SRINAGAR: Six months after the August 05 decision in 2019 by which the BJP-led Central government ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir while bifurcating it into two Union territories, Kashmir was limping back to a new sort of normalcy. However, the normalcy was short lived as the Coronavirus made its entry into the Valley and compelled the authorities to order a total lockdown so as to contain the spread of the highly contagious disease.

The lockdown in Kashmir has had a crippling impact on almost all the sectors, from Agriculture, Manufacturing, Banking, Financial Services to Ecommerce, Education, Healthcare and Tourism & Hospitality.

The economy of the newly carved out UT has been particularly hit, with the losses being estimated in thousands of crores.

Back in December 2019, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) had put the losses at Rs 17,878 crore in the face of severe restrictions in the Valley following the dilution of Article 370.

Releasing a comprehensive sector-wise report on losses due to disturbance after the August 5 decision by the Centre, KCCI had stated that the losses had been assessed based on Jammu and Kashmir’s GDP for 2017-18.

Later, the KCCI revised the figures and put the losses at Rs 30,000 crore since August 2019, with more than five lakh people rendered jobless.

On Wednesday (June 03, 2020), an amalgam of 30 trade bodies of the Valley held a press brief in Srinagar and said that Kashmir witnessed 3000 days of lockdown, thus simultaneously deteriorating the situation of business community here. The traders also stated that the special package of Rs 20,000 crore announced by the government has been announced for the people excluding the business community of Kashmir.

“In particular, our businesses are suffering from last ten months and we have never come out of the lockdown,” the traders said, adding that the situation of business has got further deteriorated after the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic in Jammu and Kashmir.

It’s not just the economy, the second important sector that has been suffering since long is the Education. The State government had ordered closure of all educational institutions in Jammu and Kashmir on the eve of August 05 last year. After abolishing the former State’s special position, the authorities ordered opening of schools but students stayed away.

It was in March this year that students started to turn up in schools, colleges and universities but it was a very short-lived phenomenon. Schools reopened on February 24 after remaining shut for nearly eight months but were shut down again after the Centre announced a country-wide lockdown in March to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Around one million students are enrolled in government and private schools in Kashmir, with an equal number in the Jammu region. The government and private schools started online classes for students but the restrictions on 4G Internet have not helped the cause.

The parents of private students have also complained that the schools have asked them to clear the fees of their wards at a time when the economic activity due to lockdown has come to a halt. The question of fee-payments is likely to be a major issue when schools reopen in the Kashmir valley.

Apart from online classes, the absence of high-speed mobile internet marred the dissemination of information, especially video content, related to COVID-19. Medics have repeatedly been asking the authorities for the restoration of 4G Internet services.

Besides health services, people from other sectors have complained of inability to work due to the suspension of 4G mobile internet.

Given the sad state of affairs, it is ironical to witness that the phase-wise lockdown relaxations announced by the Centre hardly trickled down to J&K. Instead, the administration has been pressing for restrictions as the cases of Coronavirus continue to surge in the Valley.

In the special scenario of the Valley, the administration needs to think out-of-the-box and devise a ‘sustainable unlock strategy’ instead of a ‘lockdown strategy’ and only such a measure would help mitigate the sufferings of Kashmiris.

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SRINAGAR: On Friday, the Jammu and Kashmir administration announced the opening of all the offices across the Union Territory and directed all the officers and staff to attend their respective offices on regular basis on all working days from June 06.

In an order (No. 621-JK (GAD) of 2020; Dated: 05-06-2020) issued by the government, all the government offices have been directed to remain function from today i.e. June 06, 2020.

“In pursuance to order No. 11013/9/2014-Estt.A.III dated 18.05.2020, issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India and in partial modification of Government Order No. 477-JK(GAD) of 2020 dated 17.04.2020, read with Government Order No. 584-JK(GAD) of 2020 dated 20.05.2020 and in compliance with the Order No. 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) dated 30.05.2020 of the National Executive Committee, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the SOP on preventive measures to contain spread of COVID-19 in offices, it has been decided that the functioning of government offices in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall be regulated,” read the official notification.

