Lock Down

Corona has hit. Often this is labeled as the disaster of the century, as it crosses national, political, religious and any other human border one can imagine. Since its humble beginnings in Wuhan in China, it has crossed to over 150 countries and has taken over 23,000 lives as on 27 March 2020. The entire human race is behind closed doors across several countries in order to ensure "social distancing" - as the key to fight the virus that has virulently fought to keep its presence by the act of few who become the detonators in local communities. Doomsday sayers have  written off part of the human race, and the global economy seems to be shrinking. Politically, whether one is left or right, it doesn't seem to matter any more.

The schools closed first. Then the malls. And soon the whole nation shut its doors. There have been several good examples and a few bad in the process. The way people have been organized to do shopping in grocery stores in West Bengal state has been praised across the globe. Several other states India have replicated it with some twist into the thing. News has come in that the Indian railways plans to convert each coach of trains into isolation wards - which enables every coach of train can be converted to a 10 bed separated mini hospital. More clarity needs to emerge on how they plan to keep electricity to be running 24x7 and with the summer arriving, will only the AC coaches be converted into such isolation wards. But, the thought is good and important. India is aggressively looking to contain the disease as we are moving towards the first 1000 of the patients.

There are also some gaps in the initial days of this national lockdown that began in three days ago. One serious gap is in ensuring supply chain for grocers. This needs exceptionally clear plan as materials have to move from farm to homes without break. Personally I feel that we would have this lockdown extended as the number of cases in India continues to rise, and we get better control of it and be in a position to prevent the spread in a month or so. This means, we need to short-circuit the supply chain. Materials should reach from farms and large warehouses to groceries across the country without going through too many human hands to reduce  infections. One way could be combining the logistic capabilities of Coke, Pepsi, Haldiram, Hindustan Unilever, DHL, DTDC etc and state specific major supply chains such as Modern Bread in some of the states for delivery up to grocery stores, along with utilization of Swiggy, Zomato and UberEats for home delivery exclusively for senior citizens.  Any of our software majors can come up with a platform which can be utilized by all stakeholders to ensure smooth flow of groceries and vegetables on which the above mentioned supply chains can operate along with State administrations. People falling hungry can have huge social impact and may give way for unrest. Better that we put in some effort on this.

After all, children can't go hungry. And children can't wait.

Three Events, One Story: All is not well in the country

Three events in the three days of my visit to home this weekend, away from my routine works at UNICEF, make me repeat that all is not well in the country. Let me start with 23 July.

Event 1: After landing at Kolkata, I took a ticket for an Express train, and got into Kanchankanya Express that usually has few empty seats that gets filled up from Bolpur. So, if one wishes to have a reservation till Bolpur one can ask for upgrading the ticket to a reserved one. I met the Ticket Examiner and asked for such upgradation, and he checked his chart and told me to sit at Coat S7, Seat 28. I took the seat. After we had completed more than two hours of the 3 hr journey, the Ticket Examiner, asked me for 100 rupees, ticked off my ticket, and started walking. I asked him what about the confirmation note he is to give. He said, "That would cost more. But why do you need it? You are nearly at your destination." He just didn't stop. He had gone past. I never saw him again. Lesson 1: Corruption that was much less just couple of years ago in my experience at least in Indian railways is once again looking up.

Event 2: 26 July, Sunday. I went to the local market to buy some green vegetables. I purchased for 250 rupees. The bad I had carried wasn't even half full ! Unbelievable. I returned feeling, this has never happened. Cost of vegetables have never been so bad. Lesson 2: All is not good, neither for consumers nor for small vendors.

Event 3: 26 July, Sunday. At 8.00 pm I caught the Jaynagar-Howrah passenger train that was running nearly 4 hours late to travel to Kolkata from Bolpur. There were two families who were discussing among themselves about their poverty. These families were from a place called Murarai, on the Bengal - Bihar border in central part of State of West Bengal. They were terribly anguished. The first man was sharing that he had to pay 20,000 rupees as commission to get 70,000 rupees for his legally allotted house under the Indira Awaz Yojana (housing scheme of the government for poor). The second one said, his daughter lost a job as Anganwadi worker (as assistant to cook food) under the ICDS scheme, because they were asked to pay 75,000 rupees in advance as cash to guarantee the job. Which they could not. And the job went to someone who could afford to pay up. I joined in to ask, "Why, wasn't the corruption has always been there?". They said, "When the communists were ruling at least the poor wouldn't be asked to cough up, or would be let off with a request for a small donation to the party. But now, it is very straight: either you pay up or make way for one who can afford.". Lesson 3: There is a need to fight corruption at every level by every ministry and person.

