Author Archives: Ruhi Bhasin

How getting a vaccine in India is a ‘privilege’ especially for those in rural areas

Indian states have been left to compete with each other in the global market for vaccine procurement.
By Ruhi Bhasin
Posted on June 4, 2021 by Ruhi Bhasin

If the month of April was marked by images of endless rows of burning funeral pyres from major Indian cities, the images of floating bodies in the Ganges River near the north Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in May were a grim reminder of the unchecked spread of the virus in rural India where a majority of Indians, without access to basic health care, vaccines or infrastructure, have been fighting the virus. Continue reading →

Mismanagement of the COVID-19 crisis increases food insecurity in India and Brazil
By Ruhi Bhasin
Posted on May 12, 2021 by Ruhi Bhasin

As Indians continue to scramble for survival through a deadly second COVID-19 wave and deal with an inadequate health care system that has failed them at every step, for a majority of the country living in rural areas and in slums in urban centers, food insecurity is proving to be a bigger struggle than protecting themselves against the deadly virus. Continue reading →

How India has creatively turned social media into a COVID-19 helpline to battle the pandemic

How India has creatively turned social media into a COVID-19 helpline to battle the pandemic
By Ruhi Bhasin
Posted on May 5, 2021 by Ruhi Bhasin

Death, sickness, and helplessness have become the “new normal” that Indians are being forced to live with as they witness the collapse of an already inadequate health care system and the failure of its political system that was caught napping on the uptick of cases, which showed an upward trend as far back as February. Continue reading →