It further said, “All the officers and staff, at all levels, shall attend office on a regular basis on all working days w.e.f. 06.06.2020.”

Employees who are at higher risk due to COVID-19 i.e. older employees, pregnant employees and employees who have underlying medical conditions have been asked to take ‘extra precautions’ and avoid being exposed to any frontline work requiring direct contact with the public.

The administration has also directed the office managements to facilitate work from home, wherever feasible.

“Routine issue of visitors/temporary passes should be suspended and only those visitors with proper permission of the officer who they want to meet, should be allowed after being properly screened,” the government order said.

“All the measures prescribed in the SOP on preventive measures to contain spread of COVID-19 in offices by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, shall be followed at all times and bio-metric attendance shall continue to be suspended until further orders,” it added.

The order further said that heads of the departments and offices shall ensure strict compliance of SOP and other related instructions to contain the spread of Coronavirus.

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With the world in lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the casualties has been sports which had to take a back seat due to government-imposed travel restrictions and new laws on social distancing. Golf has been one of the sports most affected with courses shut up.

One such golfer has been rising Indian star 8-year-old Chaitanya Pandey, whose meteoric rise to the top of his sport has been halted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. 

Here are the takeaways about Digpu’s discussion with Chaitanya Pandey on golf and life after the lockdown ends.

What is the extent of the impact of Covid19 on Golf?

The obvious answer is that because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the government lockdown, we are currently barred from playing or practicing the game. Courses are closed, many of them have had to lay-of staff and are just operating with a skeleton crew.

Some groups have been hard hit financially by the shutdown as well, particularly caddies who rely on golf for the day-to-day work and do not have any other income. There are also many casual workers like greenkeepers who have seen their income dry up overnight.

At the same time all tournaments have been cancelled, and it is by no means clear when events will be staged again.  I was due to take part in some big events in Europe & USA, i.e European Championship, IMG Academy Junior World Championships in San Jose, FCG Callaway World Championship & US Kids Golf World Championship but because of the pandemic I am not participating.

When competitive golf does return, it is likely to be completely different than it was before. Social distancing will need to be maintained, spectators may not be allowed to watch events in any numbers for months, possibly years to come, and there will be many health and safety precautions.

What would you do once the golf courses are open for play?

The first thing I would do is hit some balls again just for the pleasure and freedom of being able to do so. After months in lockdown, the fact of being on a golf course again will be a pleasure in itself.

After I had got over the novelty, I would then go back to practising my swing and my short game again, but, in the first instance, being back on the course would be enough in itself. 

One thing that golfers need to be careful of when they return to action is not to try and overexert themselves the first time they get back on a course.

Also Read: Chaitanya Pandey – India’s Young Tiger Woods

How are you staying with the game during lockdown?

I am fortunate to have a small golf studio at my home so I am able to practice my swing and also work on my short game. I have also been doing stretching, yoga, meditation and running to stay fit. I love to watch videos and films of the top professionals, so I can learn more about their game and pick up tips and techniques to try and adopt when we are all able to start playing again. I also try and stay in touch with my coach Rohit Bose over Zoom. He continues to give me tips and advice and helps me stay motivated and focused on my game.

Tell us about your routine during lockdown?

Before I start my day, I try and exercise and run for 30 minutes on tread mill to get both my mind and body up and running. I like to stay on top of my schoolwork as it always come first for me. I am doing 5 -6 online classes conducted by my school on weekdays plus home assignment.  An hour of Yoga and Meditation helps me to stay calm and focused. Evening hours I love to dedicate to my game which comprises of hitting 200 balls and short game.

I am an avid reader so read lot of different kind of books and practice and compose music on my guitar. Lastly spend time with my family watching movies etc.

What is your advice to everyone in context to the present times?

