Issue 342 - 27/03/2020
26 27/03/2020 NEWS LITERATURE POLITICS FASHION ART & CULTURE KIDS RELIGION FILMSwww.samajweekly.comWomen 10% more likelyto feel unsafe than menLondon : Researchers have foundthat on average, women are ten percent more likely than men to feelunsafe on metro trains (trains that gounderground) and six per cent morelikely than men to feel unsafe onbuses. The study, published in theJournal of the Royal StatisticalSociety: Series A, was conducted byImperial College London on datafrom 2009 to 2018. For the findings,the researchers looked at a third of amillion passenger responses toCustomer Satisfaction Surveys(CSSs) from 28 cities across four continents.According to the study, the largestdifference between women and men'sperceptions of safety was in Europe,where women were 12 per cent morelikely to report feeling unsafe thanmen.The smallest difference was inSouth America, where women werenine per cent more likely to report feelingunsafe than men. "Feeling unsafeUS Sikh Coalition publishesCOVID-19 guidelines in PunjabiWashington : TheCalifornia-based Sikh Coalitionhas prepared COVID-19 guidelinesin Punjabi to enable theabout 500,000 Sikhs living inAmerica to better understand thepandemic, a media report said.The guidelines published inthe website of the Coalition, aSikh-American advocacy group,cover all important aspects of theLondon : In order to fight a pandemic,travel restrictions are most useful inits early and late phases, a new studysuggests.Analysis of human mobility and epidemiologicaldata by a global consortiumof researchers, led by theUniversity of Oxford in the UK andNortheastern University in the US,shows that human mobility was predictiveof the spread of the epidemic inChina. "Our findings show that early inthe coronavirus outbreak travel restrictionswere effective in preventing theimport of infections from a knowncan lead to social, professional, economic,and health problems for thoseaffected," said study lead author LailaAit Bihi Ouali from Imperial CollegeLondon in the UK. "In this case,women who feel unsafe on publictransport might turn down shift work atcertain times of day, or avoid social orwork events that require travelling acertain route," Ouali added.Accordingto the researchers, public transportoperators send online CSSs every yearto passengers that are designed toongoing pandemic beginningwith social distancing which isexplained as taking simple stepsto reduce close contact betweenpeople to contain the spread ofthe deadly virus, the AmericanBazaar said in the report onThursday.In both Punjabi and Hindi,people are advised about steps toensure that they were taking ansource," said study researcher MoritzKraemer from the University of Oxford.Restrictions of travel from Wuhanprovince in China, unfortunately, cametoo late.The research, published in the journalScience, showed that the impact oftravel restrictions declines as the epidemicgrows. Provinces outside Hubeithat acted early to test, track and containimported coronavirus cases fared thebest in preventing or containing localoutbreaks, the study said.Mobile geolocation data from Chinabasedsearch engine giant Baidu Inc,measure general feelings of satisfactionwith their networks. The surveys askpassengers their level of agreementwith various statements about availability,time, information, comfort,security, customer care, accessibility,environment, and overall satisfaction.The response options are usually:agree strongly; agree; neither agreenor disagree; disagree; or disagreestrongly.To carry out the study, theresearchers looked at 327,403 completedresponses to CSSs from 2009active part in flattening the curveto slow the spread of COVID-19.The coalition on its resourcespage will also provide constantupdates on closures and changeswith respect to citizen and foreigntraveller entry and exit.The information on federal aswell as state benefits to help peopleget through this period ofslowdown would also be provided,said the American Bazaarreport.The resource informs that inaddition to federal relief, all 50US states have unique policieswith regard to unemployment,medicaid, and welfare programs.The Federal benefit resourcespage also provide a summary ofthe bipartisan Families FirstCoronavirus Response Actsigned by President DonaldTrump on March 18, whichauthorizes more than $100 billionworth of aid to address theeffects of COVID-19.Travel restrictions