a large number of TJ workers suspected of being infected with the novel coronavirus were taken from the Jamaat’s headquarters, or Markaz, and sent off to quarantine centres in Delhi.

On Tuesday, March 31, Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain told The Wire that so far 1,033 people have been taken out of the Markaz at Nizamuddin and 24 of them have been found to be virus positive. The minister also disclosed that so far, 334 people from the area have also been sent to hospital as they reported symptoms of the virus and they are being tested for it. He said 700 people have been put under quarantine.

Apart from holding major events across the country which can see attendance running into lakhs, the TJ’s headquarters sees a steady stream of Jamaat workers throughout the year who pass through Delhi before and after embarking on preaching tours – known as ‘chilla’ – across India. These visits are scheduled well in advance and it is not unusual for the Markaz to play host – essentially as a hostel – to upwards of 8,000 people at any one time. While at the headquarters, they take part in ongoing instructional activities. The premises can hold up to 10-12,000 people, Mujib-ur-Rahman, a TJ representative told The Wire.

Though the government of India had begun to put in place restrictions on the entry of foreigners from China and a handful of other countries and then announced a blanket suspension of all visas for entry into the country with effect from March 15, the Union health ministry – as late as March 13,  when total COVID-19 infections in India were 81 – still stuck to the line that COVID-19 is ‘not a health emergency.’ 

Tablighi Jamaat representatives told The Wire that movement in and out of the Markaz continued as per schedule throughout March, even though a conscious effort was made to reduce the number of ‘jamaats’ passing through the headquarters. “The government had not said anything but we were conscious of the need to keep the flow of jamaat saathis down’, Rahman said.

On March 16, the Delhi government ordered a ban on all public events, including religious ones, with more than 50 people attending. However, Tablighi representatives deny those present at the Markaz were attending any specific event and thus took the view that these guidelines did not apply to the people using the headquarters as a hostel. “People continued to come and go as per their pre-arranged ticket bookings”, they said. It was only when Prime Minister Modi issued his call on March 19 for a janata curfew to be held on Sunday, March 22 that the TJ authorities decided to proactively move their workers off the premises ahead of schedule.

They, and the government, had reason to be alarmed. On March 16, the same day the ban on religious gatherings in the capital was announced, a group of 10 Indonesians were rushed into isolation in far away Hyderabad after one of them showed symptoms of the coronavirus. They had attended a Tablighi gathering in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area on March 8-10 before they travelled south.  

By March 18, eight of those 10 Indonesians had tested positive for the coronavirus, though curiously, a subsequent test on March 21 turned up negative, according to TJ officials, who have shared copies of the March 21 medical reports with The Wire.

On March 21, two Thai nationals in Tamil Nadu were also tested positive. Their travel history also established their presence at the Markaz in Nizamuddin.

Also read: Government Identifies 10 Coronavirus Hotspots, Testing to Be Boosted

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Centre informed all state governments about the Telangana cases on March 21.  But curiously, neither the Central or Delhi governments moved to either test or quarantine the workers still at the Markaz until March 28, Rahman said. The TJ authorities were berated by the local police station for the large number of workers still present at the Markaz but drew a blank when they sough help for moving everyone out given the suspension of rail services across India on March 21 and the sealing of Delhi’s borders from the morning of March 23.

Rahman said they went to meet the SHO, Nizamuddin police station on March 23 but were told to return the next day. When they went back on March 24, the SHO said only the SDM could help them with transportation.

On March 31, the police filed a case against the TJ leadership under the 1897 Epidemic Disease Act for violating government directions, presumably the ones issued on March 16. 

On its part, the TJ has released copies of their letters to the Delhi Police in which they claimed they had been in compliance with all government directives and that the lockdown announced on March 24 meant they had no way of getting those workers still on the premises to return to their homes. 

The Tablighi Jamaat authorities also released a statement saying that on March 24, 2020, a notice was issued by the SHO seeking closure of Markaz premises. “The same was responded on March 24, 2020, stating that the compliance of the directions regarding closure of Markaz is already underway and around 1,500 people had departed the previous day, thus leaving around 1000 visitors belonging to different states and nationalities in Markaz.” 