Where is Education Heading?

13 Sep - I was traveling from Patna to Santiniketan (Bolpur) in West Bengal, India. I had a train to change at Bardhamman, and I took a local train from Bardhamman to Bolpur. At  a rural station known as Jhapterdhal and then at Banpas, I found lot of students, good number of them girls in their teens got into the train. Since the train was already full, most of these students were standing. As they were talking to another lady passenger in the train, I joined in. The students were all scheduled to get down at Guskara (after three stations), and they were going for private tuition in English. So, I asked them why they do not pay the teacher to come to their place so that so many of them need not go to Guskara. They replied that the teacher was coming from a place called Bhedia which is closer to Bolpur, and so it was some kind of adjustment that the students from all sides can come to Guskara. I also found that all the students were studying in their 12th Grade (+2 as it is known in India), and if they pass this year they will be eligible to join the college next year for Under Graduate courses. I passingly asked if they would be returning from Guskara and then would go to school. They said, "No"! When I enquired about the reason I was shocked! The girls go for the classes on every Wednesday and Saturday, and then they return to their homes by when it is 11.00, and they take breakfast and that is it! Because by then the schools have started and they cannot go to school. So, every week they do not attend classes on two days. I encountered them with volley of questions to understand further, and then I motivated them that they should write to the education department requesting that special classes for learning English be arranged so that the girls and boys need not lose two days of classes. On an average nearly 40% of school days these students were losing only with the hope of passing in English and get off to fight it out in life.

I thought that total dependence on tuition was mostly in states like Bihar. But I never thought that the situation is changing in West Bengal as well, as children are fighting to stand on to their toes to ensure continuance of their education. I am thankful to Mr. Ganesan and the teachers in my school where I did my 12th grade. They gave special classes in the morning and evening so that, though we were studying in a Tamil medium school, we could pass without having to spend additional time and money to pass in the school final exams.

Governments must take efforts to streamline education, help find alternate solutions for rural children to pass out strongly, and not be dependent on the private tuition that has become the bane of society.

Media and Disasters - Cyclone Aila and the Uttarakhand Floods

The Cyclone Aila hit West Bengal and Bangladesh on May 25 and 26^th, 2009, impacting the lives and livelihoods of nearly 6.8 million people in West Bengal alone.  According to the Government records, the disaster hit 28,349 villages of 206 blocks in 18 districts West Bengal killing 193 persons and leaving nearly half a million people homeless. 911,000 houses were partly or fully damaged,   2262 kilometers of roads and over 900 kilometers of river embankments so vital for preservation of ecological sensitive areas of Sunderban were washed away by  the cyclone, salinating the farmlands and inundating the villages. The estimated damage was pegged at US $ 300 million. This warranted a massive relief operation with cost estimation to the tune of Rs. 647 crores (6.47 billion). With additional support from the Union Government, the total volume spent by the government by way of relief, rehabilitation and recovery including embankment repairing would be another 5,000 crore (50 billion) rupees, besides about 50 crores spent by NGOs in relief activities. But, one big grudge was repeated in all inter-agency meetings and even in government meetings: the media did not give due attention to what had happened in West Bengal. There was very little coverage in the English news channels, and very little in the national dailies printed in other states.

In comparison to this, the damage in the state of Uttarakhand in June 2013 is much smaller in terms of territory, in terms of damage to houses, and damage to infrastructure, although more people have died there due to the unpreparedness of the community and a huge traveling population who were visiting the state. But what we see is a huge outcry in the media - both electronic and printed, each one trying to beat the other in reporting about the damage. Why is this difference in attitude of the media. Let's analyze.