useful in early, late phases of pandemiccombined with a rich epidemiologicaldataset from the Open COVID-19 DataWorking Group, showed that local person-to-persontransmission happenedextensively early on in the coronavirusoutbreak and was mitigated by drasticcontrol measures. However, with anaverage incubation period of five days,and up to 14 days in some cases, thesemobility restrictions did not begin topositively impact the data on new casesfor over a week -- with things appearingto get worse in the 5-7 days immediatelyafter the lockdown as local transmissionwas well under way.to 2018. As well as measuring overallsatisfaction scores, they focussed onresponses to three questions pertainingto feelings of 'security' andassigned numbers from one to five foreach potential response (one for 'agreestrongly; five for 'disagree strongly')to quantify the responses. They thencompared the scores between men andwomen and looked at whether theydiffered alongside characteristics ofthe transport network like rates of violenceon the network, the number ofcars per train, and busyness of vehiclesand stations. The researchersfound that around half of the womensurveyed felt safe on urban publictransport (45 per cent felt safe inmetro trains and stations; 55 per centfelt safe in buses), but that womenwere ten per cent more likely thanmen to report feeling unsafe in metrotrains and stations, and six per centmore likely than men to feel unsafe inbuses.London : Singer Ed Sheeran will be payingthe workers at his restaurant their wages duringthe coronavirus outbreak. He has even encouragedthem to get other job if they wanted to.The 29-year-old has moved to underwritesalaries for 10 staff at his Bertie Blossoms jointin London's Notting Hill, reports thesun.co.uk.A source said: "Ed's told everyone not toworry and that he's picking up the tab and he'llsee them all again for a massive p*ss-up oncethe world gets back to normal. The managerswill be checking in on the place every now andagain to make sure it is safe and secure and allis well."Ed even told staff they could go out andseek other employment if they wanted or gohelp the nation by doing voluntary work."It's great of Ed to put everyone's mind atrest. People will say ‘oh well he can afford it'but often the people with the most money canbe the least generous. That's not Ed, though."The place had opened in November. Itclosed its doors last week.The step was taken after Prime Minister ofthe United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, made anannouncement ordering all venues to shut asthe Government tries to battle the outbreak.Punjab to release6,000 prisonersChandigarh : With a view to decongestprisons in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,Punjab is going to release nearly6,000 prisoners from jails across the state,Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawasaid on Thursday. He said the prisonerswould be released on parole for six weeksand undertrial prisoners on interim bail forsix weeks. The minister said there werearound 24,000 prisoners lodged in 24 jailsacross the state against an authorised capacityof 23,488.As per a Supreme Court committeereport, the primary now aim is to protect thehealth of the prisoners and restrict the transmissionof COVID-19 by decongestingprisons.Ed Sheeran to pay full wagesof workers in his restaurantAccording to the researchers, amongthe cases reported outside Hubei, 515had a known travel history to Wuhanand a symptom onset date beforeJanuary 31, 2020, compared with only39 after this date, illustrating the effectof travel restrictions in decreasing thespread to other Chinese provinces."This is where a full package ofmeasures, including local mobilityrestrictions, testing, tracing and isolationneed to work together to mitigatethe epidemic," Kraemer added. Chineseprovinces and other countries that havesuccessfully halted internal transmissionof COVID-19 need to considercarefully how they will manage to reinstatetravel and mobility to avoid thereintroduction and spread of the diseasein their populations, the researcherssaid. "Travel and mobility restrictionsare the most useful right at the start,when local transmission has not yetbecome a factor," said Samuel VScarpino, Professor at NortheasternUniversity."After transmission is established,physical distancing and the quarantineof sick individuals will work, but ittakes time," Scarpino added.
