Tweet

akankshakumar

11 Jun, 9 tweets, 5 min read

@shivangi441

Impact of pandemic and lockdown on Rajasthan's economy: In Dausa's Balaheri village, 120 Kms from Jaipur, a community of around 50 families that specialize in making brassware are struggling to make ends meet. Reporting with @shivangi441 for @newslaundry & @nlhindi

Covid has killed one person in this village and the lockdown has hit hard. With most of the artisans dependent on middlemen who pay them on the basis of no. of pieces, monthly income of Rs 20k-25k has come to a nought.

For Radha Govind Thathera who used to supply brassware to cities like Jaipur, Agra, Delhi and Mumbai, there are hardly any orders these days. 'Ever since the lockdown, orders have been reduced to just 10%', he says.

'It is tough running a household since the last two years. We have taken loans. My daughter is pursuing B.Ed and we can't afford her fees', says Laxmi, wife of Radha Govind Thathera. The family has mortgaged jewelry to meet daily expenses.

All is not well with Dausa's Khadi industry as well that employs around 2,000 families directly and indirectly. Due to slump in sales, local office of Khadi India is not sure how long they will be able to sustain like this.

Anil Kumar Sharma, secretary of Kshetriya Khadi Gramudyog Samiti, wrote two letters to CM Ashok Gehlot between Jan-Apr 2021. He requested state govt to reimburse amount due as part of rebate given to customers last year on occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Another letter was sent by Sharma, on behalf of Khadi India, to Union minister of MSME, Nitin Gadkari, urging immediate intervention from the Centre. There was no response to any of the letters.

Resentment is evident among businessmen in Dausa's Naya Katla area. 'We were expecting that govt might extend date for filing GST returns. As a retailer I'm incurring losses of Rs 1L/day & govt is charging fine at Rs 100/day for delay in filing GST returns', says Naman Khandelwal

Ashok Kumar Gupta started a shoe store in Naya Katla on 18 April; a day later lockdown was announced. He couldn't return his stock worth Rs 25 lakhs and will have now to wait until Diwali to pay off the loans. #COVID19 #LockDown

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @akanksha_kumar3

akankshakumar

@akanksha_kumar3

3 Jun

Om Prakash Sharma lost his son Rahul, 33, when the ambulance taking them from Alwar to Jaipur ran out of Oxygen. An inquiry found the hospital staff not just guilty of dereliction of duty but also negligence as Rahul, a Covid patient, was being treated by a homeopathy doctor.

Saurabh, a resident of Bansur tehsil in Alwar, lost his mother as they struggled to find a ventilator bed. Family tried calling local BJP MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Rajasthan's health minister Raghu Sharma and an MLA from Nagaur district but no help came.

An ESI hospital in Alwar, approved while UPA was in power, has been a work-in-progress for almost a decade. Cleared with a budget of Rs 1000 cr the hospital is not fully functional yet.

Read 6 tweets

akankshakumar

@akanksha_kumar3

1 Jun

@shivangi441

A sub centre (that comes under PHC) in Alwar's Raghunathgadh village. Approved in 2011 it's still not ready owing to a dispute. For local health workers however it's vaccine hesitancy that's posing a bigger challenge these days. Reporting with @shivangi441 from Rajasthan

@newslaundry

Anwar, a truck driver, decided to get #Covid vaccine after being told by his employer. He is familiar with videos doing the rounds that refer to the vaccine as 'zeher ka tika'. Story coming soon on @newslaundry and @nlhindi

For Dr Gaurav Verma, in-charge of the Raghunathgadh PHC, a day goes in just waiting. Depending on availability of vials, he usually gets 40 dose of vaccine per day. On 31st May when we visited the PHC, no one had turned up for vaccination till 2 pm.

Read 4 tweets

akankshakumar

@akanksha_kumar3

24 May

@newslaundry

Grief. Sense of loss. Helplessness. And a State that terribly failed its people. A month of documenting the second wave of #COVID19 for @newslaundry. Thread on stories filed:
How the death of journo Vinay Srivastava exposed healthcare facility in Lucknow
newslaundry.com/2021/04/21/vin…

April 17: When migrant workers began to head back home soon after the announcement of weekend lockdown in Delhi.
newslaundry.com/2021/04/17/wat…

Ground report on Covid preparedness of four private hospitals in Noida that were granted permission for critical care facilities in June 2020.
newslaundry.com/2021/04/22/can…

Read 14 tweets

akankshakumar

@akanksha_kumar3

23 May

Balmukund Dubey's wife lost her husband right outside the gate of CHC in Shohratgarh tehsil. CHC's gate was closed and the ambulance carrying Balmukund had left soon after dropping them.

Balmukund's younger brother, Manoj Dubey, tried calling on the helpline no. 1076 but got no help.

@newslaundry

The doctor on-duty at the CHC Shohratgarh CHC that day told @newslaundry , 'CHC gate had to be shut for 15-20 minutes owing to a large crowd that had gathered right after Panchayat elections. This door is 6 metres away. Patient was brought dead.'

Read 4 tweets

akankshakumar

@akanksha_kumar3

23 May

At the district hospital in UP's Siddharthnagar, space in a lobby that connects the wards being used to accommodate more patients.

Dhanraj Maurya was brought to the hospital on 4 May by his family after he complained of breathlessness. Next day when we met Maurya's family, his grandson complained, 'No doctor is coming to examine him, we are made to run here and there.'

The hospital had been unable to provide a urine bag so Maurya's family was using a steel bucket as a make-shift arrangement.
His grandson, Gorakh Maurya, had more pressing concerns, 'Hospital is saying that RTPCR test will be done after 3 days. Though X-ray shows he has Covid.'

Read 5 tweets

akankshakumar

@akanksha_kumar3

22 Aug 20

@newslaundry

Breaking: Bloomsbury India is withdrawing publication of the book 'Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story'. Publishing house issues a fresh statement after yesterday's controversy. @newslaundry @nlhindi

Statement by Bloomsbury India (1/n): 'Bloomsbury India had planned to release Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story in September a book purportedly giving a factual report on the riots in Delhi in February 2020, based on investigations and interviews conducted by the authors.'

Bloomsbury India: However, in view of very recent events including a virtual pre-publication launch organised without our knowledge by the authors, with participation by parties of whom the Publishers would not have approved, we have decided to withdraw publication of the book.

Read 5 tweets

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!