Visuals Matter: In the case of cyclone Aila, we do not have cyclone tracking maniacs in the country to shoot visuals and sell it to TV companies. And once the embankments broke, it was so sudden that there was no one to take photos and videos except after the relief camps were set as everything else was under water. But in the case of Uttarakhand, the waters came like a dam-burst and hit with vengeance on anything on the way, and the buildings were collapsing while the media men and people could stand at safer distances and take visuals of it. (Picture courtesy: The Hindu)

Geographical Proximity to Capital: Uttarakhand is hardly a distance from the capital New Delhi. And there was heavy rains at the same time in Delhi, leaving several parts of it inundated, including the Delhi airport. And the fear of a flood in river Yamuna was agog. And the media men and women can fly in an out within an hour. Whereas, in the case of West Bengal, the distance did matter. Besides, there was no fear of any other part of the country under threat. After all, the cyclone is "gone", then why bother about what is gone? After all, it is not cost effective to do live coverage sitting in Delhi about a flood in the Sunderbans. There are more serious matters than that.

Impact Population: In the case of cyclone Aila, the worst affected were the people in the Sunderbans, although millions of others were also affected. But, the point is, the people of Sunderbans are all people who were residents of the area, poor and vulnerable, and had fought through several disasters throughout life. But the population in Uttarakhand is of different nature. Indeed, Uttarakhand is having such flash floods only of late. Secondly, although it is a small state, lot of rich people from other states visit it for going to various Hindu pilgrimage centers. So, you have people from Delhi, Gujarat, Bengal, Maharashtra and several other states are found to have been "impacted" due to the disaster there. There are Agarwals, Chatterjees, Mishras and several other such higher caste people stranded or affected by the floods there. But in the case of Sunderbans, it is all simple agricultural farmers and fisherman. Why bother about those who cannot make much noise!

Improved Technology: With better cellular connectivity, mobile applications, possibility of video uploading, interactive applications, and the huge impact of Google and Android in Indian market which were either not there or were not so prevalent four years ago, have played also a major part in highlighting the Uttarakhand disaster. So, when 18 districts were affected with huge damage to infrastructure and houses in West Bengal, there was hardly any demand for declaring it a "National Calamity" except for some feeble voices coming from the state itself. But, there is a huge demand for declaring the Uttarakhand flood as a national calamity, for it has affected people of several races, castes and states, although in actual number, it may not be as high as the cyclone Aila.

Assessor and Giver

In Kumarganj block of South Dinajpur district, West Bengal, while giving a training on disaster management to the government officials and local elected representatives of the block, during the discussion on relief management, an interesting issue came up. The issue raised was how to ensure damage and needs assessments are realistic and point towards immediate steps that need to be taken for relief in periods immediately after a disaster, with minimum coloring of political or other sectoral manipulation. The officers in Kumarganj said, "The current system of engaging the same group of people for assessment and response, although they may not be personally the same, but come from the same category, is equal to a examinee correcting his own paper, with no reference to any question or answer at the time of correction! The suggestion is, therefore, segregate the officers doing the assessment from those who give the relief." It can be done in two ways: (a) Let relief be given by the elected representatives with minimum supervision by the administration. But all damage and need assessment must be done by the executive staff only. No elected representatives or political class in it. (b) To strengthen the system further let executive officers from outside the affected area or specially designated persons with appropriate knowledge and skills at the state and district level be entrusted with the task of assessment and the local executive and political class take care of relief distribution. This would minimize the controversies surrounding too much demand for too little relief.

Does someone have any data on, actually what percentage of tarpaulins out of those distributed have been used for setting up temporary shelters ? All such critical data will help re-plan emergency response strategies. Are some of our relief materials really feeding into the "wants" of people rather than "needs of people?