Obey the government guidelines, stay safe and follow the rules. This is a really difficult time for all of us but we are all in this together, so we just have to be patient and wait until the situation is under control.

One of the advantages of playing a game like golf is that it teaches you to be mentally strong. I think you just have to regard the health pandemic as like having a bad round of golf.

In conclusion, Chaitanya says, “It is bad for a while but does not let it shake your confidence. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully, you can strike the ball better then.”

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Unnati India is a voluntary non-profit organization which has been working on providing educational support in Hyderabad since January 2020. They believe that if you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. However, if you teach him how to fish he will never go hungry again.

With this motive, Unnati India works on providing practical hands-on skill-based education to teenagers and young adults from underprivileged families so they can grow up to be skilled workers and provide for their families. They also help set up small scale industries by helping them with capital investment and providing them with start-up raw material.

Apart from this, Unnati India is pro-actively involved in working on issues such as woman empowerment, health and hygiene of women etc.

Their current focus is on the safety of people in various states in India where they are helping with providing basic necessities to people who do not have access to these amenities amid the lockdown due to COVID-19. Unnati India re-created the song ‘Muskurayega India’ with various artists from across the countries in an effort to bring hope back into the lives of all Indians.

Also Read: Coronavirus – Engine for digital transformation in Kashmir

The song focuses on how the pandemic will soon be over and we shall all be able to live normal lives and gain victory over this virus that has bought the whole world on its knees. It has been sung by Aryaman Sethi, Akanksha Sethi, Charvi Arora, Chelsi Behura, Pooja Mehta, Udit Saxena and Shivansh Jindal. The mixing has been done by Karan Singh with Aryaam Sethi on Piano, Soummendra Goswami playing the sitar and Shivrudra Singh on the flute.

All these young artists have created this song from their own homes to tell the nation that we may be maintaining social distancing but we stand united in this fight against Covid -19 and this war cry has been appreciated by the likes of DJ Chetas and Viral Bhayani too who shared this song.

This melodious track has successfully brought smiles on the faces of millions of people that had been struggling with the mental and physical consequences of the lockdown and has given people a hope that the rainy days shall soon be over and the sun will shine again upon all of us.

To watch the video, visit https://youtu.be/v1ncFWxOufM.

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Istruzione Edutech Services Pvt Ltd. is an education technology company registered in the US and India under its brand name ‘Edimpact’. It devises unique learning programs that use the latest technology. The objective of the Organisation is to make education accessible to all by delivering knowledge in a simple and affordable manner.

The organisation helps educational institutions worldwide in procuring digital literacy equipment, school vehicles, personal vehicles for staff and building infrastructure at subsidized rates along with its Training Program on Digital Literacy to empower Educators, Students, and rural youth.

Edimpact is led by its visionary Director, Mr. Sanwill Srivastava, who has also been awarded as a lead donor by Lions Club International at the Annual International Convention in Milan for his philanthropic activities. Mr. Srivastava has been instrumental in bringing together a group of visionary donors to help the education fraternity in getting much-needed funds for the promotion of community education.

Also Read: Istruzione Edutech Services Helps Institutions Procure Infra At Subsidised Cost

Through its women empowerment scheme, Edimpact has helped around 1900+ schools in India to procure 16,000+ Honda Activa scooters for its women staff at subsidized prices. This, in turn, helps them in getting to school on time. Teachers have been thankful for providing them with this opportunity of procuring vehicles at cheaper rates since it would have been impossible for them to purchase at the full prices.

Edimpact has also developed 400+ digital literacy labs by providing 13,000 laptops and smart class hardware at discounted prices, apart from helping schools procure school vans and buses at discounted prices.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in March this year, the organisation was instrumental in one or the other way to help the community fight against COVID-19, this includes:

• One-month ration to more than 400+ needy families
• 1600+ Towels (Gamcha) distribution to newspaper delivery persons in Ranchi & Patna
• Support to cancer patients
• Time to time Cooked food distribution in Ranchi to support needy people, approx. number of people benefitted would be around 1800+
• All 38employeeshave contributed their one-month salary to PM Cares Fund, which is around Rs. 55000/-
• The Director, Mr. Sanwill Srivastava has also contributed Rs. One Lakh to the PM Cares fund in his personal capacity.