On Tuesday, the Delhi Police leaked a video recording of a meeting on March 24 between the SHO Nizamuddin PS and Markaz officials in which he can be seen berating them for not having vacated their premises. When the Markaz officials said they had come to the police station the day earlier for help to move their visitors out because the inter-state borders have officially been sealed and that they still needed assistance, the SHO said they should contact the SDM, who would help them.

Ashfaq Khan of the Tablighi Jamaat told The Wire that when they contacted the SDM, they were asked to furnish a list of the people who needed to move out along with the details of what vehicles they would be using to head out of Delhi during the lockdown. “But when we gave the list, he told us that he could not give permission for the people leave and that everyone should stay put”.

Asked why the TJ had flouted the Delhi government’s order banning gatherings of 50 or more people, Mujibur Rahman, another official associated with the Markaz said:

“These are people who had planned their travels to the Markaz, two-three months ago and [some foreigners had] even got visas for it. They got stranded in the premises. These people didn’t gather on purpose, they got stranded. Even after the Delhi government’s order, what could we have done about all those people who got stuck at the premises? In the case of foreigners, many flights had been cancelled, We couldn’t have thrown them out of our doors.

We asked for the government’s help to ferry them out of the premises but got no response.”

Srinagar, TN, Telangana deaths linked to Delhi’s religious conference 

Tamil Nadu has over 67 people affected with the virus so far. Most of them, a total of 19, are in the Erode district. These 19 people had come directly or indirectly in contact with the two Thai nationals who tested positive for the virus. 

According to what a Tamil Nadu government official has told Scroll.in, a total of  1,500 state residents attended the conference in Delhi. Of these 819 people have been traced and the search for others is on.

According to media reports, other states have been trying to trace more people too. 

Also read: Over 1,000 Taken Out of Nizamuddin Markaz, 24 Test Positive for COVID-19

A 65-year old religious preacher who had attended the conference in Delhi died of COVID-19 in Srinagar on March 26 after he tested positive for the coronavirus on March 24. He had travelled to UP’s Deoband before returning to Kashmir. 

Telangana’s first COVID-19 death was reported on March 27 – a 74-year old, who had attended the TJ event. On Monday night, six new deaths were recorded of people in Telangana in a single day; these were again people who had travel history linking them to a TJ event in Delhi. 

Adityanath flouts social distancing norm

While a section of the big media has used the Nizamuddin infections to suggest the Tablighi Jamaat defied the ‘social distancing’ norm as part of a “deliberate plot” to hurt India, many prominent religious spots were also late to take appropriate precautions. It was only on March 17, for example, that the Tirupati temple authorities said they would be introducing time-slot tokens so that pilgrims “need not wait in massive queue complexes … in the wake of the coronavirus threat.”

On March 18, the government of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath insisted that a large mela, or fair, planned for Ayodhya on the occasion of Ram Navami from March 25 to April 2 would proceed as usual, while Acharya Paramhans said that ‘Lord Ram would protect devotees from the coronavirus”. The next day, however, when Modi gave a call for a janata curfew, the chief minister changed tack and urged people to celebrate Ram Navami at home.

But one day after Modi announced the “curfew like” national lockdown on March 24, Adityanath violated the official social distancing guidelines to take part in a religious ceremony in Ayodhya along with dozens of people.

MHA statement and the unanswered questions it raises

In the wake of diagnosis of a cluster of patients at Nizamuddin in Delhi, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a press note:

Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) shared details of foreign and Indian Tabhlighi Jamaat (TJ) workers in India with all States on March 21, 2020, after COVID-19 positive cases among these workers surfaced in Telangana.

The swift action was taken with a view to identify, isolate and quarantine TJ workers who might be COVID-19 positive. Instructions were also issued by MHA to Chief Secretaries and DGsP of all States as well as CP, Delhi. The advisories were reiterated by the DIB to all State DGsP on March 28 and 29.

Meanwhile, TJ workers staying in the Markaz in Nizamuddin, Delhi, were also persuaded for medical screening by State authorities and Police. By March 29, nearly 162 TJ workers were medically screened and shifted to quarantine facilities. So far, 1339 Tabligh Jamaat workers have been shifted to Narela, Sultanpuri and Bakkarwala quarantine facilities as well as to LNJP, RGSS, GTB, DDU Hospitals and AllMS, Jhajjar. Rest of them are being currently medically screened for COVID-19 infections.