Rule by Extortion err.... Subscription

There is a tradition of collecting donation which is equivalent to "subscription" as it is usually equally shared between families or individuals to celebrate the Durga Puja (Festival of Goddess Durga) in West Bengal. However, it is not an uncommon sight to see several youngsters, standing with sticks to collect money forcefully from vehicles that ply on the road that is closer to them. There had been even fights, vehicles running over these extortionists resulting in deaths, and traffic jam that results from this show of muscle power. Things have not changed. Now, practically for every celebration you could be stopped. The other day, my motor cycle was stopped in a village asking for this "extortionist" money for the Kali Puja (festival of Kali, celebrated in Bengal on the same day as Deepawali). I paid 10 rupees couple of days ago for the Muslim festival of Muharram which is still ten days away, and got a bill for five rupees with hardly anything to indicate that this will be used for any social or religious purpose. (I can't understand the reasoning for inheriting a bad tradition from anyone.) I have seen children stopping vehicles to collect money for celebrating Goddess of Wisdom (Saraswati Puja), and have paid three times in the same village at a distance of 200 meters each. How can wisdom dawn on children who bunk school and collect money to make merry at the cost of others! How can West Bengal develop if our youth are found to be splurging in money that is not theirs?  

Are we heading for an anarchist society? Have matters of faith have been transferred into issues of merry-making? Has the concept of donation has been taken away and extortion has replaced it? With the kind of rods and sticks these people wield around, all that one can do it, wait for the next election and press the button against the existing leading political party, and keep silent about all issues, most of the times.

TWIS Gets Recognized

The Tide and Wind Information system which we started an year ago in G-Plot panchayat area of Patharpratima, South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal had spread to neighboring Brajabhallavpur panchayat area too. In G-Plot the non-profit organization IDASS was helping CKS for field coordination, and in Brajabhallavpur, Sabuj Sangha and Concern Worldwide jointly supported for the same. Now, this has been recognized by DIP-ECHO, the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid supporting Disaster Risk Reduction programs in the country, as a best model that can be followed and replicated.

Much of early warning in India is generic and non-actionable. This means, people get general information about the cyclone. However, they do not know either the possible impact of the wind speed on the community or the height of the tides at vulnerable points and ferry Ghats (Ghat is the local word for a wharf/jetty). We are working with our partners to ensure that people get access to as much scientific accurate information as possible in a way that is understood. Center for Knowledge and Skills (CKS) is the resource agency working with the communities in streamlining the system. Community members, boatmen, fisher folk and early warning task force members were oriented to the global positioning system handheld devices. GPS readings for specific points were then taken and coordinates sent to the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) for incorporation into their own management system. At INCOIS computer scripting and satellite information management process takes about 7-10 days. Following which INCOIS generates tide and wind forecasts for next 3 days for the entire West Bengal coast, with locations segregated. The data are sent to the partner organization Center for Knowledge and Skills (CKS) who then sends out a SMS every evening to volunteers (often a shop keeper, a school teacher or a member of the Ghat committee) in the community. The message giving details of wind speed and tide level for the next 3 days are updated on manually operated display boards placed on 10 different ferry Ghats and markets where they are visible to everyone.  The manually operated display board has the following information which is color coded.

            ·         The dates for which the information is given

·         The expected height of the highest high – tide.

·         The warning level (Green / Yellow / Red ) for the location (in terms of tide height)       

·         The expected maximum wind speed

·         The direction of wind speed

·         The warning level (Green / Yellow / Red ) for the location (in terms of wind speed

After the message is received by the early warning group it is further disseminated to school and community members through the use of Flags, sirens and megaphones by the warning task force members at school and community level.

CKS would be happy to partner with other organizations for strengthening the system in the states of West Bengal and Odisha.

Luring with balls, whistles and gifts...

E. Hogden of USAID vaccinating a child in Uluberia, West Bengal

Tomorrow, 18 Feb, once again we will go through the Polio Sunday--trying to count if more children were vaccinated at the polio booths, and then throughout the week, counting the Xs (those who do not take the vaccine) and pray that there aren't too many resistant cases, and there are fewer children reported sick or out of home. It all happens in a week's time. To allure the children and parents to take vaccine at the booths, whistles are given by Unicef, balls are given by Rotary, and at times masks and caps! And besides that the ICDS centers are kept open so that children below 5 years can eat on a Sunday (usually ICDS centers are closed on Sunday) with an egg! Ooh.... the list of lollipops is getting wider and wider. This raises the fundamental question: are our programs really responding to people's perceived needs? The question is wrong as it tends to abdicate our responsibility to teach what is good for people. So, it must be placed as : Are we responding to the needs of people when we need them, or are we rushing to them to fulfill what we perceive as their needs, although selfishly, we want to benefit from the same as well? Now the question makes sense. If people's basic needs and need for health care, sanitation and education are not met, why should they vaccinate their children when we tell them to do so. 

