COVID-19: Crisis and Recovery

The impossible has already happened and slowly, it is becoming the new normal. With cases of COVID-19 reaching 4 million mark in India, cities continue averting public transport and big investment project like metros and monorails. Also, public spaces are closed to citizens and recreational activities are becoming prey to social distancing norms, affecting a common urban commuter. Amid this all, there is one ray of hope. The pandemic has resurrected cycling. With social distancing becoming the new norm, cycling seems to be the one stop mobility solution for all commute troubles. Though...

Article 21-A of the Constitution of India guarantees the right to elementary education for all children. But accessing this basic right comes at a cost for many children, who risk their lives daily as they travel to school. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of injury-related deaths among children up to the age of 18 in India. A 2019...

Cycling is thriving, both as a mode of transport and as a way of staying healthy during the COVID-19 crisis. Local government’s response has varied across the globe, some lowering speed limits, some building pop-up bike lanes and others...

This article was originally published on News18 on 28 July.

While announcing a stimulus package of INR 20 lakh crore ($260 billion) in his address to the nation on May 12, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to make use of the opportunity provided by the COVID-19 pandemic to attract investments and manufacturing jobs. Given that cities will likely be the predominant focus of...

When was the last time you walked through the market without being conscious about other people walking close to you or the last time you took a stroll to a neighbourhood park without thinking about the hygiene around? When was the last time you thought of going for a walk without worrying about being asked to maintain apt social distance from your family members?

Earlier this year, the COVID-19-induced pandemic brought the world to a standstill. We have since come a long way from being locked inside our houses, to slowly getting used to the new normal while working towards...

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 600 Indian medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) in the textile and garment business are churning out 4.5 lakh personal protective equipment (PPE) kits every day, according to recent reports quoting Union Minister Smriti Irani. Similarly, mask production per day is in excess of two lakh and small enterprises are now aiming at exporting the surplus. Over the past two months,...

This blog was originally published in Mint on 14 July.

A little over 100 days since the covid-19 pandemic brought India to a standstill, damaging lives, livelihoods and the economy, a glimmer of hope has finally appeared. After months of lockdown, the economy is showing some signs of recovery.

In the coming months, as we step out of the lockdown, our focus will be on rebuilding livelihoods through an economic...

Cities throughout India and the world are now in the process of recovering from a never-seen-before complete lockdown that was implemented as a safety measure against the ongoing novel coronavirus induced pandemic. This was necessary to maintain physical distance, leaving empty streets around the world as we sat indoors, wondering what we were missing out on. Cities across the globe are now working towards reimagining streets to accommodate the new normal in a post-COVID...

India witnessed a vast exodus of informal sector workers in the last few months. This has opened a can of worms questioning the role of these workers in India’s growth story. Urban India depends largely on the informal rural workforce that migrates to cities in search of livelihood and helps build these ever-expanding cities. While the informal workforce contributes significantly to creating and building our cities, there work continues to be undocumented. The situation exploded particularly badly when, in March India instituted a highly controlling lockdown and subsequently...

The ongoing pandemic has wreaked immense and lasting damage to India’s economy, and passenger transport has been particularly affected. Its far-reaching impact on the aviation and railway industry is well-documented, along with the struggles of...