The aim of  press note is to explain the MHA’s own role in the matter, but it does not clear the air on why the hotspot emerged and was tackled so slowly. Indeed, the timeline it provides raises fresh questions about the efficiency of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic:

1. Why did the Delhi Police, which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs, not act to enforce the March 16 government order prohibiting public gatherings of over 50 people in the national capital region even though the Markaz was known to be hosting hundreds of people and that other hostels in the capital had been shut down?

2. The first Tablighi Jamaat members  to be diagnosed with COVID-19 were Indonesians who tested positive in Hyderabad on March 17. But they had reportedly spent three days at the Markaz from March 8 to 11. Why there was four day lag between the Hyderabad diagnoses and the MHA’s advisory to all states?

3. What action did the Delhi Police and Delhi government take after the MHA advisory to inspect the Markaz premises and isolate and test those who might have been exposed to the coronavirus? Rahman of the TJ says the government began to look at the health status of those at the Markaz only on March 28. Why the long wait?

4. The MHA says the TJ workers “were also persuaded for medical screening” and by March 29, 162 of them had been screened and quarantined. Why did this screening process begin s late? And what is the total number of screenings conducted, given that the Markaz authorities say there were upwards of 1,200 people stranded on the premises as the result of the national lockdown which entered into force from the night of March 24.

5. Why was the information about so many TJ workers testing positive not shared with the media, or with the local community, particularly keeping in mind that the Nizamuddin basti area, where the Markaz is located, is a densely populated locality and many might have come in contact with those staying in the TJ headquarters?

6. According to the MHA press note on March 31, “On March 21, approximately 824 foreign Tabligh Jamaat workers were in different parts of the country for missionary work”. It also said, “…while around 2100 Indian TJ workers were touring different parts of the country for missionary work”, adding that the “Tabligh work came to a halt” only since the lockdown began on March 24. Once the MHA alerted the states about infections among TJ workers, what steps did the state governments take to trace such people? What follow-up action did the Centre undertake?

7. Due to the lockdown, many TJ workers attending the event remained cooped up in the Markaz. The TJ staff have released letters they wrote to the Delhi Police asking for vehicle passes so that the crowded premises could be “de-congested” but apparently received no support. Why did the police not take measures to either evacuate the premises or isolate/quarantine the people there given the MHA’s advisory of March 21?

Note: In an earlier version of the story, the quote about Ram saving devotees from the coronavirus was wrongly attributed to Yogi Adityanath. It was in fact said by Acharya Paramhans, head of the official Ram temple trust.

With BMHRC Now a COVID-19 ‘Only’ Centre, Bhopal Gas Tragedy Victims Cry Foul

“Until further notice, the hospital will treat only patients with novel coronavirus disease,” a 39-year-old victim was told when he went for his regular dialysis session.

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government’s order designating the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre, a super-speciality hospital that provides free medical care to the survivors of Bhopal Gas Tragedy, as a state-level COVID-19 treatment facility has not gone down well with victims.

The order issued by Pallavi Jain Govil, principal secretary, public health and family welfare department said that the state government had declared the novel coronavirus as an infectious disease in the state. The Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre has been identified as a state-level COVID-19 treatment institute in public interest for prevention. Only COVID-19 patients will be treated in this hospital, said the order.

The victims of the world’s worst industrial disaster, and organisations working alongside them, are deeply aggrieved by the decision of the Madhya Pradesh government.

Also read: Explained: Bengal’s Blueprint to Tackle the Coronavirus Outbreak

The Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sanghathan (BGPMUS) and the Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti (BGPSSS) felt that “the abrupt decision to shunt the gas victims from BMHRC to elsewhere does not appear to be a well thought-out and considered decision because instead of ensuring that the medical protection provided to the gas victims are doubly secure, a bizarre attempt is being made to downgrade such protection and make them more vulnerable to an attack from COVID-19”.