The issue gets further complicated when we look into the amount of money that goes into this polio eradication program. At what cost have we achieved a title "polio free India" for 14 months ! Can our dolling out of freebies ever teach people the needs of health care if our health care systems function hardly for few hours in a day? Answers are deeper than the skin.

People's Joy, My Joy

On 11 Feb, I managed to drag myself into the Sunderbans, in spite of so many works hanging around my shoulders. It was time to meet the people. It was also an occasion to meet some of the senior officials from ECHO who were on a trip to the Sunderbans to review one of the projects they were supporting. Since, in Brajabhallavpur, Patharpratima Block, South 24 Parganas district, we have initiated the Manually Operated Display Boards (MODB) that display the wind speed, rainfall prediction and tide height in some of their partner areas, I went there to support and enable better understanding of the system. So, in stead of me explaining the system, I was asking the men, "Can you tell me what is all these?" They explained so well that it put me to understand that the extra mile I as a person and what CKS as an organization has taken is a step in the right direction. I asked the women, "Can you explain what these red, yellow and green stand for? And what will you do practically if you see these signs?" Amazingly, some of the women explained it very beautifully. Then came my poser, "Do you think that the information given here is actually matching with reality as experienced by you?" The women said, "Yes, one day the board read that there would be 4 mm rainfall. And there was lots of clouds throughout the day, and there was some mild shower in the evening." The men joined the chorus, " The information on tide is absolutely correct. We have verified it by placing a bamboo inside the water and testing the height. It was absolutely fine. And the wind speed too changes as it is mentioned in the board."

I can recall the joy of the people on their face. I know that this time, if another cyclone like Aila comes, people know that they would be alerted early, and they know what to do. One simple step is a big leap for the mankind. I am satisfied. The joy of the people is my own joy as well.

Largesse of the Government

The deaths due to consumption of spurious liquor has crossed 170 and still some are battling against death. The government of West Bengal has announced an ex-gratia of 200,000 rupees for the bereaved families. On 9th Dec 2011 after the major fire in AMRI hospital in Kolkata too the government announced similar grant. I wonder from where does this money come from. I have no problem in giving out the money, but my question is from where is this kind of money being generated? Before we discuss this, the death toll in the hooch tragedy has gone well past the total deaths due to Cyclone Aila in 2009. Only 139 persons died in the aftermath of cyclone Aila; but this tragedy has killed more than 170 people. Should we call it a disaster?

Now, about the money. AMRI is a hospital for the rich, of the rich, and by the rich. I am not sure if some of these families whose loved ones died in the fire really require this 200,000 rupees that comes from the government. The other question is, if people die drinking spurious liquor, and their families get 200,000 rupees, will this event become a tipping point, and the situation escalate that the poor think that they can die drinking spurious liquor, and their families can get the money, and live happily ever after?!!! We are walking on a very fragile paradigm. Secondly, what is the source of money that the government is giving out? If it is money of the general public and that of the tax payers, I am against. it. If AMRI authorities are at fault, the government must realize the compensation from them. Let them take 500,000 rupees per each patient. No issues on that! Let them take over the entire land and the building, and pay for damages. That would be exemplary, honest in every way, and not impinging on the money for development. In the case of the hooch tragedy, the government must attach the properties of all those involved in production, sale and permitting such sale. I might sound harsh. But unless exemplary punishments burn a hole in the pockets of these people, it would not be an example. 

There is something called Law of Torts. This is hardly used in India, although it exists. It is simply the law relating to civil damages. The only civil damage cases we see are some big politician asking for money from media houses for a perceived damage to their supposedly good name. We must take this further. Civil damages must be compensated, but the damager, and not by people's money. For heaven's sake, will someone say this to the Chief Minister, please!

The Worst Continues....

The deaths due to the hooch tragedy (drinking of spurious liquor) mostly by the poor, rickshaw pullers, daily laborers etc has spirally as if we are watching a cricket match! The deaths that started on Wednesday have continued through Thursday, and by evening 6.00 pm we have 131 confirmed deaths! What a shame! 