www.samajweekly.comNEWS LITERATURE POLITICS FASHION ART & CULTURE KIDS RELIGION FILMS27/03/202027Global Solidarity Statement for Dr. AnandTeltumbde and Gautam NavlakhaWe, the undersigned (organizations and individuals)protest the impending arrest of ProfessorAnand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha andstrongly condemn the attempt to malign their statusas two of India’s foremost civil rights activistsand public intellectuals today. On March 16, 2020,the Supreme Court of India rejected the anticipatorybail application of Dr. Teltumbde and Mr.Navlakha. They now have until April 6, 2020 to‘surrender’ to the police. We strongly urge theChief Justice of India and the Supreme Courtbench to take cognizance of the dangers posed bythe pandemic COVID19 to the health and life ofDr. Teltumbde and Mr. Navlakha. Both are seniorcitizens with pre-existing medical conditions thatputs them at high risk for a deadly infection ifimprisoned. Incarceration at such a time will mostdefinitely endanger their lives and health. At thevery least, we urge the judicial authorities toamend their arrest order to after the global healthcrisis is fully subsided and there is no danger totheir health and life.Both Teltumbde and Navlakha are only the latestin an ongoing series of attacks on human rightslawyers, civil rights activists, and scholars by theruling regime in India. They have been chargedunder a draconian colonial law (UAPA) against‘terrorists’ and ‘seditionists’ which blatantly disregardsfundamental rights enjoyed by all Indian citizenssuch as free speech, right to hold an opinion,or the right to dissent violent policies of the state,and right to due judicial process (see statementsfrom Indian civil liberties organizations – PUCL,PUDR, WSS, Oxfam India). Their cases are partof what has come to be known as the ‘BhimaKoregaon’ case – a dubious and brazenly fabricatedcase (see the American Bar Association’s reportthat documents the irregularities and violations ofthe freedom of expression and association in thiscase, and a more recent investigation points to thefabricated nature of the evidence). Since June2018, nine other prominent intellectuals and civilliberties activists (Sudha Bharadwaj, SudhirDhawale, Arun Ferreira, Surendra Gadling,Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara Rao, Mahesh Raut,Shoma Sen, and Rona Wilson) have been imprisonedunder this fabricated case (for a comprehensivecompendium of news reports on the BhimaKoregaon cases see India Civil Watch). This groupof eleven are among India’s most respectedactivists and intellectuals who have consistentlyfought for the democratic rights of the sociallymarginalized and oppressed groups, such asDalits, Adivasis (indigenous ‘tribal’ communities),workers, and religious minorities.Professor Teltumbde is a distinguished scholar,civil rights activist, and one of India’s leading publicintellectuals with a long history of speakingtruth to power, exposing the state’s repressivepractices against its most vulnerable populationssuch as Dalits and working classes, and society’sentrenched regressive cultural institutions such ascaste. Admired by many as an organic intellectual,Dr. Teltumbde’s writings have contributedimmensely to critical debates on democracy, globalizationand social justice. A consummate polymathhailing from very humble beginnings as amember of the Dalit community (India’s longoppressed‘Untouchable’ castes), Dr. Teltumbdegraduated from India’s leading institutions ofhigher education with high scholarly achievements.He is an alumnus of the premier IndianInstitute of Management (IIM – Ahmedabad), hashad a long and illustrious career in the corporatesector in top management positions in the stateownedBharat Petroleum Corporation Limited,and the petro-infrastructure company PetronetIndia Ltd (promoted by the Government of Indiain the private sector). After his corporate stint, hehas been Professor of Business Management at thepremier Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Painting by Mr. Siddesh GautamKharagpur) and is currently a senior professor andchair of Big Data Analytics at Goa Institute ofManagement. His astute analysis on the dynamicsof caste and class and on the relevance of Dr. B.R.Ambedkar (the much revered chief architect of theIndian Constitution and Mahatma Gandhi’s mostimportant interlocutor) for contemporary societyare essential references for scholars and arerequired reading at many universities around theworld. He is frequently an invited speaker at internationalconferences, demonstrating the respecthis work commands all over the globe.Dr. Teltumbde has contributed immensely toimproving the lives of people and decided todevote time to make an intellectual contributionfor making the world a little more just. Thisinstinct naturally led him to actively build civilsociety organisations such as the Committee forProtection of Democratic Rights (CPDR) of whichhe is the general secretary, and the All India Forumfor Right to Education (AIFRTE) of which he is apresidium member. None of the organizations