Mr. Sanwill Srivastava says, “If we all come together and help the needy in per our personal capacity, whatever little we can do for the community, then we will win against fight with COVID-19.”

We salute his commitment & his team’s dedication towards the community to fight against the pandemic.

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The happy faces you see here are of Birju and Rupesh, Founders, Credin who didn’t take a single day off even during the lockdown. When asked about the motivation, they were prompt in their response saying, “when you love what you do, you run on self-motivation.”

Rupesh Bishnoi and Birju Naik, ex-Citi bankers with a collective professional experience of 18 years, left their high paying jobs to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. In February 2019, they incorporated the company, Credin, with a vision to build an omnichannel, a digital lending platform, which helps young, aspirational middle-class in their need of credit. They started building the team from scratch and appointed well-qualified professionals as directors in the past few months.

As team Credin is located in Baroda, Gujarat, it took them nine months to build the entire digital stack to facilitate customers’ 100% digital journey. Credin did run a test of products in December 2019 and raised pre-seed funding from angel investors. The funds helped them to start with its core products—pocket loans, mini loans, and digital personal loans. Credin already has three partner NBFCs for onward lending and is in the process of onboarding a few more in the coming months.

Elaborating his work and venture, Birju says, “In 60 days of going fully operational, we got 3000+ applications and processed 550+ applications in March, but the pandemic affected further processing.”

He further adds, “Opportunity lies in the hardest of the time, it depends on how you see it. We believe that we are placed well because we are into early traction and have very little exposure, otherwise, for the retail lending fintech, the major concerns are managing the current portfolio and the collections. Contrary to it, our focus is on expansion and exploring new business opportunities in digital lending. Lockdown has helped us in building capacity and repositioning, Credin, as a leading digital lending services platform. Through this B2B-B2C model, we offer customised credit solutions to our B2B partners for their consumers.”

Rupesh talks about the initiative and says, “Credin Shiksha is our first flagship program under this model. Credin partnered with pre-schools, K12 schools, and training institutes to provide parents with a convenient and reliable option for the payment of respective fees without any interest on EMI.”

In the current scenario, parents are happy to enroll their child for digital learning. They expect the authority to empower them with flexible payment options. At the same time, it is equally important for institutions to manage fixed expenses, staff salaries, and the cost of onboarding the digital learning platform. That is where Credin comes into the picture with Credin Shiksha to offer a win-win solution for educational institutions and parents both. Within no time, they covered 100+ schools and pre-schools under Credin Shiksha program.

“Earlier, we were operational in Gujarat only, now we have expanded our operation in all major cities across nine states in the west and south region. Business traction on Credin Shiksha has helped us to raise bridge funding from existing angel investors, which we’ll close by the second week of June,” explains Birju.

“From June 2020, we are launching our next product in line called “Credin Aarambh” for retail stores through the omni-channel model. Under this segment, Credin is primarily targeting four segments—kirana stores, vegetable shops, medical shops, and milk parlours. These segments fall under essential services and need quick short-term funding to manage stock and inventory. Our target is to onboard at least 5,000 retail stores across 20 districts of Gujarat and Maharashtra in the next three months,” tells Rupesh.

Birju adds, “We at Credin constantly work on different use-cases to check the fitness of product as per the market. We don’t know what will work eventually, but we can check what market accepts and add options accordingly.”

Credin seems a brilliant fintech solutions company, which is not only addressing the financial crisis due to COVID-19, but also ensuring contactless digital transactions, which is the need of the hour.

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SRINAGAR: Patients in various areas of Kashmir have been struggling for medical attention as all the efforts and attention of doctors and paramedics is focussed on COVID-19 infected persons and suspects.

