India has a rough estimate of 450 million people working in the informal sector and according to the 2011 census, 17 lakh homeless people.

They are the migrant labourers, the daily wage labourers, working in factories, manufacturing units, construction site, living in cramped houses, or makeshift homes, or even under flyovers, who suddenly have no work, no money, no savings, no transportation. Where do they go, how are they surviving this lockdown? Is the government doing enough to aid them through this lockdown?

Tune in to The Big Story!

Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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As India entered its second day of a 21 day nation-wide lockdown, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an economic relief package of Rs 1.7 lakh crore to help the poor and those at the frontline of the battle against COVID-19.

As of this recording, the number of COVID-19 deaths in India touched 13 with infections inching past the 700 mark. Meanwhile, thousands of labourers and migrant workers have been left helpless, forced to walk hundreds of kilometres in the rising heat, across state highways, to reach their homes, with no food, no water and no money.

What are these benefits? Will they reach the poor? And are they adequate to prevent thousands from going hungry?

Host and Producer: Vishnu Gopinath

Editor: Shelly Walia

Could PM Modi have avoided the panic-buying situation caused by his speech announcing India’s 21-day lockdown to battle COVID-19?

The key points PM Modi covered in his speech include the 21-day lockdown across India, and the announcement that the Center was setting up a Rs 15,000 crore fund to strengthen healthcare infrastructure and provide more equipment to tackle COVID-19.

He also mentioned that the government had made provisions to ensure the supply of essential commodities in this period.

But barely minutes after the lockdown’s announcement people flooded grocery and ration shops across India, to get what they could before everything shut. So, was the PM’s address to the nation adequate or did it fall woefully short?

Today we’re going to tell you exactly what you can and can’t do during this lockdown, what goods and services will still be available, and what more the PM could have said in his 28-minute speech, announcing the lockdown.

Ankita Sinha, Senior Correspondent, The Quint

Aditya Menon, Political Editor, The Quint

Vakasha Sachdev, Legal Editor, The Quint

Host and Producer: Vishnu Gopinath

Editor: Shelly Walia

As most parts of India went into lockdown on 23 March, signaling the start of a collective fight against the spread of COVID-19, police in the capital moved swiftly to put an end to another battle – one against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act – the Anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh.

Shaheen Bagh has been the site of the longest peaceful anti-CAA protests in India, starting in December, and continuing uninterrupted through the cold winter. .

But on the morning of 24 March, large groups of the police, moved into the Shaheen Bagh protest site quickly to clear it, and detain anyone who refused to comply.

While the country stayed in stasis, the site that became a symbol of peaceful protest was wiped clean.

What next for the protests at Shaheen Bagh? And why were they such an important part of the anti-CAA movement, symbolically and otherwise?

Aditya Menon, Political Editor, The Quint

Vakasha Sachdev, Legal Editor, The Quint

Host and Producer: Vishnu Gopinath

Editor: Shelly Walia

With over 77 percent of Indians relying on daily wages for income, how will Indians’ lives be affected by the lockdown in over 80 districts of India, across 25 states and UTs, to battle the novel coronavirus?

While some people can work from home, others are left without jobs. 

How will it affect us in the coming months? What should the Central government do to cushion the impact? 

On this episode of The Big Story, we dive deep into this, and explain what will happen unless immediate steps are taken to cushion the impact from the coronavirus pandemic, both health-wise and economically.

Host and Producer: Vishnu Gopinath

Editor: Shelly Walia

Additional Listening:

Finally a closure in one of India’s heinous rape and murder cases. Pawan Kumar Gupta, Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay — the four convicts of the Nirbhaya rape and murder case were hanged on 20 March, Friday, at 5:30 am. The four men along with two others were accused of brutally gang raping and torturing a young physiotherapy intern, seven years back in 2012.

“The minute I came back home from the Supreme Court, I folded my hands before her, hugged her photo and said, “Child you have gotten your justice today”. I’m proud to be Nirbhaya’s mother. Today I’m known to the whole world as Nirbhaya’s mother,” Asha Devi, Nirbhaya’s mother told reporters.

However, justice wasn’t easy to come. The death warrants were delayed several times, even hours before the scheduled execution, the convicts’ counsel had filed last-minute petitions. So how did this case finally come to a close? Tune in to The Big Story!

Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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Mass panic and mask shortage — the coronavirus scare that we were not prepared for has led to a mask shortage across the world for the medical staff who actually need it more than the rest of us and that's putting them at risk. As the number of COVID-19 cases rise worldwide, the pressure is ultimately on our healthcare systems, our doctors, and our nurses.

At the time of the recording of this podcast, India had recorded a total of 169 cases and three deaths. At 45, The highest number of cases were reported from Maharashtra.

We have read reports of on infected patients, about quarantine facilities, but how are doctors handling this unprecedented crisis? Tune in to The Big Story!

Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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"Reputation is the only thing a judge has," that's what former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had said in 2018 and it's this very reputation that is being questioned now, as he recently accepted a Rajya Sabha nomination only four months after his retirement.

Gogoi said he will speak to the media about why he accepted this nomination after he takes his oath and we'll wait for his side of the story but why are former judges, supreme court advocates, and political leaders now questioning Gogoi on compromising the integrity of post of the Chief Justice of India?

How does accepting a Rajya Sabha nomination endanger the integrity of the house of law? What message does this post-retirement job send to the people? Tune in to The Big Story!

Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha

Editor: Shelly Walia

Guest: Vakasha Sachdev, Legal Editor, The Quint

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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Another battle against patriarchy won by Indian women! On 17 March judgment, the Supreme Court ruled that denying women who serve the nation a permanent commission in the Indian Navy would be a grave case of injustice.

"They can sail with same efficiency as male officers," the top court said while cancelling the policy barring women officers inducted before 2008 from being granted permanent commission in the navy.

That’s two victories in the space of a month because exactly a month back on 17 February, the top Court had ordered permanent commission for women officers in the army as well and said there will not be any bar on giving them command postings.

So what doors does it open for women in the Indian armed forces and what do they have to say about this landmark judgement? Tune in to The Big Story for more!

Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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From its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in early February, India has now recorded over 110 infections, in the past 45 days, and the country’s first two deaths, making COVID-19 a crisis that’s growing with each passing day.

 

Last week India rushed to take contingency measures to try and limit the spread of the virus – It locked down its borders, stopped issuing new visas, and implemented mandatory 2-week quarantines for anyone arriving in India from a country with high rates of coronavirus infections.

 

But despite India’s best efforts, infections have only risen since and the question has now gone from can India limit the spread of the virus, to is India prepared to fight the novel coronavirus?

 

How did this number grow so rapidly? How are those infected being treated? And is India’s healthcare system equipped to handle a pandemic like COVID-19?

 

Let’s find out

Guests: Dr. Sumit Ray, Chairperson Critical Care Medicine and Chief of Medical Services

Dr. AP Joshi, Chief Medical Officer of ITBP

Devina Buckshee, Health Correspondent, The Quint

Host and Producer: Vishnu Gopinath

Editor: Shelly Walia