Saving grace
Physical (oft-mentioned as social) distancing has become the buzz word since the novel coronavirus announced its presence in the country. Lockdown has been imposed to enforce the distance and supermarkets and vegetable sellers too are following the distancing norms strictly. Police have been roughing up people riding double and triple and confiscating vehicles too, all in the name of distance enforcement.
The Inter Ministerial Central Team that visited the city on Sunday did not seem to concern itself too much with the distancing norms.
Headed by Arun Baroka, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, the team had four other members, and was followed by a retinue of local officials from GHMC, including Commissioner D. S. Lokesh Kumar and District Collector Shweta Mohanty.
The team visited various locations including the containment zone in Malakpet. The officials were said to have entered the zone too and observed the regulation of people’s movement there.
The volume of the team, together with police escort, seemed formidable, especially when they were seen huddling together, giving the go-by to the norms.
As per the state government orders pertaining to lockdown, no congregation of more than five persons should be allowed in public places.
The only saving grace was the masks worn by all team members.
No age-old names
The age-old names to denote agricultural seasons — kharif and rabi — are discontinued by the Telangana government. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao defended the migration of names to ‘vana kalam' and `yasangi' respectively to make farmers well acquainted with the seasons.
Agricultural experts feel the usage of name ‘vana kalam’ for kharif was understandable as it runs through the rainy season but yasangi for rabi may not reflect the true climatic conditions. For, the word yasangi is derived from vesavi (summer) and used in a distorted form as yesangi and, now, yasangi.
The rabi crop generally lasts from December to April and, therefore, to relate yasangi to summer may be too early.
On the other hand, the farmers in coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh use the names ‘salwa' (kharif) and ‘dalwa' (rabi) while world over the seasons are called monsoon and winter crops.
Somebody ‘loves’ lockdown!
The lockdown may have left a bitter experience for many sections, including the governments and media organisations. But, the fact remains that the governments and media depend on tax and advertisement revenues, respectively, for implementing welfare and development programmes and disseminating information in a viable way.
Although it’s indisputable that their resources are being squeezed to limits to keep the show going, the distress appears to have brought out some brighter shades in life and the way we live it. From online ordering of essentials such as medicines, groceries, fruits and vegetables to online classes from school to university level, the contact-less ways have increasing influence on life. It has done some good to audio-visual media too as several educational institutions are hiring time-slots on television channels to have online classes for their students. As a writer said in the past “everyone loves a good drought”, perhaps there are sections which are savouring the present distress conditions too.
Helping fishers
The Fisheries department has finally decided to address the shortage of fish in the market. Major chunk of fishing activity in the State will be reported during March-June every year when water levels in the irrigation sources come down. But, more than a month after the season commenced, the activity is yet to commence this year on account of the lockdown.
Realising the need for harvesting the fish in these sources as early as possible, the department has released list of tanks where fishing could commence. The department issued the instructions to avert possible economic loss to the more than three lakh fishermen whose livelihood depends on fishing.
Sharing information
The stoic silence maintained by Gadwal district administration in sharing information about coronavirus cases has made the rumour mill work overtime. The district level officers are at a loss for words when weird stories about the cases were churned out in local media.
Even when Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar visited the district to review the COVID-19 situation on April 22, he reportedly encountered the anguish of media personnel over the non-transparency of administration in sharing information.
Gadwal has been categorised as ahigh-risk district with 45 coronavirus positive cases so far.
(With inputs by V. Swathi, N. Rahul, B. Chandrashekhar, M. Rajeev and Abhinay Deshpande)