The situation has become particularly difficult for pregnant women who are not being given the required attention by the medics. In many instances that have been reported in the media, pregnant women have lost their lives due to alleged negligence of doctors.

Pertinently, most of the expecting women who have died in the Valley, after the outbreak of COVID-19, have tested negative for the infectious disease.

Bilal Ahmad Sheikh, a resident of Thamuna village in Pulwama, recently lost her wife after she gave birth to a baby. He alleges that her wife wasn’t treated well by the doctors.

“My wife was doing fine after she delivered the baby. More than 24 hours had passed and she could go to washroom on her own. However, the insensitive behaviour of doctors cost me heavily,” he says.

He further adds, “After my wife complained of shortness of breath, the doctors immediately declared her coronavirus positive, even without waiting for test results. The worst thing is they told this in her presence, which contributed to the deterioration of her condition.”

Sajad Ahmad Pala (name changed), another man from the south Kashmir district has the same complaint. He accuses the doctors of ‘murdering’ medical ethics. “I visited SDH Rajpora with my expecting wife but the doctors there referred her to Lal Ded Hospital Srinagar instead of a hospital (designated for pregnant women) in Pulwama. We had to go through a lot of hardships amid the lockdown to reach Srinagar,” he said.

He added, “Doctors have lost all compassion towards patients after the outbreak of COVID-19. They don’t think for a moment as to how the patient could be shifted to Srinagar when the same facilities are available in our own district and the patient is in a critical state.”

Ishfaq Ahmad from Malpora Tahab also saw her wife die “due to medical negligence of doctors.” He complains, “My wife Nargis Akhter, who was aged 25 years, died only because the doctors didn’t know when to refer her. When they finally did, it was too late.”

It is not just that there have been complaints of unnecessary referrals, but people also complain of unfriendliness on part of the doctors, who have, otherwise, been hailed as COVID warriors.

An attendant of a patient in a private Nursing Home in Anantnag district alleged that the patients are not treated well. “Instead, the patients are being looked as suspects of Coronavirus. My cousin sister was attended to by a doctor but he maintained a distance of almost ten feet. It was nothing less than an insult,” he alleges.

As per a report of Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK), patients are not treated with dignity and respect in the Valley hospitals which results in medical conflicts.

Inappropriate behaviour from medical personnel, the report divulged, has created mistrust among people that precipitates medical disputes leading to patient resentment towards healthcare providers. “Any treatment can be undone in just a few moments by doctors’ wrong attitude,” it had stated.

In the days after the coronavirus became a reality in the Valley, most of the staff including doctors have been assigned COVID-19 related duties. As a consequence, doctors are not always available at the community health centres and primary health centres. People, especially those from rural areas, are facing logistical inconvenience due to the travel restrictions.

The lockdown induced by the coronavirus was already causing hardships to patients, but the lack of medical ethics on part of the doctors has been equally damaging. The COVID-19 is a reality but mere prescriptions aren’t enough for the patients, including COVID-19 positive ones, to recover. Sometimes, it just takes a few words of compassion and empathy to boost an ill body towards recovery.

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Meenaa Mahaajjan is a Holistic Wellness Expert and an active proponent of the Vedas and Upanishads. She has been serving the society since the past 26 years now. Her expertise has always been in combining Science and Spirituality seamlessly and delivering individuals an understanding of the natural coexistence and codependence of the two.

During her programmes, her research in Spiritual Sciences and Quantum Mechanics is delivered with ease and effectiveness to the masses. Meenaa Mahaajjan has always been an advocate of spreading her teaching to the masses and reconstructing a more progressive and conscious society.

Siddhi, Powered by Humanity is her endeavour to do so. Siddhi is a non-profit, volunteer-led organisation started with a strong foundation of selfless service and the power of giving. Siddhi works on several social issues and has always been the first to respond whenever any member of the society needs support. All volunteers at Siddhi are able to develop this sense of dedication and responsibility to the society with regular dialogues and training with the founder. 

