Sheela Bhatt, arguably India's finest political journalist, has covered Indian politics for 40 years. You can e-mail the author at sheelakb@rediffmail.com
'The stimulus packages, sector reliefs, loans etc are coming to industry, but state governments have not got any money from GST, no money from excise, no money from any income source.'
'It has been a phenomenal effort at all levels of the government.' 'People were working 15-16 hour shifts in the central government, in the state governments, in the districts....'
'If the mandis were not working in Delhi, or the onion market in Nashik got affected, or there were disruptions because of unloading or loading in any sector in south India, we intervened.'
'This pandemic has given him a new platform to perform,' says a member of the government. 'He should feel lucky that he has got an opportunity now to demonstrate to the world his original talent.' 'He needs a visionary script to perform.' Sheela Bhatt reports on the politics of the pandemic.
Nothing is going to dramatically open up on May 3. There will be too many ifs and buts and terms and conditions and guidelines in leading one's life in various zones, reveals Sheela Bhatt.
'...If people follow the lockdown well.'
'On January 17, we had our first meeting with the Cabinet secretary.' 'Different secretaries belonging to different departments attended it.' 'It was only two weeks when China had said there is a new disease.' 'So, we gave the quickest response.'
'Don't panic. Believe in yourself.' 'This is a preventable illness. Only you can prevent it.'
'The fight against COVID-19 is not a hospital fight.' 'It's a community level fight. 'If your community level measures are good, you can decrease the number of people coming to hospitals, or flatten it.'
'In our country, there is a lot of checks and balances, the figures cannot go wrong.' 'Because they are being checked by not only the governments, but by doctors themselves.'
Studies in China claim that traditional Chinese medicines seem to be working effectively on patients with mild or moderate symptoms of coronavirus.
From Kutch to Itanagar, Kashmir to Kanyakumari, there is only one emotion, it seems. Fear. Of coronavirus.
Sheela Bhatt drives from New Delhi to Agra and Firozabad to capture the stories of an India under lockdown.
Sheela Bhatt reports from Firozabad, the country's centre for glass bangles, on what life is like for its workers in the wake of the national lockdown.
'India is a pharma dada. We can manufacture enough for our people and for the world.'
'There are reports of political dissent mounting on Xi Jinping's handling of the Wuhan fallout.'
'...Where there is clearly no evidence of community transmission, letting life return to normal in those districts while continuing to rigorously control the spread of the infection.'
How China's all powerful Communist party bungled the response to the coronavirus crisis.
Sheela Bhatt narrates the behind-the-scenes action in the Delhi headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat that finally forced the religious sect's compliance with the coronavirus shutdown.
'Hopefully, people will understand that, beyond medical vaccination plans, in the future we will also need to implement some 'social inoculation' plans.'
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