heis associated with are banned organizations inIndia.Gautam Navlakha has been a well-known democraticand human rights activist and a journalist.He has been a longstanding member of thePeople’s Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi. Hehas served as an editorial consultant of India’sleading social science journal – the internationallywell-known Economic and Political Weekly andhas been a convener of the International People’sTribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir.His book Days and Nights: In the Heartland ofRebellion (Penguin, 2012) is one of the most seriousinterventions in understanding the Maoistmovement in Chattisgarh.The intention of the state is quite clear from thevehemence with which the Central governmenttook away the cases of Teltumbde and Navlakhafrom the Maharashtra government to the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) just a few weeks ago.It appears evident that the state wishes to incarceratethem in jails for years just for advocating forthe democratic and human rights of oppressed andmarginalised sections of Indian society. This,despite the fact that their methods of struggle forjustice have always been within the provisions andfreedoms provided by the Constitution of India.Neither of them has anything remotely to do withorganising or the subsequent events that occurredaround the Bhima Koregaon episode.As long-time observers of Indian democracy,we are shocked by the state’s vicious persecutionof intellectuals and activists who have devotedtheir lives to the defense of the powerless and theweak, and are some of India’s strongest defendersof democracy especially at a time when the worldis witness to brazen attacks on it in India.Moreover, in targeting Dr. Teltumbde – a person ofexceptional antecedents as a corporate leader, highcaliber scholar, and a much celebrated public intellectual,but also coming from one of the foundingfamilies of Indian democracy – that of Dr. B.R.Ambedkar – the state is sending a message to theentire country that it could go to any extent torepress the voice of people if they dare to challengeand dissent.In solidarity with and with unequivocal supportto Dr. Teltumbde and Mr. Navlakha and all theothers who are falsely implicated in the Bhima-Koregaon case, we urge:The President of India, Shri. Ram Nath Kovindto uphold the Indian Constitution and Indiandemocracy by intervening in this case and seekingthe Supreme Court’s opinion on the use of seditionand terrorism charges against human rightsactivists.The National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) to elevate the case as its highest priorityand constitute an immediate inquiry into the questionsof fabrication of evidence reported widely inthe media.The Government of Maharashtra and theMaharashtra State Human Rights Commission toimmediately constitute a Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) to independently investigate the matter.The United Nations Human Right Commission(UNHRC) and the Asian Human RightsCommission (AHRC) to attend to the UN SpecialRapporteur who has clearly challenged the basisof this case.So far, 3037 organizations or individuals havesigned this petition. The following is a partial listof highlights:• Committee for the Protection of DemocraticRights (CPDR), India• India Civil Watch International, USA• Indian American Muslim Council, USA• Dalit Solidarity Forum, USA• Ambedkar King Study Circle, USA• Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus, MIT andLaureate Professor, University of Arizona• Arundhati Roy, Writer, India• Cornel West, Professor of practice of publicphilosophy, Harvard• Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor ofHistory, UCLA, USA• Partha Chatterjee, Senior Research Scholar,Anthropology Columbia University, USA• Gayatri Spivak, University Professor, Englishand Comparative Literature, ColumbiaUniversity, USA• Angela Davis, UC Santa Cruz, USA• Sukhadeo Thorat, Professor Emeritus, Schoolof Social Sciences, JNU, and FormerChairperson of University Grants Commissionand ICSSR• Kshama Sawant, Member, City Council,Seattle, WA USA• Anand Patwardhan, Film maker, India• Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, JNUIndia• Gyan Prakash, Professor of History, Princeton• Chandra Talpade Mohanty, DistinguishedProfessor, Syracuse University• Akeel Bilgrami, Sidney MorgenbesserProfessor of Philosophy, Columbia University• Arjun Appadurai, Paulette Goddard Professorof Media, Culture, and Communication, NewYork University, NY• Rajeshwari Sunder Rajan, GlobalDistinguished Professor, New York University,NY• Justice Kolse-Patil, retired High Court Judge• Justice P. B. Sawant, Former Supreme CourtJudge and President, World Association ofPress Councils• Prakash Ambedkar, ex-Member of Parliament(Lok Sabha), India• Ramachandra Guha, Historian and EconomistV. Geetha, Feminist Historian and Writer• Professor Manoranjan Mohanty, DurgabaiDeshmukh Professor of Social Development atthe Council for Social Development, NewDelhi and Co-chair of the Institute of ChineseStudies.