When asked, what made Meenaa Mahajjan make an army of COVID knights, she says, “The ongoing pandemic and the lockdown have been completely new and unprecedented situations faced by most of us. With a majority of India’s population being young, most have never faced such a situation where one’s freedom is virtually taken away.”

“The population has never been subjected to such strong measures where the daily life is interrupted so extensively. This is causing a wide spectrum of problems for a different state of the society ranging from food insecurity, financial uncertainty, lack of protection from the disease, lack of awareness and the lasting psychological effect of this epidemic”, she adds.

Being a Wellness Expert and a Humanitarian, she realised the need for a sense of responsibility to ignite in the minds of every member of the community. She felt it was time for every individual to think about collective good, responsibility and collective initiative. As was the lockdown a collective effort, so is the need to support the vulnerable of the society a collective effort. So Meenaa initiated the idea of COVID Knights, who symbolised the collective might of the people to help those who have been affected by this pandemic the most.

Also Read: Dr Meenaa Mahaajjan’s Spiritual Perspective On COVID-19

Meenaa says” My intention behind forming this army of COVID Knights was not just to get food to the needy or medical supplies to the sick, it was about forming an alternative support system for everyone. We have more than 1000 knights from all over the country supporting Siddhi in its endeavour to ease the pressure of this pandemic on the vulnerable.”

COVID Knights are working in three broad areas during this constantly evolving situation. These areas include Support for the Front Line Workers, Support for the Underprivileged and establishing Alternative Support Systems for the Vulnerable groups including the Elderly, Children with Special needs, orphans, etc. 

The first part of this response is the Support for the Front Line Workers including Healthcare workers, Municipality workers, Police and Paramilitary Jawaans, and other essential service workers. This includes the distribution of Personal Protective Equipment like Sanitisers, Face Masks, Face Shields, Liquid Soap and Gowns to all the Front Liners.

The second part to this response is Support for the underprivileged, vulnerable communities, migrant workers, daily wagers. Siddhi is distributing cooked meals, dry ration kits and healthcare services, personal hygiene kits, other essentials to all in need.

The final part to this response is to create a more connected, harmonious and supportive community. Siddhi is reaching out to the most vulnerable groups including the elderly, orphans, children with special needs, etc. who are undergoing added amount of uncertainty, isolation. COVID Knights are acting as an Alternative Support System for these individuals, caring for their needs and offering the much-required human connect during this time of uncertainty. 

As the founder of Siddhi, Meenaa feels fortunate enough to be able to reach the remotest areas of the country. Be it tribal areas of Chandauli district in UP, areas of Siliguri, highways and railway stations of Jabalpur, Aligarh, Andra Pradesh,  Delhi and remote bastis around NCR, Mumbai shelters, the warriors did their best.

About the efforts, she says, “We have not restricted ourselves to cities and have mobilised our teams across the nation. The idea is to help the last person! From the first day of lockdown, we have been distributing cooked food, dry ration packets, personal hygiene kits, sanitisers, masks, PPE kits and essentials to underprivileged, frontliners, Vulnerable groups, tribal areas, migrant workers and daily wagers. I have personally been on the ground doing distributions and helping in preparation and logistics. “

Besides this, COVID Knights is about building an alternate support system for the community so our knights have been doing many awareness tasks to help build positive energy amidst the crisis. We have taken care of the children and the older generation by engaging them with mindful activities like storytelling, yoga, happiness exercises. I have been easing out the economic burden on the daily wagers by helping them clear parts of their loans. Since their livelihood is an issue now and they will face long term consequences we are trying to create a support system for them too.”

It’s time to live a life of a higher purpose and with a shared vision. We must learn to Coexist and live in harmony with each other and the environment. Individual success means nothing if we can’t uplift each other.

The post A Woman Who Touched Over 1 Million Lives Amid Lockdown appeared first on Digpu News Network.