Last week we lost over 90 persons in fire and this week due to liquor! All because someone is negligent, and the system is corrupt. I feel ashamed at times that we have not been able to save the lives of people who trust the government to protect them. The honorable Chief Minister has ordered an inquiry into the deaths. But what will they look into? Who were the culprits who were selling liquor? And who were the people who drank from them and got sick and died? If this is the point of reference then this inquiry will not serve any purpose. The inquiry should cover: how did these teams of liquor sellers continue to get patronage? Who was patronizing them? At what cost? For how long? Where else this is going on? And then, put them all behind bars, and make them culpable. It is not enough to bring in cases of culpable homicide. They must be charged with culpable homicide amounting to murder.

Tide, Wind and Rainfall Information

Center for Knowledge and Skills had inaugurated the Tide and Wind Information System (TWIS) on 6 August 2011.. The system brings down scientific information on Wind Speed,  probability of rainfall and quantity, and height of Tide on a daily basis for two days in advance in simple language that people can understand. The information comes with a color coding system so that people can be forewarned in case of a natural hazard. Specifically it uses a Manually Operated Display Board for giving out the information. The initiative that started in G-Plot in the far off Patharpratima block of South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, is now getting replicated in Brajabhallavpur in the same block. We are glad that Concern Worldwide came forward to make it a part of Early Warning system for the community in those remote villages. The project is being funded by DIP-ECHO and executed by Sabuj Sangha. At Brajabhallavpur 5 boards will be set up in five different locations benefiting hundreds of people who travel by boats and who frequent the local markets each day. In all, now in 8 locations the display boards will be functioning within this month. Center for Knowledge and Skills (CKS) is happy to be the technical partner in providing and sustaining the information flow to the community.

On the Shores of Digha

On 5 Dec morning I traveled from Bolpur to Digha via Durgapur, picking in the ABSK team on the way. We were traveling for a training of Block and District Coordinators of the Polio Eradication Project supported by UNICEF and CORE India, of which I am the State Emergency Response Coordinator. 


A very long and tiring journey followed as we traveled through Purulia and West Medinipur districts. The road between Durgapur and Kharagpur, and between Belda and Digha via Egra was extremely bad. We reached at 5.30 pm.  As I reached the trainer team and I had to sit down to plan for the rest of the days. 6th and 7th December went very quickly as we mazed through the training module. I had two sessions in which I shared my views on Strategic Planning and Working Together through two animated stories. It was very interesting for all.

On 6th evening we also managed to walk down to the sea shore that is so crowded even in this non-tourist season, The unkempt roads, the poorly lit, shabbily kept shops and eateries are miles from making this destination into a good tourist destination. The way back was worse! Our vehicle kept getting a flat tyre repeatedly. We had to stay at last in Kolkata on 7th night, and travel back on the early morning of 8th. 

Overall, the training went good. The journey wasn't.

Dry and Long - Huge Rainfall Shortage in India

Northern India in general is going through a long dry spell. The report of the Indian Meteorological Department has shown that there has been a huge deficit in this year's rain fall. Whereas the usual North-Eastern monsoon period for western, eastern, north and north-eastern states of India stretches from 1 June to 15 October each year, the South Western monsoon starting from 1 October to December facilitates rainfall in the east coast of India. Looking into the available data and maps, the early rainfall in June was excess in many states, and normal in July. But, after that there has been a huge drop in rainfall. Though the cumulative rainfall for the period looks normal in most counts, in actual terms there has been very little rainfall since August in most states, and huge deficit in north-eastern states. 

The data available till date for the October to 7 December 2011 period shows further deviations, as the state of Andhrapradesh in south, several northern, north eastern, eastern and western states are under severe shortage of rainfall. The Gangetic belt is showing signs of stress as the average rainfall shortage for this period is above 80% in most cases. Although not much of rain is expected during this period, it is important in terms of agriculture, arrival of winter and warding of pests! The lack of rainfall has the potential to push up input costs on agriculture for small farmers who hold less than one acre of land, and increase debts for medium farmers who often take big loans. This could also hit production of vegetables, cereals and pulses of the winter crops and summer crops. On the one side the winter has set in very late. On the other side, the Indian agricultural industry is looking at deep drops in the coming summer.