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- Page 25: www.samajweekly.comNEWS LITERATURE
26 27/03/2020 NEWS LITERATURE POLITICS FASHION ART & CULTURE KIDS RELIGION FILMS
www.samajweekly.com
Women 10% more likely
to feel unsafe than men
London : Researchers have found
that on average, women are ten per
cent more likely than men to feel
unsafe on metro trains (trains that go
underground) and six per cent more
likely than men to feel unsafe on
buses. The study, published in the
Journal of the Royal Statistical
Society: Series A, was conducted by
Imperial College London on data
from 2009 to 2018. For the findings,
the researchers looked at a third of a
million passenger responses to
Customer Satisfaction Surveys
(CSSs) from 28 cities across four continents.
According to the study, the largest
difference between women and men's
perceptions of safety was in Europe,
where women were 12 per cent more
likely to report feeling unsafe than
men.The smallest difference was in
South America, where women were
nine per cent more likely to report feeling
unsafe than men. "Feeling unsafe
US Sikh Coalition publishes
COVID-19 guidelines in Punjabi
Washington : The
California-based Sikh Coalition
has prepared COVID-19 guidelines
in Punjabi to enable the
about 500,000 Sikhs living in
America to better understand the
pandemic, a media report said.
The guidelines published in
the website of the Coalition, a
Sikh-American advocacy group,
cover all important aspects of the
London : In order to fight a pandemic,
travel restrictions are most useful in
its early and late phases, a new study
suggests.
Analysis of human mobility and epidemiological
data by a global consortium
of researchers, led by the
University of Oxford in the UK and
Northeastern University in the US,
shows that human mobility was predictive
of the spread of the epidemic in
China. "Our findings show that early in
the coronavirus outbreak travel restrictions
were effective in preventing the
import of infections from a known
can lead to social, professional, economic,
and health problems for those
affected," said study lead author Laila
Ait Bihi Ouali from Imperial College
London in the UK. "In this case,
women who feel unsafe on public
transport might turn down shift work at
certain times of day, or avoid social or
work events that require travelling a
certain route," Ouali added.According
to the researchers, public transport
operators send online CSSs every year
to passengers that are designed to
ongoing pandemic beginning
with social distancing which is
explained as taking simple steps
to reduce close contact between
people to contain the spread of
the deadly virus, the American
Bazaar said in the report on
Thursday.
In both Punjabi and Hindi,
people are advised about steps to
ensure that they were taking an
source," said study researcher Moritz
Kraemer from the University of Oxford.
Restrictions of travel from Wuhan
province in China, unfortunately, came
too late.
The research, published in the journal
Science, showed that the impact of
travel restrictions declines as the epidemic
grows. Provinces outside Hubei
that acted early to test, track and contain
imported coronavirus cases fared the
best in preventing or containing local
outbreaks, the study said.
Mobile geolocation data from Chinabased
search engine giant Baidu Inc,
measure general feelings of satisfaction
with their networks. The surveys ask
passengers their level of agreement
with various statements about availability,
time, information, comfort,
security, customer care, accessibility,
environment, and overall satisfaction.
The response options are usually:
agree strongly; agree; neither agree
nor disagree; disagree; or disagree
strongly.To carry out the study, the
researchers looked at 327,403 completed
responses to CSSs from 2009
active part in flattening the curve
to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The coalition on its resources
page will also provide constant
updates on closures and changes
with respect to citizen and foreign
traveller entry and exit.
The information on federal as
well as state benefits to help people
get through this period of
slowdown would also be provided,
said the American Bazaar
report.
The resource informs that in
addition to federal relief, all 50
US states have unique policies
with regard to unemployment,
medicaid, and welfare programs.