In conversation with Digpu, Dr Priya G Modi, MBBS, MD Radiology, talks about how the global COVID-19 pandemic came as an alarming reality check to the world.

With increasing innovations and technology, our fast-moving lives came to a halt as the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world. The unanticipated lockdown brought everything to a standstill and the time spent in the lockdown has been quite an experience in many ways.

In conversation with Digpu, Dr Priya G Modi, MBBS, MD Radiology, talks about how the global COVID-19 pandemic came as an alarming reality check to the world. She says its time to support local and also asks for forgiveness from the migrant workers for what they have gone through. Here are some takeaways from our conversation with Dr Priya G Modi including the life lessons to be learnt before coming out of this lockdown.

1. Respiratory Etiquette: Wearing masks when required should be made a lifestyle. Many serious diseases which infect the lungs mainly spread from person to person contact through the air and other mediums. For instance, when people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air.

The incidence of the disease will significantly reduce if we wear mask regularly and prevent ourselves from a deadly disease, we also prevent our other airborne diseases which human beings are highly susceptible Rhinoviruses, Influenza viruses (type A, type B, H1N1), Varicella viruses (cause chickenpox), Measles virus, Mumps virus, Hantavirus (a rare virus that can be transmitted from rodents to humans), Viral meningitis and Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Airborne infections are an increasingly important factor in veterinary centers, quarantine units, and breeding facilities preventing from occupational diseases to a greater extent.

2. Hand Washing and Sanitizing Etiquette: Regular hand washing and sanitizing is directly proportional to healthy life preventing illnesses to a greater extent. Never was the common man so serious about washing hands and using sanitizers, it is because of COVID-19 pandemic that such social awareness has been spread. As part of their daily routine, people are now following these steps. It is especially important for children since it prevents frequent sickness and keeps them healthy.

3. Entire Cities And Localities Getting Sanitized: We have seen cleaning streets with brooms but have never witnessed people spraying sanitizer across public areas, which kills 95% of bacteria and viruses. This sanitization contributes to a cleaner and heathier environment. Even essential supply stores and public transport vehicles are getting regularly washed and sanitized is also preventing the spread of diseases.

By staying indoors each one of us has witnessed less pollution, thus improving air quality index and has seen a drastic decrease in the incidence of air pollution diseases. We have witnessed the positive effects of lockdown on the earth’s ozone layer as well.

4. Getting House Arrest: Being house arrest was a new thing, all of us were so occupied in bustling life, work commitments. The sudden lockdown qualitatively has brought families closer since spending time together prior to the current scenario was limited to a family vacation.

Also Read: Why Are Doctors So Vulnerable, asks Dr Priya G Modi

5. Appreciating local vendors and Indian products: E-commerce had made us so laid back that we did not bother to shop from surrounding shops and street vendors. When online shopping was shut, we actually realized the value of surrounding stores and indeed helped them overcome their financial constraints.

6. Launch of Aarogya Setu App: In April, the Indian government launched a COVID-19 tracking app called Aarogya Setu which uses GPS and Bluetooth to inform people when they are at risk of exposure to COVID-19. It made tracking easy for the people and the authorities as well.

7. Innovators And Entrepreneurs Making India Self-Reliant: They say necessity is the mother of invention and rightly so. When COVID-19 positive cases were increasing, India started making Personal protective equipment (PPE) for our frontline warriors in healthcare and other places. Earlier we never manufactured any PPE but now India makes approx 2 lakh PPE a day.

8. India manufacturing N95 and Homemade Masks: Many Indians came forward and took up an initiative to make N95 masks, homemade masks,  and Face shields approximately 3 lakh masks have been manufactured in India.

9. Sanitizer Dispensers: Foot-operated sanitizer dispenser, automatic sanitizer dispenser, touchless sanitizer dispenser gave a boon to the new invention in India. Manufacturing of drones to supply essential commodities and sanitizing city, manufacturing of respirators, ventilators everything was need of the hour due to the increase of cases and shortage of equipment.