“We are going to send a letter to the Madhya Pradesh government, the state’s chief minister and the prime minister requesting them for proper medical treatment to gas victims at the BMHRC,”  said N.D. Jayaprakash, co-convenor of Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti (BGPSSS).

Turning away from the hospital

Upon receiving the order from the public health and family welfare department, stating that COVID-19 had been declared an infectious disease in the state under Section 51 of the Madhya Pradesh Public Health Act, 1949, the BMHRC administration vacated the hospital and asked all the gas victims who were undergoing treatment at the hospital to leave.

“I have come to the hospital to undergo my regular dialysis in the morning. When I showed my identification number at the registration desk, they told me to wait for sometime. A little while later, the hospital said they won’t admit me today. When I asked why they replied by saying we are not going to undertake dialysis or any other medical treatment to gas victims. Until further notice, the hospital will treat only patients with novel coronavirus disease,” said 39-year-old Aqeel Ahmed, as he sat on his tri-motor cycle holding his crutches stick.

Ahmed, a victim of the gas tragedy, lost a kidney and developed a respiratory problem after coming in direct touch with the poisonous gas that leaked from the Union Carbide Plant on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984. Ahmed a resident of the Kabitpura locality, one of the affected areas, now resides in Kamla Nagar, a locality in the state capital. In a week, he requires three dialyses to keep himself moving. Each dialysis in a private hospital in Bhopal costs between Rs 2,500 and Rs 4000.

Ahmed is not the only victim who was denied admission to the modern-day hospital set up to provide specialised medical care to the victims of the 1984 Union Carbide MiC gas leak disaster.

Shiv Prasad, another victim of the Bhopal gas tragedy, who is a resident of the Chandbad locality adjoining the Bhopal Railway Station, has a kidney ailment and had to leave the hospital after the BMHRC administration refused to grant him admission.

“They told me to visit other government hospitals of the state capital,” said Prasad and added that he left after he realised he had no other choice.

Also read: Rainwear, Cloth Masks: Across India, Doctors, Nurses Grow Restive in Absence of Basic Protective Gear

“The BMHRC administration have told us to take further treatment at government hospitals. I want to ask the officials, why we are forced to suffer again”, asked Aqeel while leaving the premises of BMHRC.

BMHRC’s establishment

The BMHRC was set up by the Union Carbide in (partial) compliance of a 1991 Supreme Court directive to the US multinational to establish a full-fledged hospital with a bed strength of at least 500 beds with the best of equipment for treatment of the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy. The present strength of the hospital has been confined to 260 beds, in defiance of the Supreme Court ruling.

The BMHRC was established in 1998 to provide free healthcare to the survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy.

For the establishment of the hospital, Union Carbide established the Bhopal Hospital Trust (BHT) in February 1992 in England with just US $1000 as its contribution. And to run the trust, former Attorney of the UK, Sir Ian Percival was named its sole trustee. Six years later, in August 1998 the BHT was Indianised to form the Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust (BMHT). After the death of Sir Ian Percival in April 1998, former Supreme Court Chief Justice A.M. Ahmadi was appointed the chairperson of BMHT.

But in the last over two decades, the hospital has been surrounded by controversy after it was set up as a super speciality hospital in 2001.

In the year 2006, the hospital faced its worst episode, when 17 people lost their lives, after the hospital staff went on a strike to push for various demands. Over the last two decades, nearly 300 employees (including specialists) out of a total staff of 650 of the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) have resigned in protest against the arrogant and careless attitude of the management. Of the nearly 16 departments, more than six are not functioning in the absence of sufficient staff.

One another shocking and disgraceful episode at the hospital came to light in 2008 when secret drug trials were illegally conducted on gas-victims at the BMHRC between 2004-2008. Co-convener of the Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti (BGPSSS), an organisation working to support the gas victims along with Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS), said that the authorities at BMHRC made every effort to shield the culprits after the matter became public.

Both the BGPMUS & BGPSSS had sought a detailed inquiry into this unsavoury incident, where gas-victims were used as guinea pigs, and have demanded stringent action against the guilty. Pursuing the matter, BGPMUS &  BGPSSS have become interveners in Writ Petition (C) No.33 of 2012, which was filed by the Swasthya Adhikar Manch, Indore, to oppose unregulated drug trials in the country, especially by multinational drug companies, and the matter is currently pending before the Supreme Court.