The Federal benefit resources
page also provide a summary of
the bipartisan Families First
Coronavirus Response Act
signed by President Donald
Trump on March 18, which
authorizes more than $100 billion
worth of aid to address the
effects of COVID-19.
Travel restrictions useful in early, late phases of pandemic
combined with a rich epidemiological
dataset from the Open COVID-19 Data
Working Group, showed that local person-to-person
transmission happened
extensively early on in the coronavirus
outbreak and was mitigated by drastic
control measures. However, with an
average incubation period of five days,
and up to 14 days in some cases, these
mobility restrictions did not begin to
positively impact the data on new cases
for over a week -- with things appearing
to get worse in the 5-7 days immediately
after the lockdown as local transmission
was well under way.
to 2018. As well as measuring overall
satisfaction scores, they focussed on
responses to three questions pertaining
to feelings of 'security' and
assigned numbers from one to five for
each potential response (one for 'agree
strongly; five for 'disagree strongly')
to quantify the responses. They then
compared the scores between men and
women and looked at whether they
differed alongside characteristics of
the transport network like rates of violence
on the network, the number of
cars per train, and busyness of vehicles
and stations. The researchers
found that around half of the women
surveyed felt safe on urban public
transport (45 per cent felt safe in
metro trains and stations; 55 per cent
felt safe in buses), but that women
were ten per cent more likely than
men to report feeling unsafe in metro
trains and stations, and six per cent
more likely than men to feel unsafe in
buses.
London : Singer Ed Sheeran will be paying
the workers at his restaurant their wages during
the coronavirus outbreak. He has even encouraged
them to get other job if they wanted to.
The 29-year-old has moved to underwrite
salaries for 10 staff at his Bertie Blossoms joint
in London's Notting Hill, reports thesun.co.uk.
A source said: "Ed's told everyone not to
worry and that he's picking up the tab and he'll
see them all again for a massive p*ss-up once
the world gets back to normal. The managers
will be checking in on the place every now and
again to make sure it is safe and secure and all
is well.
"Ed even told staff they could go out and
seek other employment if they wanted or go
help the nation by doing voluntary work.
"It's great of Ed to put everyone's mind at
rest. People will say ‘oh well he can afford it'
but often the people with the most money can
be the least generous. That's not Ed, though."
The place had opened in November. It
closed its doors last week.
The step was taken after Prime Minister of
the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, made an
announcement ordering all venues to shut as
the Government tries to battle the outbreak.
Punjab to release
6,000 prisoners
Chandigarh : With a view to decongest
prisons in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Punjab is going to release nearly
6,000 prisoners from jails across the state,
Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa
said on Thursday. He said the prisoners
would be released on parole for six weeks
and undertrial prisoners on interim bail for
six weeks. The minister said there were
around 24,000 prisoners lodged in 24 jails
across the state against an authorised capacity
of 23,488.
As per a Supreme Court committee
report, the primary now aim is to protect the
health of the prisoners and restrict the transmission
of COVID-19 by decongesting
prisons.
Ed Sheeran to pay full wages
of workers in his restaurant
According to the researchers, among
the cases reported outside Hubei, 515
had a known travel history to Wuhan
and a symptom onset date before
January 31, 2020, compared with only
39 after this date, illustrating the effect
of travel restrictions in decreasing the
spread to other Chinese provinces.
"This is where a full package of
measures, including local mobility
restrictions, testing, tracing and isolation
need to work together to mitigate
the epidemic," Kraemer added. Chinese
provinces and other countries that have
successfully halted internal transmission
of COVID-19 need to consider
carefully how they will manage to reinstate
travel and mobility to avoid the
reintroduction and spread of the disease
in their populations, the researchers
said. "Travel and mobility restrictions
are the most useful right at the start,
when local transmission has not yet
become a factor," said Samuel V
Scarpino, Professor at Northeastern
University.
"After transmission is established,
physical distancing and the quarantine
of sick individuals will work, but it
takes time," Scarpino added.