10. Go Local: A loud and very clear message was given out by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to boost our economy and help each other growing domestic vendors, Swadeshi products and entrepreneurs.

Amid all the good things that happened, there were certain untoward happenings also. The migrant workers were devastated. They were left jobless and hungry. With zero income, hungry stomachs to feed, children and women walking hundreds of kilometres on foot in their desperation to go home.

It was heartbreaking to hear about many migrant women who had to deliver babies on the roadsides, in trains and walking hundreds of kilometres hungry. Many such incidences were reported and shown on social media but never heard those women taken to nearby hospitals and getting proper medical care. It’s just that they could not afford life due to poverty and they felt very let down amid the pandemic.

In conclusion to her conversation with Digpu, Dr Priya G Modi says she is happy that the world has taken life very seriously, yet she asks for forgiveness from the people who suffered due to the pandemic.

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With the world in lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the casualties has been sports which had to take a back seat due to government-imposed travel restrictions and new laws on social distancing. Golf has been one of the sports most affected with courses shut up.

One such golfer has been rising Indian star 8-year-old Chaitanya Pandey, whose meteoric rise to the top of his sport has been halted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, the boy who has been compared to a young Tiger Woods, and who been described by the Indian Minister of Sport, Kiren Rijuju, as part of India’s future and one of the world’s best young players has time on his side, and it will not be long before he is striding the fairways and the greens again on the way to yet another brilliant title win.

In the meantime, celebrating his European win anniversary, it seems an appropriate time to relive some golden memories when Chaitanya travelled to Longniddry in Scotland last year, and returned home triumphant with the European Championship in his possession.

Chaitanya Pandey went to Scotland as one of the youngest in a glittering field of featuring competitors from Asia, Africa, South America and Europe, as well as the substantial home-based contingent.

And, for many of them, the Longniddry course, which is famed for its difficulty, posed a unique set of challenges with hundreds of trees lining the course, deep bunkers and the adverse weather conditions.

And Chaitanya Pandey certainly had to contend with all that the famous old course could throw at him over the three days of the tournament. Friday was the best day weather-wise and Chaitanya took full advantage scoring a superb 30, which was 6 under par for the 9-hole course, enough to earn him a share of the lead with one of his closest rivals from Thailand.

On Saturday, things got tougher and Chaitanya could only score a par 36, still highly respected in the circumstances, but with Thailand rival managing a two-under-par score, Chaitanya had slipped to second in the overall standings.

However, the final day Sunday was to prove decisive. Not only were the conditions difficult again, particularly playing shots into the wind and heavy rain, but pressure also began to play its part, particularly in the case of Thai rival who shot six over par to end his chances. Chaitanya meanwhile kept his nerve and composure superbly, continued to find the fairways from the tee, and made sure that his putting was up to its usual brilliant best.

He shot par again, the third-best round of the day, and enough to give him a marvellous and thoroughly deserved victory by two shots from the South African Lex Foxcraft. It was the biggest success of his fledgeling career to date and made him the youngest Indian to win the European title.

Typically modest after his record-breaking win, Chaitanya was quick to praise those who had helped him achieve such success at an early age, including his coach Romit Bose and Aditya Sachdeva who prompted him to play golf, the Delhi Golf Club, especially its President, Mr RS Bedi and Captain, Rohit Sabherwal, and his school K R Mangalam World School. Above all though, his gratitude was reserved for his parents without whose tireless support and devotion, none of his achievements would be possible.

Since then he has won a number of major events maintaining his pole position in India in Indian golf Union merit list, US Kids Golf India and finished third in the Kids’ World Championship in Malaysia.

Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he will not get a chance to defend his European title this year that has had to be postponed for a year, along with many of the other major championships in the United States he was due to compete in later this year, including the IMG World, FCG Callaway, and US Kids’ World Championships, which were all scheduled to be staged in the USA.

However, when play does resume, it is a certainty that Chaitanya will once again be amongst the favourites to win all the big titles.

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