Also read: The One Ingredient Missing in the National Lockdown Is Compassion

Lastly, the hospital was news most recently in November 2019, when 62-year-old Abdul Jabbar, a 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy survivor-turned-crusader for justice for all victims of the carnage who was also among those who had actively participated in the representations before the Centre over the establishment of BMHRC, was denied medical care by the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC).

Nearly 25,000 people have died over the last three decades due to respiratory, psychological illness in the absence of proper medical care since the night of December 2-3, 1984 when 40 tons of the deadly Methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal.

The official figure of the death toll is 15,274. But, according to activists working with the survivors of the gas tragedy, more than 35,000 people have died due to the effects of the gas. There are over 100,000 people who can be called physically weak and about 200,000 people have been regularly going to the hospitals.

In Madhya Pradesh, five people tested positive for COVID-19 in Indore on Wednesday morning. Of the five, four are residents of Indore and one is from Ujjain. With these new cases, the tally now stands at 14. Earlier, nine cases had been reported from Jabalpur (six), Gwalior (one), Shivpuri (one), and one from Bhopal. The pandemic has spread to six districts of the state.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has made an announcement that he will give one month’s salary to the chief minister Relief Fund to tackle the pandemic. He has also appealed to the members of the legislative assembly to communicate with workers and educate citizens by remaining indoors.

COVID-19: With No Food or Government Aid, Loom Workers in Bhiwandi Fear the Worst

Most of the six lakh workers who spin the yarn and make cloths in this textile town are migrants with meagre incomes. With work suspended and nowhere to go, they are desperate.

Bhiwandi: Each time someone new walks into the arterial lanes of Kondachiwadi basti at Bhiwandi, a large number of people immediately swarm around the person. Amid the commotion, desperate voices can be heard making myriad inquiries, all seeking the same answer. “Kaha se aaye ho, ration laaye ho kya? Kuch khaane ka intezaam kar sakte ho kya?” (Where have you come from? Have you got some ration for us? Can you arrange for some food here?)

The concept of “social distancing” is impractical when food stocks are running low and people are worried about their future.

It has been eight days since the Maharashtra government imposed a complete lockdown in the state as a precautionary measure to control the spread of the coronavirus. But this sudden announcement has had the worst impact on migrant labourers and daily wagers, virtually pushing the over six lakh migrant power loom workers in Bhiwandi towards starvation.

“We first listened to the chief minister (Uddhav Thackeray) and a day later to the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and decided to stay back. But now, we are left here with no food or aid from the government. We will all die of hunger even before the virus catches us,” says 50-year-old Mohammad Sajjad Ansari, despondently.

Also Read: In Sketches, Migrant Labourers’ Long, Long Journey Home

Since the lockdown, Ansari and six others – all from Madhubani district in Bihar – have been cooped up in a small seven square feet room. “We are all caged in this tiny room. Even if we try to step out to get some air, the police rain lathis on us. With no money, or food on our plate, it is difficult to stay here,” Ansari adds.

The decision to heed the government’s advice and staying put in Bhiwandi, over 30  kilometres from Mumbai, is proving calamitous for most labourers. The city of power looms is home to workers migrating from as far as Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Every lane is dotted with big and small looms. The locals estimate that at least six lakh workers operate the over 15 lakh operational looms to spin yarn and make cloth. There are an additional one lakh daily wage workers who work as loaders and transporters at these looms.

Autorickshaws parked inside a godown. Photo: Sukanya Shantha

On March 21, as soon as CM Thackeray ordered the shutdown of workplaces until March 31, power looms in Bhiwandi immediately fell silent. “This was a momentary announcement, we thought. Something that would end in less than two weeks. We asked our workers to stay back and food was available to them,” shares Shadab, an owner of over 200-power loom machines. But two days later, all trains were shut down too. And on March 24, PM Modi announced an extended three-week lockdown of the entire country.

Soon after the announcement, several workers had tried to rush to the Kalyan railway station, which is 14 kilometres away. But trains and other transport had already stopped. With no transport available, they had to walk back to the looms.
The situation since then has only worsened and many fear the coming days will take an extreme turn if their most basic requirements like food and medicines are not take care of.

