India First

 MORE POWER TO INDIA With a population of 138 crore (1.38 billion) people, a large percentage of whom do not have access to basic individual and societal needs such as clean water or a roof over their heads, independent India’s 73-year-old developmental journey requires continued heavy and multidirectional investment. And in a developing country, prioritising investments can never be easy for a government! Additionally, developmental planning and investment must account for the rate of population growth. Below graph shows the percentage increase in populations for some countries. India has doubled its population since 1971. South Africa and Bangladesh have more than doubled theirs although in terms of size of population, they’re both small fractions of India’s. India’s power consumption journey Undoubtedly, in less developed countries making basic human needs available to more and more of their populations is a high priority for governments. However, underinvestment in socioeconomi...

  Cleaning the NGO Landscape in India – Progress Made but it’s a Long Journey Popular perception is that non-governmental or voluntary organisations (NGOs/VOs) are organisations having social or humanitarian agendas, and are funded in their noble missions by philanthropists and other individual and institutional donors. NGO uniting platforms such as WANGO and INSO reinforce these perceptions with lofty declarations of serving humanity and promoting world peace. In an ideal world, every NGO should provide some form of social or humanitarian support to individuals and sections of society where governments may not be able to reach. India’s population size combined with finite resources with governments gives individuals and NGOs unlimited opportunities to promote such initiatives. So, how many NGOs does India really have? In 2013, triggered by a Public Interest Litigation seeking transparency in finances of an NGO run by social activist Anna Hazare, the Supreme Court asked th...

Percentages of Covid Cases by State versus Percentage of Each State's Population  This graph gives a comparison between percentage of Covid cases by state and percentage of each state's population, both against national totals. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi have disproportionately high percentages of cases, compared to their population percentages from the national population. Uttar Pradesh seems to have been terrific in controlling the spread of the virus. Superimposing percentage of Covid tests by state on this data will give a very important perspective, although that data is not easily available.

Analysing  India's Covid-19 data by State Based on data available publicly, here’s some analysis by state on the COVID-19 cases and recoveries in India (on 04-Sep-20): Since its first novel coronavirus case in Jan-20, India has had a total of 3936747 cases. This is 15% of the total cases in the world. Percentage recovery in India is at 77% , while worldwide it is 67% . Percentage fatalities in India are 1.74% ; worldwide they stand at 3.31%. Within India’s states, Maharashtra contributed to over 20% of nationwide cases. Percentage of fatalities in Maharashtra compared to the total in India too is highest at over 1 5% . Given the varying populations of India’s states, comparing absolute numbers is misleading. Here, the linear scale used is number of cases by million in each state, along with the population density of each state (graph below). Among states, Delhi stands out with its population density way higher than that of any other state. Expectedly, it also has a very hi...

Do We Need Aarogya Setu? As COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe over the last few months, governments across the world have had to absorb a flood of information from a 360° window, probably 24 hours a day, and have taken series of decisions to protect their nations’ populations from the dreaded infection. Among the many progressively enforced measures have been restrictions on travel, socialising, commuting, maintaining personal hygiene, and finally lockdowns in many countries. India was the first country to impose a nationwide lockdown, which has been extended twice, with some relaxation in rules being introduced in the second and third lockdowns. Even before the pandemic hit India, Government of India (GoI) has been severely attacked across the political spectrum and beyond for having let the economy go into a tailspin. Irrespective of whether the attacks were exaggerated or accurate, everyone will agree that the lockdown has dealt a body blow to the economy, even as one ne...

Supporting India’s Unorganised Workforce During the Lockdown As days, weeks and months have passed since India’s first novel coronavirus (nCoV) case identified on 30-Jan , the country has progressively moved from safety advisories issued by Union and state governments to restricting travel internationally and domestically, to   voluntary nationwide curfew suggested by the Prime Minister, to declaring a weeks-long lockdown of the country. While doctors, United Nations and World Health Organisation supported the lockdown, bringing the country (barring essential services) to a halt has extracted its economic price from all layers of society, even as the lockdown has succeeded in slowing down the spread of the virus across the length and breadth of the country. High level dynamics of India’s unorganised workforce India has an estimated workforce of about 50 crores (500 million), of which over 70% (Table 1.1) (35 crores/350 million) are believed to work in the unorg...

COVID-19 – the difficult journey and the uncertainties ahead Increasingly over the last few months the growing stranglehold of the novel coronavirus (nCoV) and the resulting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) over humanity have grabbed headlines and mind space across the world. A couple of generations of people perhaps have not experienced a global crisis as widespread and as impactful as this one. While the region of its origin is certain, there’s lack of clarity so far on the cause of its spread. What did India do? In a hyperconnected world, perhaps no country would be lucky enough to stay free of this virus. The   first case in the world was reported on 31-Dec-19, and India reported its first on 30-Jan-20. Seven weeks on it had jumped to an alarming 468 . While its spread in India ensured daily reporting in media, Government of India (GoI) too was taking it seriously. It issued advisories on social distancing , use of masks , large gatherings and home quara...