“If we stay here like this for one more week, there will be a food riot,” Sham Mohamed Islam, a 25- year-old labourer said.

Most workers have been working here for over a decade. They get paid for the work they complete. Labourers work double shifts, extending up to 16 hours, without a break and at the end of it, manage to make only a meagre sum of Rs 300-500. The shutdown has worsened the situation for the labourers as the loom owners have unanimously decided not to pay them until the curfew is lifted.

“No work for nearly a month is proving fatal for us. Our employers have informed us that money won’t come until the lockdown ends,”26-year-old Sadik Shaikh said. Shaikh’s agitation and anger are focused on PM Modi’s decision to lock the country down without thinking of those who can’t survive another day without work. “Modi’s decision to save the country is actually proving to be an order to starve us,” he says.

Shaikh, who is originally from a village in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, has been working at the loom in Bhiwandi for nearly a decade. Like every year, he and five other colleagues went back home for the seasonal harvest. “We returned on March 18 and within three days, this drama unfolded,” Shaikh says.

Shaikh and his six co-workers from Kurnool are all living in a small room of eight square feet. They have got some dry wooden logs and have been cooking in that space since the past week. “We had carried a few kilos of rice and lentils on our way back. We have been cooking and eating what we have. This food will last us for another two days at best. But what should we do after that?” Shaikh asks.

Labourers from Karnool district in Andhra Pradesh. Photo: Sukanya Shantha

The economic slump has affected the power loom industry deeply and most loom owners have run up huge losses. Two decisions by the Centre – demonetisation and GST – have dealt a crippling blow for most loom owners and workers here. “Our business has drastically slowed down in the past decade. And such decisions only cripple us further. We are helpless, trying every bit to find some help for our workers. Unfortunately, it is not proving enough,” says 45-year-old Ishtiyaque Ahmed Ansari, who was recently forced to sell 106 power loom machines to a scrap dealer.

Ishtiyaque and some friends have started a relief camp for the workers here, providing cooked food and food kits to the needy persons.

Bhiwandi has always remained a neglected region. Even though it is just on the outskirts of Mumbai, it lacks basic amenities. Sanitation, local transport and health services are all ailing. Almost 80% of Bhiwandi’s population is made up of migrants. Most of them come from the lower caste Muslim (Pasmanda) communities like Momin or Qureshi. These workers, even after spending several decades in the town are considered “outsiders” and the civic administration has largely neglected them.

Auto-rickshaw driver Hafis Shaikh has been selling vegetables since the lockdown to support his family. Photo: Sukanya Shantha

As soon as the lockdown came into effect, loom owners who could afford it provided some extra payment to their workers. Some even tied up with the local mess and requested that their workers be provided food on credit until the end of the month.

Most men work for 8-10 months and return to their families for the remaining period. Even though they spend a major part of the year in the looms here, all their documents, even their ration cards are registered on their native addresses.

Power looms are a male-oriented workspace, where labourers from North India travel to Bhiwandi for work. They live in a group, in a very small room. They all depend on mess services for food and have no space to cook.

Also Read: As India’s Lockdown Enters Second Week, Three Big Questions Still Remain

Almost all mess services have decided to stop serving food.

“How long can we really feed others when we ourselves don’t have the money to buy food grains?” asks Mohamed Israr, who has been running a mess service which feeds over 200 workers.

Most labourers are also worried about their families back home. Thirty-two-year-old Mahesh says he hasn’t been taking calls from his wife. “My father, wife and four children depend on my earnings. If I don’t send money, they won’t have food there. My wife has been making anxious calls every day and I don’t have the heart to even tell her that I am surviving here on dry rotis and water,” Mahesh says, as his eyes welled up.

Mahesh and Sanjay, two labourers from Maharajganj district in Jharkhand have been stuck in Bhiwandi without any earning or food. Photo: Sukanya Shantha

Mahesh says he is preparing himself for the worst. Starvation, violence, mass exodus: desperation can push a man to do anything, he says. “But for each life lost, only Modiji is responsible,” he says. “After all, he asked us to all stay back.”